Mining California Gold
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มี.ค. 2024
- Join us on an exhilarating adventure as Jason of @mbmmllc and Harry of @mineoperator delve deep underground into an abandoned California gold mine in search of hidden treasures left behind by the old miners. Once inside the mine, they embark on a quest to identify areas of the vein that may still contain rich ore deposits. With keen eyes and determination, they locate a promising section and waste no time in extracting the precious ore.
Back at Jason's shop, witness the ore undergo a transformative journey as it is crushed using a jaw crusher and hammer mill to reveal its hidden treasures. Then, watch as the gold is expertly concentrated on the shaker table, separating it from the surrounding rock.
However, their journey takes an unexpected turn as they encounter challenges while attempting to smelt the gold into its pure form. Will they overcome these obstacles and successfully extract California's long-lost gold, or will their efforts be in vain?
Stay tuned until the end to discover the fate of their quest and unravel the mysteries of this forgotten gold mine. Don't miss out on the thrilling conclusion of this epic adventure!
MineOperator eBay: www.ebay.com/usr/mineoperator
MBMMLLC eBay Listings: www.ebay.com/usr/mtbakerminin...
Patreon Account: / mbmmllc
Hats, Shirts, & Merch: my-store-c2b497.creator-sprin...
My Other Channel: S&J Forest Products: / @sjforestproducts
For more info please email or call:
Email: info@MBMMLLC.com
Phone: 360-595-4445
Website: www.mbmmllc.com/
Patreon: / mbmmllc
Facebook: / mbmmllc
Instagram: / mbmmllc
Twitter: / mbmmllc
@mineoperator
@Askjeffwilliams
AFFILIATE LINKS
What's an affiliate link? If you use our link to buy something, MBMM gets a small percentage of the money you spend. This DOES NOT mean you will spend more money using our link, you will spend the SAME AMOUNT of money while also supporting a small business and channel.
Underground Mining Equipment:
Milwaukee Hammer drill bits: amzn.to/3MjLf8A
Milwaukee Sawzall: amzn.to/3Qt6Yyv
Milwaukee Flood Light: amzn.to/3NmvYEc
Milwaukee Driver: amzn.to/3OqKoDT
Milwaukee Grinder: amzn.to/3Qwro9C
Hard hat with light clip: amzn.to/3Iss7nL
Head lamp for hard hat: amzn.to/433G5US
Hammer drill: amzn.to/3ORKSVi
Safety glasses: amzn.to/439w8Fo
Gloves: amzn.to/45ceXoF
Feather and wedge set: amzn.to/3Om1kNz
Respirator: amzn.to/3IqbclD
Complete Smelting Kits:
Complete smelting furnace kit: amzn.to/3WdvHHS
Cupelling furnace: amzn.to/42ZOWXV
Fluxes:
Chapman’s flux: amzn.to/3Of4JO0
Anhydrous borax: 1lb amzn.to/3M6EhUh 5lbs amzn.to/3pLRx9i
Silica sand: amzn.to/3Mv0TiG
Soda ash: 1lb amzn.to/41Ctg2N 5lbs amzn.to/3BtrhDg 50lbs amzn.to/3oaI6Qf
Lye: amzn.to/3Mx8OvD
Litharge: amzn.to/3OhtHwi
Lead: amzn.to/3MARq9t
Bismuth: amzn.to/45uuSPk
Smelting Supplies:
Crucibles: #4 amzn.to/3M92QQk 10# amzn.to/42XIsIY fire clay amzn.to/42K3laN
Cupel: amzn.to/437F8L6
Electric furnace: amzn.to/430C6cd
Tongs: amzn.to/3BB2dKp
Heat safe gloves: amzn.to/41MxMeQ
Gold pans: amzn.to/3pRIzra
Gold screens: amzn.to/3pTjo7j
Scales: 0.01 amzn.to/3BB2FZ7 0.001 amzn.to/438NrXh
Magnets: amzn.to/42MFLde
Pan for roasting sulfides: amzn.to/3pNGQTN
Respirator: amzn.to/3IqbclD
Microscope for phone: amzn.to/3OsAdQM
Furnace Building Supplies:
Kaowool: 2” x 12.5’: amzn.to/3BB9IRO 1” x 25” amzn.to/3Wd7ktO
Water glass (sealant): amzn.to/45desuv
Fire bricks: amzn.to/3Ogx86v
Shop vac: amzn.to/434rOXV
Propane: amzn.to/3pTj60d
Propane regulator and burner: amzn.to/3pG4p0w
Refractory cement: amzn.to/3Ok75ex
Refining Supplies:
Hot Plate: amzn.to/3OTVjbk
Beakers: amzn.to/3WPtMcF
Nitric Acid: amzn.to/3WM3iZC
Buchner Funnel Kit: amzn.to/43wJ4W6
Watch Glass: amzn.to/43F24BP
Sulfuric Acid: amzn.to/43CfoH6
Filming Equipment:
Samsung Galaxy 22 Ultra: amzn.to/3ol4nuM
GoPro Hero 11: amzn.to/47ODv8g
Long tripod: amzn.to/3WpKWgW
Short tripod: amzn.to/3IVYdZl
Keywords: California Gold Mining, Underground Exploration, Gold Veins, Ore Crushing, Gold Concentration, Smelting Gold, Abandoned Mines.
