Happy for any comment on my 1st homemade sluice

[Goodyguy]

Good Guy has way more experience than i do when it comes to sluicing. i will say though, i classify down to 1/2 inch for my drop riffle sluice. Im not sure if it is different with expanded metal (or plastic in your case).

My suggestion to classify down to 1/4" had nothing to do with the size of the expanded plastic.

When fine tuning it's just always a good idea to classify down whenever possible. Of course you wouldn't want to miss out on any +1/4" nuggets if they are a real possibility but you also don't want to take a chance on larger gravels causing small pieces of gold to become dislodged from blunt force which could send them back into suspension. Also in order for larger gravels to clear a sluice requires a faster flow that could cause some fine and micro gold loss as well.

Same principal applies when recovering fine gold on a miller table, although a miller table is many times more sensitive to non relative size particles and flow than a sluice with riffles and miners moss.

I mostly mine the fine and flour gold found in central Indiana left over from glacial runoff where there is only a remote chance of ever recovering a 1/4" nugget or larger so here every fly poop speck of gold counts and we fine tune our equipment accordingly.


Typical Indiana gold


GG~

 

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[Duckwalk]

Thanks for the clarification GG!

 

[Duckshot]

When I first started making homemade sluices I ran things over them to get a better feel for what a particular slice wants. I ran stuff known to be less dense than gold like pea gravel, just white sand, and just black sand to see how much angle, and volume would make 'em move or make em stick. Speeds up the learning curve in my opinion.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Yup... The Golden Rule for sluicing.... KNOW your equipment!!!!! The only way to learn is to try different things and see what happens. Different angles, rates of water flow and materials are all going to change your results. Even things like the pH of the water can change how well your sluice works. (This is something I just learned from Clay and I've been doing this for years. So you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!) Of course you can't control the pH in a stream, but it can be controlled in a re-circ system like the one I use.

 

[Goodyguy]

Yup... The Golden Rule for sluicing.... KNOW your equipment!!!!! The only way to learn is to try different things and see what happens. Different angles, rates of water flow and materials are all going to change your results. Even things like the pH of the water can change how well your sluice works. (This is something I just learned from Clay and I've been doing this for years. So you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!) Of course you can't control the pH in a stream, but it can be controlled in a re-circ system like the one I use.

Would like to know your thoughts or Clay's on the proper PH for re-circ material with high clay content to promote deflocculation when the slurry has high viscosity.

What PH would you recommend?
What compound would you recommend to raise or lower the PH?


GG~

 

[russau]

Buddy pool supply stores have what your looking for to either boost PH or lower it.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Would like to know your thoughts or Clay's on the proper PH for re-circ material with high clay content to promote deflocculation when the slurry has high viscosity.

What PH would you recommend? What compound would you recommend to raise or lower the PH?
Any help would be appreciated.

GG~

Exactly my thoughts. As a chemist, I probably should know, but I don't. However, to raise the pH (make it more basic), I would recommend baking soda which is cheap and will not damage you or your equipment. Lowering the pH is a bit more difficult. You could use vinegar, but it will make everything smell like, well, vinegar. So until I know which way to push the pH, I will just shut up and see what they say.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Exactly my thoughts. As a chemist, I probably should know, but I don't. However, to raise the pH (make it more basic), I would recommend baking soda which is cheap and will not damage you or your equipment. Lowering the pH is a bit more difficult. You could use vinegar, but it will make everything smell like, well, vinegar. So until I know which way to push the pH, I will just shut up and see what they say.

Borax! I heard from goldenIrishman and he said Clay had said to use borax. Yes, it is cheap and will drop the pH and won't really harm you or equipment (but it will do a number on roaches if used dry around them).

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Apparently the material goldenIrishman was working was too alkaline, so Clay told him to add borax to his recirculation set up and it helped. What we don't know is what is the target pH and why is that pH better? I am grading finals today, but will look into it from a chemical perspective after grades are all done and turned in. Now if I had a mining engineering degree, likely I would already know.

