Collecting samples - a photo on Flickriver

Collecting samples

            To determine whether there was elevated concentrations of tin, gold and uranium in the beach sand we needed to collect representative samples.  In the case of gold, getting a representative sample can be tricky because gold, when it is present, generally occurs as fairly large (i.e. larger than other sand grains) but very rare flakes or nuggets.  So, we need to collect a large sample to increase our chances that at least one gold flake is present in the sample.   But large samples (I'm talking several kilos) are difficult to handle especially if you have dozens of them and you have to fly them out in a small airplane.  But gold and also tin are extremely heavy compared with 99.9% of the other sand grains in the sample and, therefore, can be concentrated by gravity using the age-old technique of panning.  Panning is not difficult once you get the hang of it although it can be back-breaking.  My assistant Joanne, seen here, got pretty good at it after a few days of practice and I don't recall her complaining about a sore back.  As you can see in this photo, she filled the pan about ¾ full with beach sand, and in about 15 minutes she washed it down to a "pure" concentrate of heavy minerals (see next).
   

Taken on: June 28, 1980

Tags:

MacInnis

Lake

Northwest Territories heavy

minerals panning Californian

pan geology collecting samples cassiterite gold native

gold flakes nuggets beach

sand « less

Sets appears in: • MacInnis Lake, NWT, summer of 1980

Groups appears in: • Earth Science Teaching Resource

Camera: Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000 ED (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000 ED
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	ACD Systems Digital Imaging
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