Re: Substrate/chemistry issues

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Bob,

As a former minerals exploration geologist, who has got the seat of his pants wet
on many occasions panning for gold (among other things), I have some experience
with placer black sand. Most of the gold-bearing black sand is composed of
magnetite (Fe3 O4) with some Ilmenite (Fe Ti O3),  garnets (the best placer gold
indicator) and a few other heavy minerals. The magnetite and Ilmenite are soluble
in an acid environment and will release iron over time, but I doubt that this
would be a problem in a tank with regular water changes. I agree with Dave, this
black sand is usually too fine to be considered sand - more like silt. I don't
know how you will clean it - maybe by panning?

Mike Wise

IDMiamiBob@aol.com wrote:

> After searching long and hard for some kind of black, or even dark brown
> sand, I settled for some epoxy-coated black lizard sand.  It looks nice, but
> it is obviously not natural.  So I tried finding Tex-Blast from a
> sandblasting supplier.  No one knew what it was, and silica-based media are
> out of vogue because of health risks, but one place offered to provide me
> with silicon carbide.  The lady said it is black, but had no idea as to
> whether it was chemically inert in water.  My intitial suspicions about it is
> that it is some kind of salt and, provided it is relatively insoluble, should
> work fine.  Any knowledgeable folks out there.
>
> My second thoght is that recreational gold "prospectors" separate the gold
> from a substance called "black sand".  Seeing as gold is generally veined in
> quartz, it seems that this black sand is likely to be volcanic, and should
> also be inert.  Some of these guys bring it home by the bucketful and
> separate the gold on a "riffle tube", or even better, they use an acid to
> dissolve the gold, and then reclaim the gold from the slurry.  If I can find
> someone to provide me with their black sand when they are done, is it likely
> to be free of metallic contaminates?
>
> Bob Dixon
>
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