2.6Kg Gold Nugget found by amateur in Oz

I thought nuggets were all gold. This one is only half gold in interconnected veins. Worth having, though.

Judging by some of the reality gold prospecting shows on TV the amateur gold prospector is likely to be working long hours in poor conditions for the equivalent of a zero hours contract with less than minimum wage or if investing in a prospecting lease and equipment more likely to go bankrupt :)

I found a small gold ring with some what look like very small diamonds. on the path to my garden on monday morning. I first thought it was just a washer that had fallen from the outside water tap as it leeks quite often. I emailed the couple that live downstairs. he emailed back saying that it might be my wifes or my sisters and he'd forward my email. His wife emailed back saying No it's not mine or your sisters , which I found amusing.

I saw a modified version of that story.

"Amateur Australian gold digger finds massive nugget" (original headline)

Then a picture of Rupert Murdoch and his latest young woman.

So, how would one go about getting the gold out of the rock? Obviously you would need to do it as cheaply as possible, so you could see what it was worth. I'm thinking pulverise it then melt it and separate the gold from the debris somehow. I'm fairly certain there are chemical ways to do this, but would not know where to start. If you believe a lot of the US redneck radio stations, keeping gold is supposed to be the safest investment, but in the end, you cannot actually spend gold. Brian

Brian Gaff snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote

Crush the rock and extract it in the usual way.

But its worth much more left as it is.

Don't need to do that to work out what it is worth.

Yes.

Nope,

You use the methods that has been used for centurys, sluicing or using mercury.

I'm fairly certain there are chemical ways to do this,

Its arguable that mercury is that. Its actually an amalgam.

But plenty do.

Corse you can.

In this case the gold is possibly worth more still embedded in the rock as it can be sold as a display specimen.

Eureka cried ‎Archimedes

They also have equipment that can analyse the composition of the rock.

Pulverise and use Mercury is one way

Isn't Mercury pretty expensive, and not the safest of options. I've always thought water was the best method as gold is pretty heavy and sinks.

Last resort would be melting it to get it really pure.

IIRC the old way was to pulverise the rock, absorb the gold into mercury and boil off the mercury (condensing it for re-use). Commercially that would be illegal now, it is highly dangerous due to the toxicity and mercury is very expensive.

Doesnt matter what it costs, it isnt consumed.

Perfectly safe when done properly.

The only problem is when it is done in the third world by those who don't have a clue about what they are doing and clearly the cost isnt a problem given that its a very popular method there.

But that approach isnt as effective as mercury.

Melting doesnt do that.

Sluicing is often used to get a concentrate of gold and other materials that is then further processed to extract the gold.

You could just end up with a bar 50% gold 50% copper.

No its not.

Not when done properly it isnt.

How odd that its the most commonly used method in the third world.

Small-scale gold mining releases large amounts of mercury to the environment and is estimated to contribute approximately 37% of mercury emissions on a global scale. 1 Mercury emissions have strong negative effects on the local environment, the health of the miners, as well as people living near the mines

I doubt third world countries do it properly.

LOL!

Shouldn't it be younger woman though as she's no spring chicken.

Another way is to dissolve in sodium or potassium cyanide.

John

You can hand-pan for gold.

A guy in the chem building, used to go hiking on weekend, and he would take his gold pan with him.

"Some colour..."

I've also seen a deposit of iron pyrite crystals, off the side of a road. The form is a dead giveaway that it is not gold :-) The best crystal I got, was

whisky-dave snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote

Hardly any of that is done commercially in the first world anymore.

Not when done properly.

That's the 3rd world. It certainly is the favored method in the 3rd world because it is so easy to do.

Only in the 3rd world. Doesnt happen when done commercially in the 1st world in places like Australia.

Irrelevant to his claim about commercially.

This is the Giant Mine, in Canada.

The mine produced $4 billion worth of gold. Guess how much it will cost, for the environmental cleanup at the site. It will cost a bit over $4 billion.

The royalties collected from the mining operation, by the government, are a pittance, and basically it's like we have just given these people $4 billion, to walk away with.

Paul