BLUE BOWL - Clean water??

[outwardjourney]

Okay, so I have a problem... the dirt that I get, is DIRTY!

I classify my material down to 30 or 50 mesh (wet mostly, dry occassionaly) and even though the materials been classified wet, I can only get a good single run on the blue bowl before the water becomes so murky that I can't see what's going on. I am using a recirculating tank and bilge pump, but is there a way to really 'clean' the dirt before putting it into the blue bowl? I ask this in all seriousness because at this point it's worthless to run it in the blue bowl since I can't see what's left behind. To add to this problem, because the water is so murky, I have to let the water completely settle for a couple hours before I can see the remains in the bowl. Of course it is now covered in sediment fallout and makes it impossible to clean the gold out.

Anyone have this problem OR know a solution?! Thanks!

 

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[AzViper]

Check out my Blue Bowl in the links below in my signature. This is a recir. system. You have but two choice, either use fresh water through the blue bowl or build yourself a recirculating system. The more water you have in the system the cleaner the water remains. Take a close look at my system. I use 30 gallons of water. The water drains from the black pan into one of the tanks. I then pump water from the other tank. The two tanks are connected together. The heavy material will sink keeping the water cleaner. I have a raised drain in the black pan so dirt would have to be 1 inch deep before dirt flows into the barrel.

The second video is old as I lost all the gold out the top as I was not paying attention to the water level when I took a phone call.

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[B H Prospector]

Hi outwardjourney,
As you can see the amazing azviper has one hellacious set up and the proof is in the puddin, IT WORKS!!
What I do before using my blue bowl, and mine is a traditional set up, is I clean as much of the clay out of my cons as I can after sluicing right at the creek before I even take them home.
Then I dry them out and run a magnet through them to get as much magnatite out as I can. I then save the cons up all summer until about October when I will have 5 gallons or more of cons. Then I classify wet in the backyard with 1/4, 1/8, -20, -30, -50, and -100. This now has removed even more clay in this proccess. I then mix clay gone in the water according to the directions and when done right I have no or very little problem with cloudy water. This is all done with the bowl sitting on a 5 gallon bucket sitting in a tote that holds maybe another 15 gallons of water. The real trick is have the cons as clay free as possible to start with.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector

 

[mxer47]

I had the same problem I use hose water now. The one thing I have learned is I set the flow of the water w/o any material, then I can add and walk away w/o loosing everything. The level never raises above the pre determined setting. I am then free to classify, answer phone what ever. It takes a little longer but I can do other things. Also I took a bullseye level and glued it on a price of plexiglass big enough to sit on the cone in the middle to set the level.

 

[outwardjourney]

Check out my Blue Bowl in the links below in my signature. This is a recir. system. You have but two choice, either use fresh water through the blue bowl or build yourself a recirculating system. The more water you have in the system the cleaner the water remains. Take a close look at my system. I use 30 gallons of water. The water drains from the black pan into one of the tanks. I then pump water from the other tank. The two tanks are connected together. The heavy material will sink keeping the water cleaner. I have a raised drain in the black pan so dirt would have to be 1 inch deep before dirt flows into the barrel.

Thanks, just a couple questions...

Do you have a filter somewhere on those tanks? That water is crystal clear... the issue for me seems to be the extremely fine sediment in the water, it's in the flowing water and does not seem to drop out until all water movement has stopped. Let me get a few pictures this evening and post what I mean.

So you go from the blue bowl into a tray that drains into Tank 1, then from tank 1 to tank 2. From tank 2, it goes back into the blue bowl. Do you have a pump in tank 1 that actively fills tank 2 or is it completely passive?

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Is the material you're trying to run in your blue bowl, raw dirt/gravel, or are you running cons after sluicing panning etc? A friend of mine tried using blue bowl for sampling without first panning it down to heavies... That was futile lol.

