Black Sand & Tellurides

There are a couple of things that everyone who has done any prospecting or mining has learned to hate. Floured mercury, lack of water, and black sand. O.K.. there are a couple of others however black sand is within the same class as floured mercury. it is terribly tough to cope with. it is terribly heavy. Its density is concerning 5. that is it is concerning 5 times heavier than water.

Your average "dirt" with tiny stones etc. encompasses a density of concerning 2-21/2. Gold encompasses a density of nineteen.3. The thing that drives U.S.A. all slightly crazy with black sand is that it is relatively straightforward to separate the "dirt" from the gold however most folks find it much more tough to separate the gold from the black sand. There are hundreds of methods to accomplish this job. probably concerning, as several methods as there are miners.

Here in Central America the "borers" don’t use a pan like something that we've got. This pan or "chateau" is handcrafted from the highest of a 55 gallon steel barrel. They dig a shallow hole within the ground and put the steel over it. They hammer the steel disco with a rock till it is within the shape of a "wok", a Chinese frypan. They then pound a "dimple" within the bottom/center of this pan. The dimple is concerning one in. in diameter and maybe 3/8 in. deep. With this device the locals will cut back a chateau (maybe three of our pans) to associate degree amount of gold/black sand that fills the dimple in a matter of a second or 2. i used to be once told by associate degree oreo who was trying to use a plastic "Garret" pan that he did’t assume a lot of of it. In fact, I bear in mind his exact words. He aforesaid "con Eastern Time chateau, ME mere Delaware hombre". With this pan, i might die of hunger. At the tip of the day, like us, they gather all their concentrates and separate the gold from the black sand. They simply re-pan it. once they get to the last dimple-full of concentrate they are doing something that I actually have never seen before. They spit within the pan. Then with a finger, they work the saliva into the concentrate and continue to pan. for a few reason unknown to ME, the black sand appears to combination within the saliva. It simply form of balls up except for the gold. They eventually discard the saliva ball and leave the gold simply lying there within the dimple. Believe me, it works. My efforts to use this technique weren't particularly successful. It principally resulted in rails of laughter from all the "good recent boys " who were observance with intense interest. thus far I actually have been unable to get them to clarify to ME however they are doing it. After all, they need a ball observance ME attempt. It makes their whole day.

To watch these borers pan are some things not to be forgotten. If the best panniers within the U.S.A. were to go head to head with these guys for each day, no contest. after associate degree hour or 2 you would be thus far behind that you just would wish to simply disappear into the jungle. it is downright embarrassing. i know the way to pan with these devises, however I simply don’t have the muscle to do it for quite one pan. That chateau with a minimum of three of your heaping pans in it is heavy. Yet, they can fuck all day just as quick as you'll fill the pan with a shovel. These guys don't seem to be normal. they are animals. i know one amongst these guys named "shorts" who will carry my Keene dredge consisting of eight hp engine, pump, and mechanical device (100 lbs) on his shoulder up a thirty degree mountain slope for four hours while not breaking stride. once he told ME that he might fuck, he was form of embarrassed to inform ME that he would love to have something to place on his shoulder to cushion it. He aforesaid that metal form of "cut" his shoulder after for a while. assume you're tough? you just don’t have the proper competition.

Enough of that. we have a tendency to set out to talk concerning black sand. So, what's black sand? does anyone know? are you sure? typically we are saying that black sand is made of 2 styles of iron oxides, magnetic iron-ore and hematite. that is just about true.

Magnetite
Both magnetic iron-ore and hematite are oxides of Iron. These are rather complex inorganic compounds which will occur in numerous forms. they can be crystalline or amorphous i.e.. no organized structure. hematite nearly always occurs in a crystalline form. in this extremely organized state it is extremely resistant to reaction with most chemicals. it'd be much better for U.S.A. if they were all amorphous, as they might then gift no great problem; we would simply dissolve them. However, the very fact is that the stuff that provides U.S.A. backaches is mostly crystalline forms.

