Searching For Best Production Gold Smelting Flux & Method: High Recovery, Low Viscosity, Cheap!

Experiments testing the best production gold smelting methods, fluxes, and techniques for production smelting. I try different combinations of borax and soda ash, iron, and various smelting time, and finds some interesting results!
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Anhydrous borax: 1lb (amzn.to/3jqj0Wk) 5lbs (amzn.to/3jC4c7g)
Silica sand: amzn.to/2OHnVnG
Soda ash: 1lb (amzn.to/39hxfIh) 5 lbs (amzn.to/3eJIkDa) 50lbs (amzn.to/3juVUxJ)
Chapman’s flux: amzn.to/3jrTMHb
Lye: amzn.to/2D2q36K
Litharge: amzn.to/30A7OxD
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[@Askjeffwilliams]

Fantastic explanation Jason...... Patrick would be proud .......you are getting very good at this and we are gonna have to start taking notes..... keep the vids coming ...me and Slim love them . Good Job .

[@anotherrant6688]

So c'mon - let's go!

[@swiftrick15]

You know its true if Jeff said

[@coreymerrill3257]

Daaaammmnn you got the high praises ! If SLIM likes you, you must be "good as gold " as they used to say. Good work.

[@kylestrokelitus360]

Two of my top teachers. Thats a pretty high honor comment Jay (wrt Jeff's) and you lost me several times in this one. Thankfully i can replay over and over to catch your knowledge. Im on my 4th time watching and am still kinda confused as to who won the box car derby lol. Perhaps a comment from the nut gallery is welcomed?? Bueler... Bueler..

[@nobuntunglogopbonong7586]

I agree with you jeff ... Actually i am in process of learning smelting after recovery of Silver waste ...

[@nigelsguydothtry3592]

I really want to thank you for these videos. They make the vast amounts of knowledge needed to start smelting digestible for newbies like me. Keep up the great work

[@cuzbizkets3631]

nice bro this is top level shit ur doin here...just member , not gonna have crazy views on these aat first bc ur dealin w highest i.Q. s less than 1% of population but fuckin a ....great shit

[@Ydnar1155]

Jason, you are a wealth of knowledge! Doing these expiraments is one thing, but being to verbally deconstruct the effects of them without arrogance in your tone, thorough inspection, and genuine curiosity with the ability to convey your thoughts. These are some of the reasons why I enjoy and subscribe to your semi comercial content. In any case, you are a great spokesman for the company!

[@etarheel1]

You just smelted my brain and I love it! KZbin university indeed! Thank you for all the work you put into this, it is quality education !

[@robertwall713]

Wow what a wealth of information!!!, Jason, I have started performing smelting on my ore concentrates after watching many of your videos as they have given me the confidence to give it a try. I love the experimentation you perform and showing us your mistakes so that we can learn from them. I am sure some of this is by design, but your videos have given me a direction in gold ore processing equipment along with a corresponding reduction in my bank account, it is all good, Thanks again!

[@fazalmuhammad4403]

Realy u are sharing ur life experience.very usefull for learners.i appreciate ur efforts.

[@northequator9297]

Great video, love when you do these tests

[@eugenepotton9984]

Great video!! Thank you for your time and presentation on PMs and gold. Very informative. I always wondered if I smelted to long on some of my smelting and having a loss in the process.

[@GSProspecting]

great info fam. GOLD SQUAD OUT!!!!

[@briandrew2689]

Thanks for sharing that experiment, it really helped me out so thanks😉

[@user-md2pd8zz8g]

Beautiful experiment. Thanx!

[@alphaphichufafionse3005]

Love this channel very informative

[@escrapchannel]

Really interesting topic! 👍

[@allenhammer7923]

Tell the price of everything as you talk about it. Your my hero these days. Thanks for the teachings.

[@davidrightmire866]

Next time you do this, I would like to see all the little gold bbs in a vial, I think that would look cool. Thanks for another awesome video !

[@georgyandreev9992]

Thank You ! wary interesting !!!

[@paulcoover9197]

Why can you only like something one time? I like this every timeI look at it. Great Job man. You ROCK!

[@joeveinot5642]

Awesome bro,this video was great and answered many questions i had.

[@mccom7862]

Cool video, dude! I’ve been curious about good ways to get a reducing environment for my ores. I didn’t realize that part about dialing down the air until the flame is a little outside. Nice.

[@ramondiaz8375]

I learned a lot of info. From the video that u do.thank u your the best!

[@letsgobrandon3292]

Geeking out! Hahaha I love it. Nice job. Love the videos

[@Horns-knowledge]

Organized good work......................thanks

[@frankzahn7773]

Good vid. Very informative.

[@DavidSmith-zr3nd]

I truly enjoyed the video. Very interesting applied science.

