Adjusting this dredge for fine gold

[Strebs]

Hello, I've gotten the OK from the wife to dredge full time this summer. I have gotten permission to work a 1 mile stretch of private land in southwest Colorado. The land I'm working is 1/2 mile south of the old stamp mills that crushed rocks since the early 1900s til about 1950s. Also had two placer operations in the 1880s that said made about 15 dollars a day to the man which is about 1-2 miles north of me. The elevation is about 9300 feet. Anyways i have this old gold king 4 inch dredge and would like to make it work since cash is always tight. I was thinking about an over/under but with a crash box didn't know if that would work. I am new to dredging and finding out in the school of hard knocks. I was up for the last two weeks adjusting and working out the kinks. The box is 5 feet long and had the angle set at 5 inch. I didn't "hog" material in the box and seemed to clear very nicely, but when i tested the first 3 riffles never found more than 10-15 specks of fine gold. I have 1/2 inch punch plate on the first half of the box. I also just have carpet the whole length of the box. If anyone has any suggestions or advice i'd greatly appreciate it

 

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[arizau]

Hello, I've gotten the OK from the wife to dredge full time this summer. I have gotten permission to work a 1 mile stretch of private land in southwest Colorado. The land I'm working is 1/2 mile south of the old stamp mills that crushed rocks since the early 1900s til about 1950s. Also had two placer operations in the 1880s that said made about 15 dollars a day to the man which is about 1-2 miles north of me. The elevation is about 9300 feet. Anyways i have this old gold king 4 inch dredge and would like to make it work since cash is always tight. I was thinking about an over/under but with a crash box didn't know if that would work. I am new to dredging and finding out in the school of hard knocks. I was up for the last two weeks adjusting and working out the kinks. The box is 5 feet long and had the angle set at 5 inch. I didn't "hog" material in the box and seemed to clear very nicely, but when i tested the first 3 riffles never found more than 10-15 specks of fine gold. I have 1/2 inch punch plate on the first half of the box. I also just have carpet the whole length of the box. If anyone has any suggestions or advice i'd greatly appreciate it
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I would consider a switch to some Goldhog mats if they are within your budget. Doc, the inventor of Goldhog mats and equipment, has his own forum (goldprospectingforum.com) and may answer your questions there and you will probably also get input from user/members as to what configuration they use or suggest. Member; rayzer13 has an ocean dredge and catches nothing but fine gold with it in the Juneau area so he could probably help you too.

Good Luck

 

[ratled]

Nothing wrong with an O/U and a crash box if you want/need one. They do get heavy if you have to lug it a lot or around a bunch. You have to be confident that you have tune and adjusted correctly as you can't see what's going on under - and why I don't like them. Truth be - to me anyway - a single box properly set up is better, the a true triple sluice is best

Full time for profit and a 4" don't go well together....IMHO neither does the suction nozzle if plan on putting a true full days work, 5 days a week for weeks on end

ratled

 

[Hoser John]

Simply go to OSH or Capitol rubber and get a nice long rubber mat,nylon reinforced about .125 or so to slow down that flow, squeeze out some of that gold robbing air from the crash/bash box and more gold will be found. Someone added that huge long punch plate as not stock and adds air all the way to reduce collection. Leave over the first riffle then reduce size to half that for 10" or so and much better. This winter use a street warning cone,poprivits and ge silicone for door/windows and instant flare and then yet again better fines for you. LOVE over/under as yet another winter mod BUT watch your state regs as dredging being banned/restricted/messed with all over--John

 

[spaghettigold]

What happened to the expanded metal .In one of my first boxes i had uncovered hungarians first followed by uncovered expanded.The fines -size where in the neighborhood of the gold you posted.
The gold would jump over the four riffels i had there and stop in the expanded.

 

[Oddjob]

As said before already on here, if your going to do anything then Goldhog mats would help you out.

