Help me Learn to clean up properly please

2020hindsite

Jr. Member
May 28, 2013
85
8
Free
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've read alot of posts and I think understand the classification of your dredge cons which brings up a few questions...

Lets say I classify to 10, then 20, then 30, then 50, etc.
Lets say I put each classification into a different bucket.
Do I then run each classification separately through a cleanup sluice?

Why wouldn't classifying to 20 get rid of all the bigger rocks but still allow me to catch all of the gold? I understand bigger materials may disrupt how the sluice runs but shouldn't classifying to say 20 or 30 be good enough to capture -50, -100 etc?

Also who makes the best CLEAN UP sluice? I run heavy black sand dredge cons but not a whole lot. Mabe a 1/2-3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket at a time.

What cleanup sluice would be best for fine gold - not talking miller tables and other stuff just sluices.
Or should I just give up and get a gold cube?

Is there a step by step instructions for cleanup somewhere?
Ill be honest that I know nothing about it besides panning.
 

Last edited:

Hoser John

Gold Member
Mar 22, 2003
5,854
6,721
Redding,Calif.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I classify to 1/4" and pan bigger. Then to 1/16" and pan bigger. I'll pan that into a tub and sucker bottle them little ones up some.Then much reduced volume is taken home to DRY as then much better control and proper classification is much easier. I then use a screen at 50 mesh,all above goes in my old school green bowl and 50 minus into blue. All leftovers are retained for mercury treatment as this is mining season and VERY limited,like our water this year,and gives ya something to get a gold fix in the winter. Mutzing and a putzing costs valuable time in a limited season so let it lie and get back to work-John
 

OP
OP
2

2020hindsite

Jr. Member
May 28, 2013
85
8
Free
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks Hoser but a few issues with that...
I've heard the new green bowl kind of sucks and the old style is not available any more.

Any other ideas anyone?
I was thinking of taking what comes out of the dredge and classifying it to maybe 1/8 and then panning what won't go through the classifier. I will classify a few times like this all the way down to the size of a kitchen strainer/sifter.

I would take the stuff that fits through the kitchen strainer now the size of large sand grains or if you go to your cabinet the material left is the size of the spice mustard seeds.
THIS AND SMALLER IS WHERE THE MAJORITY OF MY GOLD SIZE IS.
I was thinking about running it through a gold cube.
What comes out of the gold cube I was thinking of drying and then using a magnet and getting out the magnetic sands.
And then a final careful panning.
I would save what material is left for the future incase I ever decide to amalgam it out.

I am very hesitant to pull the trigger on a piece of cleanup equipment however because I don't know what to use. I have mostly very fine gold and am scared the gold cube won't catch it. I'm scared I will spend money on the cube and not use it.
I've been told the smallest speck of gold you can see is around -400. I've also been told that the gold cube is only good to around -200.
Most of my gold is like flour or Maybe sugar grains.
Please someone help and let me know if this cleanup is decent of should I go another route.
I have about 4-5 hundred TOTAL to spend on cleanup equipment.
I wish to recover as much as possible from maybe 1/2-3/4 of a bucket every few months.
Thank you
 

Jason in Enid

Gold Member
Oct 10, 2009
9,593
9,229
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I've read alot of posts and I think understand the classification of your dredge cons which brings up a few questions...

Lets say I classify to 10, then 20, then 30, then 50, etc.
Lets say I put each classification into a different bucket.
Do I then run each classification separately through a cleanup sluice?

Why wouldn't classifying to 20 get rid of all the bigger rocks but still allow me to catch all of the gold? I understand bigger materials may disrupt how the sluice runs but shouldn't classifying to say 20 or 30 be good enough to capture -50, -100 etc?

You do it in stages to ensure good classification. If you dump everything into a 20 screen, you are going to have small stuff held up and not go through. Screens are cheap. Yes, you process each size of material individually.

You don't need anything but a gold pan to process your material. Blue bowls, cleanup sluices, etc can make things go faster IF you know how to use them correctly, but you STILL will have to pan out the remaining material.
 

OP
OP
2

2020hindsite

Jr. Member
May 28, 2013
85
8
Free
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm trying to cut down the amount of panning I have to do.
I'm pretty good but it takes 20+ minutes a pan to get everything.
A bucket would take me a month
 

MikeMike

Jr. Member
Nov 24, 2012
76
18
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You can get a Gold Cube (4 stack about 479 shipped) and that will cut your cons way down
.....OR......
you can get a Gold Miner Spiral Panner (about 275 shipped new...eBay) cap the little 1/8" spray tube that sprays into the slurry at the bottom And zip tie a vibrator motor (about 10) to the housing and get down to about 150-200 mesh gold.

