I'm beginning to believe that I have gold fever, but when I can get a half dozen or more flakes from a few tablespoons of black sand I panned by hand, I think it may be time to consider doing more like making a bigger and better sluice. If this produces more flakes, then when I could afford it, I should get a gold spiral wheel. This device can cleanly separate the smallest dust from the black sand that I would otherwise painstakingly pan by hand. The spiral wheel will cost around $1,000, but when gold is worth $2,500 an ounce it may be worth the investment as it is environmentally friendly compared to other methods used to recover gold dust.
With gold having a specific gravity of 19.3 and black sand at 1/4 to 1/3 of that, I am quite certain I have real gold flakes, I've isolated four and have more in the pan. They are not magnetic and they pass the pin test (as best as I can tell, they are so small). I have the mineral rights to the property, it may be worth trying to form a small mining company. That is only if this ultimately "all pans out" and the flakes pass some assay tests once I get enough to do that.
ETA: I have estimated that the few tablespoons of black sand that I got from the sluice and panning were reduced from a full five-gallon bucket of white sand screened to about 20-mesh. After using a post-hole digger to go down around three feet below the creek bed, I got very little broken gravel and rocks, less than an inch in the 5-gal bucket. Mostly fine white sand and I don't see how I could go deeper without heavy equipment.
With gold having a specific gravity of 19.3 and black sand at 1/4 to 1/3 of that, I am quite certain I have real gold flakes, I've isolated four and have more in the pan. They are not magnetic and they pass the pin test (as best as I can tell, they are so small). I have the mineral rights to the property, it may be worth trying to form a small mining company. That is only if this ultimately "all pans out" and the flakes pass some assay tests once I get enough to do that.
ETA: I have estimated that the few tablespoons of black sand that I got from the sluice and panning were reduced from a full five-gallon bucket of white sand screened to about 20-mesh. After using a post-hole digger to go down around three feet below the creek bed, I got very little broken gravel and rocks, less than an inch in the 5-gal bucket. Mostly fine white sand and I don't see how I could go deeper without heavy equipment.
A trail goes two ways and looks different in each direction - There is no such thing as a timid woodland creature - Whatever does not kill you leaves you a survivor - Jesus is NOT a bad word - MSB