BLUE CLAY

HI ALL
can any one enlighten me on blue clay, i have found a small gully, when i pann the blue clay i get lots of black sand.

Hmmm, Here in north Georgia the blue clay we have is decomposed bedrock. Some of it has small amounts of quartz in it and could contain a little gold. When I run it through my sluice or highbanker it produces a lot of black sand also. What I look for is the gravel layer sitting on top of the clay, which usually contains most of the gold. Gold has a hard time settling down in the clay and most of it sits on top. Also clat can pull gold out of your equipment, so be careful of running it through it. Hope this helps.

Dear hmmm;
As far as I know, blue clay, or blue lead (rhymes with SEED) was a prominent feature in 49er geology and the early prospectors had a very difficult time separating the gold from the blue lead material. The reason why the clay is blue colored is most likely because contains high amounts of silver.

The 49ers called the clay *blue lead* because often times it contained high concentrations of gold, therefore they would follow it and it would *lead* them to gold. If you are recovering large amounts of black sand in the blue lead then that could be a VERY good indicator that gold is also in the immediate vicinity. I like to find high concentrations of black sand because I can usually find gold in the immediate area as well.
Your friend;
LAMAR

Hey humm….When I researched blue clay I found that it was ash from very early volcanoes. In California when I would find blue clay the gold would be on top of it or in the first few inches of the clay. Be careful as this stuff will rob you blind when it goes through a sluice…Art

Yes here in the Mother Lode,the blue clay is a very good sign and most always has gold in it.As said,it had a lot of historical significance as well for that reason.In the ancient river channels any clay layer holds gold.I was working in some very rich black clay a couple years ago that stained my hands black...they were black for a couple days!!!Come to find out it was decomposing graphitic shist.Up on the Yuba I look out for the red clay.

In alot of cases the blue clay was slate that decomposed,so that is why one finds rough quartz in it from the various stringers,veins,veinlets that decomposed...the right one for the lucky will contain very rough gold.Check those fines/small specks with a loupe.

Don't know your state so makes it harder. But the ol'blue cut produces some FINE rough gold in the california motherlode region,and others. East of the rockies might be different but seen enough tv shows/books/articles on gem/mineral hunting back east to know that quite a few good things go on back there too. What state/county r u n?? That doesn't disclose anything BUT gives you a MUCH improved chance of getting more accurate info-Tons a au 2 u2 -John

THANKS GUYS
this site is on vancover island canada, its located in a refugium, never been under a glacier.  according to the local prospector who first found it, there was a quartz vein sticking out of the bedrock under the blue ground. he claimed there was gold in the quartz, but said when he went back and a slide had covered it and he never dug it out. and never staked it.   this happened just befor the ww1.  the blue clay has gravel in it and is mostly quartz and magnatite.
hmmm

Take the clay and put it in a bucket with water and break it up really good you can use a whipping tool on the end of a drill also to break it all apart then sluice or pan it out. Let us know what you find sounds like a very interesting spot .

or just put it in a bucket and let that clay dry out. itll take awhile but itll breakup easily later. then you can pan it out.

HI GUYS
i have panned it out, its loaded with quartz, black sand , magnatite rocks and pyrite.

i hear that blue clay could be a indicator of diamonds.

i hear that blue clay could be a indicator of diamonds.

Are you thinking of blue-ground kimberlite??
That's what I was thinking of, and it does look somewhat similar.

Bran <><

Here in TN the blue clay is decomposed bedrock and if you are dredging you will see white veins running through it i found this to be decomposed quartz veins and if you use you blaster nozzle to dissolve it and let the dredge suck it all up you will have some good looking gold in the sluice when you are done.Also most of the gold in the blue clay layer is rough and chunky.Dig down till you hit the clay then just keep widdening your hole taking the gravels from on top of the clay and about the first two or three inches of the clay,thats how i do it when im panning,, hope this helps

Thanks for the the info guys, its no wounder why the loggers buried the blue cley on me years ago, greed, they wanted it all for them selves. 

Thanks for the the info guys, its no wounder why the loggers buried the blue cley on me years ago, greed, they wanted it all for them selves. 

or want you tresspassing

Thanks for the the info guys, its no wounder why the loggers buried the blue cley on me years ago, greed, they wanted it all for them selves. 

or want you tresspassing

I wantent trespassing, i held title and do still do.