Hashtags: #GoldMining #CaliforniaGold #UndergroundExploration #GoldVeins #MiningAdventure #TreasureHunt - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Man... I appreciate them parts where you're thinking through the failures and figuring things out so much
Another issue is the gold in the oxidized pyrite - the number 2 bead you got was pretty impressive for 100 grams of #2 cons. Harry and the guys are just doing a free gold recovery only - and getting a quarter to a half ounce recovery in free gold particles. I watched a few of their videos and they pan off any sulfides and oxides and just recover the free gold. But gold locked up in pyrite does not go anywhere when the pyrite oxidizes to Limonite / Goethite. But the pyrite becomes much less dense as it is converted to limonite. As you saw, much of the oxidized pyrite goes into the No. 2 and even the No. 3 cons - because it is now so much less dense. The unoxidized pyrite fraction went mostly to the no. 1 cons. One answer of why you seem to be getting a lot more gold may be that you are smelting all the #1 cons including sulfides and oxides, and they are panning off anything that isn't gold. Have they done any actual fire assays of their rock? Have they assayed the oxidized pyrite fraction? Pyrite often carries gold and if you are rejecting the oxidized pyrite, you are rejecting the gold was in the pyrite that is now oxidized.
Wow that's awesome Chris. I didn't think about that at all.
@Chris, I’ve been to their shop and although they haven’t shown themselves processing their sulfides and pyrites , they actually do. I’ll ask Chad or Ron if they will do a video on that for us as your right I haven’t seen one from them explaining how they do it.😎
I just bought some hard rock high grade from BC. The fellow told me I will lose most ofvthe Au if I fire smelt it! I'll be doing the entire batch in acids
Agreed Jason is going too much credit to the 2g he recovered to the nails. At most the added 15%-20%. Still making the recovery around 40-45g per ton. Sounds like a winner
*I got the two bags of crushed high grade you auctioned off a while back, finally successfully processed. From the 2297 grams of ore received, recovered a 2.015 gram gold button, slightly exceeding your rate of return when you processed your sample of the high grade.*
That's some really rich ore in that mine!
This is primarily for Chad and Harry.
I noticed he said he felt the rotary hammer drill "wasn't big enough". The major issue with that drill, is the voltage drop being caused the the excessive length of those cords, and the fact that the drill is getting the left over voltage after all the lights and voltage drop due to length and conductor size. Id be surprised if that drill was getting 95-100v after all things considered. The solution is costly- A dedicated heavier gauge cord(preferably one piece), running on its own generator.
I was thinking the same thing. Better to get a cordless and pack a bunch of 12 Ah battery packs. It only hurts when you initially purchase them.
Agree. Considering the terrain, a solar with lithium charging station might be feasible and could include charging via the generator capability they currently have. The stable temp in the mine would ensure no restriction for high/low charging temp.
there is a trick i have done using a transformer and rheostat where I boosted the voltage and set it back at 120 volts. and have run power for a electric rock drill 800 feet underground
Honestly, it's better to invest in a pneumatic water fed hammer drill...Anything to keep that crap out of your lungs...
if there is room to run the generator inside the mine you could run exhaust hose, altho that could be problematic
The gold buttons and "where are we getting loss / contamination?" remind me a lot of Sreetips and his quest for max gold recovery and purity.
