Some black sand will contain microscopic gold.  You can soak them in a muratic acid solution for awhile, and that will disolve the iron in time.  Your sucess and recovery will vary with where it came from.  Muratic acid is usually available at places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc., as it is also used to clean brick, concrete, etc.

Disclaimer:  Be familiar with acid handling procedures and keep in a well ventilated area, or don't mess with it, and dispose of properly.

If you have been getting flake, fine or flour out of it, then there is most likely more trapped in it.  Worth a couple of gallons to try it out and see.  You won't have much time or $$ invested to see.

NEVER, and I mean NEVER throw out your Black Sands. There is so much fine gold you cant see you will be amazed when you learn how to process it. Like Arthur said above let them soak in muriatic acid for a few weeks but then run them through a Miller table or Black Magic. You are more likely to find more gold in your Black Sands then your pan.

I just got back from the river and found a few chunks, a couple of pickers, but I got buckets of black sands that are filled with fine gold.

Here is a interesting trick, go buy a cement mixer at Harbor Freight and pour your buckets of materials in the and let them spin while adding water, then shut it down and pour the mud and loamy stuff off and repeat until your material is clear. I thought it would not work until I tried it this weekend. Gold and black sands was all that remained.

A question about the black sands......You seem to imply that all black sand is gonna have gold in it. I was thinking that black sands can be in most places where there may NOT be gold as well. Or is this a more local occurrence than just all black sands having gold in it?

Leo-  Very true, not all black sands will contain gold, ie the black sand beaches in Hawaii would probably be bare. Black sands (mostly iron) can be and usually is an indicator of gold, but not always.  Rule of thumb is you will generally find black sand with gold, but not always gold with black sand. 

 However if you are finding gold and getting black sands with it, it would be worthwhile to try some and see what happens.  Here on the west coast, a lot of the beaches will have bands or pockets of black sands after the winter storms.  I know of one spot on the Oregon coast where there is apparently no gold in the immediate area, or in the stream coming in where a pocket of black sand occurs.  I know one guy that running a beach box type sluice (no mororized, even electric allowed) got 1/4 oz. in a day out of that spot, and that was not including processing any of the black sand later.

It can be hit or miss, but worthwhile for the time and $$invested in a couple gallons of muratic acid.

 

Just be sure to follow acid protocalls and proper disposal when finished.

At one time I know or have talked to people that found fine gold on California beaches which would be indicative of any area that has rivers and streams flows into the ocean that would have broken down gold veins upstream. Federal beaches which are not designated as campgrounds or some kind of park are now a part of national monument in California.  

 

I just did a run of them on the rp4 table, about 50/50 magnetic and both loaded with fine gold washed down in the flood waters.

 Benjamin -  I'm extremely new so sorry if this is a dumb question.  Does this apply to both magnetic and nonmagnetic sand or just nonmagnetic?  I thought that magnetic sand was just made of iron oxide?

Paul, yes save your magnetic and non mag black sands. The gold is not physically inside the grains of black sand it is in amongst the black just like it is in the gravel.

And just putting It out there for folks, somewhere in the forums there's a thread about someone having their bl sands assayed, I cant remember the total, but it was like 7-10 or more grams per ton.

Also the company that makes the microwave kilns sells a flux package made especially for smelting black sands.

Not that others on here don't or didn't offer you some realistic solutions but one suggestion I'm not seeing is that, Before you go buying acid and kiln supplies, invest in a good jeweler's loupe 4x to 10x for a couple of bucks then put a small amount of the black sand in a pan, fan it back and try to see what's in it. If you don't need a loupe to see your gold, get better at panning. Concentrate, Concentrate, Concontrate both you mentally and the gold physically. Sometimes you save your money and have to consider small amounts of gold loss as the cost of doing business. Just like going on a diet, calories in verses calories out. Money in vs gold out. Then again for some of life's hardest learned questions/lessons, there is the receipt.

I am so tight that I even keep the fines that are left over from my bluebowl. It is such a small amount but if I turn the water up any higher, it would wash the black sand and gold away.

Caution!!! Do not use a metal container with black sands and muriatic acid. The acid can react with the container, use plastic. Heat is a catalyst so place the container
in a warm place with ventilation. The warmer the better, it speeds up the reaction.
Joe Conner, Analytical Chemist.

Hi I have a question I hope someone can help me. The properties listed online why do some say 0 acres and not list directions? Is it because that claim doesn't exist anymore? I live in Crossville TN and was planning to go out to GA for a day or so. I only see the one claim in Buchanan is that all we have in GA? Also I don't see any regulations listed... I have a gold hog raptor just making sure I can use that equipment and where I can dig.

Some of the locations online are Pay to Digs, agency open areas and other jurisdictions that have areas open for use, some for free and some at a fee. Many location are fossils or gems also. You may also find places of interest included. All these locations should be put into a search engine to see what is available, cost if any along with times open and restrictions on what you can do.

patrick I live in Atl and go to Buchanan. It is listed in the mining guide book as to size of claim and what equip can be used.