 

[outwardjourney]

Well, that's a good point, it depends on who's turned the material over for me. In some instances it's cons collected from the mat cleanups, and in other cases it very well could be raw gravels. In either case, the material is classified wet down to a -50. Basically, I classify 1/2" 1/4" 1/8" then to -30 mesh and -50mesh. Generally I do not pan until I am at the 1/8" material as there are no pieces of gold larger than 1/8". So I guess in a sense the 30 and 50 mesh is NOT pre-panned, but it is washed as it's classified. That could very well be the problem!


30 mesh cons


Dirty water sample


Silt in water sticks to snuffer bottle


Dirty silt in water




This is what happens when the water settles... and the water still has suspended silts in it.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Ya it looks like there's still a lot of "dirt" in there...

 

[AzViper]

B H P has said it best. You need to clean the con as best you can prior to running the con in the blue bowl. If you have like a 200 mesh screen wash your con through the screen and retain everything on top of the screen. Also keep everything that does go through the screen for future use. You have got to get all the clay out.

No filter is used. I use a raised drain. I bought the black pan, the sink drain, the plastic raised drain all at Home Depot. I used Silicone to seal everything and to attach the plastic drain to the stainless steel sink drain. The extension tube is removable for transporting or storing.

The entire system is very easy to make and leveling is simple.

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[mxer47]

It looks like your pump is on the bottom of your secondary container. A deeper secondary container with the pump suspended will help, especially after it sits for a while and the particles settle the pump won't pick them up. Also a ring of open cell foam in the top of the bucket where the water flows out of the bucket will act as an easily cleanable filter. In my opinion washing cons uses as much water as processing with fresh water.

 

[outwardjourney]

Awesome. Thanks, it will give me something to work on this week off work! I don't have a 200 mesh screen... felt that was a bit of overkill for my purposes.

 

[AzViper]

It looks like your pump is on the bottom of your secondary container. A deeper secondary container with the pump suspended will help, especially after it sits for a while and the particles settle the pump won't pick them up. Also a ring of open cell foam in the top of the bucket where the water flows out of the bucket will act as an easily cleanable filter. In my opinion washing cons uses as much water as processing with fresh water.

You can wash the con with dirty water. The idea is to get the clay removed. Filters are going to clog... My pump is suspended in the barrel.

The level never raises above the pre determined setting. I am then free to classify, answer phone what ever.

That is if the city water pressure does not change on you. Your neighbor can easily drop your water pressure. Not a good idea to feed the bowl directly from city water... Not to mention a waste of water... If you have used a blue bowl enough you know how touchy getting the water level correct. I was in the middle of making an adjustment when I took a call... LOL, if that's important to you...

Outward, take BHP advice. He is the master of the Blue Bowl. I simplified the use of the Blue Bowl but when it comes to GOLD recovery he knows what he is doing...

 

[Hoser John]

Filthy water has a much increased specific gravity(check yourself with a hydrometer) and makes gold retrieval harder. I always use clean hose water and full to the brim for righteous bowl vortex formation and good to go. Water that runs off goes to 2 huge trees so not a waste of water either. John

 

[AzViper]

Filthy water has a much increased specific gravity(check yourself with a hydrometer) and makes gold retrieval harder. I always use clean hose water and full to the brim for righteous bowl vortex formation and good to go. Water that runs off goes to 2 huge trees so not a waste of water either. John

John,

If done correctly you can have clean water and have a recirculating system and not use additional water as I have shown in my video and my Blue Bowl build.

 

[mxer47]

Valid point Re: pressure however I've never had a problem, excess water goes on the lawn. I'm quite rural and water hasn't been an issue for years.

 

[AzViper]

Live in Arizona and you learn to conserve your water. We are lucky to get 12 inches of rainfall at my location.