Chemically, magnetic iron-ore is named metal oxide and encompasses a formula metallic element. It contains 3 atoms of Iron and four atoms of atomic number 8. It melts at 1538 C and encompasses a density of 5.2. it is destroyed by heating within the presence of atomic number 8. It will be dissolved by robust acids, however it is sloop. It is, of course, magnetic.

I’m not going into all the methods of removing magnetic iron-ore from concentrates. You guys probably apprehend a lot of ways that than I do. I ordinarily use the following technique and it appears to figure pretty good if you're careful.

Take {a handful|a couple|a few|one or 2|some} or two of concentrates and put them in a plastic pan, cowl with a generous amount of water. currently get a good magnet, not one amongst those your better half sticks on the icebox. put it in a plastic bag and punctiliously pass it around within the pan higher than the concentrates. don't STIR THE CONCENTRATES WITH THE MAGNET! The trick is to make the magnetic iron-ore jump up through the water to the magnet. take away the magnet from the pan and stir, then repeat till no a lot of geophysical science will be removed. don't discard the magnetic iron-ore. Keep it so that you'll examine it later to ascertain however careful you were.

Hematite
Ferric equilibrium. this is often another oxide of Iron, additionally called Jewelers Rouge. it is not thus with chemicals resistant as magnetic iron-ore and can typically be dealt with by treatment with robust acids, bases, Clorox, etc.. Its chemical formula is typically written as metallic element. 2 Irons and three atomic number 8. If you heat magnetic iron-ore at fairly high temperatures within the presence of atomic number 8 you'll find yourself with hematite.

I have, every now and then, had good luck treating hematite with focused acid. give it a attempt however use caution and browse the page on acids and bases first.

In fact, try this first with great care you understand what acid will do to you. Take alittle pyrex vessel; put concerning an inch of common sugar in it. currently slowly pour in enough focused acid to simply wet it. do this outside or in a place where nothing will depart. currently simply stand back and watch it for a couple of minutes. assume what that would do to you, and, I guarantee that it'll do constant to you. No, I’m not progressing to tell you what happens. Try it, you'll never again treat focused acid with disrespect.
 
Telluride
There is a metal that no one is aware of a lot of concerning, Tellurium. attend "links", "periodic table of elements", and you'll find all the chemical characteristics of this component. it is a metal with lots of chemical properties kind of like gold. No, it’s not a precious metal, however it does have a novel property. It forms natural salts (complexes) with gold. a number of the foremost valuable gold ores that exist are within the variety of telluride. Yeah, I know, somebody told you that gold was inert, it does’t mix with something in nature. It solely occurs as the elemental metal, GOLD. Well, as usual, they told you wrong. I’m certain they believed it, their best pal told them, thus it must be true. The pal solely had evidence, recent wives tales. we have a tendency to Basement Chemists solely believe the tales which will be supported. certain we have a tendency to all apprehend that there's gold dissolved in sea- water as the salt, gold chloride. True, however the amount is thus tiny that, for our functions, it will be neglected. we have a tendency to Cain’t endocrine gland get made on that.

I know somebody goes to mention, " gold comes, in nature, combined with mercury, silver, copper, etc, I find it all the time. These amalgams that we have a tendency to all find once in for a while, don't seem to be "combined". they are not another chemical. they are not salts of gold, mercury, silver, or copper. they are simply mixtures of gold, silver, copper, and mercury. they need not with chemicals reacted to form another compound.

OK, thus what the hell could be a telluride anyway? Well, as Basement Chemists you ought to have caught on by currently that once a chemical name ends in "IDE" it implies that it is a salt. the things are with chemicals combined, not simply mixed or dissolved in one another. hydrogen sulfide is not hydrogen dissolved in sulfur. it is hydrogen reacted with sulfur to supply a totally completely different chemical. If not, you'll simply warm the hydrogen sulfide and it'd boil off hydrogen and leave sulfur behind. It don’t work that manner. they are reacted to form a chemical that is not hydrogen nor sulfur. It’s a totally completely different thing.

Tellurium, gold, and silver (and different metals) will react to form telluride. Why are they not called "gold ides"? Don’t apprehend. i feel it simply don’t sound pretty much as good. Actually, it is because you'll have tellurium/silver, tellurium/gold, or tellurium/silver/gold. you can't have silver/gold. that is associate degree amalgam, a mixture, not a compound.

