[Jewelry making - Article 00473] - [Orchid] Metal and Rocks

[dagmar hansbauer]

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    now, folks, these are just some theoretical questions...;-)) 

    METAL: if one were to set their minds to cleaning up a huge old
    tailings pile from an old mine, containing various metals that
    weren`t able to be processed at the time the mine was active, would
    it be feasible to grind the rock up into powder, filter out a lot of
    the rock particles, throw the rest into a crucible, melt it, and then
    pour the liquid into a cone shaped sand mold. would the various
    metals settle out by their weight? I know, it would be the snail
    paced way of processing it, but I`m wondering, if it would work for
    a start? How would one go about seperating the metal layers and from
    there on to making sheet and wire (ingot molds and a rolling mill?).
    does anybody know how to build a sulfur scrub on a low budget (duct
    tape and bailing wire type stuff) 

    ROCKS: how can you tell, whether a raw piece of turqoise is going to
    survive the cutting process...how do you stabilize it? 

    how do you tell whether something is serpentine or Jade? I`m looking
    at stones that are serpentine in coloring and texture, except that
    they seem to come in a wider range of colors, lots of greens, some
    browns and oranges, some lavender, some bluish. unlike serpentine,
    the material is very hard, shiny and brittle on the outside of the
    boulders. now, when my ex went jade hunting on the monterrey coast,
    he`d pick the shiny ones with some outside shattering, very similar
    to what I`m finding, but I`m not sure enough... 

    please bear in mind, that actually mining that hill is *NOT* an
    option. the purpose is to *clean up* several thousand tons of
    unprocessed and half processed ore and replant and restore the
    mountain while making a little bit of money for everybody involved.
    The main person involved is willing to spend the rest of his life
    doing that, but we do need to get started somehow. 

anyways, I've got to go...
Sparrow

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