Thanks for the the info guys, its no wounder why the loggers buried the blue cley on me years ago, greed, they wanted it all for them selves. 

or want you tresspassing

I wantent trespassing, i held title and do still do.

geological surveys of your area are available from the state/provincial authorities
do the detective work or are the geological authorities out to cover up the something also

I was deer hunting over in Arkansas last year and I noticed that the tires on my 4X4 were covered with blue clay after a short trail ride .  My brother-in-law says the clay turns blue when moisture is present and it is exposed to the rubber in a tire.  I can only wonder at what is causing this?  Not trying to hijack your post, just similar circumstances. Monty

Thanks for the the info guys, its no wounder why the loggers buried the blue cley on me years ago, greed, they wanted it all for them selves. 

or want you tresspassing

I wantent trespassing, i held title and do still do.

geological surveys of your area are available from the state/provincial authorities
do the detective work or are the geological authorities out to cover up the something also

there was a geologist who did a test on some blue cley localy, ill try get the results. AND YES, THE GOVERMENT WORKS DIRECTLY WITH THE BIG COMPANYS.
 

[in the form of heavy blue clay]

Just a note here but blue clay can also be an indicator of good SILVER values - the biggest silver strike in the USA was due to blue clay, the Comstock Lode.  Gold prospectors were panning gold and had lots of trouble with a sticky blue clay, someone took a bit of the clay to have it fire assayed, and the rest is history.  I would send off a four ounce sample of that blue clay to have it fire assayed, you never know what will turn up! 

"In the fall of 1859, two prospectors searching for gold uncovered the first significant deposits of silver. Peter O'Riley and Pat McLaughlin were more annoyed with it than pleased, for it was in the form of heavy blue clay, which made getting the gold separated very difficult. Some of the heavy blue stuff was still clinging to the gold that they sent to be assayed and an alert assayer in Grass Valley, California realized this was an extremely rich silver find in an unfamiliar form."
<from http://www.visitreno.com/vcity/history.php>

I hope you will keep us posted, and keep one eye peeled for shiny pebbles around that clay, they just might be diamonds!

(Raw diamonds)
Oroblanco

hmmm, you may want to get the book called,"lost river of gold" it is for sale at several places but i bought mine from in the Keene mining catalog. itis real reasonablely priced. it has maps and all.  this river came upfrom S.America along the Cal. line and up to Canada/Alaska.  you could have found another section of it. i think it would be worth the cost getting this publication, if not for its content, maybe just for the good read it has!

Damn that would be something if it were part of that river holy smokes.!

in  california in the 1849er era -  it was called " the great blue lead (leed)"
it led the 49ers to tons of gold in ancient river beds all over northern california.
if it got in the sluice box, ANY clay was called "gold robber clay"

I found my biggest nugget in 30 years of panning on top of a clay layer,
it weighed 58pwt, or 2.5 ounces! Nice chunk of high grade quartz and gold!

auferiously
rangler

ANY ONE WANT TO HELP ME DIG OUT THIS OLD MINE?
BLUE LEAD
 

[in the form of heavy blue clay]

Just a note here but blue clay can also be an indicator of good SILVER values - the biggest silver strike in the USA was due to blue clay, the Comstock Lode.  Gold prospectors were panning gold and had lots of trouble with a sticky blue clay, someone took a bit of the clay to have it fire assayed, and the rest is history.  I would send off a four ounce sample of that blue clay to have it fire assayed, you never know what will turn up!  

"In the fall of 1859, two prospectors searching for gold uncovered the first significant deposits of silver. Peter O'Riley and Pat McLaughlin were more annoyed with it than pleased, for it was in the form of heavy blue clay, which made getting the gold separated very difficult. Some of the heavy blue stuff was still clinging to the gold that they sent to be assayed and an alert assayer in Grass Valley, California realized this was an extremely rich silver find in an unfamiliar form."
<from http://www.visitreno.com/vcity/history.php>

I hope you will keep us posted, and keep one eye peeled for shiny pebbles around that clay, they just might be diamonds!

(Raw diamonds)
Oroblanco

you where right, silver. the assay turned up, 26 ounces of silver per ton with 2.18 g/tonne of gold.  

[WOW congrats amigo]

WOW congrats amigo - silver has been running over $17 an ounce!  YOU have a bona fide BONANZA buddy!  Your clay is worth over $400 per ton! 
your friend in 'Dakota Territory'
Oroblanco

You best get to digging there man! 

I hope that clay deposit holds out for you and is not a small pocket.   

