Hey Benjamin,

I just wrote up a big reply............and tried to submit and the site here "poofed" it all......... Ugh.

I have lots of ideas. I deal with endless fines -50 to 200 mesh in black sand cons every day.

Please e-mail me at: randylwitham@gmail.com Or, call me sometime. 1-719-395-2081.

I'll be happy to help as I can...

Cheers,

Randy Witham "C-17A" www.goldadventures.biz

Randy,
I'm actually interested in this as well, could you cc me on those tips? Or I could e-mail you as well if you prefer.
My email is crythevictor@gmail.com , thanks!

Posted By Benjamin Crain on 01 May 2015 07:21 AM

During a dig yesterday I came across a lot of really fine flour gold, grain of sand size and smaller. I am a pretty good panner but when it comes to the really fine stuff I am struggling with the best means of recovery. I take my snuffer bottle and empty it onto a paper plate and then dry the fine stuff in the oven and I can pick most of it out with a razor and tweezers, but there is always powder gold I just cant recover.

Could somebody give me some tips on how to recover the really fine fine pieces of gold even after they have been panned out, and would a rotating spiral wheel concentrator collect this for me? In the old days adding some mercury would probably been the best method of recovering the fine flour gold but I do cherish my brain cells and the environment.

Here is  link to a couple of videos I found on YouTube, There are two different ones on making a miller table, and another is about Recirculating Mini Fine Gold Sluice.  Hope this helps, I'm a big fan of the DYI builds.  I'm in the process now of making my own Fluid Bed Sluice as well as this miller table.

Miller Table:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVr_TrBjsBs

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9fGe-UQLs

Recirc Mini Gold Sluice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3mL2wAOY7c

 

 

This is a great topic guys. Randy if you still are willing, please try and post your thoughts on this topic and the same goes for anyone else out there. Try typing it out in another program and copying/pasting it here in case you run into the same problem again.

Looking forward to everyone's responses so that we can all benefit from your experience, thanks!

Between building my own Miller Table made from Chalk Board or buying the Black Magic I am pretty much sold on the Black Magic now that I have seen it in action. If you haven't seen the video for it you should, just look it up on You Tube. It will save you an incredible amount of time on the fine clean up.

Wow, around these parts, a grain of sand sized piece of gold is what we call a nugget I'm a blue bowl fan myself and most of the gold I collect is -100 and below, and I can easy get those out of the bottom of the blue bowl. Now that Benjamin Crain mentioned this "Black Magic" thing, I'm going to have to look that up and see what it is. Also, the video on "fine gold recovery" they have on the prospecting channel website is fantastic IMO.

A couple of guys in the Chapter have one and swear by it, then your clean up is just wiping the mat off with a plastic puddy knife or credit card into a separate pan.

Paul here, I own a black magic table and it works great, also have ordered a 4 stacker gold cube can't wait to see it in action in person.

My little story of fine gold, and for the record, I'd be thrilled if the majority of the gold I find was as big as a grain of sand...

Obviously I had found small stuff... I just couldn't get it separated or get it out of the pan.. I didn't really think anybody could,
thats why they sell blue bowls and miller tables and spiral wheels and shaker tables and little clean up sluices. Right?

So I bought one of those black magic things... I used it for a while, and I guess I was happy with it...

Then I was crushing some rocks and playing with little bits of dirt from here and there, and watching more vids on youtube, and reading more...
Playing with the little bits of dirt and crushed rocks, it didn't seem worth the effort to set up the Black Magic....

As time has gone on... That black magic table is just sitting there, I've been doing it all in a pan.... Last year I couldn't do it in a pan, now I can, and
its actually pretty darn easy... The hardest part is classifying your concentrates, and you have to do that to use most of the fancy cleanup devices
anyways...

Here is a pile of videos from the Gold Cube man on getting fine gold out using classifiers and a pan.. Probably take an hour of your life, but its good info.

http://www.treasurenet.co...rt-gold-panning.html

There are a bunch of other videos out there also, the techniques are all similar, and I'm sure they all work, just need to figure out what is best
for you...

Its really not that hard once you KNOW how to do it, and get a little bit of practice. They key is to classify, classify and classify. I can get clean stuff in the pan
that I can't even see with my naked eye, so it is possible, and its not hard, and the most time consuming part is the classifying, which you pretty much
have to do anyways for most of the clean up devices.

The panning part is actually really fast, and you don't have to set up a big tub, and go find the battery charger and hope your pump is working today.
You don't need a lot of water or a lot of space.
I have a little 16" panning tub on the counter in the kitchen, I can do my cleanups at night while watching TV... The better half doesn't even mind
the panning tub on the counter, she knows where I am, and it keeps me happy, and she likes seeing the shiny stuff too.

Posted By PAUL PRAAST on 15 May 2015 08:46 PM

Paul here, I own a black magic table and it works great, also have ordered a 4 stacker gold cube can't wait to see it in action in person.

I just ordered a 4 stacker myself.

Just found this post, so hope i did not go wrong.

I am going to use mine to wash out from a rock crusher.

