Concentrating bucket

[jmy74]

So maybe you guys have some good ideas. We have found a new spot and the problem is the proximity to water. We are too far in to bring the mini trommel and be able to reach water so what we have been doing is dry screening buckets down to 1/4” and hauling them a few hundred yards to the truck. Do any of you have a better way to bring back dirt that is more concentrated that just simply screening dry. The gold has been very good for us in this area but it’s almost impossible to make any weight when we can only bring home 10-15 buckets per trip.

 

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[Prospector70]

So maybe you guys have some good ideas. We have found a new spot and the problem is the proximity to water. We are too far in to bring the mini trommel and be able to reach water so what we have been doing is dry screening buckets down to 1/4” and hauling them a few hundred yards to the truck. Do any of you have a better way to bring back dirt that is more concentrated that just simply screening dry. The gold has been very good for us in this area but it’s almost impossible to make any weight when we can only bring home 10-15 buckets per trip.

You might consider a dry washer if water is an issue. If you have a truck you can haul some water up and set up a recirculating sluice / highbanker or something.

 

[Assembler]

After you screen down the material to 1/4" any type of dry panning will work to reduce the amount of material. A dry washer will work if the material is bone dry. You can go look at u-tubes clips on how to dry pan. May want to wear a mask. The drier the material the better the panning works. If there is clay it will have to be broken up some how. There may be something under panning or drywashing topics that will help.

 

[arizau]

If you are bringing home 10-15 buckets of screened material then you should have the energy to carry 10-15 gallons of water (or less!) and a tub to your dig site and pan them down to rough cons by production panning*. A mortor tub holds about 7 gallons and you can conserve most of that for a long time if you are careful when mucking out the tails. Tip: Pan into a submerged tupperware container to catch most of the waste. The volume you pan should be at least equal to what you are carrying out and the trips to and from the truck minimal. Other than that, a drywasher works well under suitable conditions. I got tired of hiking out and bringing home 20 to 40# worth of material due to lack of water or the ability to carry enough to pan with and just invested in a drywasher.

Good luck.

*Production panning: Fill your pan and pan it down to less than half, add more material and repeat. You can continue to do this until you are in jeopardy of flushing out black sand and maybe fine particles of gold. When you reach that point empty the pan into a collection bucket to take home or further concentrate by carefully panning (just to reduce volume) at the end of the day. Start over again and again and......

Good luck

PS Another tip if you are not already doing it. Build a frame classifier that you can tilt and shovel onto. Easier than "shake and bake".

 

[mike(swWash)]

I suggest a Hog pan and a big tub of water.