Im new! What do I do!?

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

I'm new! What do I do!?

Hello everyone! I'm pretty new to prospecting and I have a question. I've went a few times with a friend and we used his Angus MacKirk sluice box and have found a few flakes and now I am looking to get my own and I'm pretty sure I want to get an Angus MacKirk also. However, I would like to get a recirculating set up and I have found the one I like; the 'mini long tom power sluice' (Recirculators - Fine Gold Recovery by Angus MacKirk Gold Mining and Manufacturing Equipment) and I was just wondering what everyone thought of this. I realize that I could probably make my own recirculating power sluice but I was given enough money to go towards a sluice box for Christmas. If anyone has experience with this one or any other power sluice I would love to hear your input! Thank you in advance!

 

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[walldo]

In this forum is a member Doug Watson. He is with prospectors plus. They build fine gold sluices. He is in Washington state. A wealth of knowledge .

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Ok thank you for the info!

 

[63bkpkr]

1) Check with Doug
2) Depending on your abilities and machinery a home built unit could have design problems whereas a prebuilt unit will have most if not all the kinks worked out of it.

In my mind a recirculating unit is some type of wash plant with catch tubs for the water and pumps to keep it moving back and forth. Angus makes great products but you might care to check out casluicebox.com and their GSM or Stream model highbankers, extend the legs buy a couple large tubs, a motorized pump and you would be good to go. Just a thought and best of success to you with whatever you decide and just to ask are you sure you have a good enough place to prospect at to warrant this purchase..........63bkpkr

 

[walldo]

I am new to this also. I joined GPAA and got involved with a local club. My prospecting equipment is growing.i have the mini gold grabber, jobe 36 inch sluice , a ez- sluice w/flair, 4stack gold cube and the super prospector by bazooka gold. Along with classifiers pans and shovels. Each set up depends on what I will be doing and how far I need to pack this equipment.

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Thank you for your input! I'm still not positive on what I'm going to get haha. Yes I have a pretty good place to prospect here in Eastern Oregon, a couple of guys that I work with are into prospecting also and one of them owns a few acres of land with the burnt river passing through where they have found a bit of gold already. Whatever I purchase will be my contribution to the team and it works out pretty well because this is my Christmas present! Thanks again!
-SevenTwoOffSuit

 

[walldo]

My very best advice. Join a local club. Those people can show you what works best and may have some areas to go to.

 

[3029heavy]

What a great way to spend your Christmas dollars! And you're in a great gold bearing area too! Good luck, stay warm, and let us know how u do! I just picked up the tiny little Angus sluice cuz it fits in my carry-on bag, but haven't tried it yet as I travel cuz I mostly run Portland to Canadian provinces delivering new trucks piggybacked and am usually well over 80' long and can't really vary far from the big roads.

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Yea I'm pretty excited to get out there as much as I can until the summer. But I also plan on joining a local club in a nearby town this summer!

 

[3029heavy]

The LDMA has a claim right there 1exit east if the rest area there at weatherby. That's i believe the blue bucket claim. Also the GPAA has a couple claims out on the burnt river upstream near durkee.

 

[3029heavy]

There are also alot of quartz stringers running thru the roadside cuts on 84 just west of the rest area that have alot of rubble at their bases. I'd love to grab a panful, crush it up and pan it out

 

[walldo]

I am looking through the GPAA mining guide. It shows 9 different claims in Oregon.

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Wow thanks for all the info everyone! It's exciting to see there's so many places that I can go check out!

 

[3029heavy]

Hopefully by now u have found your first color! If not, don't be discouraged, and don't give up! There's a much bigger learning curve than I realized at first. But the more I go, the more I find! I'm still not to the point of recovering enough to pay for gas yet, but I'm getting there! Don't waste alot of money on equipment until u master the pan and begin to find good locations. Progress a little at a time. And enjoy the outdoors!

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Yea I finally found a little color with a friend this past weekend! It was pretty awesome! There is quite a learning curve for sure and I know that we have a long ways to go but we will get there!

 

[3029heavy]

Good deal! Sounds like u had a good time! I had a brilliant brain fart Saturday when I went and wanted to see if I had the angle on my sluicebox set correctly. (I didn't at first) try this if using a sluice: place a large pan flat at the end of it with riffles in pan facing downstream and place 2 or 3 large rocks in it. Any gold that falls out of sluice will get trapped under rocks and not want to climb the ladder outta there! Found 8 flakes after running 1 bucket. Adjusted angle shallower and didn't lose another flake all day. I've included pix of my setup and my take. Ran total of 10 buckets

 

[SevenTwoOffSuit]

Cool thanks! Would the riffles be further away from the sluice towards downstream or closest to the sluice?

 

[3029heavy]

Downstream side