gold mining

[BamaDuke]

No, we have a rotary washplant.


We quit drywashing several years ago.  In our area, there is a lot of clay.  The gold sticks to the clay, and the drywasher won't get it.  We had some guys come on our claim and dig a big hole and put it through their Keene drywasher.  We let them finish, and then ran their tailings through our rig.  They got about 3/4 of an oz with the Keene.  We got over 1 with ours.  We threw away our drywasher 

Bama

 

[highdesertranger]

ah a trommel I have a homemade trommel. how much water does it take? do you recirculate? highdesertranger

 

[BamaDuke]

About 100 gallons to fill, we recirc it. Every day we need to add about 20-25 gallons to bring it back up full. But that is after running 1200 or 1500 lbs of material through it. We use Clay-B-Gone, and first thing in the morning after it's settled overnight, we dip out as much clay as we can.

Bama

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah that damn clay sure mucks up water if you are recirculating. so the Clay-B--Gone works good for you? I have only needed it a few times but didn't have any on me. highdesertranger

 

[BamaDuke]

We placed an order with Keene, and added 3 bottles. It's lasted about 3 years now, and we still have a bottle left. You just need a couple ounces in each tank. We run all day, then let it sit overnight. The next morning, the water is clear and the clay is on the bottom. We dip it out with a handled strainer for cooking, and get 80% of it in just a couple minutes. This way we keep the pump from picking up the chunks of clay and loosing water flow over the sluice.

Bama

 

[IGBT]

Have either of you tried beach gold mining in Washington or Oregon?

We were at Cape Disappointment a few days ago and there were a couple of guys running gold cubes.

I took home a 20 ounce cup of black sand (there were streaks of it all over the beach about 80 feet up from the low tide) and panned it at home (didn't have a pan with me on the trip).  I found 11 micro specks of gold in the one cup but it was very hard to pain (at least half the material was magnetic and heavy).

I would like to go back but the only thing I have is a pan and a LeTrap sluice.  I am not sure the LeTrap would work on this black sand...it might just all clog up.   Dump out some table salt and look at it...the gold is about a tenth that size.

Gold cubes are like $400 to $500.  Not worth it IMO if you are only going to get $10 of gold a day, but might be ok if you could do $100 a day.

I might make something from a section of gutter or just go back and try the LeTrap.

 

[DannyB1954]

I have purchased several expensive gold divider rods, but they do not seem to work well.
Would anybody here like to buy some?

 

[DannyB1954]

Actually I have dabbled in prospecting without success. Here is a picture of a shaker box I made. The box hangs from the ropes, (the left side lower than the right).
Inside the black plastic tub is a 12v motor from a car radiator fan. On it's shaft is a offset weight. The plastic tub is there to keep from getting whacked by the rotating arm.
The theory being that you put the ore in on the right side,  by the time it vibrates down to the left side the gold will be at the bottom and the chaff will be at the top and spill out of the end of the box. I tested it using the lead shot from a 12 gauge shotgun shell mixed in with my local dirt.  It recovers the pellets quite well. I have not weighed them before and after, so I can't say 100%. The amount that can be processed depends on the amount of tilt you give the box.
So now where in the heck is the gold?

 

[BamaDuke]

The black sand is a booger to deal with. The sluice will allow you to run a lot of material, then use something else (Gold Cube, or a Spiral Pan, or just a regular pan) to separate the gold from the concentrated material from the sluice. If I had a bunch of black sand by itself, I would put it in a plastic pan, covered by an inch or so of water. Then use a magnet to remove the magnetic sand. I would drop the magnetic sand into another plastic pan, black, so that any gold I picked up would be visible. Keep the black pan clean enough to see all of the material dropped.

This would get rid of 75% of the black sand, then pan out the rest. Slow, but better than watching Bonanza reruns

Bama

 

[highdesertranger]

here's a couple of hints, the gold you see on the sandy banks or rivers, creeks and the beach is not gold it's either mica or pyrite. an easy way to tell is to look at it out of the sun light gold will still shine mica or pyrite will not. also take a magnifying glass and a pin. stick the pin into a piece if it breaks it's not gold. a regular sluice will catch the micro fine beach gold but you must run it real slow witch means it will plug up fast. if you have a regular box you could remove the riffles and carpet/moss and just use the vee mat rubber like the gold cube uses then run super slow.

Danny count the number of bird shot you put in then in the end count again, some guys paint the shot a color that will stand out to make this easier. recovery must be 100% if it's not you are losing gold. another thing use number 8 shot. another tip why don't you just build a dry washer the plans are readily available on the internet. dry washers are a proven tool for gold recovery. if you are going to the RTR I will have my Keene dry washer you can see how it works. highdesertranger

 

[ZoNiE]

Any of you guys tried the undertow system Here?

Interesting concept.

