How to process silver ore - and get real silver bars. The Mahoney Mine will show you how.

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The Mahoney Mine

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 38

@sonorangreenman4472 Ай бұрын

thanks, very useful

@smokeyandspikeproductions 5 ай бұрын

impressive with the cupelling in the propane smelter.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@smokeyandspikeproductions 5 ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine You're welcome! I've tried cupelling in a propane furnace and it has not worked.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

@@smokeyandspikeproductions - do you use forced air induction? We are not only feeding it propane, but are blowing air into the feed pipe to create a carburetor of sorts. The old blacksmiths with coal forges had a crank on them to push air up and through the coal to make it MUCH hotter. My grandfather had one of these - that is where I got the idea.

@smokeyandspikeproductions 5 ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine Wow! No, I'm just using propane but I can easily integrate more air into the system. Thank you for the advice.

@ErnieDionne 5 ай бұрын

Very nice Mr. Mahoney Mine. I love your set-up. 💪🏻

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

Thank you kindly sir. You inspired it. Now we have a literal smelting lab set up and we're lovin' it.

@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542 5 ай бұрын

At one time, one of the local mines in my district, they were reporting 200 to 300 oz/t silver, so its easily believable on this side.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

We have some mines in the area that average 500oz per ton in silver. Pretty standard for a producing mine in this area.

@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542 5 ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine I'm in north central Arkansas, so around these parts, the balance, naturally is somewhat different. I have no idea what the max is, just what the USGS reports shared, but there has been a lot of hold hand drilled single-jacked mines dug here, hauling out ore on 20 mule team wagons, and yet, even with such crude technology, there are so many fine old mansions in town that if one did not know it were a mining district, they would be at a total loss as to how so many people got so wealthy, back in the southern Ozarks, One particular building in the middle of town is literally built out of ore. [weathered, vuggy quartz ore, but ore, nonetheless]

@richardbeee 5 ай бұрын

Pretty awesome! A Flux grade ore. Or what's commonly called smeltable grade. A little gravity concentration and you wouldn't need a collector. Good luck. Hope you have tons. That's like $9000.00 per ton. Incredible!

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@richardbeee 5 ай бұрын

@themahoneymine you are very welcome. Now you need to identify what kind of silver ore. Sulfides, native, clorides, etc.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

@richardbeee - oddly enough, the mine is also gold bearing, and that is so much easier to mine and process. Not sure what to do with all the silver.

@richardbeee 5 ай бұрын

@themahoneymine if you use your silver as a collector, it will grab the gold in the ore. You'll than be pouring dore' bars. We used to do that all the time. If copper was present in large amounts, we'd use it as a collector. Arizona. Silver in New Mexico. Same as the Spanish did.

@caseycurtis7497 Ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine Do you have any interest in selling any silver ore?

@TheGeologist101 7 күн бұрын

What’s in the flux?

@SilvasSmallMining 5 ай бұрын

Wow! That seems very rich. Nice! Can you get more of that ore? That’s awesome! Take care.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

Yes. We have a mine near Virginia City, Nevada, and our silver saturation seems to run between 300 - 500 ounces to the ton.

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

How are you folks doing up on the creek?

@SilvasSmallMining 5 ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine I’m going back up this weekend. I gotta finish some chores there, then do some creek play!

@gitnitdun 5 ай бұрын

Great video!

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

@@gitnitdun - thank ya' sir!

@jamesriggsdds2337 5 ай бұрын

What is your flux receipt? Hopefully you will share! I’m down at Tecopa Mines (in California but real close to Pahrump, NV and Death Valley NP) right now watching the property for the owner. I have been collecting good looking silver/lead samples from the War Eagle, Noonday and Grant mines. Stuff looks pretty good. I’ve been assaying ore from around eastern Joshua Tree NP (Old Dale region) but that’s gold country. Up here it’s silver/lead. Any good ideas for silver flux? Another question…I noticed on the table you had some quite reddish/maroon ore samples. I see a lot of that in the Tecopa Mines. Any idea what is it? Thanks and keep the vids coming! Dan R. (Deputy Chief Tecopa Mines)

@themahoneymine 5 ай бұрын

@jamesriggsdds2337 - the reddish brown rocks are andesite with oxidation due to an old double hydro push. For a good lead/silver ore flux recipe - use the one in Chapman's book.

@WildernessMedic Ай бұрын

Can silver be free milled and panned like gold?

@themahoneymine Ай бұрын

Great question. We have never had much success sluicing or panning silver.

@WildernessMedic Ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine So even though I'm not getting any silver in my samples from panning, I may have lots of silver in my ore? Most mines around here had more silver than gold, and it does look like it may have some but I'm not good at IDing it in the rock.

@themahoneymine Ай бұрын

@WildernessMedic - OK. Sit down. Relax. This is going to be a LONG reply. Silver is one of the most amazing of the precious metals. Gold looks like gold. Not much in the way of variants. But then there is silver. Our ore, in sweet spots assays at over 500oz per ton. No big surprise. Our ground is known as some of the richest in the world. We still don't know what to look for in the raw ore. Silver can be slivers, feathers, or spires so pure it looks like processed ore. It can be black, grey, greyish-blue, or whitish in color. The silver ore in one mine can look entirely different than the silver ore on the next ridgeline. Processing it is an entirely different beast. Depending on the ground it is taken from the process and optimal way to process it can vary widely. We are blessed to have a significant amount of gold in our mine, because we still don't have the whole silver thing worked out. We have used some of the tailings for our driveway and joke that it's paved with silver.

@WildernessMedic Ай бұрын

@@themahoneymine Thanks for the detailed reply. I just want to make sure I'm not throwing out good silver while processing gold! As soon as it thaws out I'm going to have some assayed. I know from the area history I could have more silver, but I guess an assay is the only way to tell, if it wont free mill like gold.

@themahoneymine Ай бұрын

No, not like gold at all. We have been doing this for quite a while and have never overcome the silver paradox. But we will.

@Brian00071 4 ай бұрын

Do you think there’s any silver left in the Comstock load?

@themahoneymine 4 ай бұрын

Brian, We know there is. I wear a half an ounce of it around my neck. At one time it was a simple rock taken out of our mine. It was crushed by hand, put through a chain mill, smelted, and cupeled. Then it was poured and buffed into a pretty ingot that Tonya stamped with our logo. Genuine Comstock Silver.