Now you can either 1. pan it Or 2. get a blue bowl (adout 80 +/-) Or 3. make/buy a miller table for the rest.

Hope this helps.

[\/]ike
 

MikeMike

Jr. Member
Nov 24, 2012
76
18
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Definitely classify everything no matter what system you decide to use.

The gold Cube you only have to classify to 1/8" which saves a ton of time.
 

omnicron

Bronze Member
Jun 14, 2012
1,017
409
Caldwell, Idaho
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
This is simple... I classify 12 mesh, 20 and 30 mesh. I spent $35 on a AM Sidekick Misc Gold Prospectors Accessories from Angus MacKirk about midway down the page and I run each set of cons separate. I pan out anything larger then +20

IMG_20130721_223223.jpg

IMG_20130715_083223.jpg

It wont catch everything and If I classified down further it may catch a spec or two more but in all honesty, I don't think anything will catch 100%. The few speck that it doesn't catch I don't worry about as my cons have micron gold and plan on using mercury this winter along with a rock tumbler and ball bearing to get what was missed! To put what it misses in perspective, anything +30 and the capture is 100%, When I rerun my -30's I may have 20 specs show up, that's not even worth my time to rerun so I don't worry as the mercury will take care of that.
 

MikeMike

Jr. Member
Nov 24, 2012
76
18
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
[QUOTE="2020 if you go to your cabinet the material left is the size of the spice mustard seeds.

THIS AND SMALLER IS WHERE THE MAJORITY OF MY GOLD SIZE IS.

I was thinking about running it through a gold cube.
What comes out of the gold cube I was thinking of drying and then using a magnet and getting out the magnetic sands.
And then a final careful panning.
I would save what material is left for the future incase I ever decide to amalgam it out.

I am very hesitant to pull the trigger on a piece of cleanup equipment however because I don't know what to use. I have mostly very fine gold and am scared the gold cube won't catch it. I'm scared I will spend money on the cube and not use it.
I've been told the smallest speck of gold you can see is around -400. I've also been told that the gold cube is only good to around -200.

Most of my gold is like flour[/QUOTE]

[\/]ike
 

Hoser John

Gold Member
Mar 22, 2003
5,854
6,721
Redding,Calif.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
NO MAGNETS ever as you throw away gold-think of a oreo cookie with black sand and your gold istuck n between. Did ya see the GPAA mag with 100s a nuggets stuck to a magnet,not specks, RIGHTEOUS HUGE NUGGETS. Proof in the pics -throwing money at mining won't get ya outta panning as MUST be done no matter how much you spend as just throwing $$$$ away. Keep it simple as convaluted goldfarbs-ie green bowl with tampex wings sure screwed up a good unit. John
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,369
Summit County, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Caution on mercury (but not the one you think!):

Merc can't grab gold with iron oxide or other crap on it. If you plan to use merc to grab micron gold, soak it in an acid first to clean any gold. (Vinegar or muratic acid such as brick cleaner added to some hydrogen peroxide is good)
 

highdesertranger

Jr. Member
Sep 23, 2008
87
29
so kalifornia
Detector(s) used
gmt, falcon md20
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
classify, classify, classify. then no matter how you run the classified material you get better recovery results. here's what I do. #8 first +8 metal detector. #20 next -8 +20 pan. then #30, -20 +30 pan. all - 30 though a gold screw. classify again with #50, #100. then through the blue bowl in 3 stages -30 +50, -50 +100, -100. save all black sand for further processing at a later date when enough has been saved. if I have allot of larger material I might use a #4 first. highdesertranger
 

DizzyDigger

Gold Member
Dec 9, 2012
5,787
11,447
Concrete, WA
Detector(s) used
Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
20/20..why not consider a Miller Table? You can DIY, and save about
$350 in the process.

As Hoser said, you'll be doing some panning no matter what method/gear
you choose. Until my table is done, I classify to #8 mesh before I even
run the material through the sluice, and then I take the cons and screen
through a #16-#20 mesh tea strainer, and pan everything that doesn't
pass through. I then pan the small material a teaspoon at a time (got
plenty of time), and save all the black sand after all the visible gold I
can find has been taken out. I've got about 30 lb. of black sand saved up,
and hopefully the miller table will get all the gold I missed.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Top