Nice one hmmmmmmm

Hey amigo - if the clay bed turns out to be a "lens" or pocket, don't let that discourage you because it is pretty much a certainty that there will be other pockets along that same drainage.  Congratulations again bud, glad you have struck it!   
Oroblanco

this pocket is huge, it goes all the way to the road about 300 meters down the hill, its a lighter color of blue but its there.  i panned a nugget 10 feet below the spot i took the sample so you could imagine what the au  would be if the nugget was in the sample.
i found a hiddeen bay on the ocean that has the blue clay, but it is soft , as if it was already worked, i think it is slag from the spanish who mined the second creek in the past.
 

this pocket is huge, it goes all the way to the road about 300 meters down the hill, its a lighter color of blue but its there.  i panned a nugget 10 feet below the spot i took the sample so you could imagine what the au  would be if the nugget was in the sample.
i found a hiddeen bay on the ocean that has the blue clay, but it is soft , as if it was already worked, i think it is slag from the spanish who mined the second creek in the past.
 

Time to bring in some heavy equipment and security it sounds like. 
Congrats on the find.


GG~

[Ditto]

Ditto to the post of GoodyGuy - and it sounds like you are in for two things, one is a LOT of work mining and processing, and two you will end up financially set for life. 

It makes my day/week/month to hear that you have struck it rich buddy, I hope you don't mind if we tell our "skeptical" friends who just don't believe there is any gold or silver to be found?   
Oroblanco

This is the spot i want to test, its on the oposit side of the mountain, this blue ground goes for over 1 km in the creek. when i said i got the nugget 10 feet below the test , i ment 10 feet streight down, closer to the bedrock.  this was befor the loggers buried the hole.

[MILLIONS]

WOW that looks like a really hot spot amigo - you are giving me a really bad case of SILVER FEVER! 

I am speculating here but the gold might be more than enough to cover all of your mining costs, which would mean all the proceeds from the silver would be pure PROFIT $$$$$$$$.   

The fact that the blue vein extends that far means MILLIONS amigo - make sure you stake your claims to cover the whole deposit, or as much of it as you want to mine.
Oroblanco 

about 3 years ago a big minning company blanket staked the whole area, about 20 miles wide by 60 miles long.  the blue ground was in the middle of it.
 

lucky for me i staked all the gold and the claims are in good standing.  actuly my claim extends right over the mountain to the other blue ground. score

about 3 years ago a big minning company blanket staked the whole area, about 20 miles wide by 60 miles long.  the blue ground was in the middle of it.
 

lucky for me i staked all the gold and the claims are in good standing.  actuly my claim extends right over the mountain to the other blue ground. score

Now you've got me going Hmmmm.  What does that mean? 
They have the silver rights and you have the gold rights?
Or your claims are on different ground ?

GG~

Think of me as a needle in the haystack,  i held the needle and they piled the hay around me.  {they staked around me.}, sometimes it pays to stand your ground, no mater how dangerous it is.

Hmm wrote

{they staked around me.},

The "big boys" do this a lot, then wait for you to slip up on annual BLM filings.  Now your story is even better amigo, for once the "little guy" won! 

If they ask ill concider it, mining it is just dumping it in a dump truck and taking it away,, ill start on the permits and permission right away. but the richest stuff is 300 meters up the hill, i can take out product with no permit as long as i use hand tools, chip out the clay and tight line bucket loads down hill, no real cost.

 ???now what i need to know is , how do i separate the fine silver from the black sands.
the pictures show how there is some heavy rust, it also shows how big some of the silver is, there could be bigger chunks ,  but i assume most is smaller.
the clay just crumbles when its dry and pans out easy, could probably sluice it out.  any placer miners out there who have some advise.

If they ask ill concider it, mining it is just dumping it in a dump truck and taking it away,, ill start on the permits and permission right away. but the richest stuff is 300 meters up the hill, i can take out product with no permit as long as i use hand tools, chip out the clay and tight line bucket loads down hill, no real cost.

 ???now what i need to know is , how do i separate the fine silver from the black sands.
the pictures show how there is some heavy rust, it also shows how big some of the silver is, there could be bigger chunks ,  but i assume most is smaller.
the clay just crumbles when its dry and pans out easy, could probably sluice it out.  any placer miners out there who have some advise.

If you are talking tons and tons of material, you truck it to an ore processing plant. Way too big of an operation to do by yourself.

I may have overestimated the size of your pay streak, because I was picturing a crane loading truckload after truckload of material to be processed.