[@fredrikmontenius4721]

Very interesting, well done! Have you done an assay on your starting material?

[@GuyMassicotte]

You are amazing and informative ! 👌🏼

[@trialbyfire2582]

Just remember this applies to this ore and very similar ores and changes with each different feedstock. Your getting the gist though. Good work...

[@paullong4471]

Thanks for sharing.God bless

[@CandSMINING]

Well explained. Thanks for sharing lots of information.😎⛏⛏🔥🔥

[@johnnyllooddte3415]

woww.. that was a heck of a lot of work

[@Sunone13]

Thank you.

[@leerogers4903]

Enjoying your Video's of Assaying, My Dad and I had an Assayer back in the Early 90's, But they have Both Passed On and Now there are No Assayers in Northern Nevada, But I did go to Legends Inc. in Sparks and are using Your Video's and Bugbee's Text Book of Fire Assaying, to test Ores at Our Claim. I spent my Career working Sand and Gravel Companies in the Central Valley of Calif. running the Gold Recovery Plants, doing a lot of R&D for Companies like Eagle Iron Works, Oro industries, Davaco, Barmac, until i became a Nevadian in 95, to raise my 4 kids in a free state.. Keep up the Great Video's and More on Your Mine... May is Not the end of the Mining season the way you are set up. Love the Big Timber, and Prospecting. Lee Rogers

[@barbwood8932]

Hi Jason! Ive been binge watching your videos over past couple weeks. Lots to consider and take in. Ive never been able to get past crushing my rocks! Lol. Will your flux recipe work on high sulfide ore?

[@shaneyork300]

Thanks for remembering it was me My Friend!!!

[@atcn1956]

Excelente. Muito bom mesmo.

[@barthanes1]

Really interesting experiment. I want to see if it works better using an iron bar vs. using iron filings.

[@nomana60]

i'm getting ready to start melting some of my own raw gold and your videos, though beyond me in parts, are very informative and well thought out. question though, how does one identify sulfides? I know i have them because i roasted the black sands after tabling and could smell it.

[@martinsilva3462]

a tip, use wheat flour for iron oxides

[@hairypunter6170]

@Jason, Nice videos mate keep it going. Just a note, not sure if you did the maths, but the ratio of the PM prill against the Pb button is suggesting that the PM prill is heavier against the Pb button when more borax is used in the flux (divide the PM prill by the Pb button weight for ALL samples and see what you get :-) this also agrees with the colour of the prill (more borax, more yellow). It would have been good to zap the beads with the XRF or part them so see what the gold content was on all samples. Happy new year for 2021, Stay safe.

[@miltondamiao6540]

Interessante,muito prático,e barato.

[@genehunsinger3981]

YOU --"most amount of metals,with the LEAST amount of effort" ME-- DING DING,,we have a winner,,,that's what I'm TALK'n bout.

[@TVTambangMineral]

Nice Good Video , Thank You

[@JustinQuilling]

Very interesting. Do you split your samples or just scoop concentrates out and weigh them? From what I know, assayers usually split concentrates to make the samples uniform. I am just wondering how you do it.

[@nopelindoputraperkasa5869]

Present friend,, searching best gold quality,,?? Wow best Information Vidio friend,, i like your video,,am From Indonesia 😱🇮🇩🇮🇩💯👍

[@paulcoover9197]

Dan Hurd's father learned to pour the metal and then tip the cup all the way vertical and go on past vertical. The drips don't go down the outside of the cup. I hate to see you tapping the crucibles. I cringe a little. Love your work. I'm learning a lot . thank you.

[@maxblay6833]

I don't know anything about gold prospecting but I like watching how he extracts Gold without acids an chemistry there's a little bit of chemistry there

[@gordonyork6638]

What is "Matt"? Is there a video that educates me on the chemistry, procedures and terms used in smelting? Your videos are very enlightening. You rock.

[@scotthack2632]

Jason some of my Assaying instructions have instructed to add a reducing agent like flour which causes you to get more lead from the litharge. I don’t know if you’ve looked into that yet. You will be amazed, sometimes you can end up with too Much lead for your cupel pill if you add too much flour. You have to reduce the litharge… Pull the oxygen off of the lead oxide and that gives you your metallic lead. I don’t know how adding the oxidizer of potassium nitrate affects this but it would seem to argue that it goes in the opposite direction.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

You got to love this cool looking patterns produced by the bubbles in your tone mold and I don't mean like gas bubbles that rise in liquid I just mean like what happens in the mantle from convection currents or in the early Universe under expansion that causes matter to be concentrated alone certain areas where the expanding bubbles of space bumped into each other which is really cool looking. I wonder how we could get that effect on a t-shirt

[@RalphReagan]

This can't get more interesting. When I worked at Rico Argentine I wish I had paid more attention.

