Helo!

[Jim_Alaska]

Sorry Russ, it was early morning and not awake. I was referring to Jim Madonna.

[russau]

Thank you for clearing that up!! Sorry to hear of Jim Madonna's passing ! I still have his book on mineral identification.

[RiverGold]

I have not been on here in a few years. I got busy in Vermont, working, retiring, grandkids, gold panning, travel, etc. I am doing lectures now on the Vermont Gold Rush of 1855 to local Vermont historical societies and gem clubs. Yes, we have gold here. Small stuff compared to Colorado, but it gives me some relief for my gold fever. I have about 5 zip lock bags of black sand concentrates to start working on this winter. We start winter early here. The temperatures the next seven days will be between 13 and 34.
Does anyone else save their black sand to work at home when you know the gold is very fine in size? I find it easier to collect in zip lock bags and work it at home.

I do miss my Colorado friends and that Colorado gold, though.

[RiverGold]

To continue the thread about "how did we get started gold prospecting?": I got an early introduction to the lore and lure of gold prospecting at age 3 in my Dad's lap in Alaska, as he read me Robert Service's songs of the Yukon. Other kid's dads were reading them Dr. Zuess stories. My Dad was reading me "Tales of the Arctic that make your blood run cold" like the Cremation of Sam McGee. This was at Ft. Greeley, Big Delta, Alaska. From then on, I always had a mild interest in gold.

But what really got me going later in life was having my gall bladder removed in Colorado. I was into kayaking at the time and the doc said I could not lift over 5 pounds for next six weeks. But I loved the Colorado creeks and rivers so I went to panning 5 lbs. of dirt at a time in Colorado creeks. But, the difference then was I hooked up with Leonard, Dr. Sluice and the CCC on the Arkansas River. My gold sluicing/panning success shot up astronomically thanks to their mentoring. I do owe them gratitude, but they also gave me an incurable case of gold fever, which is a mixed blessing. Now it make perfectly good sense to spend $50 on gas to drive somewhere and dig up $25 worth of gold. But, it still beats most other things that I can still do for sheer pleasure.

[Joe S (AK)]

Hey there, RG!

Yes, we all put a little back for the winter. No clinkers but a little color can be nice ..............

If you haven't tried a Neo Magnet (Neodymium is the actual name) as part of the process for pulling out the Hematite and Magnetite then life will get better if you do.

Neos are sometimes mis-identified as "Super Magnets" but even so they are incredibly powerful and can be used to pull Magnetite easily, Hematite with some difficulty and, of course, iron and any other mineral / element that has an affinity for really strong magnets.

2 tablespoons of fine cons in 1" of water in your pan. Pan firmly sitting flat down on the table top and 'flat shake',(slide back and forth or circleor stratify, the whole mess to put the Gold on the very bottom of the pan. Then put the Neo (I use the N-52 strength, which is the strongest available currently) inside a pill bottle with a bolt head stuck to the top of the magnet. (CAREFULL!). Drop the Neo into the plastic bottle, then hold the bottle just above the water while slowly wiggling the bottle/magnet back and forth over the top of the water. Slowly lower the bottle while wiggling until the magnetics just start to rise up through the water (kind of like a reverse water fall). Go Slowly! At that point the Magnetite is being stripped from the top of the Gold and sticking to the bottom of the plastic pill bottle. The Gold was under the black sand so it just sits there on the very bottom.

Move the magnet/bottle/bolt and magnetics over to a second pan with 1" of water and use the 2"-4" bolt to drag the magnet up and away from the magnetics. Blacks stuff drops. Flat Shake and Repeat until no more Magnetite sticks to the bottle from the first pan. Do not suck up a lot of the black sands at one time!

THEN GET SNEAKY. Pull the magnet out of the pill bottle and put it into a Baggie. Flat shake and drag the magnet (in the baggie) directly across the remaining black sand (Hematite). The Hematite is *slightly* magnetic and will stick to the magnet through the very thin baggie. Drop the Hematite into the second pan as well with the other magnetics. REPEAT. When done there will be a very little bit of "stuff" in amongst the gold and that pans off quite easily.

If you succumb to the theory that the black sand will, somehow, sweep Gold up to the magnet (so it ends up in the second pan) just do it all over again from Pan #2 to a third pan. See how much Gold you actually pulled from pan 1 to pan 2.

Get "stuff" directly onto the magnet? Let it dry and use any type of dry sticky tape (scotch, masking, painter's, electrical, box or even duct tape) to remove the dry sands from the magnet.

Works like an 8 day clock!

My favorite source for Neodymium magnets on the internet is: https://www.magnet4sale.com/neodymium-magnets/

I've been doing that for years and it works really, really well.

Joe

[Hoser John]

Love the story Jim as our long strange glorious gold filled lives has been one heck of a trip. Hope you all stay warm and have a great Christmas-John

[Joe S (AK)]

John, while you are just kicking around (and not fighting wild fires) why not sit down with tall glass of lemonade and fill us in on how the mining legend that you are got started. There must be a story there!

Joe
Holding My Breath in Anticipation!

[RiverGold]

Joe, thanks for the neo magnet suggestion. I have done all of what you suggest in the past with my black sand, but not with a neo magnet. It did not occur to me that this type of magnet will pick up the hematite as well. I have a couple of rare earth magnets I will try this with. Now if I could just pick up the garnets....we have a ton of black garnets in our black sand out here in VT.

[Joe S (AK)]

Garnets come in all sorts of colors - it just depends on the trace elements and the proportion of them present. I know a claim of a friend in Alaska that has a ton of them - including relatively perfect, larger black ones.

Black Garnets are cool - but common! They are called Almandine, they're the hardest variety and are (often) used for sandpaper, sandblasting and water jet cutting. You should recognize the sandpaper type called - "Garnet Paper". When you buy sand paper it has a certain 'grit number' - like 40, 80, 120, 400, 800 etc - and that 'grit number' is the classified size of the crushed garnet powder that is bonded to the paper. And you thought that classifiers were only used for Gold - right?

Consider buying yourself a Christmas present - a Neo Magnet. Try a 1/2" diameter cylinder about 1/2 to 3/4" high and an N-45 or 50 strength. Carefully play with it and you will be amazed how much better it is over ROTM (Run of the Mill) "Super Magnets". When you get used to it use it to amaze your friends using a simple trick:

US Dollar bills are printed in black on one side. That black ink is made from (among other things) Iron. You can, just, just ALMOST pick up that dollar bill using an N-52 magnet lifting on the ink. You can't quite pick the whole bill up - but if you're careful you might get at least 1/2.

Just remember - WHEN (not if) you get black sand on that Neo Magnet - get as much off as is practical with your fingers, then dry the magnet and firmly stick duct tape to the magnet / black sands. Then peel the black sands off the magnet with the tape.

All the best!

Joe

[russau]

And / Or put the magnet into a plastic zip lock baggie so you can get ALL the mags off the magnet!