Han Peacock's current method of gold mining can only be used when looking for gold mines. Once a rich gold mine is found, this method will be too inefficient.
The gold mines mined in modern times are generally of very low grade, containing approximately 25ug/g of gold, which means that each gram of gold sand contains only 25 micrograms.
If it is pure gold sand washing, the gold washing bed should be panned through a large amount of water. The light specific gravity is washed away, and the heavy gold sand is left and enriched.
Therefore, using modern mining machinery is the best and has high efficiency. Of course, there are always surprises in every situation. The gold mine grade is low because all the good gold mines have been excavated, but it is different in Outer Mongolia.
This is a virgin land, and gold has never been mined before. Therefore, unlike places in China where mining has been done for thousands of years, or places in the Americas where mining has been done for hundreds of years, it is possible to find rich gold mines here.
It is also for this reason that there are more and more gold diggers here.
With the cooperation of Jin Yao and Huangshan, Han Peacock was very fast. In just a moment, he sifted out a small pile of golden sand.
"What is this for?" After stopping the screening, Han Peacock actually took out some liquid and mixed it into the screened golden sand.
"Select gold from inside." Han Kongque said.
Seeing the golden demon, they didn't understand. At this time, Usubayar said: "In mineral processing, this falls within the scope of gravity separation. Only the gold sand after gravity separation is mixed with mercury can the gold be selected."
"Don't you understand? Gold sand needs to use the mercury amalgamation method to extract gold. In the past, people directly mixed mercury and gold sand fully. This used liquid mercury and gold elements to form an alloy - gold amalgam, to screen out pure gold.
." Han Peacock said with a smile.
"Of course, simple silver also produces silver amalgam, but the majority of silver in the ore is silver sulfide, which does not produce silver amalgam, so this mercury amalgamation method is often used in gold mining."
"This reaction to generate gold amalgam (alloy) can also be regarded as a chemical reaction. The gold amalgam is heated and distilled to separate the mercury to obtain crude gold."
The trace amounts of gold in placer gold or other oxidized ores are in the g/ton content range. Such gold mines have no mining value at all, so Han Kongque is constantly beneficiating the minerals.
"The gold content in this tributary is slightly higher. We will look upstream from here." After selecting again and again, Han Peacock and the others harvested more and more gold sand.
"How much gold have we found now?" Huangshan wiped the water drops from his face, feeling that gold mining was indeed not easy.
Han Peacock smiled and said: "There are still hundreds of grams of gold, right?"
Mu Ling said at this time: "More than four hundred and eighty grams."
"It's almost a pound heavy!" Huangshan sighed.
"We have been here for half a month. The weather is getting colder and colder. I don't know how many days it will snow." Jin Yao said.
Han Peacock smiled and said: "If it wasn't so hard, those Outer Mongolian warriors would have made a fortune long ago."
"Hey, these lazy guys, it's no wonder they can get rich." Huangshan turned around and looked around. That Usubayar got the money and left a few days ago.
Usubayar didn't know how strong the logistics support of Han Peacock and the others was, so he was afraid of encountering a snowstorm. After asking for wages from Han Peacock and the others, he followed a convoy that they met by chance and went home.
Anyway, Han Peacock and the others have a clear goal now, and there is no need for Usu Bayar, who is familiar with the local environment, to guide the river course over the years, so he left as he left.
"We should not be far from the source of the golden sands." Han Peacock looked at the surrounding situation. There were not many branches of the river, which meant that they were almost able to find the source.
"There are mountains not far away. Does it come from the mountains?" Mu Ling asked as he looked at the mountain peaks to the north.
Han Kongque said: "It's not surprising. There are several heavy snowfalls here every year. The snow water on the mountains melts and forms rivers on the grassland. Therefore, it is not surprising that the snow water brings golden sand."
"It's similar to the situation in the United States. The river water has eroded the rocks in the mountains and brought out the precious minerals inside," Huang Shan said.
Han Peacock laughed and said, "Don't tell me, it's really the same situation."
"Then let's work harder. Maybe we can find a gold mine in a few days." The golden demon became motivated again.
Huang Shandao: "Do you think the snow water corrodes the mountain all year round, will it corrode some huge caves? In this way, we will have a place to spend the winter."
"You guys are really greedy. You actually plan to spend the winter here after encountering a gold mine?" Jin Yao looked at Huangshan in shock.
Huangshan chuckled and said: "If we can find a pound of gold every day, we can't leave no matter how cold it is!"
"Okay, let's look forward. I found that the river water here emerges from the ground. There may be underground caves not far away, or simply underground rivers. In either case, looking for a cave for the winter is a must.