Check out this site:   http://www.newmont.com/mining/exploration/basic-ore-processing

Mining 101:   http://www.newmont.com/mining




GG~

If they ask ill concider it, mining it is just dumping it in a dump truck and taking it away,, ill start on the permits and permission right away. but the richest stuff is 300 meters up the hill, i can take out product with no permit as long as i use hand tools, chip out the clay and tight line bucket loads down hill, no real cost.

 ???now what i need to know is , how do i separate the fine silver from the black sands.
the pictures show how there is some heavy rust, it also shows how big some of the silver is, there could be bigger chunks ,  but i assume most is smaller.
the clay just crumbles when its dry and pans out easy, could probably sluice it out.  any placer miners out there who have some advise.

If you want to keep it small and simple, but still want to run a profitable amount of material,  I suggest going with a Trommel. There are some on Ebay that are tow-behind portable units and they are priced at $1000. The larger the trommel, the more they cost obviously......  However, there are plans on several sites that show you how to make one for yourself.

If they ask ill concider it, mining it is just dumping it in a dump truck and taking it away,, ill start on the permits and permission right away. but the richest stuff is 300 meters up the hill, i can take out product with no permit as long as i use hand tools, chip out the clay and tight line bucket loads down hill, no real cost.

 ???now what i need to know is , how do i separate the fine silver from the black sands.
the pictures show how there is some heavy rust, it also shows how big some of the silver is, there could be bigger chunks ,  but i assume most is smaller.
the clay just crumbles when its dry and pans out easy, could probably sluice it out.  any placer miners out there who have some advise.

If you want to keep it small and simple, but still want to run a profitable amount of material,  I suggest going with a Trommel. There are some on Ebay that are tow-behind portable units and they are priced at $1000. The larger the trommel, the more they cost obviously......  However, there are plans on several sites that show you how to make one for yourself.

                      captain
                    your my new hero

Wow!  That is really really nice of you to say that.  I am glad I can help,  if you would like for me to send you any other information, I have tons of plans, and methods of mining downloaded on my computer..... it's virtually a library's worth of information. Just tell me what you need, and I'll send it right to you.

Congratulations on your new discovery and venture, this is going to be one awesome ride for you, enjoy it! Not many people get this chance at a rich deposit, work the heck out of it!

 :hello2:cool, I could use some plans to sluice fine , 4 mm , concentrates of silver.  i need the best size of riffels and the right distance between them.




 

I would bet the claim this blue ground has 10 lbs of silver per tonne.

Is that The Lost Hardin Silver Placer?  

Is that The Lost Hardin Silver Placer?  

I could pann a couple of pann loads of the blue  and get enough silver for some bullets, so i would say, yes.
 20 years ago i panned the creek about a mile down stream with my hard hat and thought we had a pann load of pyrite, never thought it would be silver.   

you can see how they placed this large peice of quartz up against the bolder at the end of the pool, with a faster water  flow, you can work the course tailings that come from the sluice box, which sits  above the  crusher.  At the end of the day  ,  you then clean out the course gold sittng  on the bottom of the pool. the bolder with the pick on it in the picture, is the pestol and morter, just think bigger, they would hang a giant bolder above the pestol, and use it as a morter. it is a old placer mine, the bolders are in place to clean out the hole and keep the blue lead exposed for a long long time. The peice of the dyke from the main mine sits just below the edge of the blue ground, this marks where the spanish stoped.
     Its John Swift and the lost spanish silver mine.  the peice of the dike , the slab of quartz and the next pe3ice just up stream are just more markers, . the other markers camn be found with all "dem boards" 
next week we get the assay back on this second blue lead, should be good.
   If any one lives near vancover  island and has a trommel they want to test .
Bring it down , we will set it up in a rock pitt and pump some blue lead through it.    . Ill give you some silver for your trouble "AA"
 .