However; you have all summer to run this operation. If it where me I would run it as it stands and adjust fire as needed. I guess there are a few people who will tell you they can dial in their plant before running real material but I sure as heck ain't one. See how she works for you.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Strebs]

Arizau and Oddjob... Seen alot of Doc's products and videos seem like it would be worth the effort just don't have the cash available.

John, I was thinking about that punch plate, i was out for last two weeks and noticed rocks piling/ getting stuck on the sides. Thanks for the idea with the matting. I got some laying around will add some along with the smaller punch plate.

Ratled, I was thinking about the weight factor as well... Have to carry it in last 100 feet since this land has very little road access. With crash boxes is it still 1 inch per foot or kind of adjust fire to get the riffles to wash the back 1/3 clear? I'm learning a 4 inch is pretty hard money wise. I worked 13 hour days for 2 weeks straight, Guess the Army brainwashed me into always be working... Wife don't mind giving me a hunny do list tho HAHA

Spaghettigold, I do have a bunch of heavy duty expanded metal, probably 8 gauge laying around... Was batting around the idea of cutting out last 4 riffles and adding the expanded under moss... Is that kinda what your talking about?

Thanks everyone for the replies, hopefully can get the old dredge tuned in before i go back out!

 

[spaghettigold]

hi strebs

if your going with the expanded,place the moss under the expanded(may be a typo).
Try out a classifier over it too . As for the type of expanded-there seem to be several that work good.
I use this one and its very effective in catching heavies.Requires more cleanups if your in a heavy blacksand area.

Found this vid from keene,s new supermax dredge and they switched to similar expanded it seems. It has a flat angle which creates low turbulence and a long bridge that gives a big hideout.. Look from 2.19 min of the vid,the black sands they catch...insane ..like i mentioned the disadvantage is you have to clean up more often .
I can only speak for the types of expanded i have experience with and the one i use has worked very well in my beginner -flour gold river.
If you can post a pic of the expanded you have i,m shure the seasoned dredgers here can tell you something about it.Also it depends on what size gold your after.
Note also the ramp that is bend at the beginning of the classifier sections.This helps classification .

 

[ratled]

Strebs I love a good old single sluice... only because I don't want to hump a good old triple. When I set them up it's always the same no matter the size.

Here is a picture of my old Keene Super 4" that will illustrate it best, I hope it will help you. I start with a removable piece of black mat the fits under the lip of the crash box and the first set of riffles. This lets me get a real fast look at what I am into or if I am still in it w/o having to do a full clean up. It is "glued" to a piece of aluminum to keep it in place. I cut the factory riffles between riffle 4 & 5 for a scalper section. I clean this up everyday along with black mat. This gives me 90% of the gold I get from that day and only have less than one pan's worth of cons. I clean the lower section weekly or when I have to move.

You can see the Punch Plate I use. It comes from the back (upstream) of the crash and covers the scalper section. I do run about 2' of screen material after that over the standard riffles. It's either 1/2" wire weave or 3/4" flat expanded. Still gives a good classification but allows plenty of the much needed water flow After that just riffles. Very little gold gets there and usually still attached to the host rock.

As someone mentioned you need a flap to smooth out that water. I run mine jto ust about where the scalper section ends. I run it about 1" of drop per foot of box but that depends on the area -how much black sands, how heavy the material is etc. It's hard to say how this works but you will get in tune with your dredge and know just what it wants to run best. I run mine at about 80% throttle and pig material (I am a firm believer in gold is a volume game) and have my box set for this. I do have a good feel as to what any given material will do in my box and will run a splash of water through the box or a bit of OB to keep the box clear and functioning but not swept or plugged up with waste rock.

I hope this helps you in the right direction. Please ask if you have questions, there are some very good folks here who can help.

ratled

 

[winners58]

3M miners moss at least in the top of the box...

does your suction hose have a smooth bore, kinda looks like corrugated drain hose from the photo.
get a full width piece of punch plate, I use 3/8th's you can drill out a few at the top of the box to get
the flow going underneath, my box is just home built but with 33" of punch plate it really catches the fine gold.
.

