Help with flow rate??

[desert-rat]

im trying to decide where my sluice falls in the flow rate scale. I have a 10"x3' box running on a 3700 gph pump. Is that a lot of water or not? im looking to get the gold hog mats because of fine gold in my tailing pile. ive spent days playing with my current set up no avail. so if anyone can help that would be awesome.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

At 10 inches wide a 3700 gph pump should be plenty water to be able to run the Gold Hog mats. Doc designed the mats to be run at a steeper angle than normal riffles and carpet setups so you can raise the feed end higher than you would run those old school systems at.

I'm assuming that you're running a recirc system like I am. I run a Le' Trap drop riffle and am currently using a total of 2750 gph between the main box and the header box I made to feed it. It's 14 inches wide and works pretty well at those flow levels. The wider the box, the more water you need to be going through it to make it work correctly. Since you're running tailings, I'd suggest that you install a valve so you can throttle the flow back and then play with different flows and angles to see what works best for the materials you're running. Once you find the best angle, keep it in mind as a starting point for running fresh materials in the future.

 

[goldenIrishman]

A picture or two of your setup could also help to figure out what if anything could be done to improve your recovery rates. You could be loosing gold for other reasons than your flow rate. What angle are you setting your box at? Do you have it level on the side to side? Do you have the riffles and mats in it correctly etc etc etc. There are a LOT of other possible reasons for loosing gold out of your sluice and if it's not the flow rate, you'll need to double check everything else.

Another possible reason is something that I've run across here in the desert myself. The MATERIALS we are running! When I first moved up here to the Kingman area, I was using my recirc highbanker. There was a ton of black sand in the materials and they were clogging up the mats very quickly. Once the mats are filled you get into a situation that's known as "Flat Boarding". This is where the mats are filled up so full that there's no more surfaces left to catch the gold so it shoots on down the box like it's nothing more than a flat board. I switched to my drop riffle box and the problem was eliminated because a lot of the black sand would wash out of the riffles but the gold would stay. This is a great example of how true the old saying of "Let the terrain dictate the equipment" really is.

 

[desert-rat]

I got my gold hog mats in the mail and have them installed. im having trouble with getting them tuned in. I cant decide if I should go full flow or not. ive tried every setting between 9 degrees and down to 1 degree of slope. I really just want to get this thing set and be done this is such a head ache.....

 

[arizau]

I got my gold hog mats in the mail and have them installed. im having trouble with getting them tuned in. I cant decide if I should go full flow or not. ive tried every setting between 9 degrees and down to 1 degree of slope. I really just want to get this thing set and be done this is such a head ache.....

Read and heed this from the horses mouth. Gold Sluice Tuning

Good luck.

 

[desert-rat]

Thanks for the post arizau ive read that and watched the videos a bunch. I tested it with some powdered lead and tiny pieces of bird shot and its looking like11-9 degrees gets the same results with full flow. im headed to the desert to grab some samples for a few good looking places I found horse back yesterday. I also found a vein of red quartz like every one else is mining on around here but its way up on the side of the mountain and its almost impossible to get to any way other than on foot or with a helicopter. Can anyone tell me how much of that quartz I would need to haul out to get a legit sample?

 

[arizau]

I would start with some of the quartz float (loose material) just below the vein. Pick some that look mineralized as those would be the ones most likely to have gold in them. That still would not be a representative sample but could justify further sampling efforts of the vein itself.

Good luck.

 

[desert-rat]

I sampled the wash below the vein and it looks like it may be ok as far as for getting samples. the bed rock is exposed and the hard pack in the walls is very easy to get to. I sampled everything I could get to. im about to go run them with the sluice and see what I got. will post results as soon as im done.

 

[desert-rat]

this quartz is really heavy and stays at the bottom of the pan is it iron or is it a possible gold vein inside? im leaning toward iron but any help would be great. the single piece is "goldish" is it gold or what the heck is it on the outside of that little rock?

 

[arizau]

By the looks of the picture, the reason that the quartz stays in the bottom is because it is much larger, thus heavier, than everything else. Smash some of it up with a hammer or whatever and screen classify it if you have small enough ones (30, 50 and 100 mesh would be perfect) and re pan by size. If there is free milling gold in the quartz then it should show up in your pan(s).

PS: Did you complete that pan and find and any gold?

 

[desert-rat]

I got a couple -100's out of that pan and a couple out of another sample from the loose dirt in the bottom of the wash I went down about 2 ft so god only knows where it came from in that loose stuff..not but a 2-3 yard of loose stuff in that hole. may run it all and see what I come out with. im guessing on the -100 size I don't have a classifer smaller than 1/8". the pieces I found were like a large grain of sand. btw way where you from arizau? im out here on the hassiampa(sp?) at tonopah

 

[arizau]

Tucson. The gold size sounds more like plus 50 or maybe 30. It's a good idea to pick up those small screens for cleaning up your cons. Panning equal size (tight classified material) is easy. 4 or 6" screens or sets are pretty inexpensive. For one example Google blackcatmining and check out pioneer 4" stacking screens then shop around for cheaper prices for same or similar.

