The Story of Lori, Chapter 2

[Lori Dee ✅]

I had to make a quick shopping run this morning. My Jeep got ducked!
https://www.susans.org/index.php?topic=246523.msg2318007#msg2318007

I have cleaned up the four rocks that I brought back from my neighbor's property. One was granite, and the other three appear to be gabbro with olivine intrusions. Gemstone quality olivine is called Peridot. Since these are tiny crystals within the gabbro rock, I'll toss them into the rock tumbler and see how they look after polishing.

This find is significant from a prospecting viewpoint. The old-time gold prospectors felt that "greenstone" (olivine) was a sign that gold was nearby. "Greenstone" is not an actual stone, but refers to a variety of green stones. Olivine is primarily iron and magnesium. The higher the iron content, the darker the green. Lower iron content can cause the color to be more yellowish-green.

Since I found these stones in a creek bed, I want to hike upstream to see if I can locate the source. If I can find a nice outcrop of these rocks, I'll dig, dig, dig!

😁

[Emma1017]

Lori, you will laugh at me.  I finally bought a roof rack for my creampuff Jeep Wrangler. Beach sand is nothing like the terrain that you drive in.😁

[Lori Dee ✅]

Lori, you will laugh at me.  I finally bought a roof rack for my creampuff Jeep Wrangler. Beach sand is nothing like the terrain that you drive in.😁

Nice!

They come in very handy. I have a steel-handled shovel that I keep in mine year-round. I mostly use the rack after setting up camp, not while traveling. I can move gear to the roof and make room inside.

When I use it on the move, I have a 40'x20' tarp folded up, a spare gas can, a folding drying rack, and a camping chair that fits up top perfectly. Invest in some ratchet straps. You can get a set cheaply at most home improvement stores.

Next, you'll want some window armor and decorative stickers, and you'll get ducked before you know it.

😀

[Lori Dee ✅]

More Adventures of Lori Dee in the Wild.

I went back out to Garden Park Fossil Area north of Canon City. This time, I had four-wheel drive, so I did extensive exploring. I tried getting to the cliff in the distance, but the trails don't go that way, and cliffs are a real barrier, even to four-wheel drive.

I did find a huge piece of petrified wood, but it was too big to lift. I continued climbing and could see that the San Juan Mountains to the south had snow on them. I tried to get a pic, but my Jeep photobombed it. I hiked up to the summit and could see almost the entire valley below. What a view on such a beautiful day!

What I learned from this excursion is that the geology here is not what I am looking for. So, I will either need to go further northwest toward Cache Creek or go southwest into the San Juans and do some scouting there.

It is cool this weekend, but nothing like the Arctic Blast the Midwest and eastern states are in for. So if it ain't snowing, I'm going.

[ChrissyRyan]

 If you find a rock that is like a two to five pounds (or as big as your fist, (or whatever that weighs for a heavy feeling rock) and looks like it is speckled with tiny pieces of gold, is it likely gold or not in that rock?

 Would such a rock just be best left on your desk as a conversation piece or could it be processed by someone with your gold experiences to get the gold out?  And would that mean first smashing the rock into itsy bitsy pieces?


Chrissy

[Lori Dee ✅]

If you find a rock that is like a two to five pounds (or as big as your fist, (or whatever that weighs for a heavy feeling rock) and looks like it is speckled with tiny pieces of gold, is it likely gold or not in that rock?

 Would such a rock just be best left on your desk as a conversation piece or could it be processed by someone with your gold experiences to get the gold out?  And would that mean first smashing the rock into itsy bitsy pieces?


Chrissy

If it feels heavier than other rocks of the same size, it could be gold ore. I would look at the gold specks under my stereoscope to see if they are gold or iron pyrite. If it is gold and the specks form veins or are clearly visible, it could be worth more as a specimen piece, so I would leave it as is (or sell it as is).

If the gold is not clearly visible, it might be worth more to extract the gold from it. There are a number of ways to do it, but they all involve crushing it into sand or gravel.

Once crushed, you can just pan it with a gold pan and use gravity separation to move the gold away from the rest of the dirt.

You can also use mercury. Mercury will dissolve gold and form an amalgam. One ounce of mercury will dissolve one ounce of gold. Once the gold is dissolved (a fairly slow process), you filter it through a cheesecloth or an old t-shirt. What is caught in the cloth can be disposed of. The mercury that was squeezed through the cloth contains the gold. The next step is dangerous, so it can only be done outdoors or under a ventilation hood. Pour the mixture into a pan and heat it. The mercury will evaporate, but the fumes are deadly. Once all of the mercury has evaporated, what is left in the pan is 99.999% pure gold.

Another method involves what we all "Aqua Regia", which means "royal water". It is 3 parts of hydrochloric acid and one part nitric or sulfuric acid. It is highly corrosive and will dissolve noble metals like gold or platinum. Again, the fumes are extremely dangerous; this can only be done outdoors or under a ventilation hood. Once the gold is dissolved, the liquid is decanted into a clean container. Anything left in the old container can be discarded. I forgot what the catalyst is, but another chemical is added to the clean container's liquid, and that causes the gold to precipitate out of the liquid. When all of the gold has dropped out, the liquid can be poured off or evaporated, leaving behind a chocolate brown sludge in the bottom. That sludge is 99.999% pure gold. If heated up to the melting point, it will return to its shiny yellow metallic look.