Yes you can use the raptor there, but it must be set up in the creek and you can only process creek material. There is no digging in the banks or outside the creek. No metal detecting except in the creek. All prospecting and material processing must be done in the main creek. The claim goes about 1/4 mile up and downstream from the parking area.
This is a leased property and these are the property owners rules.

You can primitive camp there for up to 14 days. No water/elec but there are 2 porta potties,

There is a white brick building at the street with a sign in box, then go around the silos and take a right thru the first gate and then the 1st right into the parking/camping area. This is a working farm if a gate is closed, close it behind you when you go thru.

Megan "Yellow Chick" Rose, here, and what a funnnnnn thread, guys and gals.  I just opened my email and read the newest edition of Nugget Vol 38 and thought I'd mosey over.  It's probably been about 10yrs or more since I frequently posted on the GPAA forum.  I know it says I'm a "greenhorn" over on the left.  Just have a good laff, okay? that's FAAAAAAAAR from the truth.

I have some good news for the rest of us blacksands finders out here in GPAA land.  It is an absolutely UNDENIABLE fact that magnetic blacksands are the very highest probability host of no-see'um gold of the 19 different components which make up ordinary blacksands.  Yes, I said 19!!!!  Now everyone can see why this is such a controversial topic.  Makes one wonder about the other 18 components in blacksands in our pans and concentrates, yes?   Another thread for another time.

Here's the good news, if you aren't "magnet fishing" when you are out on the creeks and streams with your placer harvesting equipment, you're missing a bet.  Take a look a good long look at this actual photo from Ham Homestead I found on FB this morning and got permission to post for illustration purposes best one I've ever seen.  And we all know what a 45 round looks like, size wise.



Ham Homestead has broken open his share of these chunks of magnetite he's found on his claim and found gold inside them.  I know for certain I sure have.  God's Truth!  And not just economical amounts in chunks like above,  but also in economic, "sure glad I bothered to bring them home" amounts from the magnetic fraction of my blacksands in my small operations.

Here's the skinny.  This gold hosting magnetite is called "mechanically entrapped gold"  by those in the big boy mining business.  And they, just like us, want it ALL once we corral concentrates by means of our various harvesting devices.

SO, here's the good news PART TWO I was talking about:
Mechanically entrapped gold in magnetic fraction of blacksands can be MECHANICALLY RELEASED.  Some use cement mixers.  Some lapidary tumblers.  Some rod mills.  Some ball mills.  And some even mortar and pestle!   Can I see a show of hands  when I ask:  how many of y'all have ever asked yourself where the pregnant with no-see'um/go-get'um magnetite erodes from???  Ayup, bigger chunks than even the ones up above.

Chemical reduction is not required to get out the mechanically entrapped gold, altho' that does work using wet solvent chemistry. (Another topic for another blacksands thread) 

Heat focused release is not required, either, whether we're talking furnace, kiln, microwave or induction heat. (ALSO another topic for another blacksands thread! )

Mechanical abrasion will release no-see'um gold from inside the magnetic fraction and yes, in economic quantities if it is there in the first place.

Economical abrasion is
--inexpensive and very affordable,
----can be done on small scale or large scale, you choose,
------is quite safe, unless you decide to grind your fingers or don't wear eye protection.

So, take another loooooong look at the actual image above from Ham Homestead, and get out your decent magnets, your fishing pole and practice casting into the streams and creeks when you've packed in all your cubes, trommels, highbankers and dredges.  Be sure to bring along a ziplock bag or something to put what you grab with your magnet off the end of your "lure" or attract by hovering over your green sieves and white colanders with that honkin' magnet.

Keep a sharp eye out when your putting your shovelsful through the big green sieves we all have, so you can spy out and put aside to take home and "abraid" the magnetite you'll find while you're out prospecting.

Gold is gold, Right, prospector???

It all adds up.

Yes, some black sands DO contain gold inside. Crushing and "heat fracturing" are two methods of extraction that come to mind right away. Crushing is relatively easy and straight forward. Fracturing is a method best left to those that do such things for a living because of the inherent danger in the heat involved. I'm not sure on the next method but I believe heap leaching may also be used for extraction. If you are getting lots of black sands in the placers you collect, consider saving it up to sell it. Get an assay of the sand so you know about how much gold to expect. That way, you can better dicker the price you can expect from selling it. Same thing with galena (lead sulfide). Considering the amount of work you expend to separate the sand from the free gold, why not sell it? There ARE people that will pay you for that STUFF.   ╦╦Ç

Since the difference in melting temperature between iron and gold is nearly 1,000 degrees, wouldn't one of the gold molding setups make separating them pretty straitforward?

Welcome back "YC" missed you on here.

 

If you are at the show in Vancouver, drop by the Mid-Valley booth and say HI.