Harry, Jason!!…….open those mines and gimme that job!!! 😂😂😂 thanks for all you guys do! Gettin our learn on!!
I heard chickens in the background at Jason’s house. He’s more based that I realized! 😂
Lol my chicken are out with me watching the video lmfao 🤣 😂
@@jamisontaylor878 I was with mine too! When I sit in the yard they all gather round hoping I magically produce some snacks! 😂
Yes he grew up with humble country side begginings 😊😊
@@semoneg2826 like him more and more. Now if he’d just hire me to work with him…..
Sulfur makes a blue flame, yellow is sodium. Something you could try to do to recover the bismuth is run those nails through your hammer mill and the table should separate the two, or even put them through your disc mill and then put them on a plate and heat it up only hot enough to melt the bismuth but not the iron. Bismuth melts at like 520F so you can easily reach that with a map gas torch or even a hot propane torch. The sad part is you've been using nails for quite a while and if the gold sticks to them all the time... how much gold have you thrown away on nails?
I hope he reads your comment. Such great info. 👍
You sound like you know that we had to handle this ore , May I ask you one question, this all timer told me to use Portland cement , my recovery went up,why?
@@NorCalNeel who knows, maybe the sand they use in it has gold in it.
I think Portland cement is almost identical to the material used in cupels
Yea I thought sulfur makes a blue hue when it’s in gas form and when it comes out into the atmosphere. I think I’d be really suspect of Chinese nails
Thanks for keeping me company while I drink pot of coffee always a learning experience, love how The lessons in geology from your friend help explain your work
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🤙🏼🤟🏼🖖🏼
In the 60 here in Poland, miners in uranium mines often put a sheet of steel right under wall that was about to be blasted. It helped with mucking as shovel didn't get stuck on jagged gravel, but could slide smoothly on the metal sheet.
Thx for taking us along! We enjoy watching the process.
Like the old timers used to say, Gold Rides an Iron Horse. So in altered rock where you see Iron, you'll see gold. As far as the nails is concerned you might have to create some Aqua regia and immerse the nails in that to get the gold free from the iron and Bismuth, Since Aqua Regia dissolves gold. But you're gonna need nitric acid to make Aqua Regia. Fun time mining in that little partially filled stope. definitely worth digging out that seam, for sure!
The way I see it you are giving all of us a self sacrificing video of the entire process! I , for one love all of your videos my friend!
You'll "nail" it sooner or later! Lol! Keep it happening Jason, lots of great material & a big shout out to MO..... ⛏️⚒️⚖️💪🤠
1:06:14 You have to tint one of those jaw crushers so it looks like Dan Hurd's face with the bolts as eyes and crusher plate as the beard😂🤣😅
Of course with, nom nom, nom in a speech baloon like a cartoon 😅😂
..and I think your chickens 🐔 sound hilarious 😂
Every time I see it I think nom nom nom as its face happily munches away anything in its path.
Jason... I think that rooster crying in the background stole the gold!
Yes, I know I'm messing but hey, all the experts have their succinct feedback while me, I'm just a BIG FAN of watching all your stuff, so thanks for being a great guy and an even greater instructor! Yep, now I walk on the beaches here in Ireland and look at each and every quartz pebble and stone... and look to see if I can spot all the bits you have taught me!! THANKS!!
Maybe you can mechanically remove the bismuth from the nails by scraping or hammering. Then fire that in a cupel. If it works you could switch to more uniform rods of iron to make it easier to remove.
Fun way to make a living! Keep up the good work!
Love your collaboration with Harry and MO!
Great video, I love these in depth longer videos rather than the shorts. Iappreciate that they are much more work, but they are also much better to watch and very informative !
