How gold particles are removed from mixtures of soil,sand and gravel?
DON’T USE MERCURY Mercury is bad for the environment and is never used any more.First the gravel is classified down more closely to the size of gold you are recovering. This can be done with a classifier and a gold pan in a tub of water. It can be done dry but using water accentuates the effect gravity has on gold. Gold has a specific gravity of 19.3 . This means it is 19 times heavier than water. The average material in a stream is about 7. Once you have gotten the oversized material out of the way you can pan the rest. Shaking the pan back and forth stratifies the material. The heaviest gold is at the bottom. Now slowly tip the pan and wash off thew top layer of material. It will look like an ocean wave washing onto shore and back out. Shake the pan again underwater to make sure the gold stays on the bottom. Now repeat the wave action. Continue until you have only a small amount of material left. Now tap the side of tyhe pan until the material is all on that side. Now slowly swirl th