There are a couple of telluride that are of interest to prospectors/miners.

Calvert: Acute
Calvert is that the name given to a telluride that occurs in sure areas as a brown/black, friable material that if you pan it out may fine show no gold in the least. However, these things will be the "Elvis Presley" of gold ores. All you guys have detected of an area called "Telluride" Colorado, right? the rationale they called it that was that that they had deposits of telluride that were yielding such a lot gold you could’t believe it. Calvert is that the ore that you just wish to search out. It will assay from 20- 70th gold and it is straightforward to recover. You and i have probably walked on that, dug it, looked at it, thrown it away, and moved  on to higher spots. the problem is that it does’t appear as if gold. you would possibly not see even a color, or as we are saying here "Ni international organisation dojo Delaware anecdote" (not even a dipterous insect eye). This ore is metallic and is amenable to amalgamation with mercury. it is terribly heavy and can be caught in sluices etc. It, however, does not appear as if gold, is not yellow, and is typically tossed out with the black sands. It appears a lot of like gold/mercury amalgam than gold however it is nearly that either.

It would probably be worth it slow to visit a nearby university etc. and raise them to indicate you some samples of Calvert, with great care you recognize what it looks like. maybe they might give you some so that you would have it to check with any suspect ore. This ore is not one that you just would wish to miss. slightly deposit of these things might build your whole year.

If you ought to get into a deposit of this material, be careful. Don’t throw something away till you're certain it's no gold in it. If you ought to discard alittle proportion of Calvert, at hr gold, it might be big money. Send it to ME, I’All be happy to cope with it. I’All even pay shipping charges.

AltaVista
This is another telluride of silver/gold. Not thus significant as the higher than.


Sylvan
A telluride of gold and silver. It will assay as high as 2 hundredth gold.

Petite
Another telluride that is principally silver. Silver content is typically twice that of gold.

Jessie
Resembles Petite. typically concerning hr silver
 
Sulfides
A sulphide could be a reduced salt of sulfur. Like copper sulphide, CPUs. associate degree modify salt of copper and sulfur would be copper sulphate. Cusp. bear in mind concerning redo? Addition of associate degree atomic number 8 oxidizes the compound. Anytime you see the ending "IDE" it implies that the compound is in it’s "reduced" form. If you see the ending "ate" it implies that it is in it’s modify form. You see, U.S.A. scientific types have our own language so that we can speak while not having to clarify at each step what we have a tendency to mean. droop with ME and I’All tell you slightly concerning this language. Hell, it Cain’t no tougher than learning Spanish.

Sulfides will ruin your whole day. They coat almost everything with surface of sulphide which will prevent you from amalgamating, reacting with cyanide, or dissolving in solutions of halides. If you have slightly piece of silver, slightly hydrogen sulfide from the native volcano, you'll have a bit of silver with a coat of silver sulphide on that. This coat can prevent you from dissolving it in cyanide or any other.

Fortunately for U.S.A. sulfides are relatively unstable. wish to destroy a sulfide? It’s not too tough however one that i am afraid most folks ignore. HEAT IT! almost all sulfides can dissociate with heat. That is, if you heat a sulphide within the presence of atomic number 8 you'll boil off the sulfur as either sulfur dioxide or as hydrogen sulfide. If you heat some ore that you just suspect of having sulfides gift you'll smell a rather distinctive odor.

Have any of you ever been to a "beer and egg party"? A keg of brew and a great amount of hard-boiled eggs? future day you're alittle tumid, gaseous, or in scientific terms, "flatulent". When you, as the English say, "pass wind", this is often the odor of sulfides being dispelled from the heated ore. once the odor of sulfur isn't any longer apparent, you'll continue to your extraction technique.

The time-honored thanks to cope with sulfides is to boil them off with heat.

Just get some roofing metal, get the picture up off the bottom with a couple of rocks etc. and build a good fireplace under it. spread your material on the metal and let it cook. when you don’t smell any longer sulfur, process it.