 

[Strebs]

spaghettigold, Thanks for the picture/video helps put it into perspective. This is the expanded metal i have on hand.... 1/4' thick metal by 1' openings ... Thinking of placing 32 inches of that at the top of the box and cutting out the riffles and have it all classified/ dampener.

Ratled, Thanks for the picture... my "scalper" wasn't glued in like yours and just kept getting heavies under the mat and bunching it up, Thanks for the idea

Winners58, The hose i got is the kanaflex 180ar... Smooth bore i think just alittle more heavy duty, still very flexible tho. I am planning on getting some moss today. Do you think it would be wise to have the expanded in the first or last section of the dredge... I don't have a flair jet and its pretty turbulent in the first half of the box.

 

[winners58]

a heavy rubber damper should work wonders, kanaflex 180ar Rubber hose! is that heavy? at least you wont wear it out, in several lifetimes...
used to be kanaflex 151 they changed the numbering, kanaflex dredge hose is now 155GY
I had that problem with the build up under the rubber mat 100 miles from nowhere and was so frustrated I glued it down permanent.
Gorilla glue, never leave home without it...


Don't use the expanded to screen or classify you'll get a rock jam, while your busy working, your box will be loading up...
I put a piece over the miners moss just under the first two riffles then two riffles of miners moss then carpet the rest of the box.
use carpet or ribbed rubber under each section and build it up so there's no gap under the riffles.
I had to adjust bolts on the riffle tray where it swivels up so it wouldn't crush down the miners moss so much.
look at the box's from keene, proline to see the progression of what they have found that works.

 

[winners58]

here's some photos of my old 2 1/2" dredge that may help. this is how the box came from Keene.
.
. .

 

[russau]

I got frustrated by using miners moss because when I idled down the BS would lockup and wouldn't fluidize when I reved back up. It stayed packed...and I found that when idleing down I needed to idle down slowly and thusly when reving back up I needed to do this slowly to prevent my fines from moveing back down the sluice. I eventually pulled the M.M. out and replaced it with Veranda carpet that Hoser showed me! It works good ! I hope Bill S. reads this !! Im not sure if I mentioned this to him when he got my ole 4 incher . He picked things up real fast and better than anyone I ever tried to teach to dredge!

 

[49er4ever44]

Hey there Strebs. I'm up here in Grand Junction and I've got a big highbanker if ya ever want to get together and dig. It's a beast and could probably handle 5 people feeding/digging. I'm still new to the area and prospecting and there isn't much gold around Grand Jct. Are you working around Placerville? That's about the only area I've heard of with gold on this side of the mountains.

Happy Hunting

 

[Strebs]

Winners58, The hose isn't to bad. I think my 15 footer probably close to 25 pounds works pretty good as an anchor . I was reading a lot saying people replacing the hose after a season or 2 so figured same price longer life expectancy. Thought the 4 inch would work pretty good since only 1-2 feet of overburden til the hard pack. Hardpack so extremely hard was banging on it with a pickax is slow working. Got a fireman nozzle now hopefully speeds up the process. As far as the miners moss i think ill do the first half the box like that. I think not having the dampener and that punch plate really is what my problem was in the first place. Thanks for the pics and info.

Russau, Where can you find this carpet? Might be nice to have some with me next time i go just in case the miners moss does pack up.

49er4ever, I'm in the silverton area... I know the headwaters of the animas had alluvial deposits (California gulch) which says has some open ground, just my 2500 is a little to big to ever get that far up. And most of everything else is private or claimed. Hard to find land in that area. Ill be back up in July maybe we cant work something out

 

[russau]

Strebs my first piece of Veranda carpet was given to me by John "Hoser" Oats and that convinced me to replace my miners moss. BUT you can get it at a carpet store BUT just remember to get it UNBACKED and you will proble have to have it ordered. THANKS AGAIN JOHN!