How to Process Gold Ore
- 1). Put on your respirator and goggles.
- 2). Pulverize the quartz or ore with a sledge hammer until the pieces are the size of peas.
- 3). Dump the pea-sized pieces into a mortar and grind them with a pestle until they are the consistency of sand.
- 4). Transfer this material to your gold pan and pour some water into the pan. Swish the water around in circles, allowing some of the water and lighter materials to go over the front edge of the pan. Gold is heavy and will stay behind and get stuck in the ridges of the pan.
- 5). Take the gold to a precious metals refinery so that the gold can be smelted into bullion and sold. A refinery will usually charge no more than about 3 percent of the value of the gold.