Do Bazookas really catch fine gold?

[arizau]

So I got the blue bowl up and running and I processed my Cherry Creek outing, here's what I know:

1. I was definitely blowing out the superfines - both gold and iron - my quart of black sands ended up being mostly +50 material. I am attributing this to the fact that I didn't do enough cleanouts. When I did the finger check in the trap, and it felt just like rocks, I should have known better and done a cleanout. Yes the BGT is susceptible to having its trap load up and no longer being efficient, but then again what sluice isn't? I spent nearly as much time with the Angus 22 a few days before at Arapahoe Bar and I took home even less concentrates that day, because I wasn't doing my cleanouts diligently. That having been said, I do think the BGT prefers not to keep the -100's especially if there's lots of chunky magnetite. But I can't confirm until I process my Clear Creek canyon cons.

2. Given that Cherry Creek is a known low-producer, and that I don't know the actual availability of gold in the downtown section, I can't compare what I took home to what I should have taken home. I really don't know what's there but even in the test pan it seemed a low concentration of the superfines that I essentially didn't really take home anyway. My panning skills for the micro gold are probably not up to par though.

3. My geology professor was impressed I found any flakes at all in Cherry Creek in lower downtown, but I did. The photo below is the +50's I collected, a couple dozen extremely shiny Castle Rock conglomerate placer flakes. They're much a much prettier color than anything I've ever pulled out of Clear Creek. I had a few dozen -50's too, and not that many -100's, but I got impatient and threw all the -50's into the next batch to process instead of waiting for the blue bowl to clear (wow that thing takes forever). So it's only the +50's in the picture.

View attachment 1220158


By the way Blue Bowl owners, what's the best way to process your +30's? Right now I'm stuck panning it. Turns out I'm not that good at not throwing the flakes out.

If you don't already have them then invest in some 30, 50 and 100 mesh classifiers. 4 to 6" diameter ones are suggested when you don't have a lot of concentrate to mess with and still ok for larger quantities but requires more handling. Makes panning much easier (gold rules) when all the material in the pan is about the same size (there are about 100% differences from screen to screen in those sizes). Only pan small quantities at a time for the smaller sizes. You will also be better able to adjust the blue bowl by running closely classified material.

 

[KevinInColorado]

For +50 mesh, especially +30, I really suggest you learn to pan. A key skill anyway.

I doubt you need to do more clean outs. Your problem more likely is one or more of:
1. Lack of -100 gold in the paydirt...hmm, unlikely
2. Not enough slope or water speed leading to trap lock up...clean outs will not really fix this but a dam will. This idea means the fine gold couldn't drop down into the trap. Seems likely.

3. You ran too steep. Seems unlikely since you said earlier that you like to run it pretty flat.

PS great job finding gold in Downtown Denver, pretty cool right?

 

[CO2]

When I bought the blue bowl they told me I needed the 30, 50, and 100 mesh classifiers. They also said consider also getting a 70 if'n I haven't felt like I've done enough work yet (pretty sure I'm not buying that). I also have an 8 which has seen lots of use as well as a 2 and one more, it's the small diameter and it's either a 12 or 16 mesh, not sure.

So at this time my cleanup process is remove the +2 waste at the creek, take home the concentrates, at home classify out the +8 waste (set it aside to pan out later if it might have a picker in it), then classify off the +30's and save for panning, then classify the -50 out of the -30 and run the 30-50 stage through the blue bowl, then run the 50-100 stage through the blue bowl, then collect the -100 and run an accumulated batch some rainy day. But what I haven't figured out if I should separate my 8-30 stage into an 8-12 and a 12-30 stage before panning, or if the smaller rocks help trap the thin gold flakes better. I'd love to run my 12-30 cons through the blue bowl but I don't want to scratch it.

