Separating fine gold flakes from black sand method

[moeee]

So I suppose even better would be to have an air compressor with a tap and you could control the wind , or how about a little electric fan where you could adjust the distance from the plate.
Starting to sound like the principle behind a dry blower , or is it the friction to the plate that keeps the gold intact ?
and how do you catch the tailings , or do you just lose them and hope little gold escaped ?

 

[Goldfreak]

Never tried doing it with a fan. Gentle controlled blowing seems to work best. I might have lost a little but manage to hold on to all the bits I can see. Does not seem to work with out the vibration so well. The finer the vibration the better. Like from the back of a electric tooth brush.

 

[aussiefarmer]

If the dirt is baked in an oven until crispy dry drop it slowly from a meter high with an electric fan blowing through what lands in a dish will depend on trial and error.

I personaly just pan it down and if its stubborn i just have two snuffer bottles one for sand and one for G old :Y:

 

[moeee]

I personaly just pan it down and if its stubborn i just have two snuffer bottles one for sand and one for G old :Y:

Doesn't the sand try to sneak into the Gold Snuffer bottle ? or do you sniff up the sand first with the Sand Snuffer bottle?

I have similar problems when cleaning mess on the carpet.
I can get the dust off the carpet with my black and decker dustbuster , but black and decker don't make a sandbuster.

 

[aussiefarmer]

Its a skill , i will share this much , a snuffer doesnt only snuff in the right hands

 

[user 4386]

I just came in from messin' with the separation method and had much more success.
I first tried the magnetic method you mentioned goldierocks and it was exactly as you said - 95% of the black sand was removed.
I did it with the material soaking wet but the reult would probably be similar if it was dry.
What was left was lights which are easily panned away , tiny tiny black sans which also panned easily , and the material you just posted on - monazite.
At least its that until I learn different.
My son and I called it crushed fine quartz powder until now , and previously I called it flour gold because it was as fine as flour and it stayed in the pan so must be heavy.

Well I tried my method again and with the rusty clamp leads and rusty springs I was getting poor contact with the wind disturbing things and getting erratic pump running with the changes in delivery upseeting things.
I pretty sure with a rocksteady fluid flow I can improve further than the 95% recovery I achieved today.
Also the wind may be messin' with the gold flakes that rose to the brim and was makin' waves and that may have tipped the flakes over instead of allowing gravity to drag them back down.

Dry is better - did you have fun then getting the black sand off your magnet? Dry, and with an electromagnet you just turn it off and most of the black sand will not stick.

The point with the gentle "rocking" of the pan is that you can get rid of 75% of the black sand (without losing gold) before going to the magnet - less to dry and handle. Don't try to pan all the black sand off....

 

[Nightjar]

When removing the iron from the black sand, twist a layer of glad wrap over your magnet like a lolly wrapper. Very simple when it comes to removing magnetics from your magnet.

 

[moeee]

Yes I wrapped the magnet in some plastic bag material.I guess putting the magnet in a little ziplock type baggy would work.
Also , pretty sure there is a clip on YouTube that shows how to make your own quick release magnet for black sand removal.

I was out there again today with the pump and glass and tried various things but still kept losing some flakes.
I believe its the flat shape tends to cause the issue as the turbulence lifting heavier flatter flakes has trouble competing with lighter rounder black sands.
Also I need a finer control for the water supply which is not difficult to add.

 

[mudgee hunter]

What I can I say... two words....
BLUE BOWL!
pay the money, or replicate it.
Tried, tested and proven.

 

[moeee]

I must have purchased a chinese copy or something because the blue bowl could not separate the gold from all of the black sands.
Much black sands remained behind.
Perhaps I needed to use a more powerful pump
I'll give it another go tomorrow with the 3700 pump
I can't recall exactly what the issue was - it may have been losing gold , or water flying everywhere.
Best I do a blue bowl test and show how it went.
Also I vaguely recall the waiting time for it to do its thing was incredibly long.
again , best I do a test and file a report.

 

[moeee]

I must have purchased a chinese copy or something because the blue bowl could not separate the gold from all of the black sands.
Much black sands remained behind.
Perhaps I needed to use a more powerful pump
I'll give it another go tomorrow with the 3700 pump
I can't recall exactly what the issue was - it may have been losing gold , or water flying everywhere.
Best I do a blue bowl test and show how it went.
Also I vaguely recall the waiting time for it to do its thing was incredibly long.
again , best I do a test and file a report.

This is the biggest pack of lies ever assembled into a single post.
There is hardly a truthful word amongst it.
I cannot believe how wrong I was - What on earth was I thinking at the time.

The Blue Bowl separates black sands from gold with ease - in a rush I removed all the black sand and only lost 5% of the gold - in my next attempt I shall do it carefully and see if I can improve to 100%

Its not about the pump - The suggested pump has more than enough delivery to run the pan over its design limit and splash water over the outside rim , which is bad to do.
And the waiting time was minimal once you have the system set up and levelled.

The only thing I noticed was that larger pieces of material would not rise up the cone - and this was forecast by the manufacturers who suggest classifying the material down to 30 mesh before placing in the bowl.

 

[moeee]

But of course this is a DIY section , and going to the shop and purchasing a Blue Bowl doesn't really qualify as DIY.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

If you are using a ziplock bag over your magnet could I suggest that you pull the bag inside out first. Then as you remove the bag to can put it right way out and close the bag over the magnetic contents.

Yes I wrapped the magnet in some plastic bag material.I guess putting the magnet in a little ziplock type baggy would work.
Also , pretty sure there is a clip on YouTube that shows how to make your own quick release magnet for black sand removal.

I was out there again today with the pump and glass and tried various things but still kept losing some flakes.
I believe its the flat shape tends to cause the issue as the turbulence lifting heavier flatter flakes has trouble competing with lighter rounder black sands.
Also I need a finer control for the water supply which is not difficult to add.

 

[moeee]

Wasn't considering keeping the black sands.
My son actually purchased a quick release magnet device actually designed to remove black sands with a push down spring loaded syringe.
Also works for when you drop a bunch of tacks on the garage floor.