I have not used Aqua Regia, but I have used mercury a few times. The problem is that the cost of chemicals is high. You rarely recover enough gold to cover the expense. I learned about the chemical methods while doing security alarm work at a precious metals recycling plant. They process a LOT of metals and had two small swimming pools full of acid that they would use by dipping old computer circuit boards and stuff into to soak. With a big operation like that, they could afford the cost of chemicals.

The safest and easiest way is to use a gold pan.

[ChrissyRyan]

If it feels heavier than other rocks of the same size, it could be gold ore. I would look at the gold specks under my stereoscope to see if they are gold or iron pyrite. If it is gold and the specks form veins or are clearly visible, it could be worth more as a specimen piece, so I would leave it as is (or sell it as is).

If the gold is not clearly visible, it might be worth more to extract the gold from it. There are a number of ways to do it, but they all involve crushing it into sand or gravel.

Once crushed, you can just pan it with a gold pan and use gravity separation to move the gold away from the rest of the dirt.

You can also use mercury. Mercury will dissolve gold and form an amalgam. One ounce of mercury will dissolve one ounce of gold. Once the gold is dissolved (a fairly slow process), you filter it through a cheesecloth or an old t-shirt. What is caught in the cloth can be disposed of. The mercury that was squeezed through the cloth contains the gold. The next step is dangerous, so it can only be done outdoors or under a ventilation hood. Pour the mixture into a pan and heat it. The mercury will evaporate, but the fumes are deadly. Once all of the mercury has evaporated, what is left in the pan is 99.999% pure gold.

Another method involves what we all "Aqua Regia", which means "royal water". It is 3 parts of hydrochloric acid and one part nitric or sulfuric acid. It is highly corrosive and will dissolve noble metals like gold or platinum. Again, the fumes are extremely dangerous; this can only be done outdoors or under a ventilation hood. Once the gold is dissolved, the liquid is decanted into a clean container. Anything left in the old container can be discarded. I forgot what the catalyst is, but another chemical is added to the clean container's liquid, and that causes the gold to precipitate out of the liquid. When all of the gold has dropped out, the liquid can be poured off or evaporated, leaving behind a chocolate brown sludge in the bottom. That sludge is 99.999% pure gold. If heated up to the melting point, it will return to its shiny yellow metallic look.

I have not used Aqua Regia, but I have used mercury a few times. The problem is that the cost of chemicals is high. You rarely recover enough gold to cover the expense. I learned about the chemical methods while doing security alarm work at a precious metals recycling plant. They process a LOT of metals and had two small swimming pools full of acid that they would use by dipping old computer circuit boards and stuff into to soak. With a big operation like that, they could afford the cost of chemicals.

The safest and easiest way is to use a gold pan.

That is most interesting.  Thank you for responding.  I have found no such rock but I was wondering if working with rocks that may contain gold was typically for the big gold mining companies or if the gold prospectors had any reasonable processes to get at the gold in the rock.

I wonder if rocks found near a closed gold mine area might have a good chance of containing gold.

Chrissy

[Lori Dee ✅]

That is most interesting.  Thank you for responding.  I have found no such rock but I was wondering if working with rocks that may contain gold was typically for the big gold mining companies or if the gold prospectors had any reasonable processes to get at the gold in the rock.

I wonder if rocks found near a closed gold mine area might have a good chance of containing gold.

Chrissy

The big mining companies either mine placer gold, like I do, or hard rock. Placer gold is gold that has eroded out of the mountain rock and washed downhill from erosion. Over time, the gold collects in creeks and stream beds. The hardest work is digging it up and running it through a sluice box. The big companies use excavators and heavy earth-moving equipment to scoop up the gold. Their sluice boxes are HUGE, so they can process dirt by the ton every day. If you have seen the TV show Gold Rush, this will sound familiar.

For hard rock miners, it is different. These miners go after the source still in the rock. It could be veins or gold or rich gold ore. The rock is chiseled out of the mountain and hauled out of the mine for processing. The first stage is separating the rocks with gold in them from the junk rock that got blasted out with it, called "tailings". The ore is loaded into ore carts and hauled to the next phase, while the tailings are just dumped in a pile, often at the edge of a hill.

In the old days, mining techniques were not very sophisticated. When separating the rocks, they just did a quick visual inspection. They threw away a lot of gold. As you mentioned, checking a tailings pile can be quite productive. Just because you don't see any gold on the outside doesn't mean there isn't gold on the inside. This is where a metal detector can come in handy. There are two major hazards to doing this. 1) Bullets. Just because a mine looks abandoned does not mean it is not still claimed. Claim-jumping is considered felony criminal trespassing. 2) Many old mines used dangerous chemicals to extract the gold. Not only mercury, but arsenic and cyanide. When a mine is truly abandoned and such chemicals exist, the Bureau of Land Management steps in to clean it up. It is a very long waiting list, and it could be decades before it is made safe.

