Intro & my first finds

[Sisky]

Hi all, I've recently moved to the Wiluna area and picked up an old SD2000 a few weeks back- struck my first colour today!
First a small nugget (I was so excited) and then a piece of quartz with gold crystals, hidden in a chunk of calcrete.

I'm keeping my first find out of sentimentality, but what do I do with this gold and quartz? Is it possible to clean?

 

[Dron]

Well done! That's a nice reefy looking chunk of quartz.

The reefy gold is hard to clean because it is so porous and crumbly, using a toothbrush can damage it plus the bristles of the toothbrush get stuck in the gold.

I soak mine in Alibrite (it's Aluminium cleaner, buy it from Supercheap Auto), then soak in some water and bicarb soda to neutralise the acid, then use any squirt nozzle from a bottle of multipurpose cleaner or whatever and water to wash the clay and mud out from the gold. A 'stream' nozzle works better than a 'spray' but too much force will break the gold apart.

You may have to repeat the process several times.

The Alibrite is a weak concentration (<1%) of Hydroflouric Acid so it will destroy the outer layer of quartz, which brings it up a nice white colour.
http://www.septone.com.au/pdf/msds/SEPTONE ALIBRITE.pdf

For ironstone use Hydrochloric Acid (HCL).

 

[Jaros]

Welcome Sisky.

 

[Sisky]

Thanks Dron, that's exactly what I wanted to know! That's incredibly helpful. Now to find some Ali brite out here in woop-woop.
Thanks for the welcome, Jaros.