 

[Hugo Espirito Santo]

AzViper (Keith Thompson), I am Brazilian and I live in Brazil . I saw your videos on Youtube and now I see the technical specifications and measurements if your system here on this site . I really enjoyed and I try to make a system like yours . I do not know anything about mining, but I'm interested in learning . In Brazil We have a large deposit of gold throughout the country , especially in the state where I live (Minas Gerais) . My state possesses this name just for being the place where the Portuguese found the largest deposits of gold, diamonds and emeralds from Brazil . The literal translation of the name of my state is: General Mines (Minas Gerais). The name is for this reason. In my town there are several places where abandoned mines there existed several centuries . I'm sure I can find gold in these locations. Most of the gold extracted the Portuguese , was the alluvial gold . To make one like you developed system , tried to find a Blue Bowl , but it is not sold in Brazil . I have not found on any sales site in Brazil . I'll have to build my own Blue Bowl. To build it I would have to have measures of the basin and also did not find the steps on the internet . I would like very much and would be very happy if someone could help me with the steps of the bowl. I wonder which is the distance of the hole inlet in relation to the bottom of the bowl. I would like to know the measurements of the central cone (height, diameter) including the diameter of the hole where the water comes out. Would someone help me? Since I am already very grateful. Hugs from Brazil.

PS. I apologize to everyone for my English is not good....

 

[AK_Au_Diver]

In Nome, back when I was recirculating water to run my Neffco Bowl, I was going make a Lamella clarifier out of a stack of old corrugated plastic signs (discarded political). With corrugated chambers vertical (duh), signs tilted at about 30 degrees off vertical, plenty of fluid space below signs for settling and flow, the water enters the settling tub, flows up through the signs, and pours into another tub where the pump is.

Lamella clarifier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unfortunately I didn't get a change to test it, because I didn't have a suitable tub, and I didn't know how to build one then. An old chest freezer or ice chest might work if you can't find a bait tub, and if you want something larger than a Rubbermaid Roughneck Tote.

We used a pair of the largest Roughneck Tote we could find, with a 2x4 frame that they sat in to keep their shape. And a 2" or 3" water filled rigid hose to connect them, which would keep the water levels balanced via siphon action. Pump from one, dump into the other. The balancing hose on the dump tub would be placed in a 3 gallon bucket, with a big rock in it; that helped keep some junk down.

Don't use Sterilite or any clear tub, they crack way too easy. Rubbermaid Roughneck is the best home store available tub I've found. Although a pair of good 30-gallon to 55-gallon round trash cans might be better (the good heavy duty Rubbermaid Roughneck ones), since the height would really help with settling, and no extra support framework would be needed.

I suppose a u-shaped PVC balancing pipe might work better, you just need a way to suck all the air out of it, so the siphon is established.

 

[AzViper]

AzViper (Keith Thompson), I am Brazilian and I live in Brazil . I saw your videos on Youtube and now I see the technical specifications and measurements if your system here on this site . I really enjoyed and I try to make a system like yours . I do not know anything about mining, but I'm interested in learning . In Brazil We have a large deposit of gold throughout the country , especially in the state where I live (Minas Gerais) . My state possesses this name just for being the place where the Portuguese found the largest deposits of gold, diamonds and emeralds from Brazil . The literal translation of the name of my state is: General Mines (Minas Gerais). The name is for this reason. In my town there are several places where abandoned mines there existed several centuries . I'm sure I can find gold in these locations. Most of the gold extracted the Portuguese , was the alluvial gold . To make one like you developed system , tried to find a Blue Bowl , but it is not sold in Brazil . I have not found on any sales site in Brazil . I'll have to build my own Blue Bowl. To build it I would have to have measures of the basin and also did not find the steps on the internet . I would like very much and would be very happy if someone could help me with the steps of the bowl. I wonder which is the distance of the hole inlet in relation to the bottom of the bowl. I would like to know the measurements of the central cone (height, diameter) including the diameter of the hole where the water comes out. Would someone help me? Since I am already very grateful. Hugs from Brazil.

PS. I apologize to everyone for my English is not good....

Ck. your PM

 

[AzViper]

From the time this photo was taken the pump has been replaced with a submersible pump made by Atwood, 1200 GPH. 30 gallon recirculating system... Makes for a handy waist height system with adjustable height table legs. Water drains from the black pan into the barrel on the left. Water flows into the second barrel on the right from a 2 inch pvc pipe where the submersible pump resides.

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