[@scotthack2632]

Jason I also noticed you’re not using lye any more, just the soda ash and the iron. I don’t know if that was in the previous video that I missed but I was curious about how you came to that.

[@daimitchell5603]

An old coppermine(+ gold/silver sulphide) mine and on site smelter on a local mineral belt(NZ) was using a nearby quartz vein known to contain small amounts of silver and gold as their flux, quartz being silica - have you tried using small amounts of low grade quartz values containing silver and gold, as collector metals? - pretty sure they were doing long and slow(6+ hours) sulphide roasts and then re-smelting the cooled matte - so still many steps to assess for extra returns and losses - the smelter was onto it combining what was around to get the job done efficiently - another experiment perhaps ? - clearly you are in a good position to trial experiments of this nature - love your work and thanks for sharing your process and findings.

[@cecilforbes3034]

Iv noticed the big company’s using steel wool as a reducer

[@richardoconnor7162]

Things that come to mind, are you roasting off the sulfur first? The other would be to get a meter to watch you temps in the furnace. I find it funny that time of reaction is not being a factor?

[@rickpierson2586]

Good comparison ! Where do I get a pyramid pour mold like yours ?

[@danolson6590]

xray of each bead would help to know the percentages of gold and silver recovered.

[@martinsilva3462]

Hi friend, mi name is Martín, congratulatios, very good job, I'm from Colombia and I have a question, do you like make cianuration?

[@nunyabisnass1141]

I recognise those grains as otc stump remover.

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

If your speculation is correct and surface area for iron is the biggest Factor I think iron filings is the way to go. Do you know anybody with a machine shop?

[@TomokosEnterprize]

What about glazing the ceramic crucibles? will that hinder the purity ? Is that a mold you have made ? Very interesting. I have been approached by a number of our local plasser folks wanting to know how/if I can max their wares. Great post. Seems your bell was turned off. All fixed up now bud.

[@Tdmkaptaan77]

Hi I am huma from pakistan this is very good

[@anotherrant6688]

This is by far, the best, most informative video I've ever seen on this subject. Takeaways for me were you don't need tons of flux to concentrates to get results. You don't have to smelt it forever to get good results. Fill up the crucible as much as you can to maximize time, materials and energy. More matt equals less silver in button (which is what I want so I'm going to try that recipe). Questions: Did you roast the concentrates first? Can I use fishing weights instead of litharge? Can you do a video on cupelling in what I assume is an oven? I can't seem to successfully cupel with a torch and a portland cement cupel but maybe I haven't had enough gold in the button to get results in the first place. How do you know when your button is done aside from the blip thingy. Do you have to preheat your graphite crucibles beforehand? I had a couple of 'em pop on me.

[@sergioandresvalderramaospi8223]

Hi, i hope that you still use this account so this way you can answer me, Do You know a good fórmula or flux for smelting black sands?

[@anotherrant6688]

@@sergioandresvalderramaospi8223 I'm not sure aside from trying what's used in this video. Probably a matter of experimentation. Sorry I can't help more. I have too many questions still myself.

[@tawnihaynie1065]

Hi Jason. Great video. Please stay safe and healthy and take care of yourself and your family members. To all members also. Talk to you later my friend. ☺☺☺😇😇🤔

[@bobadalnoboj4312]

Very interesting experiments with pm extraction, and plain explanation, like ans subscription. Any thoghts about elecrolitic gold extraction from a river flow if to salt a water to create electrolit to flow before anode first and futher cathode - led covered with activated carbon and voltage 2-2.5 Volt? Nobody tried to extract this way, I tried to use cathode as gold belt from dish piece and reseived a little bubbles of gold visible in microscope, got it from a salted clays from yard)

[@expressmusic1986]

Did you xrf your iron rods? The gold tends to alloy with the iron.

[@jimdorsey2641]

have you ever used silica, lye, and soda ash and a flux mix?

[@TeamStevers]

When are we going to get a big smelt? Like a 1kg or greater? Love your vids but only ever see BBs of gold

[@martinsilva3462]

Jason can you recover Pd, Ir and Rh?

[@linn1934]

Are the cupels one time use?

[@lawfuldefenseofnaturalrigh9790]

Can the slag/mat be crushed to powder and reused as flux?

[@SilverMac47]

I’ve got a 50lb box of dirt with silver dust in it. What would be the best flux to use to recover the silver. I normally use nitric acid but want to try this method to try and save some money.

[@howtoguroo2686]

I have black sand in my creek mud , but no gold . do I roast the black sand to remove the sulfer , then pour that and borax and a chunk of lead , and the lead will trap the gold and silver ? then cupell the lead out ?

