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Currently Playing: I Smelted 200 Pounds of Waste Into A Pure Silver Knife

For over 150 years, this rock was considered worthless mining waste. So I wanted to test something: what if the old miners didn’t get all the silver out? In this video, I collect hundreds of pounds of slag and waste rock from around Cerro Gordo, re-smelt it, separate the metals, and try to turn whatever silver is left into a pure silver knife. Back in the 1870s, Cerro Gordo was the largest silver mine in California, but smelting technology wasn’t perfect. After crushing, smelting, running the Parkes process, and cupellation, I ended up with just over 4 troy ounces of silver — all recovered from rock that was thrown away more than a century ago. WIN THE LEFTOVER SILVER HERE: https://kingsumo.com/g/36q0l91/win-pure-cerro-gordo-silver Help Bring Cerro Gordo Back to Life If you enjoy these videos and want to help preserve this historic mining town, you can join the Patreon for behind-the-scenes updates, mine explorations, and restoration progress from Cerro Gordo. Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ghosttownliving You can follow my journey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentwunderwood/ Cerro Gordo T-Shirts and more: https://store.cerrogordomines.com/ Mailing Address: PO Box 490, Lone Pine, CA 93545 THANK YOU!