Black Sands

The black and heavy sands of those that end up in the bottom of the gold pan are usually present up to a certain degree in all the riverbeds. When washing gold from the lower layer n a riverbed just above the bedrock, it will usually end up with some black sand at the bottom of the pan.

The presence of great amounts of heavy sands in a specific creek location is not necessarily a sure sign that there is gold there. However, that does not mean that in that specific place there is not a certain degree of heavy concentrated material. There are more black sands than gold In the creek beds. Black sands, being lighter than gold, do not always follow the same route gold does. Black sands tend to concentrate in a wider range than gold. However, black sands do tend to concentrate in places where there is gold. So if there are no black sands in a creek bed, it is improbable to have gold there. This way, the presence or lack of black sands can help you decide whether there is gold there or not. This is something you will have to take into account when exploring new grounds.

Gold has as much as three times more weight than the average black sands. It is about six times heavier than other materials that are found in the beds. So while you wash, the material starts turning each time heavier as it works towards the pan.

It is a little bit difficult to separate gold through the heaviest material than it is to do so with light material when washing. This is generally not a problem when materials from the bed is being washed, due that there is usually not enough black sands in a single pan to create it.

When we are working in washing a group of concentrates coming from a sluice box or any other type of recovering system we will see that are much more black sands, and it is much harder to work gold to the bottom of the pan through the heavier material. Even yet, gold is heavier than the black sands and the washing and beating process remains basically the same as before, except that it is necessary to be a little bit more careful during the process to prevent the loss of gold during the same.

Once there is only the heaviest black sand at the bottom of the pan one has to add half a glass of water to have a quick look at the concentrates and see how much gold is there. This is accomplished by leaning the pan a little and beating it from left to right to locate the concentrates in the front par of the bottom of the pan. Then level the pan, and make the water go round in small circles. This action will gradually expose the concentrates and you will see if there is some gold in it. The amount of gold there could be in the gold pan will give you a good idea of how rich can the gross material you are examining be.  At this point one could use a magnet to make it easier to remove the black sands. Be careful when doing this. If well the gold is not magnetic, sometimes gold particles adhere to the iron magnetic particles which create a joint mass that is attracted to the magnet. Personally, I prefer to throw the magnetic sands in a second plastic pan, remove and pick them up again with the magnet.