Shorts is just to tease you for what's coming....most of the times shorts is cut from the longer video
If you can't smelt it. I'm not so into the chemistry of Bismut, but dunk the nails a few times in Nitric acid and keep filtering what you poor of. Dunk the filtrate and left overs in Aqua Regia and percipitate the Gold with FerrousSulfate. (Or SMB)
Thank you Jason this has been a very enjoyable and informative video six stars brother
Very cool. You are learning important things. It makes sense that iron will alloy with lead, bismuth, gold, etc. even though you are running the furnace below the iron melting point. I've seen this happen with other metals. The resulting alloy could be so high in iron that you can't melt it to extract the PMs. I don't think you can use iron at all knowing this unless you have a way to fully recapture the other metals. Maybe dissolving the nails in HCl (the Au and Ag should be left behind)? It probably makes more sense to find other methods to oxidize the sulfides.
I already knew gold is insoluble in HCl as aqua rega is the only acid to dissolve it .A quick check showed that silver is also insoluble in it. Disolving metals in acid is far easier than the smelting process in my opinion
Becoming quite the chef😅 I've learned a lot from your videos 👍
This is a funny idea, but think about it a bit before dismissal. Consider mounting a second headlamp on the back of your camera, so anytime your looking into the camera, we can see whats happening behind you and get a better sense of the space. Any opportunities to eliminate some of the blackness will help sell the experience more accurately to the reality. It doesn't need to be a headlamp persay, just another light source to cast backward.
Finally I get the first comment! So glad to see another great video Jason!!!
Looks like u were second. 😢 but don’t worry.
First is the worst.
Second is the best.
Third is a turd with a hairy chest.
Looks like ur still a 🏆
Jason, I bought some one gram 99.9% silver bars and use them periodically to test my smelting technique. Use an ore sample that has been proven to not have any gold or silver in it. So far I’m getting back 99% of my silver back. Since you are checking for gold contamination just use one gram gold bars instead. Testing with a known quantity is a well known scientific method. HTH! Love your channel.
He's got contamination everywhere. Not just the nails or his mill. His buckets, gold pans, smelting pots, forms, scales. I don't think he's learning any lessons from it either but it's his channel and I do enjoy it.
Hey, since nails make problems just use kno3 first then wait for the slag to stop bubbling meaning all the kno3 reacted and then add bismuth. And don't use iron this way you lose some silver due to oxidation but at least you recover all the gold since it doesn't oxidise. Or you can just use charcoal powder as a reduction agent instead of iron.
Great video Jason! I live in WA as well and was drooling over the beautiful CA weather :). Have you ever just tried taking your crushed table cons and dissolving it in hydrochloric / nitric acid? Will the acid break the gold out of the crushed sulfides? I mine in Nome, Alaska and my gold (panned material) is 83% pure and the rest is about 8.5% AG, 5% FE, and 3.5% Sn. I'm typically able to produce .995 gold with just the aqua regia technique.
my two cents , with the nitric and the sulfur and the combination of every thing else when it come to boil your putting gold in a solution similar to AR , the nails drop the gold and silver out and it deposits on the nails because they are attracting it , quick check would be dissolve the iron with Muriatic acid with few drops of hydrogen peroxide in a beaker and get it hot to burn off iron rinse couple times then smelt it , last thought baking soda in your flux to reduce acids power that was made might be very bubbly tho . Bill
Wow Jason.
What a chanel !😊
Another great video. I really appreciate that You bring us along on your learning. Your videos are refreshing exactly because You ask a lot of great questions. And, You are quick to explain what You do not currently understand and are a great example of the scientific method in real life. Never stop learning!
Thank you I feel that I’ve learned something today. I appreciate you sharing.
maybe use powdered iron instead of nails.might be able to be more accurate than chucking a hand full of nails in, might help with inconsistencies in the smelt? investing in a xray gun to narrow down sample composition for a more tailored smelt recipe? just some thought's stay positive and thanks for another awesome video!!
May need to send those nails to Nile Red for a chemical separation. That would be a cool collaboration.
To Provide XS Iron I have had very good results using Old ReBar I have been removing from a WaterWay.
The Bar is definitely more than 50 years old and the metal seems to dissolve more readily in a Smelt.
The ReBar was part of a Historic Mining zone nearby which is completely gone. Only a few indications remain.
The ReBar is easy to put into and take out of the Smelt. There is also a Needle Point left on the ReBar. Kewl.