But I have never worked really alkaline areas so I have not had the problem. I have an idea that perhaps ionic charges may be making very tiny gold particles end up being suspended in the water, and reducing the pH would help reduce that. Otherwise, well...live and learn; which I hope to do.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Would like to know your thoughts or Clay's on the proper PH for re-circ material with high clay content to promote deflocculation when the slurry has high viscosity.

What PH would you recommend?
What compound would you recommend to raise or lower the PH?


GG~

I asked Clay that same question GG and never got an answer. He may not have seen it so he could reply. What I've been doing is to add the Borax solution to the re-circ tank a little at a time and watching the results. I still need to pick up a pH meter or some litmus paper to see at which pH level the best results are obtained. Just been busy as can be helping a friend get their new mobile home setup so it can be moved into.

Buddy pool supply stores have what your looking for to either boost PH or lower it.

Borax will work fine as long as you make it up as a solution. It's cheap too. Just don't try adding it to the water without dissolving it first. I use water that has been heated to just under boiling and keep adding until it can't dissolve any more. This gives me a super saturated solution that s far seems to be consistent. Without a pH meter it's hard to be sure though.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Apparently the material goldenIrishman was working was too alkaline, so Clay told him to add borax to his recirculation set up and it helped. What we don't know is what is the target pH and why is that pH better? I am grading finals today, but will look into it from a chemical perspective after grades are all done and turned in. Now if I had a mining engineering degree, likely I would already know.

But I have never worked really alkaline areas so I have not had the problem. I have an idea that perhaps ionic charges may be making very tiny gold particles end up being suspended in the water, and reducing the pH would help reduce that. Otherwise, well...live and learn; which I hope to do.

Dave... The water here is so hard and so alkaline it's almost like liquid rocks of Gypsum coming out of the wells in this area. Also high in Selenium in many areas so I guess Mercury poisoning isn't going to be a problem either.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Dave... The water here is so hard and so alkaline it's almost like liquid rocks of Gypsum coming out of the wells in this area. Also high in Selenium in many areas so I guess Mercury poisoning isn't going to be a problem either.

Wow! That is something; never had to work in such alkaline conditions.

As far as pH meters, many amp meters will give pH readings with the proper internal software. That gives you a two-fer with a more versatile instrument.

Watch that selenium; while it may insure mercury poisoning isn't a problem, too much selenium can lead to lung and heart issues or nervous system problems. If you are drinking water with high Se content, make sure any vitamin supplements you take are not also giving you a high Se dose.

 

[Gelmac]

Well built sluice, gusku ! I have to add to what other fellow members has said this small tip: seal the whole sluice sides , use silicon or whatever adhesive material you may have in your stores, water will penetrate through wood, and not long you will find it got too heavy to lug around.
Interesting plastic expanded material you got there !

 

[goldenIrishman]

Wow! That is something; never had to work in such alkaline conditions.

As far as pH meters, many amp meters will give pH readings with the proper internal software. That gives you a two-fer with a more versatile instrument.

Watch that selenium; while it may insure mercury poisoning isn't a problem, too much selenium can lead to lung and heart issues or nervous system problems. If you are drinking water with high Se content, make sure any vitamin supplements you take are not also giving you a high Se dose.

Who drinks WATER? Don't you know what fish do in that stuff This is why man invented GUINNESS STOUT!!!

 

[KevinInColorado]

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Borax! I heard from goldenIrishman and he said Clay had said to use borax. Yes, it is cheap and will drop the pH and won't really harm you or equipment (but it will do a number on roaches if used dry around them).

Sorry to jump in on this, but Borax raises the PH level to more alkaline levels.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sorry to jump in on this, but Borax raises the PH level to more alkaline levels.

Yup: 20 Mule Team[emoji768] Borax is a mild water softener that conditions the water in your washing machine. Borax also acts as a buffer and raises the pH content of water to a slightly basic solution with a pH of 8.
...from their website.

 

[russau]

Arm & Hammer Bakeing soda also raises the PH in water.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Sorry to jump in on this, but Borax raises the PH level to more alkaline levels.

Sorry, was thinking of boric acid (as you can see from my comment about roaches), which you can make with borax. Thanks for the correction. I plead stupidity or the power of suggestion or just the end of a long day. Again, thanks for clearing that up. And Kevin, too.