Dolly pot

Last updated
Dollying gold-bearing quartz, using a cast-iron dolly pot (1911). Reno, near Gundagai, NSW - Dollying gold-bearing quartz at Long Tunnel Mine (Australian Town & Country Journal, 29 March 1911 p20 ).jpg
Dollying gold-bearing quartz, using a cast-iron dolly pot (1911).

A dolly pot, also known as a dolly, is a portable tool used for crushing small quantities of gold-bearing rock, by hand, in a process known as dollying.

Dolly pots made in 1932 Dolly pots 1932 (Museums Victoria).jpg
Dolly pots made in 1932

In principle, a dolly pot is somewhat like a large mortar and pestle, but is always made of metal and is intended specifically to crush hard rocks like quartz. It is typically flat at the bottom, rather than rounded as in a typical mortar. [2] [3] [4] 19th-century versions were often made of cast iron. [3] Modern dolly pots are typically fabricated from steel. The place of the pestle is taken by a long heavy steel rod, at one end provided with a stamping surface. [5] [2] [4]

The process of dollying is highly labour-intensive. It involves pulverising the rock, by hand, until the gold separates from the surrounding rock matrix. It typically is used only to test for the presence of gold in samples taken from a quartz reef. [6] [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agate</span> Rock consisting of cryptocrystalline silica alternating with microgranular quartz

Agate is the banded variety of chalcedony, which comes in a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancient Greece, in assorted jewelry and in the seal stones of Greek warriors, while bead necklaces with pierced and polished agate date back to the 3rd millennium BCE in the Indus Valley civilisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flint</span> Cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz

Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start fires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground stone</span> Prehistoric stone tool

In archaeology, ground stone is a category of stone tool formed by the grinding of a coarse-grained tool stone, either purposely or incidentally. Ground stone tools are usually made of basalt, rhyolite, granite, or other cryptocrystalline and igneous stones whose coarse structure makes them ideal for grinding other materials, including plants and other stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millstone</span> Stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains

Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pesto</span> Sauce made from basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, and olive oil

Pesto or more fully pesto alla genovese is a paste made of crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, grated cheese such as Parmesan or pecorino sardo, and olive oil. It originated in the Italian city of Genoa, and is used to dress pasta and sometimes soups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mortar and pestle</span> Equipment consisting of a bowl in which substances are ground using a pestle

A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The mortar is characteristically a bowl, typically made of hardwood, metal, ceramic, or hard stone such as granite. The pestle is a blunt, club-shaped object. The substance to be ground, which may be wet or dry, is placed in the mortar where the pestle is pounded, pressed, or rotated into the substance until the desired texture is achieved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibaloi people</span> Ethnic group in Benguet, Philippines

The Ibaloi are an indigenous ethnic group found in Benguet province of the northern Philippines. Ibaloi is derived from i-, a prefix signifying "pertaining to" and badoy or house, together then meaning "people who live in houses". The Ibaloi are one of the indigenous peoples collectively known as Igorot, who live in the Cordillera Central of Luzon.

Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classification of rocks is based on the information acquired during the petrographic analysis. Petrographic descriptions start with the field notes at the outcrop and include macroscopic description of hand-sized specimens. The most important petrographer's tool is the petrographic microscope. The detailed analysis of minerals by optical mineralogy in thin section and the micro-texture and structure are critical to understanding the origin of the rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrap</span> Recyclable materials left over from manufactured products after their use

Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered metals, and non-metallic materials are also recovered for recycling. Once collected, the materials are sorted into types — typically metal scrap will be crushed, shredded, and sorted using mechanical processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mill (grinding)</span> Device that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting

A mill is a device, often a structure, machine or kitchen appliance, that breaks solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting. Such comminution is an important unit operation in many processes. There are many different types of mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand or by animals, working animal, wind (windmill) or water (watermill). In modern era, they are usually powered by electricity.

The ClogauGold Mine is a gold mine near Bontddu in North Wales.

<i>Molcajete</i> Stone bowl used with a tejolote to grind foods

A molcajete and tejolote are stone tools, the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle, similar to the South American batan, used for grinding various food products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glass recycling</span> Processing of turning glass waste into usable products

Glass recycling is the processing of waste glass into usable products. Glass that is crushed or imploded and ready to be remelted is called cullet. There are two types of cullet: internal and external. Internal cullet is composed of defective products detected and rejected by a quality control process during the industrial process of glass manufacturing, transition phases of product changes and production offcuts. External cullet is waste glass that has been collected or reprocessed with the purpose of recycling. External cullet is classified as waste. The word "cullet", when used in the context of end-of-waste, will always refer to external cullet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metate</span> Mesoamerican quern or milling-stone

A metate is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organic materials during food preparation. Similar artifacts have been found in other regions, such as the sil-batta in Bihar and Jharkhand, India as well as other grinding stones in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristallo</span>

Cristallo is a glass that is totally clear, without the slight yellow or greenish color originating from iron oxide impurities. This effect is achieved through small additions of manganese oxide. Often Cristallo has a low lime content, which makes it prone to glass corrosion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food mill</span> Kitchen utensil for mashing and sieving soft foods

A food mill is a food preparation utensil for mashing and sieving soft foods invented in Brussels in 1928 by Victor Simon. Typically, a food mill consists of three parts: a bowl, a bottom plate with holes like those in a colander, and a crank fitted with a bent metal blade that crushes the food and forces it through the holes in the plate. The bottom plate may be a permanent part of the device, or interchangeable plates with different hole sizes may be supplied. Three corrugated feet on the base, or two ears on the rim plus the handle, fit on the rim of a cooking pot and hold the mill in position over it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stamp mill</span> Type of mill machine

A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quartz reef mining</span> Type of gold mining in veins of quartz

Quartz reef mining is a type of gold mining in "reefs" (veins) of quartz. Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth's crust, and most quartz veins do not carry gold, but those that have gold are avidly hunted by prospectors. In the shallow, oxidized zones of quartz reef deposits, the gold occurs in its metallic state, and is easily recovered with simple equipment. Quartz reef mining played an important role in 19th century gold-mining districts such as Bendigo, Victoria in Australia, Central Otago in New Zealand, and the California mother lode.

Kanuchi, or simply ᎧᏅᏥ, is a hickory nut soup eaten originally by the Cherokee people and which consists primarily of ground hickory nuts boiled in water. Hickory was the nut of choice, since it is a nut tree endemic to North America, and is known to grow plentifully in those forested areas settled by the Cherokee.

References

  1. "A Rich Gold Mine –At the Long Tunnel, Gundagai". Australian Town and Country Journal . 29 March 1911. p. 20. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "Glass Negative - Dolly Pots for North Broken Hill Ltd., Chas Ruwolt Pty Ltd, 1932". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  3. 1 2 "dolly pot". Victorian Collections. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "dolly pot Meaning and Definition | Spellchecker.net (Definition Dictionary)". Spellchecker.net. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  5. "Plan, Design and Build a Dolly pot; hand powered rock crusher". nevada-outback-gems.com. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  6. Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (13 June 2019). "Gold diggers - Resources Victoria". Earth Resources. Retrieved 16 October 2023.