Highbanking at the old hard rock mine - part 2 video

[AU79 Prospector]

Next video up for anyone interested! We take some of our Gold Hog Piglet mods and test it in the field. Unfortunately, the video I shot included water flow with a partially clogged pump....doh... so it doesn't look impressive. I will pay more attention next video but for now trust me -- much better washing power! Live and learn.

I added a bit of music to parts of the video... thoughts? Does it add to the video or detract from it? Just experimenting with my video editing as well =)



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[IMAUDIGGER]

Next video up for anyone interested! We take some of our Gold Hog Piglet mods and test it in the field. Unfortunately, the video I shot included water flow with a partially clogged pump....doh... so it doesn't look impressive. I will pay more attention next video but for now trust me -- much better washing power! Live and learn.

I added a bit of music to parts of the video... thoughts? Does it add to the video or detract from it? Just experimenting with my video editing as well =)



Visit my youtube channel homepage and click the subscribe button if you want to become a subscriber to my videos! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXs3GbinntAgeEV1YLHi9eQ

The panning portion of your video demonstrates a flaw that I discovered in my panning technique, where the gold is prematurely exposed on one side or the other. This exposes it to loss before you have fully panned off the lighter materials. I solved that by slightly tipping the pan to the other side then giving it a few shakes to bury it centered under the heavy concentrates before I start washing. Nice looking gold! Pretty clean looking gold, must not have used mercury.

 

[AU79 Prospector]

Very interesting.... makes sense to me. I will definitely give this a try next time. Thanks for the tip!

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Very interesting.... makes sense to me. I will definitely give this a try next time. Thanks for the tip!

I'm no expert, but it kind of makes sense to me. Probably won't increase your recovery too much.

Looks to me like you have done enough panning to know what your doing.

I wonder what the recovery would be like if you could crush the tailings before sluicing them?
Do you think this material is directly from the mill, or just the dump?

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Nice job on the video and yes I like the music during the repetitive parts.
Thanks for sharing.
Mike

 

[et1955]

It is all about efficiency, I watched your video several times and to me it so inefficient, if you would wet classify first to 1/2 inch you would not waste time having to hand mix in the trough. Instead of running 50 buckets of raw material versus 10 to 15 classified is far more efficient and faster. I can dig and classify and run 4 classified buckets threw my A52 or my electric high banker per hour and my material is full of clay. I should also say that I and others who mine up here in western Washington have developed a very special classifier, so fast and easy to make. Nothing like it on the market so I understand why others out there hate classifying. Creation out of necessity.

 

[Vance in AK]

I should also say that I and others who mine up here in western Washington have developed a very special classifier, so fast and easy to make. Nothing like it on the market so I understand why others out there hate classifying. Creation out of necessity.

But you aren't sharing pics or info I assume?

 

[et1955]

But you aren't sharing pics or info I assume?

I will share, going to make a new one soon, loaned my last one to the Goose and Magic Mike.

 

[AU79 Prospector]

It is all about efficiency, I watched your video several times and to me it so inefficient, if you would wet classify first to 1/2 inch you would not waste time having to hand mix in the trough. Instead of running 50 buckets of raw material versus 10 to 15 classified is far more efficient and faster. I can dig and classify and run 4 classified buckets threw my A52 or my electric high banker per hour and my material is full of clay. I should also say that I and others who mine up here in western Washington have developed a very special classifier, so fast and easy to make. Nothing like it on the market so I understand why others out there hate classifying. Creation out of necessity.

Its about the combination of EFFICIENCY and PRODUCTIVITY. They work hand in hand. I ran the 26-28 buckets in this video in exactly 70 minutes unclassified....by myself... in 90 degree hot humid weather. That is nothing to sneeze at... but I totally acknowledge there is still room for improvement.

The most EFFICIENT and PRODUCTIVE way THEORETICALLY is to run unclassified pay (You dig it, and toss it through in your sluice/highbanker, and it washes it off well and it makes it through the sluice +/- the grizzly system without any help). The reality is all prospectors are limited with equipment and/or the pump and/or water flow; therefore, classifying is and always will be an inefficient but often necessary step for most people. The gold hog piglet is designed to run unclassified material with a GAS powered pump. My goal is to get to the point with a BATTERY powered setup. If I can't get there, I may considering classifying just the biggest rocks and work down until it works (starting at 2 inches and then working down). But that to me would be a partial failure and I don't want to do that. There is a reason the bazooka sluice was such a hit -- people know what kills productivity... and that is classifying.

I'm always trying to learn and improve so I would love to learn about this classifying system you developed if you are willing to share with the forum and see if it may help in my setup.

