New to the forum and to Gold

[Hawkear]

Thanks Geoff. That makes it easier to provide an opinion. The rock specimen appears to be a granite and one of the common minerals in granite is a common variety of mica known as Muscovite. This can often have a yellow or golden appearance. It is a light flakey mineral. Its SG <3.0 would make it easy to move round in a pan and looking at one image I can see small rivulets in the material at the top edge indicating that might be the case. Just my opinion.

 

[grubstake]

I'm with Hawkear. There's no sign of visible gold in that rock, but plenty of indications of a mixed granatoid composition, which almost certainly includes mica.

 

[geoffrod]

Thanks all for your input,
I will chalk this up to experience.
as i dont have anywhere close to go prospecting, i thought i could buy some concentrates to dip my toe in the water. i have bought 4 different types from 4 different places. Luky to have retrieved 1 gram of gold so far, (I might add this actual gold looks nothing like the pictures of the Pyrite or Mica or what ever it is), 1 picker about half a gram in weight.

 

[grubstake]

That's a brilliant result for bagged concentrates! I'd be ordering another 10 bags of the one with the half gram ($50!) nugget.

 

[geoffrod]

That's a brilliant result for bagged concentrates! I'd be ordering another 10 bags of the one with the half gram ($50!) nugget.

not at over $100 a bag i wont

 

[geoffrod]

would be nice to find someone who was fairdinkum about it, sell you enough to have a chance of getting money back and a little for interest.
but i guess everyone wants there pound.

 

[grubstake]

not at over $100 a bag i wont

That's not such a bad return when you consider that plenty of people spend $8,000 on a detector and would be more than happy to find that same piece with it!

 

[grubstake]

would be nice to find someone who was fairdinkum about it, sell you enough to have a chance of getting money back and a little for interest.
but i guess everyone wants there pound.

We've had several members here doing just that from time to time, but none recently unfortunately.

 

[geoffrod]

Thanks Grubstake,
out of a couple of the bags i bought i dont think i got anything of significant value.
i bet i can get more out of a $20 bag of bunnings sand!!

 

[grubstake]

geoffrod: i bet i can get more out of a $20 bag of bunnings sand!!

Back in the early 80's, the big Melbourne hardware chain McEwans(?), used to sell gas BBQ's which featured side panels decorated with natural river gravels. While enjoying a poolside party, somebody noticed a pebble with some gold in it and started a hardware shop gold rush!

 

[user 4485]

would be nice to find someone who was fairdinkum about it, sell you enough to have a chance of getting money back and a little for interest.
but i guess everyone wants there pound.

Trouble is the gold you put in there has a value (x) then you need to consider the time spent finding it (or purchasing), getting "paydirt" to make a mix & making up into bags for panning.
Nobody wants to give it away or work for free.
To me it's easier, quicker, cheaper & less hassle to sell/buy the gold by itself as a set quantity then if you want to pan it off for practice make a "paydirt" mix up.

 

[geoffrod]

Trouble is the gold you put in there has a value (x) then you need to consider the time spent finding it (or purchasing), getting "paydirt" to make a mix & making up into bags for panning.
Nobody wants to give it away or work for free.
To me it's easier, quicker, cheaper & less hassle to sell/buy the gold by itself as a set quantity then if you want to pan it off for practice make a "paydirt" mix up.

Hi Mat, yep i get it,, then you could find a bloke like user7222 who obviously wasnt in it to make money out of each bag

 

[grubstake]

Hi Mat, yep i get it,, then you could find a bloke like user7222 who obviously wasnt in it to make money out of each bag

View attachment 11777

That's one of the people I referred to above - Patrick in Maryborough Vic, I believe. From memory, somebody up that way had given him a trailerload of cons which he then divvied up into bagfuls for other members and was just trying to recoup the cost of postage and the bags.

 

[geoffrod]

That's one of the people I referred to above - Patrick in Maryborough Vic, I believe. From memory, somebody up that way had given him a trailerload of cons which he then divvied up into bagfuls for other members and was just trying to recoup the cost of postage and the bags.

I read Patrick thread and he also mentioned Grappy's so we will give it a shot as well

By the way, i wonder how you get hold of a trailor load of cons??? thats the question

 

[geoffrod]

so the end result so far is
a 0.5 gram picker
0.35 small pickers
1.3 of flour gold and black heavy sands
Any ideas of removing the black heavies? i have ran them thru my 3d printed Blue Bowl several times.

 

[grubstake]

When the black sands are fully dry, a magnet in a plastic bag will pick them up and allow for their easy removal from the magnet.

 

[geoffrod]

When the black sands are fully dry, a magnet in a plastic bag will pick them up and allow for their easy removal from the magnet.

i did run a magnet around in the blue/Black bowl several times, i will certainly try the plastic bag trick! simple is good! thanks

 

[sand surfer]

make one of these geoffrod


parts list
1x 6" x3/4"(150mmx19mm)poly riser
1x 19mm screw on poly end cap
1x i think they are 25mm plastic chair/stool foot floor protector(white bit on the bottom)
1x compression spring
1x bolt to fit magnet thread of choice when buying magnet(i used stainless rod and threaded it myself)
and a flat washer to go between the bolt head and spring if you don't use a draw pull like i have done
glue to glue the thread when attaching magnet
you can get all above at the big green shed or your choice of shops

1x 8 to10 kg pull rare earth magnet
the 8 to 10kg magnet is so you can hover about 50mm to 75mm above the black sands
have the material dry and spread out in a single layer and hover above the material and you should only pick up the magnetic sands the gold should fall back down if picked up with the sands
it works well for separating ironstone from the gem stones as well

 

[geoffrod]

Hi Sand Surfer,
thanks for the reply and the great content mate
I have certainly tried to make one of those, my big problem with what i did was the spring rate, far to hard, Bunnings didnt have a lot of choice unfortunately i am definitely going to try this with the plastic bag method.

 

[sand surfer]

Ok most rural hardware stores or the local bolt shop should have good range of springs with lighter tensions