Dirt Washing and Quartz Washing in the Pan

In the case in which an auriferous quartz vein needs to be sampled (often times with visible gold), it will be necessary to proceed to a mineral quartz testing. If this is compact, without any traces of sulphur or of its products of oxidation of holes filled with a ferruginous layer, it will be necessary to not waste time on this indication. If to the contrary the testing of the quartz shows the presence of quartz and its remainders, the following will need to be done:

• Loaming
  This operation is useless if visible gold has been observed. A little bit of earth and some parts of quartz is taken to a depth of five to thirty centimeters, on top of the seam, on the side of between two blocks of quartz aligned over the seam. This sample needs to be washed in the pan and checked to see if there are any traces of gold present. The operations are repeated in other areas, always on top of the seam. If the presence of gold is not homogenous over the entire outcrop, the presence of gold in one isolated point does not have practically any meaning to it.
• Dolliyings
  This operation is done if the loaming of the earth has brought about positive results, if the seam presents visible gold or on detritus, where the washing of the earth is not possible. A sample of quartz is taken that has a weight of between five hundred grams to one kilogram. This sample will need to be weighed and ground in the mortar down to 0.160 mm in dimension. The ground sample is then washed in the gold pan. The gold separates (a drop of mercury will help this to occur) and is then weighed. The operation is repeated in different points of the outcrop. This technique can be applied not only for prospecting of gold in seams but also for the search of heavy minerals such as cassiterite, wolframite, etc. finely disseminated in a variable context and not only in veins.