Tarnagulla Specimen Again

[phoenix]

I checked that Tarnagulla specimen again today and it`s just about disintegrated, all that was holding the quartz together was the brown rock. You can`t really see it but there is a fair bit of powder gold in the pan.   When I first sg`d it the sg said about 1½ ounces of gold but I doubt there is that much. I`ve put the pieces back in acid to get rid of the last bits of brown rock, then I`ll crush it all up and have a go at making my first ingot. 

 

[Jim McCulloch]

You busted it!

[phoenix]

57 minutes ago, phrunt said:

How are you planning on melting it down?

I`ve got a couple of propane burners and a little kiln and Wikipedia tells me propane and air burns at 1980º C and gold melts at 1064º C and, like I said, I`ve never done it before, but I think this little setup will probably work.   I`ll know in a couple of weeks ?

[geof_junk]

I used the cheap cans of gas that campers use and a blow torch attachment. It took a while in a fire brick that I had made a bowl indentation in it with an angle grinder. Providing I kept the weight below 4 ounces it worked OK. The photo below shows 16+ ounces I did once, not bars like you can do with the unit above

[geof_junk]

Phrunt the second is very similar to the one I used. (I hope NZ standards are up to our Aussy ones  ) The big trick is to use a fire brick or some sort of heat insulation that won't melt as the set up phoenix shows. 

[Redz]

Agree with Geof, I struggled to get enough heat without insulating with firebricks, as the heat loss is too much. Using the small kilns with propane/butane will work fine. I made my own easily enough.

[GoldEn]

Look good.Looking forward to see a gold bar.

Keep digging

 

GoldEN

[geof_junk]

Phoenix the amount of specimens that you are getting lately I think you might have to borrow this.

 

[fredmason]

he better borrow  the stream too...