Bazooka Gold Trap VS Gemstones???

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
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Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
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No one??? Come on!!! There has got to be someone out there with some info!!!
 

yotaboy86

Full Member
Jul 14, 2014
201
213
Nor Cal
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Bgt prospector/miner, Ggt nugget, gold cube, goldnsand hand pump Black magic miller table, blue bowl, garret pan
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Prospecting
Also curious
 

Underburden

Sr. Member
Mar 22, 2012
484
1,125
Idaho
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Gold Hog Stream Sluice
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If the gemstones have a high specific gravity they would probably be laying in the bottom of the trap, along with the gold.
 

yotaboy86

Full Member
Jul 14, 2014
201
213
Nor Cal
Detector(s) used
Bgt prospector/miner, Ggt nugget, gold cube, goldnsand hand pump Black magic miller table, blue bowl, garret pan
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
That's what I was thinking guess I'll have to do some gravity research
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
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Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
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Well i too figure that's the case? Although I'm wondering what size vs type are being recovered, if any? There should be some math on this product of flow vs weight in the trap and what to expect to recover based on studies and test... you would think, right? Well thank you for sharing your thoughts.
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
Primary Interest:
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Really no one??? I would like to find this info out before purchase of this type of sluice... Anybody???
 

Underburden

Sr. Member
Mar 22, 2012
484
1,125
Idaho
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Gold Hog Stream Sluice
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Nope, nobody.
I know of nobody that buys a sluice to collect gem stones.
I also know of nobody that manufactures a sluice to collect gem stones.
Anybody ???
 

triple d

Sr. Member
Nov 17, 2013
488
414
Central N.H
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They will catch the garnets which are small. So I would say they should catch other gems.Ive found smokie quartz, tourmaline, quartz cystals.Just have to search thought the cons.Don"t know how efficent they are. But if they are there you should find some.
 

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Jim in Idaho

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Jul 21, 2012
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Blackfoot, Idaho
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The problem with recovering gems is the small difference in specific gravity of gems vs the typical country rock. Gold is about 7x heavier than the background rocks/sand. Gems are only about 1.5x heavier. So, to get rid of the background material and retain the gems requires extremely careful adjustment of the pressure in the fluid bed. You don't have any means of doing that in a BGT, or any other sluice. You may still catch a few, but the majority will go out with the tails. On top of that, to get good gem recovery, even in a jig, you have to classify so the size ratio on the material you're running, from small to large is no more than 1:2. If you let that get in the range of 1:4 you lose about 30%.
Jim
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

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Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
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Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
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Alright that is promising to hear!!! if its catching such things as garnet which is heavy but not as heavy as some other precious gems then I'm good to go!!! I really just needed to know if anyone out there had found such gems in their recovery, seems there is at least on prospector on line that has and that's enough for me.

Jim you are a right on the spot I believe about the size vs the pressure adjustment. I think once I get by fluid bed sluice I will most likely do some home test on such gemstones and pressure now that I here there is a possibility of the stones being recovered.

Well mister Underburden, I will catch back up with you an let you know how I did on the recovery... This will take some fine tuning I am sure.

Thanks guys for all your input, very useful!!! I will be reporting back
 

Jim in Idaho

Silver Member
Jul 21, 2012
3,320
4,698
Blackfoot, Idaho
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White's GM2, GM3, DFX, Coinmaster, TDI-SL, GM24K, Falcon MD20, old Garrett Masterhunter BFO
'Way Too Cool' dual 18 Watt UV light
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Alright that is promising to hear!!! if its catching such things as garnet which is heavy but not as heavy as some other precious gems then I'm good to go!!! I really just needed to know if anyone out there had found such gems in their recovery, seems there is at least on prospector on line that has and that's enough for me.

Jim you are a right on the spot I believe about the size vs the pressure adjustment. I think once I get by fluid bed sluice I will most likely do some home test on such gemstones and pressure now that I here there is a possibility of the stones being recovered.

Well mister Underburden, I will catch back up with you an let you know how I did on the recovery... This will take some fine tuning I am sure.

Thanks guys for all your input, very useful!!! I will be reporting back
Actually, some garnet is heavier than most gems. The heaviest gem is corundum at about 4.2. Garnet can run from 3.5 to 4.2 in most cases. There are afew other gems that weigh more, but they tend to be rare, or aren't available in the US. Most of the common gems run from 3.2 to 4.0. Almandine garnet is 4.9, and is one of the more common garnets found.
Jim
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
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Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
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See, this is why I love TREASURNET forum!!!!

Thanks for the info Jim!!!
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
Primary Interest:
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The range I am looking to recover is around gravity range of 3.5 type gems. So now its all about figuring out how to keep them in the trap based upon pressure entering into the fluid bed... That's really the big question!!!
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
Primary Interest:
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I found a chart on Gemselect.com if anyone was interested in gravity weights for those who are following..
 

Jim in Idaho

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Jul 21, 2012
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White's GM2, GM3, DFX, Coinmaster, TDI-SL, GM24K, Falcon MD20, old Garrett Masterhunter BFO
'Way Too Cool' dual 18 Watt UV light
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Nate, from my experience, which is pretty extensive with gems, what you want is a jig if you want to do a continuous feed setup. Or, if you're simply prospecting, a saruca works really well. I design and build jigs, and sell plans, too. I have jigs working from the US to Australia, to Madgaskar....at least I've sold plans to people in all those places. You can see videos of my jigs here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNRFYju0E_a0fqpuL8_avg
 

Dec 25, 2015
14
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Miami Fl, also hunt in Peru
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Minelab Excalibur Gray Ghost headphones,Garrett Ace 250,Garrett sea Hunter ,Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II,
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20170806_161112.jpg 20170806_161035.jpg 20170806_161056.jpg

here are some tumbled semi precious stones I bought for practice panning .
i bought on ebay.
check out under gold panning or semi precious rocks for tumbling or tumbled?

this would be a good test. if you don't find any send me a message . I tried to resell for kids practice panning but no buyers, so have stones lying around.
 

Skunked68w

Jr. Member
Jul 25, 2015
55
79
Denver, CO
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jim in idaho said it all. you need a saruca. just shovel your tailings into the saruca/gem seive and find all the gems that are there. also a highbanker works very well for finding gems. shovel into box and look at crystals that fall of grizzly. but ultimately if gems are your passion a jig will be necessary. I dont think a BGT would work well. to keep gems in the trap you would need low flow and no drop. this would probably make the trap clog. a drop riffle sluice would probably work better
 

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Nature Nate

Nature Nate

Jr. Member
Jun 12, 2010
27
12
Texas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tiger Shark, L-rods, Pendulums
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So, maybe I need to look into these methods ya'll have provided... Maybe I missing the BIG picture??? Maybe using a fluid bed is not going to give me the recovery I need. I do have a very nice saruca and plenty of classifiers. I am not the most season of prospector although I have used many tools from dredging in Alaska to Metal detecting in Arizona to panning in south Texas. So I do have a little idea but maybe not seeing this through clearly?? I am wanting to do a little Diamond prospecting in Arkansas. I have my own tools and have been there many times and the work is tedious to say the least due to material conditions... I was hoping that I could allow A controlled pressurized fluid bed system to do all the other clean up work for me from 1/4" on down rather then classifying all the way down to my saruca and cut my time in half and energy spent as well... So maybe I will need to rethink this...

Jim I will take a look at some of your recovery tools/jigs.

Thank you all for your help!!!

Thank you all again for the help!!!
 

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