Data mining involves processing huge amounts of digital information to find hidden patterns and financial relationships. To executives, the findings are like gold, but on the weekends, I prefer seeing the real thing in the bottom of my pan.

Q: Aside from the softness scratch test and other methods of identification, what feedback would you have on identifying gold in hard rock that may be mixed with other metals that affect its color?

While recovery rates are important, they must necessarily be secondary to the volume of material processed. Running more material at lower recovery rates is generally preferable to increasing the efficiency of the system.