Gold Well Vortex Sluice

[LP13]

... I found it very interesting that the Gold Well was backed up by a Keene sluice of which caught the fine gold. ...

Watch the video. In the end Reed says 'And the Gold Well missed a half dozen to a dozen mico-specks of gold ...' They also show you the pan and the gold that was caught by the Keene. I couldn't even see a speck of gold in it. Also in the video I believe he says that the Gold Well was getting way more material than they could even put through the Keene backing it up.

Also in that video they said they were going to push Gold Well to it's limits to see what it would do. Ran way more water than it needs (up to the top of the rail with water when all it needs is 1/2" or so), classified only to 1 1/2" minus and in some cases dumped one and sometimes TWO FULL SHOVELS of material (into a 6" sluice mind you), not teaspoons at a time, and yet only lost 'half a dozen to a dozen micro-specks' of gold.

 

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[sgtfda]

Clay. It never bothers me to give a gift. It brings joy both ways. Always comes back tenfold. I don't know if you know Cathy Cordes up at Cordes Station. Hard times up that way and she has a health issue. The club had a fundraiser for her last week. I had a huge collection of Old West magazines from the 60's. hauled them up over the mountain and donated them for her little antique store. It came back fast exactly 10 times Funny thing is if you dish out nasty you get that back 10 times. For me it's not the gold but the fun finding it. So you all now know the secret to finding gold. It's the Gold Well in your heart not your truck. A buddy in the club who just gets by takes new prospectors out all the time to teach them. He can't afford it. He finds more gold than anyone I know. Payback. He turned me onto the Gold Well. Wants one in the worse way but can't afford it. I get the extra money I'm getting him one. If your at the the Mesa Gold show in Jan ill introduce you to him. Here is a photo of him out in a storm showing the way. Looks a little like Moses. Hmmmmm I wonder.

 

[AzViper]

Watch the video. In the end Reed says 'And the Gold Well missed a half dozen to a dozen mico-specks of gold ...' They also show you the pan and the gold that was caught by the Keene. I couldn't even see a speck of gold in it. Also in the video I believe he says that the Gold Well was getting way more material than they could even put through the Keene backing it up.

Also in that video they said they were going to push Gold Well to it's limits to see what it would do. Ran way more water than it needs (up to the top of the rail with water when all it needs is 1/2" or so), classified only to 1 1/2" minus and in some cases dumped one and sometimes TWO FULL SHOVELS of material (into a 6" sluice mind you), not teaspoons at a time, and yet only lost 'half a dozen to a dozen micro-specks' of gold.

LP13 you are correct we here in the T Net forums did not see it all play out in the GPAA forums, in fact never knew they had forums as I am not a member and have never even looked at their website. I and others had issues with the dancing prices when you first brought the GW to the T Net forums. I hope it pays out for you in the long run.

 

[sgtfda]

Viper that was nice of you! Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot. I'm putting it behind me.

 

[sgtfda]

LP13 great to see you on this thread. If anyone can guide me with tips on the use of this unit it's you. Looking forward to your input.

 

[LP13]

Well the best tip I can give you is to run it at some ridiculous extreme. Like run it at 30 degrees tilt with 40GPM through it and shovel it full at the back end with unclassified material. You will be surprised how much gold you get, IF of course the dirt has gold in it! Then you will know the extremes, and work back from there. Rather than start with a tablespoon and 1" per foot drop like more traditional sluices. I did just that a few weekends ago up the Hassayampa with some friends who wanted me to take my sluice along for an outing. Kids (3 and 4 years old) throwing rocks in it of course didn't bother a thing and had fun. Hard to lose gold out of one once it's captured, so tossing in rocks or them playing around in the water and dirt running in it was a lot of fun for them too.

For those who don't have much gold in their dirt, I am working on a new model where you put 1 gold speck in at top and get 10 gold nuggets in the cleanout It will be a BIT more expensive for that model however...

