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Using the equipment shown above, the specimens are crushed in the dolly pot (below left) and the crushings put into a sieve to let the fines through. The larger material is returned into the dolly until we get it fine enough that we are happy with it, or until all that remains in the sieve is flattened pieces of gold.
The boring step is panning off the gold to separate it from the host rock, quartz in this instance. It can then be dried in a saucepan or steel pan over a fire or stove to evaporate the water. We don't worry too much about what we lose in fines as all material goes into a large tub to be amalgamated with mercury every few years to recover the fines. You will notice the bubbles in the water which is a very small amount of dishwashing liquid to break the surface tension of the water and stop the small gold from floating off as we pan.
 
Next we set out the tools and gear we will use to melt the gold into buttons. Gold can be melted directly in a scooped out potato, and it works excellently if you firstly char the inside to remove some of the moisture that will cause the gold to spatter. In this instance we used an old crucible to make some buttons, then remelted these in a new crucible and crushed the old one in the dolly as it was cracked and ready to fail. The crushings were panned off to recover the small gold blobs adhering to it, and these were added to the melting material. Darkened glasses such as the Oxy/acetylene welding goggles are a must for this exercise as the gold being melted is very bright and difficult to see without. Protect your eyesight please.
 
The buttons would usually be remelted in the potato and allowed to cool in it before upending the gold button into a container of water, but as I wanted to break in a new crucible they were melted into one in it, allowed to cool slightly and then upended into water. Borax is the flux used to allow the gold to pool into a blob and let the impurities float. The result in this instance is a gold button weighing 257 grams and ready to be sent for refining, and payment which is the best part.
The alternative method is to use a hollowed out potato. This time we had some previously melted buttons that we collectively added to the potato crucible after charring the inside of it. These are then melted into one blob as per the lower images.
Allow it to cool in the spud. The left images is just after the torch was removed and the gold is still in a molten state. If you like to see your gold in bar form then the spud will need to be carefully lifted and the contents poured into a warmed mould, lubricated with beeswax to stop the gold sticking to it. Pouring into a bar adds a degree of dificulty to using the potato, and I would suggest the best way would be to put the button, after it has cooled, into a crucible to be remelted and more easily poured into a mould.
Then tip it out to be weighed when it is cold enough to touch. Alternatively, it can be tipped into a container of water once the redness goes and it is solid enough to be stable.
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