How do I get the gold dust and last tiny bits of gold out of the remainer gunk in my pan ?

I pounded up half a dozen non attractive specimens today and removed as much gold as I could with the pan. I kept the waste stuff after each pan and I know there is a fair bit of really fine gold left.

How the hell do I recover this ?

Thanks a lot,

Jig

there's probably a better method jigs...but I use a snuffer bottle or an eye dropper

when i've sucked it all up I put it on a sheet of paper to dry, once dry pour it into my bottle or crucuble

I have asked the same question and this is what I was told.

Keep accumulating the very fine stuff in amongst the leftover rubbish in the bottom of your pan in a screw top jar until you have enough to add some mercury and this will attract all small and fine gold. Mercury can hold it's own weight in gold. Then do the retort thing amd recover the mercury for next time and collect the gold and put it with the rest of your gold to do whatever with.

Use a drop of rinse aid / dishwashing liquid in the pan if you have very fine gold as it will float of with the water as you are panning, you may not even notice it going out.

cheers dave

Yeah I just keep all mine. I don't have enough to start looking for mercury..

Dicko..

Hi All, Jig
Have a look at this link, it looks good to me, I am going to get some info on these & maybe order one, so if anyone else is interested in any let me know & we could share the freight cost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh_Cd5ScW8U

cheers

Lee

in order for a Miller table to work you need to be sure that all the gold is quartz free as this table works on specific gravity

I had a look Lee, thanks. I think freight might be a killer on that from the US, but it looks like a great bit of gear..

I am not really a sluicer or a panner that has a lot of this sort of job to do. I have collected a few ugly specimens over the last two years and will probably not need to do it again for another two years.

It would be a big out lay to use it for half an hour every two years.

Cheers,

Jig.

Dave,

What does this involve ? What sort of eqipment and cost would there be. Is the mercury a hazard ? So may questions !

thanks,

Jig.

Steve,

I can't seperate the fine black dust from the gold dust. I must by a sniffer though as I have been using the end of a Kleenex to wipe it up, then I dunk this in the water of my little bottle and shake it off.

Thanks,

Jig

Jigalong wrote:Dave,

What does this involve ? What sort of eqipment and cost would there be. Is the mercury a hazard ? So may questions !

thanks,

Jig.

G'day Jig

I am still at the collection stage only as yet, so not to sure of equipment cost. Mercury (Hg) is a hazzard, so they tell us now, considering that they used to let you play with it in school during Science class. But they know much better now

Jigalong wrote:
Is the mercury a hazard ?

G'day Jig, Have a read of this.... MERCURY

Cheers

Thanks Dave and GS.

To think I used to pinch it from the science class to rub on a penny and make it look like a two bob !

Jig

You might want to try this alternate way, if it is the 'black sand' you want to separate from the gold you can bake it on a tray in an ordinary kitchen oven.
Have seen a fella 'bake' this mix and when dry, he slowly and gently 'blew' the black sand away from the fine gold.
Sometimes this can be collected by placing a magnet in a freezer/plastic bag and run it over the dry mix.

This site has similar ways to remove your 'flour gold'
http://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/blsagorepa2.html

jigalong hi
as said before , a lot of that black sand is magnetic.  another way to seperate it , is sprinkle the dry mix on to a piece of paper and drag a magnet underneath it

That's a great tip Dave . I will try it.
Thanks a lot.Jig.

I just get magnet, in pan filled with water to about an inch below the top and put magnet on material in bottom, lift,and keeping magnet just under surface vigouresly wash magnet in circular motion to remove gold 'sticking' to black sands,lift out, clean magnet and repeat until fine gold is only left ,then after leaving to settle pour off excess water and pick up with snuffer.

Thanks Clay Base and Fastgold. I will try all these magnet ideas.
Jig

I have now got all the black stuff out and thanks to all for your help. I found the magnet with plastic over it worked best for me.

Now for the BIG question. I have all my gold sucked up into my squeze bottle, how do I now get it out and into the little glass vial I purchased ?

Thank,

Jig.

Pour off excess water and using concave watch glass I just heat slowly over gas flame till only gold left and brush into container. You can buy the watch glasses from scientific shop for a feww bucks depending on size you want.Isuggested the method I use because you can do as you find rather than store Best off is approx 4 in diam on /off magnet which has handle like cheap old circ hair brush and works excellent. What I'd like to know is where to get 12 in. wave table shown on same link mentioned previously as it looked a real ripper

Jigalong sorry i didnt see this post till now --what i do is painstakingly pan away the black sands --patience is a virtue -- my sands are tin so you cant use a magnet !! so you have all the sands panned away -- now tap the top of the pan gently ,im assuming you are using a pan with a drop center, now when you have all the gold concentrated at the top of the pan wet a cotton bud and squeeze the excess water from it -- now tilt the pan allowing the water to go to the bottom of the pan leaving the gold in a bunch at the top -- now drag the bud into the gold pile and turn the bud gently as you are doing so now you have the bud full of GOLD! have your bottle that you want to put the gold into ready with it nearly full of water -- gently place the bud ,with the gold attached ,into the bottle and give it a little jiggle !! all the gold will fall into the bottle at that point!! just repeat till all the gold id in the bottle !!! one tip ALWAYS do this procedure in the pan to avoid any gold loss!!

lots of tin/ilmenite and gem stones to get rid of to get down to this !! but it is worth it --- I put all the black sands into one pan and then suck ALL the stuff into my poverty bottle !!





the white bottle is the poverty one and contains a little Mercury

life's a bitch when you have to use a spoon to transfer your gold !!

G'day Murachu,

After I posted this, I used the magnet in plastic technique - this worked a treat.

I only pan once in a blue moon when I smash up the specimens I have collected.

Thanks for your help.

Jig.