 

[desert-rat]

I never thought about classifiying the cons down I always just pan em as is. I just ran other 3 5 gallon buckets from another wash I found good hard pack in. going to pan it out after I eat dinner. I have been off work for two weeks and haven't go to do as much prospecting as I wanted but I have to Tuesday to play. my biggest deal is not knowing what the hell im looking for. im a total rookie and its not much fun washing rocks for nothing. I went the first month of working at it 3 full days a week without enough gold to buy the vial it was in. since I set up with these new mats ive got more in the 3 or 4 days than I did in a month.

 

[desert-rat]

don't take that last post as a total complaint! I have a job where I do very little real work and I cant do that I grew up ranching and farming so I have to work with my hands outside or ill go nuts. I enjoy the actual work of getting buckets of dirt to run. I don't even mess with panning I just go get 3-5 buckets and run em. everyone thinks I totally insane I dug half a dozen holes that were big enough to stand in and neck deep. now I just wish that there was some gold in em. since I moved to Arizona and don't have a place to practice roping I had to have a new pass time to keep me busy. roping was more expensive but a hell of a lot easier than this.

 

[arizau]

It sounds like you are digging in washes where there are no bedrock outcroppings or where bedrock is deep (sometimes that is all there is). If possible find some outcroppings and collect the dirt you take home from the natural cracks and riffles the bedrock forms or at least dirt that lies on it. If sampling arroyo cutbanks try collecting material just above and maybe a little below where seams transition. If they are red, usually a sign of iron, then for sure sample them since, if there is gold available it will for sure concentrate with the iron.

 

[desert-rat]

ive been looking for the bed rock and today I did find some it was pretty odd it was quartz with a lot of pyrite and then a 4" vein of black running all the way across the wash. the black stuff wasn't very hard and came apart easily with a pick. I looked at a bunch of it and never saw the first speck of gold in it so I just chiseled off the first inch of the quartz and took that and the dirt home. as far as iron goes I haven't seen any good red bands in the walls of the washes. Ive spent a lot of time out there looking and sampling as it is only about 10 minutes from my back door. ive honestly put in about twice as much effort as I figured it would take to find a 1/4 oz of gold. im thinking about getting a detector next and trying that or maybe going to a dry washer. I need a vac pack to clean the bed rock with so that may be my next project.

 

[KevinInColorado]

ive been looking for the bed rock and today I did find some it was pretty odd it was quartz with a lot of pyrite and then a 4" vein of black running all the way across the wash. the black stuff wasn't very hard and came apart easily with a pick. I looked at a bunch of it and never saw the first speck of gold in it so I just chiseled off the first inch of the quartz and took that and the dirt home. as far as iron goes I haven't seen any good red bands in the walls of the washes. Ive spent a lot of time out there looking and sampling as it is only about 10 minutes from my back door. ive honestly put in about twice as much effort as I figured it would take to find a 1/4 oz of gold. im thinking about getting a detector next and trying that or maybe going to a dry washer. I need a vac pack to clean the bed rock with so that may be my next project.

Time to quit wandering around like a newbie and join a club. You'll learn a lot more and faster. Then you can go off on your own with focus and confidence!

 

[desert-rat]

ive sampled on top of the bed rock quite a bit and it doesn't do me much good without a vac pack to get the cracks clean. the red hard pack isn't easy to come by either. ive been down in half a dozen old mines trying to find out what they were following. so we will see

 

[Goldwasher]

there are guys that go out very weekend for months....years and hope to just keep poking at the ground and find gold....they aren't even up to a quarter ounce...You don't find gold with hope. luck is a very small factor. Kevin has given great advice. You can keep turning dirt over or you could learn how to prospect. I would seek out someone near you who has found gold near you. Don't expect a metal detector or any gear to help you find gold. especially if you havn't seen it in the bottom of a pan yet.

 

[arizau]

ive sampled on top of the bed rock quite a bit and it doesn't do me much good without a vac pack to get the cracks clean. the red hard pack isn't easy to come by either. ive been down in half a dozen old mines trying to find out what they were following. so we will see

Other than the hardrock mines you have checked out, have you seen any evidence of placer mining such as old diggings and waste piles in and around the washes you have explored? They are pretty easy to spot. It is pretty much a sure bet that if there are none near or where you are currently digging that it is probably not worth your effort since those guys didn't miss much in their prospecting. The oldtimers undoubtedly did most of the footwork for you and for any or more success you should keep your activities at or near where they worked.

That said, they didn't find all the spots and it doesn't hurt to check but not waste a lot of effort in so doing.