I enjoy watching the process, from mining to smelting. It is quite a journey. Thinking on the contamination aspect, I see you run a lot of different material through both crushers, do you clean them in-between different runs? Looking forward to more this coming season from your mine. I have enjoyed going through the two bags of muck I bought from you, I have found many pieces of free gold.
Love watching ya mine and Smelting is Top Notch 👌
You have Iron Oxide rich ore so my guess is the heat is reducing the iron oxide back down to iron and forming sulfur dioxide with the sulfides. The nails are probably too cold going in causing the bismuth or flux to cool and attach to the nails and maybe even forming some kind of alloy or insulator layer (non metal + metal = ceramic and silicon is in many high temp ceramics) or the "iron mixture" is raising the melting point. Ideally you need to know the ph of your cons because you can not have a basic and acidic flux at the same time. The base and acid would cancel, giving you a more neutral ph. If you have both basic and acidic impurities you either need 2 melts or vastly different melting points to split the reactions into steps. Another option may be a set of fluxes with preferential reactions with certain impurities.
Bismuth Oxide and Iron Oxide form Bismuth Ferrite around 800C and doesn't melt until over 1000C according to wiki. This adds more credence to my theory of the cold nails forming a mixture that is raising the melting point of the bismuth in your highly oxygen rich flux which is one of the synthesis methods listed as well.
BigDStacks always talks about putting a piece of cardboard on the firebrick before putting the crucible in and it prevents the brick from sticking to the crucible.
I imagine it creates a layer of carbon between the brick and crucible. Great idea
Good to see the outcome of the MO explore Jason. But please do not feed the Geo's after midnight !🤪Let them desert chickens lie where they may, huh🐔🐍
I don't know about that. My "snake bite chili" is mighty good and not that hard to make out of those desert chickens. Of course it was easy for me since I got the meat already chunked and flash frozen from the round up near El Paso each year. Buddy would send me a couple pounds every time he went and overnight it to Houston area where I lived.
@56:37 get with 'Codyslab' or 'streetips' about gold refinement, and chemistry.
Could you take the #1 and #2 off the shaker and just roast it first to oxidize the sulfides? Then add collector metal at the bottom of the crucible, topping it with all the fluxes you need to separate the unwanted stuff into the glass.
Or find another way to oxidize the sulfides, like put them through the disk mill to make them really fine grained, then pump air through them in a water column to oxidize them. You could use an aquarium air pump and a piece of 1 inch pvc pipe. I'm just thinking that if you can deal with the sulfides ahead of the smelting things would be a lot easier.
Or, try to make a better estimate of the sulfide content based on the density of the #1 and #2 cons. Since the sulfides are mostly pyrite, the density is will be between quartz and pyrite. You should then be able to do some math and have a better estimate of how much iron to add, and only add clean iron. Because right now you are just chucking in a mass of iron rather than weighing it in, and it looks like too much.
Also, go back to lead as a collector. You never had trouble with lead getting on your nails.
Also, harry should get a professional lab assay so they really know the grade of the ore. Maybe they're losing a lot in their process and you are recovering almost the right amount.
Always enjoy the content you provide jason.
that potassium nitrate that you are using is looking way too transparent, if you didnt say its KNO3 i would say its ammonium nitrate instead, maybe its not pure potassium nitrate? in the past when i was making pyrotechnics, i remember cleaning the agriculture potassium nitrate because there was magnesium oxides or sulfates mixed in it or something like that... maybe thats making some problems for you?
THANK YOU SO VERY VERY MUCH SIR'S.
Find that gold, melt that gold, make that vid - repeat
Getting gold never gets old.
The rock in the mine made me nervous. It looks all fractured and ready to fall.
I am so jealous of that lapidary saw those things may look like n old relic but will last forever and are the best around very nice . I’m a nerd rockhound and I’m excited it’s going to be heavy rain tonight so I’ll get out early on a epidote hunt haha
😁👋👍👍👏👏💕🙏🏻
Thank you for a great video.
@35:47 something really fluoresced off by itself to the left on the rock when all the lights were out.
Edit and add... I think you have become quite proficient at the oration and writing of the scripting. The videography was spot on and I just think you have become a powerhouse of how 'work related' videos should be.
