would you rerun old Dry washer piles ?

[Tank69]

just curious was out scoping out a new area to hunt them lil yella happy rocks when I started seeing a few piles of dry washer tailing's an wondered with as many weekend warriors or the ones that really don't do that good a job , if it would be worthwhile to go threw old dry washer fines ......What do you think ?


This was just a passing thought not something that I've done so don't start in on the lectures about being lazy .


Tank

 

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[strickman]

get the book follow the dry washers.especially the old tailing piles. all tailings have values-some are very good.

 

[Hoser John]

My old bud Jim sure has some nice booklets and even he pronounces the PESCO king of the drywashers. His series on mining are a definate great addition to any library!! RERUN THE TAILINGS John

 

[homefires]

Heck Yes! Hit them.

Modern dry washers are a pile better the the old ones were. Assuming these are old!

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

YES ! Just imagine, you have been working since dawn, hand pumping that crude bellows and are hot, tired and dirty. You tend to be a bit careless with your preliminary classifying and don't check the larger rocks etc that won't pass through your screen carefully and tend to discard any nuggets that might be there covered with dirt and can easily toss them out into the tailing's..

I have found some very nice thumb sized nuggets with a detector based upon this reasoning. My wife has several sets of beautiful jewelry because of this.

Also of course, as was mentioned, the efficiency and ease of using the machines has improved greatly.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Tank69]

Thanks folks this is just as I said a thought that has passed once or twice .....I may have to run a spot or 3 an see what happens .


HH Tank

 

[Seamuss]

I know a couple of snow birds that take a recirculating sluice out in the hills and go through tailings and do really well.
The gold sinks and stays in the wet sluice better then a dry washer.
Dry washer is about seventy five percent effeciant.
Wet sluicing is about ninety eight percent effeciant.

Of course water is a big issue in arrid lands.

 

[Jack Hamilton]

If you find tailing piles with uncrushed material, IE... sand and gravel stuck together, crush it and run it. Even if its classified. I went to a claim 2 saturdays ago and dug about a yard + of material. It all had to be crushed. I was using a 1/2" classifier set on a wheelbarrel. Soooo many of the chunks needed to be crushed I finally caved and accepted that I had 1/2" on the wheelbarrel, and 1/4" on my drywasher. At the end of the day I took my concentrates home and found over 200 specs and flakes. I can honestly say if I had crushed all the material completely I would have brought home more color in my concentrates. I didn't have the equipment to do so in the field. I was digging with a demo hammer by using a dc inverter and a 12 volt battery. Then I would take the clumps and put them in a bucket and use a Dewalt mixing drill and a mixing paddle to grind them up. The drill and paddle didn't work so well so I started using the handle on my shovel, which is a half shovel with the grip type wood handle and metal. Turning the shovel upside down and pounding the handle into the clumps in a bucket to break them up. There was only so much I could do with that method. I am positive if I could go back to my tailing pile and break up the remainder I would find more color.

So to answer your question, most definitely re-run tailings.

 

[oldestjim]

This is an old thread... but for those who "follow the drywashers"
and carefully rework the old piles (that have not been re-worked)
can recover more gold by re-running it again through a dry washer
or detecting the piles while using a metal detector in the all metal
mode and a small search coil.