Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

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will assay results be different than aqua regia extraction microscopic gold vs pyrite (1 reply)

D
Devon2017
4 years ago
Devon2017 4 years ago

i have been mining now for a couple years in barkerville and recover a couple buckets of sulphides every season, my claim neighbor crushed some of the sulphides and got a bit of freegold when panning, he then sent the crushed tailings out for assay, apparently its a special type of pyrite (cant remember the name) and carries up to 25-30% gold, if I send some out for assay myself and get the results, lets say it is 1 oz gold / per pound sulphides, if I do the aqua regia method on one pound of sulphides will I recover one ounce or will chemical extraction yield different results? i am experienced in working with chemicals and know all the hazards.

Mike
4 years ago
Mike 4 years ago

Maybe, possibly, it depends.

Was the sample he sent out representative of your material?  Was his sample representative of his material?  Did the lab do a good job?  Has he sent out other samples for repeat tests?

These are all reasons that geologists deal with many samples and different labs.  Also repeat testing.  Lab and sampling errors can cause wide variations in supposedly identical samples.

Never go off one sample or one test!

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