I'm not an expert in any way but, I think iron filings may work better than nails. It seems to me that collector metal may get entangled by the nails. Filings would let you pour even the unreacted iron into the cone mold and allow the collector metal time to break free and coalesce with the rest. Maybe? Just an idea...
Love your videos. Thanks for all your hard work producing them.
Thank you so much!
Jason, to quote the fantastic Mr. bigstackD, add a piece of cardboard under the crucible to stop it sticking to the fire brick!
At around 34:50 there’s a flake that looks like gold for sure right to the right of the line he’s talking about when we find this we find gold. Great video!
Love these videos - Learn so much.
Right on Brother thanks
I was going to suggest acid and seeing if you don't get the bismuth to release from the iron. And the only way to get a precise evaluation is to clean all the equipment and do another run and perhaps instead of nails use iron filings.
It would be interesting to see the difference in the results. I don't know which is more fun.
Pulling the ore or pulling the AU from it. But if that's the choice there's really no downside. Except getting out. 😅
Besides being entertaining and informative, your videography is excellent. Takes a lot of time but it’s worth it for your many viewers. Thanks.
Interesting, isn't it comparing your Washington mine at 31 grams per ton against the California desert mine at 8 grams per ton. The work and cost of getting it out of the ground and milling it or recovering the gold is nearly the same, but the amount of gold to show for all these efforts is hugely different.
You are quickly becoming my favorite you tube channel! I been hiking the east fork of the san gabriel river found a really interesting quartz out crop on a back trail… i know enough to say that it is super mineralized with copper as it has green staining throughout the rock tons of what i believe is pyrite really silvery and sparkles i wish i could have you crush it and see whats in it id go lug some more down the hill lol
hi jason
I think that the thiny iron wire will give you more surface area and ease of melting, When you are sure that iron wire has dissolved in the magma, the stage of adding bismuth comes.
all the best.
Metallurgy is often 50% black magic regardless of how much science you put into your process. Put another way, Murphy drives the bus, we're just the passengers! The great thing is that you share the failures along with the successes and the thought process that goes into correcting the failures.
268 👍's up mbmllc thank you for sharing 🤗
Great full process video.
🤔🤔🤔
Got me stumped
🙏❤️🌲
love watching your videos! God bless you and your family AND your prospecting :)
So a stand holding weight of crusavial while pouring is out so holding all that weight pouring is reduced?
1:06 LOL, !!
As soon as i heard?? .. That's what said!!! They made the mine plenty tall enough!! ... You guys would be GIANTS back then!!
Gud vid 💯💥
the 1/4 to1 ounce stuff piled just outside of the upper drift is their high grade pile.
many small mines in the 1930s in the upper Calif desert have these piles and after they got a couple truck loads they would take the ore to the burton brothers tropico mill to be milled
.they would take truck loads, burro loads, and even back pack loads and give the miners 95% of the gold recovered over 1/2 ounce per ton/
i have seen the old Burton brothers mill records and there were miners that would bring in burro loads that ran 20+ ounces per ton.
i knew Cecil Burton as he ran a small prospect drilling project on Soledad mountain near a mine i was working that he later sold to a big mining company
and they are doing a large open pit mine on the mountain at this time.
back in the 1970s and 1980s i use to look for the piles of ore at the entrance of small mines in the calif desert and do fire assays and haul away any high grade piles over 1 ounce a ton and mill it at a friend's mill in randsburg calif
made good extra spending money while working at the Kerr McGee chemical plant in Trona.
Are you sure the nails are 100% iron?
He should try local railroad spikes from 100 years ago
@@ZacLowing I would think thst would be even worse. I don't know if cast iron is the same thing but modern cast iron pots are very near 100% pure iron.
great. tks.
so much work (to me) for a little button
I've been using flat bar stock for my iron. And I scale it after each smelt to remove any possible collection areas.
I use rebar, so I can remove it before pouring. Wondering now, whether I need to see if I have anything hiding on those pieces. 🤔
50:26 - there was a piece in that slab. On the contaminated nails, turn them into powder and magnetically separate it?
Do locals from Washington State ever stop by at the Shop? Do you encourage fan visit. Just curious? Always thought about the Oroville Wa area.