I just ordered a 4 stacker myself.

I've got the tall stack too, sad thing is I didn't need the tall stack.. There is almost nothing that gets past that first tray.

Now I only ever take the top tray to pan out, I take the bottom 2 trays and wash them into a bin and save them... They go back
through when I'm bored, along with the panning tubs.

I'm going to take one of the trays and chop it up to make a mini cube. From the old GPAA forums

http://www.goldprospector...ray-goldcube-for-100

Concentrate my concentrates or run some small samples on the trucks tailgate or the kitchen counter.

The Gold Cube pretty much catches everything, and there are no tricks to it or anything, no angles or flows to deal
with, just set it up and go.

The one thing I don't like, classifying. Some dirt is really easy, a minute or 2 a bucket, but some dirt is just mucky, or loaded
with pebbles just over 1/8" and can take forever. I've got the stuff to make a high banker attachment for it, I just need to
get around to it. The one they sell, I think it would be a lot better with a slick plate, and I have a hard time buying anything
that I can make.

Except for the classifying, you're going to like it, weather using it to concentrate your concentrates or as a primary concentrating
device. It catches everything.

I've got the tall stack too, sad thing is I didn't need the tall stack.. There is almost nothing that gets past that first tray.

I was wondering if i really needed it.

Most of the vids just show using a 3 stack and all of the ads stateing the 'top tray' will catch all the gold.

Oh well... Maybe it will catch a bit that just happened to get by.

right now no need to classify using the rock crusher.

Was trying to think of a way to support the crusher on top of the GC...

That freaking crusher with engine is heavy.

the way our mining crew deals with flour gold (smaller) than sand we use a blue bowl and homemade finishing sluice.. the trick is to classify everything into groups 30 mesh, 50 mesh, 100 mesh. when you get it down to 50 100 or 200 mesh this is were the blow bowl comes in for 50 mesh mark a line 1/4 inch down from the rim of the bowl for 100 (200 ) mesh make a mark 1/2 inch from the rim now run and keep the water level at the 1/4 inch and run your 50 mesh cons for 100 keep the water at 1/2 inch.. you can run the fine blonde sands with the black sands it will all go up and out the top of the cone. BUT make sure your bowl is level. you can use a 12 volt pump or come off your house water tap.... hope that helps
2 dogs
member
GPAA, WESTERN MINING ASSOCIATION, ( WMA ) PUBLIC LANDS FOR THE PEOPLE (PLP) WORLD MUSEUM OF MINES, (WMM) NEW 49ERS, V.P. LAST CHANCE MINERS
fabricator small scale mining equipment

After seeing some gold wheels in action I have decided I am not investing in one. The Gold Cube looks a lot better for investment and a dredge is the best. I have just held off until now because I wanted to get familiar with the ground we are working with.

ben a dredge work good remember you still have to work your cons at the end... when i got the blue bowl the gold cube wasn't here yet. i have seen it work many times i think that would be a wise investment ...
keep in mind when you buy a dredge 2 things how far do i have to pack it to water, and how deep is the water i'll be working in... also if your in a state with dredge nozzle restrictions a 2 inch dredge nozzle with a 3 inch hose is still a 2 inch dredge... personally i wouldnt go over a 3 or 4 inch . they get heavy and bulky when you go bigger... also make sure the dredge pump can put out at least 70 psi.. anything less will make alot of plug ups.... our dredges are ether a 3 inch float type or the main one we use on our 2 claims is a 3 inch dredge/ highbanker combo.. the sluice on the combo is 10 inches wide 10 feet long.
hope i've been some help
2 dogs

I have had some of the cons. I got off the beach in Nome many years ago and have tried several times to separate the gold, which is relatively plentiful in the mix. I bought the Black Magic fine gold separator but was not successful in getting the fines to separate from the heavies.

I talked with a gentleman at the Gold & Treasure Show in Knoxville this past June who had a vile of this flour gold from Nome and it was very clean. He said the process he used was "back panning". I am not familiar with this technique. Would appreciate it if anyone could point me to an explanation or video relating to this process.

charles fine gold is very hard thing to recover. there are a lot of recovery systems out there.. i think the gentleman at the show was talking about panning all or most of the blond sands out of your pan then hold your pan level with one hand locking your elbow into your side . then with a gentle motion get the water (very little water ) to move around the edge of the pan in a swerling motion. this will move the gold to the other end of the pan and leave the black sand behind. you must keep the pan level that's why it's best to lock your elbow against your side. doesn't matter if your left or right handed. i'm right handed so i lock my right arm... another
metiod you can try is the blue berry bounce...
2 dogs

As far as " Back Panning" it is nothing more than rolling the black sands backwards towards you instead of a rotation. A lot of us already use this technique in our panning, mainly to get rid of excess blondes.

I am very curious about a patented product called Amalgamite, it basically works like mercury and can be melted on a regular stove. You pour you material in there, the gold dissolves, and the rest of the material forms a glass. When you let it cool you just chip away the glass and the gold is fused behind. They recommend higher temperatures but the Amalgamite has a very low melting point.