eucitzen
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2007
Posts: 21
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Post by eucitzen on Dec 23, 2007 7:12:06 GMT -5
As a prospector I get Black sand after panning out all gold I can save the black sand and many others will probably also do so. The idear is based on a 3 days test in which I tumbled quartz with black sand in rough stage. (Note! Do not use it in rough stage, won't give you much! Not much shaping action) Use it in middle or after rough it's probably better then.(theory, not confirmed) At 2$ per pound it ain't much of a loss. It SEEMS to "clean" up the quartz.(it seems to get purer/transparent) These result will/may vary depending on the minerals in the black sands! (it's a mix of different heavy minerals) Regards, Eu  |
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Post by johnjsgems on Dec 23, 2007 10:55:10 GMT -5
Since it is free it's worth a try. The trick will be figuring out what grit step to use it for. Or are you just going to let it roll? The rivers and ocean tumble everything with sand/gravel but it takes considerably longer than most of us have.
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mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Dec 25, 2007 13:04:50 GMT -5
Howdy Eu.........I am glad to see another prospector on the board. It is a truly addictive pastime. Some say it can make a person CRAZY!!! But on to concentrates..........I work several prospects and collect several types of concentrate. In my experience anything black sucks. Both for getting the gold out of and tumbling with. I have tumbled black sand to slime with ball bearings just to get a fleck of color out of it....  I seem to get the magnetite based and the wolfram based black sand cons most often and have tried both in the tumbler without much luck. There is one area that I work that has a high concentration of zircon and garnet in the cons. I have been screening these out and saving for experimenting with the tumblers. I have not used any yet but I think I see a glimmer of potential. Hope this helps...Bob PS... What part of the world do you chase gold in? |
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eucitzen
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2007
Posts: 21
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Post by eucitzen on Dec 26, 2007 5:05:24 GMT -5
Since it is free it's worth a try. The trick will be figuring out what grit step to use it for. Or are you just going to let it roll? The rivers and ocean tumble everything with sand/gravel but it takes considerably longer than most of us have. well my best guess is that somewhere around the "middle" stage (220) Either before or after. |
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eucitzen
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2007
Posts: 21
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Post by eucitzen on Dec 26, 2007 5:19:24 GMT -5
Howdy Eu.........I am glad to see another prospector on the board. It is a truly addictive pastime. Some say it can make a person CRAZY!!! But on to concentrates..........I work several prospects and collect several types of concentrate. In my experience anything black sucks. Both for getting the gold out of and tumbling with. I have tumbled black sand to slime with ball bearings just to get a fleck of color out of it.... I seem to get the magnetite based and the wolfram based black sand cons most often and have tried both in the tumbler without much luck. There is one area that I work that has a high concentration of zircon and garnet in the cons. I have been screening these out and saving for experimenting with the tumblers. I have not used any yet but I think I see a glimmer of potential. Hope this helps...Bob PS... What part of the world do you chase gold in? Hello Bob! My local black sand it not really black but more "silver colored". not quite sure what it does contain, magnetite or hematite possibly I've also seen small pyrite cubes. Try vinegar and tumble you black sand with it it's a weak acid might help.(not quite sure) Here we have a large concentration of moraine.  I also know that we have a large copper concentration around here. (299 mg/kg of sand) Yeah prospecting can be addictive. I'm in south Sweden. Regards, Eu |
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Dec 28, 2007 10:34:37 GMT -5
Er... black sand isn't going to be making quartz any purer or more transparent. Achieving some degree of pre-polish is a possibility, but with a hardness around six it's not going to be an efficient grinding medium. Garnet is usually found in the black sand concentrates and is probably doing whatever grinding is going on.
I've tried tumbling with garnet sand, and it's a waste of time. Silicon carbide is the way to go. It'd be fun to try making steel out of black sand, but not much point tumbling with it.
SirRoxalot
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eucitzen
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2007
Posts: 21
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Post by eucitzen on Dec 30, 2007 6:24:01 GMT -5
Er... black sand isn't going to be making quartz any purer or more transparent. Achieving some degree of pre-polish is a possibility, but with a hardness around six it's not going to be an efficient grinding medium. Garnet is usually found in the black sand concentrates and is probably doing whatever grinding is going on. I've tried tumbling with garnet sand, and it's a waste of time. Silicon carbide is the way to go. It'd be fun to try making steel out of black sand, but not much point tumbling with it. SirRoxalot Hello SirRoxalot. We have no garnet around here, most black sand here is Iron ore, Mangeese and other heavy minerals but no garnets except for maybe so small you'd need a microscope to see them. Quartz has 7 on MOH's scale, and I said "it seems to get purer" or something like that. Of coarse it's not getting purer but it does look as if it would. |
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mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Dec 30, 2007 13:51:45 GMT -5
Hey Eu..... ;D I love rocks but my prospecting sort of keeps me going. I use a metal detector a lot when I am not digging and washing material. A couple summers ago I got into a spot that prospectors dream about and pulled almost 20 ozs out of a very small area. The largest piece is still for sale. Link lostmountaingems.com/For years I didn't think gold detectors worked. Then I got a Minelab. It took a year to figure out how it worked but then it was wonderful. I guess the bottom line is sell gold...buy grit!!! Good Luck.........Bob |
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eucitzen
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2007
Posts: 21
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Post by eucitzen on Dec 30, 2007 17:03:06 GMT -5
Hey Eu..... ;D I love rocks but my prospecting sort of keeps me going. I use a metal detector a lot when I am not digging and washing material. A couple summers ago I got into a spot that prospectors dream about and pulled almost 20 ozs out of a very small area. The largest piece is still for sale. Link lostmountaingems.com/For years I didn't think gold detectors worked. Then I got a Minelab. It took a year to figure out how it worked but then it was wonderful. I guess the bottom line is sell gold...buy grit!!! Good Luck.........Bob Hello there Bob! Here in south Sweden you're lucky if you find 1 gram of gold in one day! Well here what we call "Nuggets" you would call pickers. (7 mm across would be a nugget here) They are few and very rare here. A minelab would not even be worth considering here though a Fischer Gold Bug 2 or a White's GMT (gold master) might be worth investing. |
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I seem to get the magnetite based and the wolfram based black sand cons most often and have tried both in the tumbler without much luck. There is one area that I work that has a high concentration of zircon and garnet in the cons. I have been screening these out and saving for experimenting with the tumblers. I have not used any yet but I think I see a glimmer of potential. Hope this helps...Bob
