Separate gold from ore without losing too much precious metal.
Gold is usually found in substances like calcite, pyrite and mineral quartz, but in some cases, hobbyists with metal detectors can find gold deposits in ore. Separating the gold from the ore can be a tricky process because of the potential to damage valuable material; however, knowing the right process can help you retain as much of the gold as possible, and get the most from your efforts.
Instructions
1. Break down the larger pieces of ore. Before you can extract gold, you have to crush the ore to know what sizes of gold are embedded inside. Wear goggles and use a hammer for larger pieces; as they get smaller, use a chisel to help you control where you're splitting the ore. If you have a large amount of ore to process, using a jaw crusher can save you a lot of work. This is a hand-cranked machine that crushes materials fed in to a chute.
2. Screen your ore pieces. Whether you hand screen or use an actual piece of mesh, this process yields much more product if you periodically screen between crushing. As you find pieces of free gold, separate them out from the ore pieces with your fingers, and continue crushing the ore. A 16 to 30 mesh screen is good for catching materials -- any larger, and you risk losing gold deposits.
3. Leach the remaining pieces. You should have smaller ore pieces with small bits of gold and gold pieces with very little ore around them, if any. You can choose to stop there, or place a sheet of strong plastic over a leach pad outdoors and pour remaining ore materials on top. Now a diluted cyanide/water solution is poured over the top and left to sit for three to four weeks. The resulting mixture is then drained off.
4. Mix the solution with zinc powder. Mixing your remaining solution with zinc powder causes the gold to fleck up, making it easier to skim off with a mesh skimmer, and process they way you want.
