Nugget Lake with the Gold Hog Stream Sluice

Capt Nemo

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Apr 11, 2015
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Just got back. Wasn't too bad of a trip, but the 91 degrees and 3mm John had me quit early due to heat exhaustion. (didn't pack a jug) Everything at my spot was moved around. I'm talking 12-18" rocks were moved! There was flood debris at 7' above stream bottom hanging from the trees. All my old holes were paved in new cobble. The larger rocks were still in position. Wicked spring flood!!! The gold line seems to have, for the most part, stayed in position, but might have drifted to the center of the stream with all the moved material. Most of the gold seemed on the small side of normal, which would be flood gold.

Started by my old hole with the stream sluice and low flow mat. I tried to get it to move material, but couldn't make things budge. Upstream there was a semi-dam built by the spring flood, so I tried there. I could only get about 4 degrees there but the material started moving. I then started building a better dam as I dug, using what wouldn't budge on the flare for material. The flow became strong enough to slide 4" cobble down the mat. I did a cleanout as I wanted to switch to the high flow mat cause I was moving good sized cobbles. Quite a bit of gold for the size of the hole. Action on the mat was pretty good with dancing material.

The hole was capped with cobble with sand and gravel underneath, and then you would hit the old bottom which is real hard to dig into. I did the first cleanout on the high flow mat, and had about half the gold as the low flow mat. Didn't test the tailings as I'd have to dig another hole to get the pan low enough. I didn't have any problems with the tailings backing up the tail. I think I might have been overfeeding a bit when I'd get into the sand, but material was moving with no problems. The 4" rocks might have also stirred up the mat causing losses. I had about 3" of water over the mats, but everything was dancing nicely. The second cleanout was less than the first, so I expanded the hole upstream, as the hole might be depleted. The third was about the same as the first, so the hole was a little depleted, and I may also have moved off the gold line. I moved about a half yard or so.

It was nice to be able to shovel into the Stream Sluice without classifying. Did bag more than I would have with the Flow Pan. My tailings from this trip are going to a mining company. They might be interested in the blue rocks of the area, as they're interested in industrial diamonds and zirconium.

I'll do a picture when I get the cons panned out.
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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One mod I might make on the sluice is to make it so I can extend the sluice with my other stream sluice body. Then I can run the high flow mat at the top, and run the low flow mat at the bottom. I had enough flow yesterday to run that way.

Edit: Hit a 1" nail while processing the cons. So I was digging the right spot! The gold is tiny! Doc would be proud! :cool:
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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Here's the porn!

Here you can see the gray reidite sand.
IMG_3210.JPG

Here's how tiny the flood gold was.
IMG_3211.JPG
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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It's tiny for what that spot has been producing. I normally see more of the bigger chunks there. Need to punch a hole in the old bed next time.
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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Was going to head back yesterday, but aborted at Stevens Point due to the storms and some street flooding there. Weather had just one line of storms forecast, but it became two, and dumped 1.5" of rain on Nugget Lake. The area is under a flash flood advisory with more rain coming.
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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Went back to my spot, and things were tore up a little. Found out later that the day before there was some real high water from the rains. There is now a big sand tail all down the center of the pool, so next time I go I'm running it with both sluice bodies bolted together. The first cleanout had some chunkies and fines, but the second was poor. I decided to move the box downstream a bit so it was easier to shovel into. Had a hard time getting enough flow to move material on the low flow mat. I'd put a shovelful on the flare and then spend 5 minutes hand classifying. The mat turned a real rusty color after about 2 buckets and saw a lot of black/gray sand in the tailings. I ran a pan of the tailings, and found no gold. I did a cleanout, and had about 1/2 of my take for the day. So I was in a good spot, and know where the gold is. Packed up early and ran home. The haul was about 2/3 of the above pics.
 

Toecutter

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Capt Nemo, Im pretty sure Ill be buying the stream sluice soon, have you used it to run black sand? I have a few places close to home that are rocky creeks I want to prospect but was thinking about the black sands at lake Superior and how the stream sluice would do with the mats provided and using the power head....
 

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Capt Nemo

Capt Nemo

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It will work but not perfectly. At 1200 GPH, low flow mat, and 9 degrees, it is easy to flatboard with the black sands, but still captured about 90%. Just not enough flow to keep the sides of the mats active. You can get about 10 degrees max on the legs when recircing into a 3.5 gal tailings bucket. The speed should increase with a larger pump. But so far, I've only run it as a cleanup sluice for Superior cons.

You would want a highbanker and classification of 1/8" for the beach. You need it so narrow to pull out the roots and rotted wood. One person did pull a picker up there, so they're present, but very rare.
 

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