You've done so many smelts over the years, been thinking if you recorded all of them systematically on excel (including grading the results) you would have such a fantastic reference tool. Particularly if you included the composition of the cons. Can you xrf your cons?
Every ore sample is different, metals in ore will change the chemistry of the melt. PGM and other high temp elements will mess with your results.
Every ore will have a different process, same as gold recovery from electronics, there are mechanical and chemical differences in the process.
I would recommend roasting anything not clean quartz powder.
If high magnetic, remove from ore and smelt separately.
Magnetics treatment with HCl will do wonders in reducing iron.
Nitric will do better for removing all but Au, smelt the slime then cupel.
There is no " one sure way" experiment until you find the best results for the parent material.
Be safe, small batch, have fun!
You guys need to think about some ventilation in that mine !
Haha, your description reads like an episode of Oak Island
Hey Jayson my gold is in pecan business,,have you ever thought about building some kind of pecan sheller/cracker? Just asking foe a friend 😊
That is so beautiful, are you guys kidding. Please dont bring em up...slabbed value has to be really good on that.
I remember you using a ball mill a decent while ago. Maybe you could throw the nails in there and grind them down as far as possible. Then mix with niter, borax and some extra bismuth to oxidize as much iron as possible and collect the gold. Just throwing an idea out there. I think would want the nails as fine as possible to oxidize them and get everything into solution during the smelt, instead of having chunks of iron and pyrite that doesn't melt until much higher temperatures.
@48:36 when will you run your stone saw mill, "soil" on the shaker table to collect any gold in the "concentrates"? is there not a great about of "sand" in the saw water sediment pool? after slabing so many stones?
Hey Jason, question!: why does the aluminum distribution trough, along the top edge of the shaker table, have that flared bit on the end almost like a funnel?
Seems made to be able to pour/add material of some kind, other than via the crusher route, but I can't think of what something like that might be. Maybe for if you already have material that is crushed down fine enough for the table? No idea if that would be any different than just sending it through the crusher anyways though, and just letting it fall through into the usual "funnel" for the distribution trough.
Time for some HCL on low heat, dissolve that iron out after chopping those nails into small pieces, then just add a little more bismuth and recover your gold , if any is there. Just a suggestion but I’ve had same problem in the past and worked for me. P.S. my claims are in the same Valley as MO’s😎
@54:14 perhaps if you create a steel "lid" for the crucible, a bar of iron that runs across the top, and over the lip, with iron welded to the center, that point down into the molten crucible, this would allow you to lift and shake it off easy. and later weld more nails to it. before each pour.
When you add nails for iron are you adding iron nails or are they store bought nails that are steel. I don't know if there is a difference.
iron and sulfer amoung others that form pyrite also carry gold.
Cool.
Mate ,it Sounds like one of ya chooks just laid a golden yolked egg 😂
Running the nails back through the mill seems like a no brainer? Or try chemical separation.
Jason, this is where you might consider using lead instead of bismuth.
My first thought is to stop adding so much iron. Ideally, you'd only add just enough to be consumed. If you don't have any leftover iron, there's nothing for the bismuth to plate to.
Also, if you're adding an oxidizer to break down the pyrites, you're also oxidizing your added iron AND your bismuth. Bismuth also has a blue flame - but bismuth oxide fumes are yellow.
Maybe you're just trying to do to much in one pot, and need to roast the pyrites before you smelt.
What do the hammers look like inside your final mill? Do you have a video showing inside, or is that too proprietary?
This gold/collector metal sticking to the iron issue makes me wonder if ore roasting to oxidize the sulfides, is a better way to deal with the sulfides than trying to deal with them in the smelt using iron.
I hope someday I have enough money to actually be able to buy your system.Because I really like it
how much gold do you think is in your rock saw?
Another epic!...oh man, that vein looks so good i bet you two could blow your nose and find gold!....also on a side note; i think sulphur flames are blue
@53:51 when will you sweep up the contents of your steel pouring "round table" crush it, and re smelt it? recovering any gold you may have lost on other pours and nails?
Very interesting with what happened to the nails. Thanks for that work. Dont ya luv sulphide ores