DDancer

My first memories of you on the net Steve were at Rob Allisons site just before Gains Creek. Its been a while and your still going strong Mate.?

Have fun ? Be interested to see how it turns out. Dont be disappointed if it does not look like the picture on the box ? When I first tried Alum crystals I usually got strings of rock crystals. The trick is seeding the solution right.

If you want to spend a few bucks you can buy crystal making kits online, most are alum based but there are other interesting ones. I've done it with both the kit, which I purchased at a musiem in the gift shop, and used alum powder commonly found here where they sell spices and goods for pickling and preserving. Sugar and Salt are good one's to. Its also fun to try supersaturated solutions of these as well. The stuff your looking at phrunt does not appear to be Potassium aluminum sulfate. Try looking for it at a store that has pickling and preserving supplies.

Pretty cool set up on that site. Great to see.

Heat the water up first, put some coffee in the first bag and filter the water with the second and you have yourself a cuppa Colombian Gold ? Thats a good one Idahogold thanks.

? Great that your getting out and getting a bit out of it Fred ? The longest journey starts with the first step, then a step at a time.

Having prospected several times over the years in WA and your being new to it I suggest waiting till next April thru August and look into taking a gold tour out of Kalgoorie. That time frame is the typical "Gold Season" as the deserts are mild at that time of year. There are several outfits that do tours and some have detector hires available. You'll need your own vehicle and a couple of weeks off but its a good way to gain a bit of experience prospecting in Australia. If you decide to give it an additional go, a good way to meet friends and have a go on your own later on. Kal is about 8 hours strait drive from Perth and in the heart of the WA gold fields. Lots of interesting stuff to see on the way out as well. Until next gold season read up on prospecting and prospectors in WA. Loads of information on it in the net and at the library. Get a good detector for the parks there in Perth and get some practice in ? Lot of lost kangaroo's and abo's to find while you wait. Also you might want to check out this old thread authored by Fred Mason. Lots of pictures and some info on the gold fields.

So classification down to 1/2 inch wet may increase processing I'm guessing. Elimination of material below that would impact separation and self cleaning capability of the material especially with clays. I understand it depends on the media so thats a supposition. Interesting. How do you determine its time to clean out the con's? I take it your diaphragm is a heavy mil abs plastic. No I'm not looking to make one just understand the one your making. Kinda reminds me of a dry blower without the air ?

Thats quite and accomplishment Jim, both the machine and the patent. Roughly how much material does it process in an hour?

Thanks for that. Hate to say it but its got me stumped too.

You say it weighs 17 grams dirty, what are its dimensions... maybe you could put a coin or something in for scale.

Cool ?

I've always had my best results with moderately damp soil. I feel it helps with halo effect for deep objects and improves soil conductivity. I base my thoughts on many hunts on previously hunted ground at different times of the year. Usually a day or two after rain storms seems to be a kicker for me.

I'm inclined to agree with Fred, a change dispenser part. Odd lay out for the seperator plates... here are some google images : https://www.google.com/search?q=vintage+coin+dispenser&sa=X&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=2ahUKEwjNhZKsmJ_dAhVs04MKHQYDDKEQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1366&bih=670

That too. I think its safe to say it belongs to a watch.

A watch fob is my thought as well. The swing arm would have been used to hook a button and the hole would have been where the chain attached. Good find.

Looks like you have some nice quartz clusters there. As to phenakite here is a link : https://www.minerals.net/mineral/phenakite.aspx Neat stuff hides in the oddest places.

First two : Chalcedony interior and exterior views, waxy luster and melted wax like look on the outside. third : chalcedony again fourth : certainly looks like chalcopyrite but could be arsenopyrite, try scratching it on some porcelain and check for the smell of sulfur~ burnt matches Fifth and sixth: Not sure, the rind of the stone is decomposed; maybe host rock; and the interior shows layering. Agates don't decompose like this and the interior does not show the luster common to agate however it does appear to be a quartz mineral. As to the round stones Sasquatch's idea with a tile saw is a good one however geodes are not generally noticeable in water by weight. Your sunstone is pretty nice but I cant really say what it is though its attractive ? The green and red stone towards the end of your thread looks like blood stone, heliotrope, and here again a tile saw might be helpful to cut a slab and polish it a bit. I don't see any indications for corundum or garnet in the mix. It looks like a jasper mix to me. Hardness test would help. All in all a good little collection. My thoughts.