 
Good thin i didnt bet.
low silver content so far
 but it has , on the surface,
  1.15  gpt au, 1.28 gpt pt, 1.80 gpt pd.

an update and some history.
in 1985 we followed some color and a local story, it led us to the back side of a mountain, we knew we found it so we staked it. when we found the source   , just above a logging road, we knew we struck it, but we had competition, loggers, driving past us, we could see them through the forest;.  what we found was amassing, a placer Pitt , the walls where blue, we bought a dredge and started to mine. we where stopped by the gov,"you cant placer mine on a hard rock claim. "
we respected the law, and stopped, we had 1 nugget and left the mine safe and began staking and prospecting the front of the mountain for the Spanish mine.  we went back the next year only to be stopped by the loggers, they had fallen the forest and where yarding over the old mine.  they had to have seen our gigging and had to know it was a old mine site. 
in the past 2 months we have been digging out the old slide, its odd, its all sand. what we are finding is evidence the loggers had done some placer mining, then they filled the placer hole with logs.  the forests have all been logged and the river that we where going to destroy has been destroyed by logging. 
the first picture is the mine the way we found it, the second it the crap they threw in the placer Pitt.  our gold is to dig out the placer hole  and the sand. when we dig the hole out we can get another sample to test, i would bet the gold will be more then a few grams per tonne.
i guess this brings us to laws , who is allowed to break the law, the loggers did what we where not allowed to do. 

It's only against the law if you get caught. 
But it's plain to see that the loggers were up to something.

GG~

they dug, then burried the evidance, they never got caught, but whats funny is , they did not know the story about what lies under the slide.  i do .  ill keep yous posted as we dig out the real treasure.

Just another tag

Diggem'

Man this is a great story. 
I live in eastern Wa, so in the greater picture, not all that far away.  In the future, when I'm up north I will be watching out for that blue clay.  I intend on doing some nugget shooting up where gold has been panned and sluiced in the past.

Jeff

HI Jeff
we hit the pay dirt , time for a new assay.  we are gettin gold flecks but have not hit the bed rock.
 

I love this stuff.
It is great to see someone hit a good find. And, I do not mean a silver dollar at 10". 

I had done a little panning as a teen and gave the 2 flakes to the wonderfull man who took us out.  I have recently got back into treasure hunting and the prospecting is part of it.

I will be up north in the spring where gold has been panned before (panned, sluiced and dredged).
I just got off the phone with my moms husband and he has really been pounding his brain with my new hobby...  Just thinking of the places he has found gold in the past.

I'M GONNA BE RICH!!!  Well with the friendship and fun anyhow.  But the dream and goal are always a big strike.

Hard work and diligence will pay off.  (just maybe not financialy)

HH
Jeff

Hey have you run across any other colers of clay associated with gold?

Thanks
Jeff

Hey have you run across any other colers of clay associated with gold?

Thanks
Jeff

     

      and merry christmas.

i have not, however  the clay i have is diferent shades of blue, some dark some light..
its treasure time again, we are going to hit a 1904  cabin site this christmas, should be fun. 
could be a nail, could be a coin.
  its like gold, if you do not look , you will not find.

Yeah huh,
Hope you had a Good Christmas as well
Jeff

hmmm,
Got a question for ya.  If ya don't mind.
What method did you decide on to get your silver out of your clay?
Are you refining your own metals or having it done?


Ok that was 2 questions
Jeff

hmmm,
Got a question for ya.  If ya don't mind.
What method did you decide on to get your silver out of your clay?
Are you refining your own metals or having it done?


Ok that was 2 questions
Jeff

I have no idea, right now we are trying to get to bedrock, we have gold flakes and hope to get nuggets. we are going to use a old method for now, we plan to make a puddling box right in the clay. then screen and pan the concentrates. the silver is hard to catch, any ideas would help. 

I have a half thought out idea.  Let me think it a little further thru (for the blue clay).

I guess I thought you had pulled a bunch out already.  From what I thought I had read in a different post.

Jeff

I have a half thought out idea.  Let me think it a little further thru (for the blue clay).

I guess I thought you had pulled a bunch out already.  From what I thought I had read in a different post.

Jeff

Only enough to make 500,000 silver coins.....not worth mentioning really.

I have a half thought out idea.  Let me think it a little further thru (for the blue clay).

I guess I thought you had pulled a bunch out already.  From what I thought I had read in a different post.

Jeff

FROM THE EVIDANCE DOWN STREAM, SOME ONE HAS MINED THE CREEK.  As for us , all we have done so far is dig out the the edge of the crap the loggers stuffed in the old placer mine.  now we are going to start minning.
the picture is from about 200 feet down stream, you can see the hard pann walls are vertical, this looks worked to me.
my comment about the 500,000 silver coins is just saying , a lot of silver was taken, yet there is no history linked to it.

Do you suppose; the clay could be churned in a tub of water to a point which it would release its cargo of silver and black sand.  While an inflow of water would wash away the clay saturated water (mud) leaving the desireable minerales in the bottom of the tub.

If the clay could be disolved enough then a system could be developed.

