Conducting the field assay on the tailing heap

It was 26th December 2017.

I was conducting the more proper field assay on the tailings heap to determine the number of gold particles and to get a feeling of what it is inside.

When I say “more proper” it means that there may be various factors influencing the analysis of the tailings heap.

The result was fantastic in the sense that I could recover all the smallest particles of gold, even hardly visible under the magnifier, including the mercury particles.

Thus we may determine on the spot and within 40 minutes:

• if the tailings heap is polluted with mercury due to malpractice of the previous miners,

• if the tailings heap contains enough workable and profitable gold, and how much of such gold is inside.

The quantity of gold in the tailings heap cannot be determined accurately. That is why this is a field assay and not a laboratory assay.

Further, such field assaying skills would depend from person to person, as their own handling of the materials may influence the final results.

Yet, each prospector would get a good sense of feeling on what is to be found in the ores or tailings or soil. By comparing the results from the field assay to the actual recovered gold one may get good feeling to quickly know if the ore is workable.