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Q&As since 1989


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PROCESSING SMALL ORE FINDS

2004

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO GET THE GOLD OUT OF GOLD BEARING ROCK. I WAS GIVEN A GIFT OF SOME GOLD BEARING QUARTZ (I THINK IT IS QUARTZ)IT HAS WHAT APPEARS TO BE WHAT I WOULD CALL SOFT GOLD VEINS RUNNING THROUGH IT. IT'S NOT ALL CRYSTALLIZED. I DON'T THINK IT IS PYRITE, I HAVE SOME OF THAT ALSO. I HAVE APPROX. 40 LBS. OF ROCK (2 LBS. EACH) THAT I WOULD LIKE TO PROCESS. THE ROCKS CAME FROM AN AREA OF MEXICO KNOWN TO HAVE A LOT OF GOLD AND MINING OPERATIONS. I AM NOT A CHEMIST NOR AM I GEOLOGIST, SO THE SIMPLEST TERMS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

THANK YOU,

KYLE B. TOTH
CONSUMER - NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS, USA

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2004

Good afternoon:

If your samples really contain small veins of native gold, they might be worth more to collectors as specimens than the gold that's in them.

However, don't be fooled by the term "gold bearing rock." In commercial gold mining operations, the concentration of gold in the ore could be in the parts per million range. Sometimes the gold extraction comes from the metallurgical refining of less precious metals like copper, silver, etc.; you probably wouldn't see metallic gold in the ore samples. In this case it would take many tons of ore to make the extraction of gold profitable.

Maybe you could take your samples to a geology or mineralogy professor at a local college, or to a local rock and mineral club for positive identification?

Steve Bizub
- St Louis, Missouri