diamonds gold and other stones after a fire

[kawman]

I have met a guy that has had his house burnt down.. his wifes jewelry went with it.. I think that the diamonds may have survived along with the melted gold and be in the cinders.. He had some opal but the heat has turned it white.. His wife lost her mothers jewelry in the fire and is keen on my offer to run some of the dirt/ashes from under where her jewelry box was.. what do you guys think will be the best way to find the gems and gold from the ashes????

 

[Jaros]

Ask the firemen-just joking?

 

[RM Outback]

Check the age/build date of the house kawman. Depending on where the house is, in Vic "ASBESTOS" was used up until mid to late 80's under eve's and in wet areas behind tiles.

No good doing a good deed and paying a potential huge price, your life.

Any builders, plumbers or tilers could add to this and give a better understanding maybe. Good luck with it I hope you are able to help these people, very decent of you kawman.

 

[GypsyGoldAu]

A quick google produced this info.;

"The average house fire burns at a temperature of about 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, which isn't hot enough to destroy most metals and earthly-made substances. And if an item is well-placed and small in size, its chances of survival increase drastically"

Hope it helps..

Sorry for your mates loss.

Cheers
Gypsy

 

[Bjay]

As RM stated if its a older house will definitely have asbestos as it was used in hundreds of different products. Very enlightening to look it up and see what it was used in in building products. In saying that if wetted down before searching through should be safe? After being burnt the fibers will be released much more readily so should be thou fly soaked. A little know fact is that asbestos is recorded in the air in all major cities and most likely smaller towns in the air at that we all breathe but at limited ppm.

 

[Heatho]

Sorry to say Kawman but Diamonds will revert to graphite at high enough temperatures, lower than 1700 deg c in the presence of oxygen. They may have survived but are probably irreperably damaged. I hope not though and they can be found again.

If you know the exact spot they were maybe using a pinpointer to find the metals may help or a sieve and a barrel of water.

 

[AtomRat]

I'd probably start off with classifying out material with something like the link below but using a bucket to catch the goods. There's a very small chance that diamonds can fracture under the heat changes but unlikely. I bounce around in a lot of asbestos, wet certainly is the key but still doesn't help as it tends to get dry the further you get in unless you have a supply of water to always soak it. Keeping in mind full safety such as protective dust and fibre mask, strong gloves, even eyewear if you want, and handle it very slowly. I find it easier to gently move sheets in mass rather than singulary to prevent excess fibres too. If I think there's too much asbestos or too much movement, I am simply forced to leave ( bury ) it.

The gold and alloys should scream rather obvious using a detector, one with at least iron discrimination will prevent too much noise, but burn sites are hell noisy no matter what, lots of copper and alloy. But if they can point out a rough area, it shouldn't take long, mabey all of it survived you never know! Good luck and sorry that your mate and partner had this loss

Basic portable classifier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VBsFp6mjqE

 

[kawman]

the guy knows exactly where the items were and will bring the top layer of dirt/ashes from a 3mtr sq area for processing....never thought about asbestos... wet processing will be the go... I have a great set of sieves and several sluices that the cons can be ran thru.. I will tell him about asbestos as he obviously has not realised the danger.. funny this.. because around the corner from where I live I know that there is a parcel of sapphires that a guys kids lost all over his old veranda, they are in the dirt underneath having mostly fallen thru the gaps in the boards and only half of them being retrieved...

 

[kawman]

found this interesting.... http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=101864

 

[VARTSTAR]

Run the ash and rake dirt through a banker

 

[Ramjet]

Good luck kawman.

 

[westatrest]

a P3 type dust mask and some disposable cover-alls should see you through
wet as much stuff down as you can, just to make sure the the dust stays down
would be good to see you get a good cleanup with a highbanker set up in someones yard!

 

[kawman]

I have several sluices from banker to finishing sluices.. If there is anything in the ashes I will find it.. I finish making a new caravan annexe that was destroyed in the fire this week and the guy should bring the ashes for separation... I will post the results if he does.. he is lucky he was insured with NRMA.. out of all the insurance companys we do work for they are the best.. some are really slow to deal with if you can get anything from them at all;;; cheap insurance can be useless...he has paid out $40,000 with nrma over the years and they are paying him out no problem..

 

[westatrest]

thats why insurance companies pay lots of money to very clever people, to get them out of having to pay out on insurance claims!