Dredging a Dry pond

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
Hey guys. Been a while since i post something up here.

Well i have been dredging here and there but i have now been starting to work a place on the side of the river that has a small water fall and a deep pool. It looks something like the glory hole from the Gold Rush series.

I have tried dredging it bring up water from inside up but its too deep for a normal surface dredge. I also tried making a pvc booster jet but with no sucess.

So i end up drying it and have start working it with pick and shovel.
But i know i would end being face with a hard pack material which would slow things a lot down.

So i believe my the best way is bringing in clean by cutting the direction of the river and transfering it to the hole and using a submersible dredge.im hoping for that it wont cloud out.

Ill be posting pictures later on today.

Have anyone tried anything alike with success ?
 

OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
Pics of today.
 

Attachments

  • 1488240964939.jpg
    1488240964939.jpg
    135.5 KB · Views: 89
  • 1488240999359.jpg
    1488240999359.jpg
    118.5 KB · Views: 100
  • 1488241073090.jpg
    1488241073090.jpg
    115.1 KB · Views: 82
  • 1488241147020.jpg
    1488241147020.jpg
    126.1 KB · Views: 82

brianc053

Hero Member
Jan 27, 2015
974
3,369
Morris County, NJ
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
XP Deus 2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I'm not sure if it would work in your situation, but I have a Hydroforce nozzle (Hydro Force Nozzles) and it's two advantages are 1) being able to supply its own water to a dry area and 2) having a "blaster" built into the nozzle that can work loose compacted material.

Good luck, and keep us posted please!

- Brian
 

N-Lionberger

Bronze Member
Dec 1, 2013
1,365
1,959
Arcata, California
Detector(s) used
Fisher 1212-x
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Whites 4900/SP3
Dowsing rods
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
I have deep hole I am also trying to wrap my brain around. I dont think a submersible dredge would be a good idea, you want to get the tailings out of the hole.
 

russau

Gold Member
May 29, 2005
7,279
6,735
St. Louis, missouri
and using a booster jet to really get down deep is a good idea when using the Hydro force nozzle! that way you keep the turbidity down to a minimum and replace the water with clean water and still moveing the material out of the hole!
 

OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
After another day of hard we was able to dig throught couple feet of overburden and winch out couple of large rocks.

Pictures of todays progress and the crew. :)
 

Attachments

  • 1488326404914.jpg
    1488326404914.jpg
    73.1 KB · Views: 92
  • 1488326430179.jpg
    1488326430179.jpg
    82 KB · Views: 74
OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
This hole was dug before but it got filled up on a flood and never openned up again. I heard one guy let the gold pan goo after seeing so much gold in the gold pan.



Right next to the hole we was about to extract half a pound of gold.

I have never found a deposit alike yet.

Hope to start seeing bedrock gold soon.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
Im just going to continue to just use a pick and shovel to i can. Then if the material gets to hard i would try a plan b.

For now im thinking of dumping the overburden in the river and dredging it with my 4" dredge.
 

OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
Well almost 6 feet down and no sign of bedrock or gold in the overburden.

Dont know how much deeper would i need to go to see bedrock. Any deeper would mean i would need a ladder to get down into the hole.

It sure is looking more challenging then we thought.

Ima give it a good 4 feet more to see if theres a change. .

Dont know how old timers worked so hard.

Ill post some new pics tommorrow of the hole.
 

OP
OP
principedeleon

principedeleon

Sr. Member
Oct 22, 2013
449
151
Since bedrock was looking deeper we needed to widen the hole up some more. . Just Keeping ya updated.
 

Attachments

  • 1488496371640.jpg
    1488496371640.jpg
    80.2 KB · Views: 62

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Top