 

[highdesertranger]

dang they are sure proud of that thing. have you tried it? highdesertranger

 

[IGBT]

highdesertranger:

Yeah I know gold and I know the few gold micro fly poop specks I panned out of the WA beach sand was gold.   When I first started panning I would get all excited about mica, but then I finally found some gold in some bedrock moss and it is a world of difference...not only in the way light reflects but how it acts in the pan...it doesn't move much at all with a water slosh while mica will tumble all over the place.

I am not sure you understand the amount of black sand we are talking about.   I could dig up a 5 gallon bucket of it in about 3 minutes and 2.5 gallons would be magnetic.  Probably why the beach is not packed with people making $300 an hour.  Still, it seems like decent gold per yard if you could process it quickly.  I am going to guess there is likely a tenth of a gram of gold per 5 gallon bucket but it might take you a day to pan it.   $3 a day lol.

 

[highdesertranger]

IGBT my little hint was really not meant for you. that's why I didn't include your name in that part like I did with Danny. it was meant for everybody, I have no doubt you found gold there. now that I reread the post I should have included your name in the tips for a sluice. here's an example, http://www.keeneeng.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=KES&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=176244 . notice there are no riffles there is just rubber vee mat. sorry if you thought I was taking down to you that was not my intention. highdesertranger

 

[DannyB1954]

Danny count the number of bird shot you put in then in the end count again,  some guys paint the shot a color that will stand out to make this easier.  recovery must be 100% if it's not you are losing gold.  another thing use number 8 shot.  another tip why don't you just build a dry washer the plans are readily available on the internet.  dry washers are a proven tool for gold recovery.  if you are going to the RTR I will have my Keene dry washer you can see how it works.  highdesertranger

I seen a dry washer used and it seemed slow and quite dusty. The large rocks also had to first be separated.  This just started out as an experiment. I live in a desert area, so I wanted something that didn't use up water. I figured if it caught lead, gold is even heavier. I got this idea from a gold pan that everybody uses to do their final work. By shaking the pan back and forth the gold is able to sink. The water is used to wash off the top layers and leave the gold. I figured if you could shake a box like a dry pan, the gold would still sink. The water would be unnecessary as the weight of the incoming material would force the light stuff off at the end of the box. It will process a 5 gallon bucket of material in less than a minute. A lot less. I used the type 2 gravel in my driveway for the test. One thing amazed me during the process. No matter how large the rock was it would immediately pop to the top and float on down. I always assumed rocks were heavier than the dirt for some reason. I guess they are less dense.
At the end of a run while it is still shaking, I raise the right end until there is just a little bit of material left in the box. I then transfer it to a pan for the final final. I also found that using a controlled air source like the output from a small vacuum cleaner works even better than water for removing the light stuff in the pan. it takes it right down to the lead pellets. patience plays a part here. too much air and the lead also gets blown out.
On the RTR, I was hoping to do that, but I don't know it will happen. I have a 30' Class A, but it needs insurance and registration. It was last registered in Ca, I am now in Nv. I have a 1/2 ton flatbed I have been tossing around different designs for a camper to fit on the 7'x7' space. It looks like a Gypsy Vardo bowtop will be the winner. something like https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...=yhs-mozilla-002&hsimp=yhs-002&hspart=mozilla
The bed part would have to go over the cab, so I need to figure that out. I am also looking at vans and class c's on craigslist.
I have some pretty accurate weight scales that I use for reloading bullets, so maybe I will set up the shaker and do a better test, or like you suggested just count them.

 

[StarEcho]

Gold mining setups and how to's would be a great seminar at RTR.

 

[highdesertranger]

Danny a couple of more tips,

1. water always works better for washing material, over dry methods. however in the desert water is hard to come by so the dry washer was invented, up till now it is the predominate way to recover gold dry without chemicals. dry washers have a classifier built in so the is no extra steps involved.

2. when you do clean ups it's best to classify too. your recovery will always be better by classifying.

3. it is always better to classify your material no matter what process you are using. wet or dry. the material will process faster and more efficiently.

4. there is always metal detecting for gold.

so just wanted to pass these tips along. highdesertranger

 

[ZoNiE]

Gold mining setups and how to's would be a great seminar at RTR.

I'd attend that.

 

[akrvbob]

If someone is willing to lead it, we can schedule a gold mining class. Any volunteers?
Bob

 

[DannyB1954]

Danny a couple of more tips,

4.  there is always metal detecting for gold.

so just wanted to pass these tips along.  highdesertranger

List of my detectors. Fisher CZ-7a pro,  white's GMT, White's Spectra V3i, and a Garret Infinium LS.
These are the Witching rods I refereed to during an earlier post.

There are some gold mines just North of me, and I even belonged to a claim club for a year. I came to the conclusion that the club made more money from dues than they ever got out of the ground in gold. The yellow stuff eludes me. I did find some coins with the Fisher. The V3i a rusted pocket knife. To be fair, I have not taken the Garrett out yet. It was too hot to go play this summer. I am starting to itch like some kind of bug bit me. Maybe a gold bug. I put all my battery chargers to use making everything fresh, (what the hell did I do with the 9v chargers?). Maybe I will go for a walk in the desert once more.