[@MortRotu]

Would you be able to do an assay on the beads to see how much gold was recovered from each quanitatively rather than qualitatively please? Even if its as simple as an XRF reading (assuming you have one, I know they're not cheap... )

[@chrisbrooks2062]

My silver ore smelts I use 100% borax and get great yields, the separation of the flux is better than when I add soda ash.

[@nobuntunglogopbonong7586]

For me normally ... We put borax first ... We put 50% borax and 50% kalium nitrate on recovery of Silver ... Its recovery up to 100% silver from silver powder .. Sometime if we recover those incomplete treatment of Silver powder ( those leftover silver chloride, we use 10% soda ash before smelting and during smelting we use 50% borax and 50% kalium nitrate ... It will etch the graphite crucible a lot but we coukd recover up to 95% of the silver content

[@ataali4279]

Can i ask you . Can i melt black sand and ore gold and just use porax and ash sodium . And which better percentage for each other when i have one kilo of sand and ore gold ??

[@TheBritishbeeman]

Hi I’m brand new to smelting. Iv purchased a forge but im in the uk and I can’t seem to buy 100% borax no where 🤦🏼‍♂️ only borax substitute ?? Would this be ok to use ?

[@jimdorsey2641]

it would be interesting if you took all of your slag and mat from these melts and crushed it up and re smelted to see what metal loss you had.

[@bjvoorhies]

Is your mold a commercial item or did you fabricate it? I don't see one in your list. (by the way - thanks for the list)

[@Rob337_aka_CancelProof]

I'm not sure what the elevation is there but I wonder what effect pressure has on your results? Too bad you don't have a hyperbaric chamber or access to Sea Lab but one thing you probably do have access to is a higher elevation if you're close to sea level or vice versa if you're not and that's something you haven't factored in that might play a significant role so maybe next time you're traveling to someplace with a significantly different elevation and pressure than you're at right now take you some stuff to try out on the road trip

[@TheBritishbeeman]

Can I use borax substitute as I’m in the uk and struggling to get borax hear

[@daubinks]

how about different amounts of lead added? And can I come be an assistant for tests some day?

[@MP57719]

How do you collect the silver from the matte or the gold?

[@charliem989]

Is something coming out of the lead? There is a correlation between higher lead mass and higher percentage in your tests.

[@donizetecorreiadepaiva5616]

Bom dia o melhor resultado foi o de 60 minutos

[@zeadgold8336]

What is the purpose of placing the iron pieces?

[@zuke-ci4vd]

I take it you are entering all those numbers on the cardboard, into a computer program with footnotes for future reference? If so, would you publish a paper (or Book) for people to read (buy)?

[@fergalfarrelly8545]

How do you seperate precious metals from the button?

[@howtoguroo2686]

where do you get the cone mold

[@aaronstewart3570]

I don't like using Borax it's toxic, what's the equivalent bicarb ratio(Borax substitute) per gram of concentrate when smelting? My Gold is microscopic nanocrystals and hard to settle. Freshly crushed from high load ore in Australia. The smelt goes runny when 20% moisture is added to my flux mix but doesn't when it's smelted dry. First few test smelts, I managed to make green obsidian with gold and silver fleck through it. Looks crazy.

[@ramubanoth658]

Make a test video with gold nitric acid you make

[@donizetecorreiadepaiva5616]

Bom dia não intendo tua língua mas qual foi teu melhor resultado da tua experiência

[@killjoy987987]

Circuit board meltdown next

[@ramubanoth658]

Can you test your gold with nitric acid

[@yilinwang467]

Where does the lead go during the assay?

[@frankenscience3553]

So, can you explain why you are now using litharge instead of lead pieces? And if you put 25 gram of litharge in how much of that is actually lead metal?

[@aaronstewart3570]

More collector, more Gold.

[@mrmcclung]

So 50/50/5 ? Borax/ash 5min ? And are you finding ash better than lye ? Or can lye or ash be interchangeable with same result ?

[@Hossak]

If you add too much Nitre (potassium nitrate) and it is seriously boiling - hit it with table salt. Instant fix.

[@luderickwong]

Have you consider using acid treatment on those lead beads before firing them in the small furnace? You can retrieve some silver at that point. It is over usd20 per ounce now Your last time experiment using electricity, should be a success, the problem is those black deposit you consider as waste are actually silver and gold (probably some lead too), checkout seetips channel, with the size of your lead button, you can do it in a tea cup. But beware of one thing, don't mix different acid together, aqua regis treatment of metal, lead, silver, even gold can become explosive in certain conditions, they are use in bullet primers.

[@princeangel1627]

is it really possible for pyrites to turn gold from rocks? and if possible, what is the best way to make gold from pyrites?

[@Arnthorg]

would be really cool if there were at least 2 samples per method to compare, I realize it's a lot of extra work though

[@HiwasseeRiver]

Could the flames = zinc? I've seen zinc burn and that's kinda what it looks like.