Heavy pans to all!

 

[AU79 Prospector]

I'm no expert, but it kind of makes sense to me. Probably won't increase your recovery too much.

Looks to me like you have done enough panning to know what your doing.

I wonder what the recovery would be like if you could crush the tailings before sluicing them?
Do you think this material is directly from the mill, or just the dump?

I strongly suspect THIS particular tailings pile came from the mill. The reason is I have found partially cut up quartz pieces that I have brought home... I am going to crush them and see if there is any gold in it -- if there is then I know for sure. Also the gold here is so fine I'm guessing it was the material the was crushed, and ran, with significant gold loss which I am now running myself. Currently constructing a poor mans rock crusher (I've spent enough $$ this season lol)

Other tailings piles I have tested are loaded with mercury with no gold... others just country rock and no gold. There are literally hundreds of piles -- could spend years exploring them all =)

 

[et1955]

Have you considered spending one day just digging and classifying your material and then on another day bring in your high banker and spend the day running it.

 

[Bodfish Mike]

I will share, going to make a new one soon, loaned my last one to the Goose and Magic Mike.

I want to see it too -- thanks for sharing

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Au79 - I'm on the same page as you as far as classifying goes.

I'd be looking for a way to set up the sluice so I could shovel that material directly into it (skip the buckets). That material looks like garden soil!
You might consider a tarp in the stream and two truck batteries/two bilge pumps if you want to stay with electric.

 

[AU79 Prospector]

Au79 - I'm on the same page as you as far as classifying goes.

I'd be looking for a way to set up the sluice so I could shovel that material directly into it (skip the buckets). That material looks like garden soil!
You might consider a tarp in the stream and two truck batteries/two bilge pumps if you want to stay with electric.

View attachment 1485532

Working on some of these ideas as we speak =) I have two smaller 1200gph pumps I am rigging up with the main 3700gph pump. I still have 30-40% battery typically when I come home so I will see how this combined setup runs. The big batteries weigh over 50lbs, and it really sucks carrying those things back to the truck after a long day prospecting --- so I want to try and avoid another big battery if possible. I am bringing a small 18ah battery to run one of the smaller pumps

 

[bc5391]

28 buckets in 70min, I'm impressed. at my age I'm lucky to get 3 buckets an hour.
Great job.

 

[AU79 Prospector]

28 buckets in 70min, I'm impressed. at my age I'm lucky to get 3 buckets an hour.
Great job.

28 buckets in 70 minutes does not include dig time.... and this is very sandy material due to the crushed quartz. I'm trying to fine tune my setup before going back to the god awful clay rich streambed. Tough digging but that's where the bigger gold is in my area.

 

[huntsman53]

Edited:

I have a 4-tier standing sifter that is easy to assemble and disassemble. One of the sifters would fit right over the top (i.e. lay on top) of the garden cart you are using and easily classify the material going into the cart. Once the cart is sufficiently full, you could move the cart to an appropriate location to dump the material off the sifter so that it can be checked with a metal detector at a later time. This would make running material through the Gold Hog Piglet much easier with few if any clean-outs of the grizzly. While it may take a little longer to fill the cart using the sifter, the increase in processing material through the Gold Hog Piglet will more than make up for it by processing more material in less time and make any Gold loss less likely especially blowouts resulting from a clogged grizzly or as a result of getting the grizzly unclogged.


Frank

 

[Alex Burke]

Working on some of these ideas as we speak =) I have two smaller 1200gph pumps I am rigging up with the main 3700gph pump. I still have 30-40% battery typically when I come home so I will see how this combined setup runs. The big batteries weigh over 50lbs, and it really sucks carrying those things back to the truck after a long day prospecting --- so I want to try and avoid another big battery if possible. I am bringing a small 18ah battery to run one of the smaller pumps

Try not to let the batteries go below 50% or they might get damaged and don't hold the charge or last as long. I burned my last battery pretty fast because I kept draining it down too low.

Some of them can be discharged below 50% to 20%, but I think those are the true marine deep cycle batteries which I thought I had but I actually didn't; even though it said marine battery in big letters on the top it was actually a hybrid battery when I looked into it. So maybe check the label and see if it has the Marine amp hour rating or if it's the hybrid type deep cycle batteries that are labeled as a marine battery or maybe google the specs of the battery.

It sounds like you have two big batteries and if you wired them in parallel (assuming they are same type and AH) you would double the available current output and theoretically they should drain slower even though the AH's would be the same. I've read that's the case but I've never tried it and don't know how much battery life that would save you but it's easy and cheap to wire them together and try it.