In the second stage, the gold ore is crushed in rock crushers to get it down to a manageable size, then sent to a stamping mill to be crushed into sand. Stamping mills were often steam-powered, then later, electric motor-driven. It involved huge pistons that move up, then drop onto the ore to pulverize it as a conveyor belt feeds more ore into the machine.

After that, the sand is processed by a sluice box, or more likely, with chemicals. Sluiced material needs to be smelted down to remove impurities, and then is formed into bars. The chemical process results in pure gold that can be melted into bars for transport.

Images:
1. The stamp mill at the Mining Museum in Lead, SD
2. My dream closet (German Bank, courtesy of Getty Images)

[ChrissyRyan]

One wonders if "dental gold", for fillings, etc. is used much and if it is worth much.
It likely is not pure gold.  If it is, could be costly stuff!

[ChrissyRyan]

I found some rocks in a shallow river years ago.  Brought them home and smashed them open to find crystals, just as someone said I might. Geodes I think are what they are called.  Quite plain on the outside.

[ChrissyRyan]

I am glad you like your Jeep and I hope all your custom mods work out well.

[Lori Dee ✅]

One wonders if "dental gold", for fillings, etc. is used much and if it is worth much.
It likely is not pure gold.  If it is, could be costly stuff!

I have a gold crown on one of my molars. They are not pure gold. Gold is too soft, so it is alloyed with another metal to make it stronger.

[Lori Dee ✅]

I found some rocks in a shallow river years ago.  Brought them home and smashed them open to find crystals, just as someone said I might. Geodes I think are what they are called.  Quite plain on the outside.

Not all geodes are hollow, and not all have crystals. But they are so cool to find. Some have water in them. I have never found a hollow one yet. The one I have, I cut it in half, and the center is filled with quartz, not crystals, but filled with quartz rock. When I shine a light on the rock, the quartz lights up, but the outer shell stays dark. I found it at Teepee Canyon in SD. The outer shell is red jasper with a milky quartz center.

[ChrissyRyan]

Not all geodes are hollow, and not all have crystals. But they are so cool to find. Some have water in them. I have never found a hollow one yet. The one I have, I cut it in half, and the center is filled with quartz, not crystals, but filled with quartz rock. When I shine a light on the rock, the quartz lights up, but the outer shell stays dark. I found it at Teepee Canyon in SD. The outer shell is red jasper with a milky quartz center.

I find it interesting that, at least for the countertop trade, that "quartz" is an engineered material made from crushed quartz crystals and resin, and that "quartzite" is stone that was formed by nature from sandstone under heat and pressure.  Meaning that quartz countertops are "not natural slabs of stone" and quartzite countertops are actual slabs of stone.

[davina61]

AS I said before I watch Ozzy gold hunters on TV so have seen all the ways of finding gold from surface detecting to tailings, hard rock and digging down to old river beds. What ever its hard work but when you find a nugget very rewarding.

[Lori Dee ✅]

What ever its hard work but when you find a nugget very rewarding.

My biggest nugget find was in 2021, measuring just a hair over 1/4-inch and weighing a third of a gram. I would love to find more of those! At today's prices, it would be worth about $130.

[davina61]

It was the fist sized lump they found on the one show!!

[Lori Dee ✅]

I got a notice in the mail today. The title work for my new Jeep is now done!

Tomorrow, I'll head over to the courthouse to get my license plates transferred from the old Jeep to the new Jeep.

Friday, I am hoping to venture back out to Curio Hill (Specimen Ridge) to see the agate mine there. That area is well-known for blue-banded agates, and I would love to find some. I have seen and polished a lot of agates, but never with any blue in them. Curio Hill has been extensively mined for over 100 years due to the high-quality agates. I suspect that it will be pretty well picked over, so I will have to explore neighboring ridges as well. There is no direct route to get to it. You must park in a small turnout on a county road, then hike around private property bounded with barbed wire. There is a trail, but it is still a mile or more hike.

With any luck, I'll have some cool pics to share and pretty stones to polish this winter.

[Dances With Trees]

Such a wonderful discussion of gold mining! In my young and foolish days, I recovered the mercury from the amalgam using a condenser. I've heard stories of oldtimers baking the amalgam in a potato. Thanks Lori, Davina, and Chrissy for taking me down Memory Lane since much of my prospecting was done with my father.

[Lori Dee ✅]

I've heard stories of oldtimers baking the amalgam in a potato.

That made it easy to recover the gold. The mercury evaporates, leaving pure gold in the potato. Scrape the potato out of the skin and drop it in a gold pan. The potato will wash away easily, while the gold will drop to the bottom of the pan.

Doing it this way saves you from needing to clean your frying pan before breakfast in the morning. Hopefully, they remembered which potato was dinner and which one had the mercury in it. 🫨