Looks interesting. With the pyrites present I dont adivse using strong acids or lime/rust removers as they will react with the pyrites. I'd try bleach first for a week or so to see if it pulls out any organic stains. After that try vinegar on a part of the stone for a week to pull out carbonates and see if that lightens up the quartz. If you do decide to try acid dilute it to about 1 in 10 and try another part of the stone and see how it reacts to the pyrites. Muritic *HCL* pool acid is fairly safe to work with but leave it outdoors and use gloves.

A photo would be good Mac. It'll let us have a look as to what you want to clean depending on the discoloration. Could be as simple as a little vinegar, baking soda or some CLR but with what you've described I doubt you want to go as heavy as strong acids.

Sometimes its the simple things. ?

Possible halo effect if the mirror no longer gives a signal maybe?

Not a great dig technique but the trick looks interesting for Australian stuff on isolated targets. Reminds me of a couple of footy fields I detected in that second video ? Interesting that he was not finding, or at least showing, any old large pennies. They tend to pop up along side the silver when you get on it down there.

Fred as hard as I hunted I dont think anyone would have cleaned up better ? I did leave some behind however so they are there for the taking. The region around Kal is pretty well flogged however with a dozer and permit to push there's still plenty about. I walked onto many old and new pushes and drove by several active ones. Even had a few chats with the local miners who stopped by to see what I was about. Good folks as long as your doing it right and legal. Lots of stories to like the one about the dog grave near one of my camps to be heard from them too.

This year, 2018, I'm working thru the year to pay up on last years not so great stab at a golden prospects in Australia last year, 2017. It was a great trip, always is, but a lot of little factors kept me gold poor *which I use to pay for food, fuel and amenities* so I leaned on the credit card a little to hard. Hahh! No one ever said I'd get rich but ehh~ One can dream by the camp fire.~~ Another driving factor for this post is that my email does not like to send pictures so this is for you all who have asked "Where are the pictures?" when I tried to send them. Well that aside Its Always A Good Go down under. I stayed mostly in the region of Kalgoorie last year, hard hunted land that, so I could be of help and hang around with my mates in Coolgardie while they fixed up a new caravan and ute. The gold was small and hard to come by but I still got a few ounces in littles from the EL's I applied for, and yes sent the reports in for, but in all here are a few good days on the scales : And here are what most days went like. I only had a few days streaches during the weeks out bush where I caught the skunk... but I entertained myself otherwise ? I did find one small meteorite but it chose to find the hole in my pocket instead of coming home with me. Bugger. But while I was out and about I decided to look for another mineral I knew occured in the region were I was and took a few days driving the fence lines to find it. Chrysoprase. Never did find the mine that my mate pointed me towards but I did find an area that had the right indicators, what is called white and blue chrysoprase and chalcedony, and on stopping there I took a couple of days to speck around. I was finding mostly low grade stuff, the above picture, but found one good bit with just the tip sticking out like an iceberg: Among other interesting rocks like this one, semi-crystalline quartz with some nice shiny bubbly limonite and from another area of flats a fulgerite, solidified lightning strike: So my rock hounding itch was scratched ? Now camp is always a treat in the mornings and evenings but I also mentioned I kept myself entertained on days when I was not finding much. Aside from just enjoying nature and walking Kays getting no where on the gold a few days of yabbie fishing made for a great reliefe after catching the skunk. I visited various dams nearby and treated myself to a Yabbie feast on many evenings. So all in all a great time, good eats and nice finds. If you want to go my suggestion is : Make a Plan and stick to it. You wont be dissapointed. There were a great many other things that occured but like I said, a short story. Regards and go live the dream. Next year who knows..... I'm thinking opal or sapphires myself with a little gold and yabbie. Thanks for reading, DD