 

[sgtfda]

Guys let me tell you something great. I heard from LP13. He read my story about Woody and he has a Gold Well in his shop he is sending me as a gift for him. LP13 is struggling to get things going. He has a good heart! Woody's wife is in a bad way and everything he has goes toward his wife's care. This will bring such joy to him. Ill present it to him at our Gpap meeting in two weeks. LP13 thank you so much. I don't care what they say about you. You are #1 in my book! Ill post a photo later of the smile on Woody,s face when he gets it.

 

[AzViper]

Guys let me tell you something great. I heard from LP13. He read my story about Woody and he has a Gold Well in his shop he is sending me as a gift for him. LP13 is struggling to get things going. He has a good heart! Woody's wife is in a bad way and everything he has goes toward his wife's care. This will bring such joy to him. Ill present it to him at our Gpap meeting in two weeks. LP13 thank you so much. I don't care what they say about you. You are #1 in my book! Ill post a photo later of the smile on Woody,s face when he gets it.

That is very nice of you and LP13. That's really cool of you LP13...

 

[sgtfda]

In today's world it's a great thing when you see someone struggling help bring joy to someone who has less. Perhaps there is hope for us after all. Something we all need to be reminded of now and again. LP13 I pray all goes well for you. Don't worry! I'm sure the Lord is looking down on you with a smile and will help you on your way.

 

[sgtfda]

Well I'm off to the Superstitions for the Dutchhunter rendezvous for the weekend. Talk to you guys later.

 

[AzViper]

I just received a PM from LP13 after I had PMed LP13. I had thought the Gold Well Sluices were being built in house including all milling. I was wrong. As for the pricing I can now understand the cost of why these sluices are 400 percent over other sluices of the same size. Machining cost is through the roof like everything else. I went to pick up cylinder last week and this company tried to pull a fast one on me and have me pay to have the two 3/8” steel plates laser cut. They wanted $260.00 just for the plates when the entire cylinder was half that cost. I blow up and they made good and did not charge me. Bottom line they failed to roll the cylinder correctly the first time.

Back to the Gold Well sluice. There is a lot of milling cost associated with the construction of these sluices, the parts are milled off site and then brought back for final assembly in Wickenburg. In my experience most of these machine shops do not want to mess with small production runs and will charge inflated pricing for parts. These machine shops are geared for high volume production such as the shop I went to. Desert Fabrication only agreed to roll my cylinder because I dealt with them at work.

LP13 wish I knew your name, but I don’t. I have always said that your sluice looked to be quality made. The photos show quality through and through. I am sorry on calling you out on your pricing as I know understand the cost of the final product to be put in your clients hands.

 

[sgtfda]

I'm at Don camp in the Superstitions. Cell service. Must be a new tower nearby. Nothing like the sight of the stars at night here. Hurts your eyes at night they are so bright. Alway good to get away from the city. The Dutchhunters are a interesting group. Met some old friends and made some new ones. A new friend needs some help at a very good gold location up North. We're going to try the Gold Well at that spot. Viper I hope you get to see one up close. Photos do not due it justice. A lot of work goes into the units and it shows. Well off to bed. Glad I brought extra blankets. A bit of a chill up here at night.

 

[timesearcher]

Hey “sgtfda” heard you were going to start a thread about the Gold Well so I thought I might tag along. Hello everyone I am new to this forum so a bit about me….. For those of you senior miner/prospectors I to have been around the block a couple times. I have about 47 years working in the mining industry at commercial mines in California and Nevada, and privately on my own claims both hard rock and placer. No I don’t do much metal detecting cause I am one of those people that walk between the nuggets not over them. But anyway, I have been working with the gold well units now for about a year. I actually have three of them that I use, a 6x36, 6x48 and a 12x60 each one has its purpose for me anyway. I use the 6x36 mostly for testing an area and or clean up. The 6x48 I use when I am having a problem with clay in the dirt that little bit of extra time breaks most of it up. The 12x60 I set up as a highbanker/dredge combo. I use to have a 12x48 set up that way but have it in for sale when the new generation 12x60 came out. I will be using the 12x60 as a 3” dredge for the most part cause that is the easiest to get away with here in Arizona, and when I get the plan of operation in on one of the claims I have will be converting it to probably a 6”. I have noticed questions about water flow, angle, classification of material and so on. If anyone in Arizona wants to meet up for an outing or make a run at one of my claims lets go. For anyone outside Arizona if you got a good place to go contact me and lets see if we can meet up.