Jeff

Do you suppose; the clay could be churned in a tub of water to a point which it would release its cargo of silver and black sand.  While an inflow of water would wash away the clay saturated water (mud) leaving the desireable minerales in the bottom of the tub.

If the clay could be disolved enough then a system could be developed.

Jeff

Thats what we are going to do , its called " A PUDDLING BOX".
we are going to make it right in the clay wall.
you just make a hole, use about 6 to 10 inches of water, you use a rake to break and dezolve the clay, we are going to screen it then process it, the larger material we will go over with the metal detector. should be fun.  i only hope they left us some.

Yeah no kidding,
I was thinking of something like a horse trough.  Near the bottom you would have an inlet pipe with a appropriatelly sized nozzle aray.  I would make that out of PVC with holes (small) drilled at intervals. Then have the outlet at the top, or just let the water spill over.

I was thinking you could just shovel and let the H2O do the work (or most of it).  I figured a guy would have to stir the mix to aggitate it and free the silver.

End of the day you clean out the bottom, then recover silver from sand. 

Simple, just let water and gravity do the work for ya.  Nothing is ever quite that easy as it is made to sound in a general discustion.

Please keep in mind that I have not panned since I was a teen.

Jeff

Seasons greetings amigos,

There seems to be some confusion here - when silver occurs in a blue clay, it is not raw native silver but silver in a complex chemical compound (mineral) form, which has to be further processed to extract the silver than just a gravity/mechanical separation as has been described such as a puddling box.

Using the puddling box would likely help to concentrate the silver compound, so it is a useful step in reducing the amount of ore you must then process.  There are several methods of extracting the silver from these concentrates, from chemical <eg cyanide leach, mercury amalgamation, etc> to simple fire smelting.  You would need to try different methods to see which is most efficient and most cost-effective before committing to setting up your "mill" (which you could set up in your garage or barn) to process your ore.  Here is a free online book which explains how it is done.
http://books.google.com/books?id=c4...extraction%20from%20ore&f=false

Depending on how much ore you intend to handle, will make a difference in which method you end up choosing.  One of the oldest is simple smelting, using a charcoal-fired furnace with blowers.  You can build a small charcoal furnace very inexpensively, here is an article on how to build a home charcoal foundry
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/Encoder/200008/GEAR_article.html
Obviously if you burn $5 worth of charcoal to extract $2 worth of silver, this method is not going to work, so you need to try different methods.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, wishing you all a very happy new year. 
Oroblanco

  Oroblanco
   The silver appears to be  raw native silver , but i am sure you are right about a percentage being  in a complex chemical compound (mineral) form.  we plan to screen it then drain the clay and let it settle.   the silver is secondary, we have hit the gold flakes and hope it gets better as we get closer to bed rock.
 
you can see in the pictures how big the silver is, little nuggets.

HOLA amigo and Happy New Year! 
If it is raw, natural silver, I would strongly suggest using a copper gold pan, coat the bottom with mercury, add salt to your water and amalgamate the silver.  You would want to get a retort to cook off the mercury and recover it.  I congratulate you again, 
Oroblanco

CRAP, i broke my camera.  we have not processed the silver yet, still diggin out the old mine. we did notice we get about 200 lbs of medical / cosmetic blue clay per tonne.  very cool.
   read a local legend about a lost vally where  the indians used to bath in clay, they say it healed the body. 

HOLA amigo - I forgot to tell you, if you get larger silver nuggets that you should keep them and NOT melt them down or amalgamate etc for silver nuggets are actually rarer than gold nuggets and will bring a premium price even on Ebay. 

SO far the silver nuggets are just about 2mm and smaller, its realy cool to see the fine silver on the bottom of the pann, with that said, how do i do the borax method of recovering the silver,
  i assume the 1 to 2mm size silver nuggets are to small and should be smelted.

Hola amigo,

Gosh if it were mine, I would keep some of the 2 mm size as they can be soldered onto jewelry for a 'nugget' design, as they do with gold nuggets to make nugget watch bands, rings etc.  The 1mm size is really too small for this IMHO.  Here is an explanation of how to do your own smelting, the example given is gold but will work for silver
http://www.nuggethunters.org/Poormans-Smelting.html

I hope this helps.
Oroblanco

 I'll say this again, if you will permit me. (copied from my post on another thread)
   
Re: gold 1.15 grams per ton, platinum 1.28 gpt, palladium 1.80 gpt
Reply To This Topic #13 Posted Dec 18, 2009, 08:15:45 PM

Platinum is still more valuable than gold. By the way, isn't the blue from silver in the clay and the small silver bits with the black sand may be platinum bits and/or palladium not silver??     Man, I'm drooling, now!

