Separating Gold from Black Sands.

Separating Gold from Black Sands.


First and foremost you must know the art in how to use a gold pan which will take a bit of practice. To separate your gold from the black mineral sands you must have a wide bottom pan the narrow bottom pans retard your swirling motion. I need to take a step back and explain the swirling motion which will remove the black sand from your gold concentrate at clean up time. Here is what you do and it is very hard to explain more so than what it is to show. You need to gently run just over a cup full of water around either side of a Garrett super sluice pan or similar. The water must meet in the middle of the wash then fall back down over it pulling black mineral sands with it at the end of the pan against your body you will start to get a build-up of black sands you wash this off into your second pan. Then repeat until you have nothing but gold left. It is much better to be shown this but alas not many know how to do this so if ever you get a chance to be shown take the time and learn the trick it will save you so much time. The main point to remember while doing this is not to be in too big of a rush take your time. Develop your own style do not try and pan fast this will bring you undone in no time flat. Also remember new pans more so the plastic ones will need to be broken in this may take a day of panning to get the desired effect on the surface of the pan. A new pan also needs to be washed out with biodegradable detergent to remove the oils this has been talked about in another post.

A lot of people take the black sands home so they can sort them at their leisure; I have been told it saves valuable time in the field. There is nothing wrong with that idea except that 9 out of 10 times they never get done due to one reason or other. Or you may face the chance of your concentrate been split, dropped or of them been used in a flower potting mix {by the wife} is very high. You’re much better completing the task out in the field. When panning your concentrate from your unit you should do it with clean water with a drop of biodegradable detergent in the water and you must also use two pans for this job.

You will hear of a lot of people using magnets, I’m not real keen on this idea the reason been. If there is a very heavy display of mineral sands and you try to drag the mineral sands back from the gold the sand will trap gold and pull it down with it. The stronger the magnet the more trouble you will have, you are much better off using water. Do not ever glue a magnet in a pan silly idea. If you are panning clay silt you must make sure that all the clay has been dissolved, rinse the wash with clean water then pan it off.

It is not my intention to tell a person on how to prospect, I only offer guidance. What works well for me may not work well for you the same rule applies for the type of gear you have or are using. Please keep in mind these type of post are only for guidance. cheers


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JB 9/3/2011

Great post I cant say ive mastered the art of seperating the sand im guilty of saving it for the last week can see fine gold cant get it yet
video's make it look so easy I will master this art form one day
Cheers

Hi James101,

Thank you for the post it is a great help to newbies like me.

I saw this video on YouTube where he gets right down to the fine gold getting rid of all the black sand by gently rocking the pan:



Is that washing technique similar to what you are describing?

Regards,

Grant

fossicker12 wrote: video's make it look so easy I will master this art form one day Cheers

Fossicker mate you will have the skill sooner than ya think. It's not hard to master. cheers

gcause wrote:Hi James101,

Thank you for the post it is a great help to newbies like me.

I saw this video on YouTube where he gets right down to the fine gold getting rid of all the black sand by gently rocking the pan:



Is that washing technique similar to what you are describing?

Regards,

Grant

Yep very much like it, with a wide bottom plastic pan it is done just a little different. He's a card that old guy that is a good video the pan may have been somewhat salted grin. The way he is panning is very easy to master you just got to take your time when first starting out don't be in a rush. cheers

There's black sand, and there's black sand! Just came across a patch of ground where the black sand is so heavy it displaces the gold. Never seen it before in my life!
Just blew all my panning techniques out the window!

someday wrote:There's black sand, and there's black sand! Just came across a patch of ground where the black sand is so heavy it displaces the gold. Never seen it before in my life!
Just blew all my panning techniques out the window!

Yep it is funny how the larger bit's float on top of the Black sand but the finer bit's work there way through it.

Even scarier when you consider whats going on in a sluice box Horror, O deg slope, trickle of water AHHHH it's running to fast

 

Methylated spirits works for me. When I'm seperating the blacksand from the gold I use methylated spirits when the fine gold starts to float. It's best to work outdoors as the fumes can be unpleasant. After i have removed a majority of the blacksand, the gold is left to dry and then carefully blow clean away the remaining fine sands.