 

[timesearcher]

Some general info.. for the 6 inch goldwell units:
Angle of operation: for me it actually does not seem to make a lot of difference I have run them at 2-6 inch difference front to back.
Water flow: on the 6 inch I use a 2200 GPH pump with a valve in line, I set the water flow so that I can see the material in the wells go into suspension and I get ripples in the water all the way down the sluice.
Classification of material: this one is a tough one and will depend on how tired of classifying I am. I normally classify to ½ inch, (ya I know the book says ¼ to 3/8 but I see no difference in recovery rate at ½ ) and sometimes I have to help a rock or two down, but I will get tired of messing with the classifying and just start running it straight and yes have to help more of the rocks 1-11/2 inch rocks down but what ever, still no change in recovery rate. Seems if it flows over the well it is going to be caught.
The 12 inch Gold well, if you try running it as a 2 inch dredge you will probably get frustrated cause it won’t even look like there is any thing going through it, if you don’t run it at least as a 3 inch or more might as well stay with a 6 inch unit (which they are making a 2 inch dredge box for, cant wait to put that to work) anyway if you are running a 12 inch hope you are not by yourself cause it will work far faster than any 3 guys feeding it.
My son hates it when I have the 12 inch unit out cause he knows that I am going to work his hind end off.

 

[sgtfda]

Time searcher I would love to hook up with you some time to see your set up. I'm sure you can give me some pointers. Thank you so much for the info. Just arrived back from the Superstitions a few hours ago. Interesting group. Made new friends. Learned new things.
While I was packing up my trailer at Dons Camp two guys jumped off the mountain that sits behind the camp. It is very high and straight up. They made it alive

 

[Central_Valley_Prospector]

I heard those run good. But I'm saving up for a Drop Riffle Recirculating Sluice Box.

 

[63bkpkr]

Sarge, thank you for your inputs on the GW! We all have different mining situations that cause us to use different things coupled with the ability to purchase 'new things'. In my case I must consider weight to usefulness along with how much or how little gold I'm coming up with along with the amount of time I have to be 'out there'. Price point must also be added to the other factors however your inputs on processing ease are interesting.
With my shoulder still not really recovered from surgery my time out in the field has been cut and this will hold me back from making any new purchases any time soon but please continue with your GW Thread, it makes for an interesting read...............................63bkpkr

 

[sgtfda]

Hope you heal up fast! 63bk. I discovered something that Gold Well can do the Mfg is not aware of. The sluice is so unique people are curious about it. At the Dutchhunter Rendezvous I received 4 invitations to go to a special spot with the unit. Very special! Some of the old timers also passed on some good gold location info and stories. Plus a invitation by a owner to the historic Silver King Mine to gather all the specimens I wanted.
Now if I said guess what guys I have a new carpet sluice. Duh! So what. I have that and they would have walked off. But smart miners keep their eye out for new ideas and given the chance like to see it in action. When i said i had a vortex unit i got their attention. So at least for now I have a huge advantage over guys with old style stuff. You can't put a price on a advantage like that. Down the road ill be posting the results of those invitations. Hot dam! A trip down the Silver King. Priceless!

 

[sgtfda]

Well a steak dinner at my camp helps too!

 

[timesearcher]

any time sgtfda .. I have equipment that will surprise you. will try to get some pics of it and post. I hate cameras and computers. maybe will just bring stuff to another GPAP outing .. guess you did not see it on the outing to congress when went there.. am actually building a better one than that hope to have it in operation soon. my club is having an outing down at crooks canyon if you want to go there on the Nov 2.