I'll say this again, if you will permit me. (copied from my post on another thread)
   
Re: gold 1.15 grams per ton, platinum 1.28 gpt, palladium 1.80 gpt
Reply To This Topic #13 Posted Dec 18, 2009, 08:15:45 PM

Platinum is still more valuable than gold. By the way, isn't the blue from silver in the clay and the small silver bits with the black sand may be platinum bits and/or palladium not silver??     Man, I'm drooling, now!

KEEP DRULING, the silver comes from a diferent mound of blue clay, it is about 2 miles from the platinum blue ground and has 640 grams of silver per tonne and 2.5 gpt of gold, never tested for platinum..  if i had more men i would put a crew diggin the platinum blue. this deposit is in a gully about 2 km long, massive deposuit.

 
It gets way better, you all are welcome to come for a visit.
    pm me for the name of the town.    
                          http://bluestoneclay.webs.com    

This a finders keepers visit? =)

It gets way better, you all are welcome to come for a visit.
    pm me for the name of the town.    
                          http://bluestoneclay.webs.com    

Those guys talk about the healing properties of the clay, well its a known fact that silver is an antibacterial and a compound of silver is used in treating burn victims. Wikipedia even talks about this a little:

Its compounds are used in photographic film and dilute silver nitrate solutions and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants  and microbiocides. While many medical antimicrobial  uses of silver have been supplanted by antibiotics, further research into clinical potential continues.

However many of the other heavy metals are not quite so safe and I sure wouldn't think bathing in them would be a good idea. 

Astro I got the truck if you got the gas? lol. I would love to see this place. And congratulations it's great to see an average Joe make it big and make all those who say we are crazy for doing what we do cry in there pillows!

This a finders keepers visit? =)

If you are going to use it for your own ailments, Take a bag, but don't take a tonne.  

It gets way better, you all are welcome to come for a visit.
    pm me for the name of the town.    
                          http://bluestoneclay.webs.com    

Those guys talk about the healing properties of the clay, well its a known fact that silver is an antibacterial and a compound of silver is used in treating burn victims. Wikipedia even talks about this a little:

Its compounds are used in photographic film and dilute silver nitrate solutions and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants  and microbiocides. While many medical antimicrobial  uses of silver have been supplanted by antibiotics, further research into clinical potential continues.

However many of the other heavy metals are not quite so safe and I sure wouldn't think bathing in them would be a good idea.  

   I totaly agree, I will test the clay before  we processes it, then again  after it is processed.
 its all about how mother nature let the clay settel, the heavy metals settel out and the farther from the source, the finer the clay. I think the creamy clay will turn out to be edibile , like the calcium bentinite clay. Now 5o feet away the clay is mixed with seaweed  .
thats what the puddle box is for, it settels out the heavies..
   We switched to a cement mixer to make the clay, a   doh.

Tag

 
ok yesterday was a rush, i have a sore back so i took my boat to the creamy clay spot, by my self.
  i was wandering around, triming some salal and i heard somthing.
 i walked over to the creek about 50 feet from where i was cliping salal, i saw some tracks, looked like a very small bear. it walked over to my tracks, then it steped in my track and put out its claws. bear my ass, it was a young cougar, he was telling me who is the owner of this spot. 
i may have to take the traper modle 3030 with me next time and he is going to have to share.   

They make great rugs to wipe your feet on after a long day of prospecting.

hey hmmm did you get my pm?Here's some pics
of the river!


I know that if you
dig into that bank you
 will find blue clay!

just pmed you rush, went to get more clay today, what a rush, had a huge otter come say hi.
very interisting, the blue layer has a red layer under it, cant wait to see whats on the bed rock. we are  starting to sell soon. then i can buy a camera, shock proof of course.

         DIG DIG DIG DIG     hole's gitten bigger.
        Sailed home with a boat load today.

wonderful simply great i'm proud to know you are now rich  proves the saying  good comes to those who wait . let this be a lesson to the nintendo couch potatos that have no ambition . good luck stay safe and your in my prayers hmmmmm.    goldie

Good evening just found this forum.  congrats my friend. As  'Oro de Tayopa'  suggested, a small smelter can easily be built.  Remember the chimney does not have to be vertical, it can lay on the ground with a slope. Naturally the steeper the better. This easier, faster, and cheaper by far, also just as efficient effectively.

