This arrived in the mail today:

I've always wanted to try my hand at doing some sand casting. This unit comes with everything you need to start melting metals like aluminum, copper, brass, gold, silver, tin etc using propane. Once I get the hang of using this I want to start trying some sand casting. I fired it up today and tried my hand a melting a bunch of aluminum can pull tabs. It comes with a small graphite ingot mold for pouring. I had one issue on my first attempt which I'm sure I'll be able to rectify.

First you are supposed to place the lid on the furnace when melting the metal. When I did this the furnace started to "puff" and pop. I suspect the ceramic wool inside may have been blocking the burner so next time I'll ensure all is clear. I had to leave the lid partially cracked to prevent this. I also should have left the aluminum in the furnace a little longer. I also just melted a small amount of tabs which was no where enough to fill the mold. Short video of the pour, spillage and all:

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My "glob" of recycled aluminum. 

I found several good Youtube channels on sand casting as well as a good forum. I likely won't get serious with it until next spring as it's best to do this sort of thing outside.