It's not a dream." Han Kongque said.
Walking under the mountains to the north, there is indeed no large water source here. On the surrounding mountains, there are several small water veins flowing down from the ravines, which cannot form a river as big as the one below.
"There really is an underground river here." After just a few rounds of searching, Han Peacock locked the location of the underground river.
"The main thing is how do we enter the underground river?" Jin Yao said.
"This depends on the boss. As long as you search more, you will definitely be able to find the entrance." Huang Shan said.
Han Kongque nodded and said, "That's right. Maybe there is an entrance over there. I feel that the underground river flows from there."
"Come on, let's go up and have a look." There is a small hill over there. When we climbed up, we found nothing.
"Do you think snow water has corroded the rocks here all year round? Is it true that low-lying areas are prone to cracks?" At this time, Jin Yao reminded.
"That's right! Even water can't be retained in high places, so how can a cave be corroded?" Huangshan suddenly realized.
Han Kongque also shook his head and smiled bitterly. He was also stupid because he didn't even think of such a thing.
Sure enough, after searching for several ravines, they soon followed a creek and found an underground fissure.
"Can you go down?" Huangshan looked at Han Kongque expectantly and asked.
Han Kongque said: "You can go down, there isn't much water down there, but you can't go down from this side, you have to go down there."
"Isn't there still a small hill over there?" Mu Ling looked at the direction pointed by Han Peacock and asked.
Han Kongque said: "The stream flows from there. It turns out that there may be a low-lying place there, which was later filled with earth and rocks. There should be an entrance among those huge rocks. Maybe that is where
He piled rocks so that the creek would change its course, so that it would be drier on that side."
Sure enough, several huge rocks crossed each other to support a cave entrance.
Looking at the dark hole, Jin Yao asked: "How deep is it down there?"
Han Kongque said: "It's very deep, definitely more than four hundred meters, much deeper than the entrance of the cave where water flowed in just now."
"Then how do we get down?" Huangshan stared.
Han Peacock smiled and said: "Although it is very deep, it is not a shaft. Just go down slowly and follow me."
Han Peacock took out a rope, some gloves and a headlamp. With these things, it would be no problem to go down.
The rope was only about a hundred meters long, but Han Peacock didn't only have one, so he took out a new rope every 100 meters. In this way, after using seven ropes, they descended into a flat underground cave.
middle.
"Is that hill just now seven hundred meters high?" The golden demon asked as he wiped the sand from his head.
Han Kongque said: "Probably not. Did we go too deep?"
"No, we didn't go straight down, but a slope. Although we climbed seven or eight hundred meters, the straight-line distance may be less than a hundred meters." At this time, Mu Ling said.
"Haha, maybe this is really the case. Come on, let's go over and have a look." Not far away is an underground river. At this time of year, the river water is not sufficient, so it is a good time to pan for gold.
"I hope there are golden sands here." Huangshan clasped his hands together and began to pray.
They stopped at a bend in the river.
Han Peacock brought out several high-power searchlights, illuminating the surrounding area with bright light.
"That's the Golden Sands?" The surroundings lit up, and the beach at the corner was very conspicuous. Especially under the light, the golden beach looked very dazzling.
"Haha, it seems that we have really found a gold mine, and we are really rich this time." Huangshan laughed.
Although the golden demon was also very excited, he had seen such a scene before, so he said: "It's rare but strange."
"You sound like you are so well-informed." Huang Shan said contemptuously.
"Of course, it turns out that in Tibetan areas, the natural gold nuggets we picked up were all Buddha statues." Jin Yao said.
"That's artificial, right?" Huang Shan didn't believe it at all.
"If you don't believe me, ask the boss. It's definitely a natural gold nugget. At most, it just took a rest. It's definitely not cast." Jin Yao said.
Han Peacock ignored the two of them, but looked at the gold sands carefully. These gold sands should have a lot of gold content. At least they can get the gold sands without sifting.
"Stop talking nonsense, come here and help." Han Peacock called Jin Yao and Huangshan over, and immediately used the mercury amalgamation method to extract the crude gold inside.
After just two simple extractions, more than ten kilograms of crude gold were obtained. At this time, the four people in this underground cave were already so happy that they couldn't even see each other.
"It's really a rich gold mine." Huangshan said stupidly.
"Don't be silly, let's smelt it and take a look." Han Peacock began to flip tools out from the chaotic space again.
If you continue to refine gold, the easiest way is to use fire alchemy. If it is rock gold, you have to crush the ore. Now it is gold sand, so this joint is naturally saved. (To be continued.)