Our friend beat me to it, but I will post it anyway -->     read a local legend about a lost vally where  the indians used to bath in clay, they say it healed the body.   

Silver has long been known for this property, just now being accepted again by the med profession.  Successfully kills antibiotic resistant critters.  "Colloidal Silver".

Don Jose de La Mancha

Good evening just found this forum.  congrats my friend. As  'Oro de Tayopa'  suggested, a small smelter can easily be built.  Remember the chimney does not have to be vertical, it can lay on the ground with a slope. Naturally the steeper the better. This easier, faster, and cheaper by far, also just as efficient effectively.

Our friend beat me to it, but I will post it anyway -->     read a local legend about a lost vally where  the indians used to bath in clay, they say it healed the body.   

Silver has long been known for this property, just now being accepted again by the med profession.  Successfully kills antibiotic resistant critters.  "Colloidal Silver".

Don Jose de La Mancha

THANKS FOR THAT TROPICAL TRAMP.
I  have heard a story about the vally of blue clay in canada, if you have a diferent one from a diferent area, could you post a link to it.
thanks.

What a claim you have. Must feel good hmmm

You could probably make a fortune just selling your clay with water in bottles to health stores.

This is an incredible thread thanks fer sharing.
 

What a claim you have. Must feel good hmmm

You could probably make a fortune just selling your clay with water in bottles to health stores.

This is an incredible thread thanks fer sharing.
  

shamantreasure
I tried to put it in water bottles , recycle. the promlemo is, getting it out when you get near the bottom. it is a good idea though.
we are stoked about digging for the fist sized nuggets in the third ravine, just above my old cabin, which is just below the one of the blue clay spots exposed by slumach 100 years ago.
 when i built the cabin 25 years ago, it was a 1.5 hour hike, now its a 5 minute hike , wahooo  
my goal now is to make money off the clay and start hiring.
hmmm

Neat little cabin! 

  Looks like the area of dem bones and boxes. Good luck 

I just found this thread and sorry I didn't find it sooner. It's all very interesting and exciting. Anyway, just thought that I'd offer a suggestion. I saw a post earlier that suggested using mercury to collect the silver, gold and pt groups. The problem with this is, you would have an amalgm of everything. Then, it costs to have it all separated.

Why not take your clay (somewhat dry,) put it in a tank. The tank would have to be either stainless steel or plastic. (Come to think of it, they make plastic water holding tanks,) It shouldn't be hard to build a slow agitator for the tank, then use Nitric Acid to collect the silver. Then, it's relatively inexpensive to electrowin the silver. (I use to help a friend with this process.) Once you drain the acid off to win the silver out of it, the residue in the tank would be, (for the most part,) gold, platinum, the black sand, and mica/silica particals. Since I've never dealt with platinum, I'm not sure if it is attracted to mercury, but I know that gold is.

Obviously, there's no problem in washing the mica/silica away, and the black sand can be collected and saved. If it's magnatite, (and I'd almost be willing to guarantee you that most of it will be,) use a magnet to get it out of the gold and platinum, but still save it. Many years ago, I had a metallurgist tell me; "magnatite forms around a core metal, most often gold or platinum". This is the reason that there are companies that pay good money for "black sand".

Anyway, I hope that this helps a little.

Eagle

Depending on the comparitive amounts, the mixture of gold and silver would be little or no problem, as both are high on the "desirable" list.

 Many years ago, I had a metallurgist tell me; "magnatite forms around a core metal, most often gold or platinum". This is the reason that there are companies that pay good money for "black sand".

Anyway, I hope that this helps a little.

Eagle

Please name one company that purchases black sand. I have thrown away tons. 

GG~

 Many years ago, I had a metallurgist tell me; "magnatite forms around a core metal, most often gold or platinum". This is the reason that there are companies that pay good money for "black sand".

Anyway, I hope that this helps a little.

Eagle

Please name one company that purchases black sand. I have thrown away tons. 

GG~

Ditto GG!

Magnetite is of the chemical formula: Fe3O4, so how would it be related to platinum etc? If I'd know, I'd be all over Kiruna! 
Magnetite however can contain Titanium, Magnesium among other.
If I recall right it can substitute for Fe.

Black sands have though been said to contain gold, breaking up the black sands can indeed give a bit more gold, however for me its not worth the time.