Where to find black sand in vic?

[ewasteben]

Hi all,

I'm doing a little project and was wondering where in vic, close to melb' I can find a creek or something that contains black sand?

I want to try fishing for black sand with magnets whilst I wait for my first detector to become available to buy.. at max.

 

[XIV]

A lot of the creeks and rivers contains black sands.
Not all black sands are magnetic tho.
Which area are you in.
That may help send you out to an area

 

[ewasteben]

inner west melbourne so anywhere west would be ok

 

[ekmchan]

did you manage to find a creek with magnetic black sand in melb? if so can I get cordinates?

 

[user 4386]

Almost any creek in areas of basalt flows in the west (eg Jackson's Ck).

Ditto Kangaroo Ground

Ditto Plenty River around and N of Greensborough

Darebin Creek

Moonee Ponds Ck

Many beaches around Geelong, the Bluff at Barwon Heads

Moorabool River N of Geelong

Leigh River around Mt Mercer

Not clear what you are trying to do

 

[ekmchan]

Thank you for this - will definitely search on these areas. Not looking for gold but for mangetite for health purposes

 

[user 4386]

Thank you for this - will definitely search on these areas. Not looking for gold but for mangetite for health purposes

It is much easier to get a significant amount off beaches than from streams. You can pre-concentrate it by panning (it is usually mixed with light quartz sand layers), then dry it before getting a clean magnetic concentrate.One area I am familiar with is on the beach at Barwon Bluff, from memory on the 13th beach side.

I don't know where you are but eastern Mornington Peninsula towards its northern end is another possibility.

 

[user 4386]

Of course it is much cheaper to buy it online

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/857...cf5a42d5b7e9cbed1602ad4564c12acfd49:857694636

 

[ekmchan]

look like fun collecting this stuff myself. Its too expensive shipping the US. I'm based in inner Melbourne so close to the CBD.

 

[user 4386]

look like fun collecting this stuff myself. Its too expensive shipping the US. I'm based in inner Melbourne so close to the CBD.

One problem is that most black sand in Victoria is not magnetite but ilmenite - although they can be separated with a magnet, what looks like major black sand can sometimes reduce to only a small amount of magnetite.

 

[ekmchan]

I found online where I need to go - close to Geelong but further down to bell beach is where magentite can be found:

 

[Mackka]

It helps when you can spell the name of the mineral that you are searching for. Remember this for future health mineral searches. Best Regards Mackka

 

[user 4386]

You probably don't need to go so far down the coast - there would be many similar places. I mentioned the beach at Barwon Bluff (Barwon Heads), from memory on the 13th beach side, but I would expect similar at Geelong and farther north on the western side of the bay.. I notice that it mentions the Bells Beach sand to be a mixture, as I mentioned - expect a fair bit of black and non-magnetic ilmenite.

 

[user 22230]

Wish I could find gold in the amounts I can find black sand

 

[Hawkear]

I found online where I need to go - close to Geelong but further down to bell beach is where magentite can be found:

View attachment 6496

Good luck in your quest for self produced magnetite. It always seems more satisfying when you can source your own natural supplies rather than just buying them. Even though it may involve a bit more time and effort you learn things.
A trick of many prospectors is to use a strong “super magnet” cloaked with durable plastic or even in a small plastic container. That way unwanted magnetic targets such as rusty iron and ironstones can be easily found. They can then be released by just pulling the magnet away from the plastic or vice Versa and the magnetic objects just fall off the plastic rather than have to be pulled off by hand. The magnet itself then stays clean.
Should work Ok with what you are intending.

 

[Nightjar]

During separation of mineral sands, ilmenite, rutile and zircon, a magnetic separator is used in the ilmenite extraction process.

 

[user 4386]

During separation of mineral sands, ilmenite, rutile and zircon, a magnetic separator is used in the ilmenite extraction process.

I'm not sure if this might be a problem with modern rare earth magnets (that they may pick up both magnetite and ilmenite). You need a weak magnetic to get clean magnetite.

https://www.bunting-redditch.com/ma...rce to separate a specific group of minerals.