Is there a better way? I know this topic is better suited for its own thread but it did come up here. Also, I own a Sidewinder Vortex Concentrator bucket which I never really found useful, but I am considering using at the creek to clean up my cons so I can do cleanouts on the BGT more often and I won't have to carry home so many heavy worthless rocks

 

[arizau]

8 to 30 is probably good enough especially if panned in tablespoon or so quantities. In fact that is a good place to begin to hone your panning skills. Those sizes especially plus 30 really are easy to pan. Like KinC and others have said take time to practice panning correctly. As you progress you probably will decide to not use your blue bowl at all or maybe just for minus 100.

 

[CO2]

For +50 mesh, especially +30, I really suggest you learn to pan. A key skill anyway.

I doubt you need to do more clean outs. Your problem more likely is one or more of:
1. Lack of -100 gold in the paydirt...hmm, unlikely
2. Not enough slope or water speed leading to trap lock up...clean outs will not really fix this but a dam will. This idea means the fine gold couldn't drop down into the trap. Seems likely.

3. You ran too steep. Seems unlikely since you said earlier that you like to run it pretty flat.

PS great job finding gold in Downtown Denver, pretty cool right?

I will have to practice panning more. I can pan effectively, and I can pan quickly, but when I try to do both I tend to lose some gold. But I definitely have been starting with whole lot more than just a few tablespoons. Ok, no more attempting to pan half a pan full at a time, thanks arizau. And thanks for the videos johnedoe I will have to watch them sometime.

As for setting up the BGT Pro 30 properly, it seems to be a bit tricky for a bazooka beginner such as myself. I've ran the thing on two occasions, and both times I seemed to be pretty limited in the operating angle that was available to me where sufficient water was present (now I think maybe I can fix that with a shovel). Ok, so not enough angle, need more water flow to clear the grizzlies. Well that means I need to either make my dam bigger, or increase the depth of the sluice channel, or both. I did the best I could at Cherry Creek - as you can see in the photo, the BGT is as far as possible to the middle of the creek as I could get. The ideal water flow was in the low water channel but the farther from the dig the heavier the shovels got, and more dangerous. Also I was trying to get as little an amount of E. coli in my boots as possible. This water flow and angle was enough to clear the grizzlies if I helped the big rocks along with a shovel, but I'm wondering whether the bigger deficiency was not enough water across the top due to not being deep enough in the channel, or if I just didn't have enough water period? If the trap isn't fluidizing properly the superfines don't stand a very good chance at being retained even if you're doing more cleanouts, as Kevin mentioned. I don't know if classifying out the +2's would have helped dramatically in this low-flow situation, but it might (my back would very much like me to avoid classifying before sluicing). And the tailings, I was having to take breaks from shoveling just to push my tailings into the low-water channel because the bazooka-enabled pile of rocks was slowing my sluice flow down. So that was something. Also I learned, if you do try to set up in a spot that definitely has more than enough water, you better be sure your wedge rocks are in place beforehand because if not the empty BGT will be readily picked up and carried away.



I started digging a trench at the edge of the low-water channel, but ended up switching to stripping off the top 6" inches or so of the flood bar like they do on Clear Creek since it was easier to dig the bar. You would think there would be plenty of iron/gold micros where the 12-to-30 flakes came from, wouldn't you? Kevin, urban prospecting was pretty cool. Lots of people stopping to ask questions. Except for Denver PD of course, they drove right past me on the bike path. And I didn't even need a headlamp to dig until 10:30; the city was kind enough to have installed a high-pressure sodium bulb right above where I was working.

 

[johnedoe]

Did you check the videos?
I can pan out my cons quicker than a blue bowl now, of course I only have about 2 tablespoons to clean up after I super con them.

 

[goldog]

Man, I wish they'd add lights to my river. These days are getting short.

Back to your issues... I have found that a barrier - a tarp or something. I use a triangle of plastic pool cover. (Monster bubble wrap.) use it to direct more pressure to the lower deck. You don't need a lot. Even just a roll under and up the sides will block the escape of water under and around the BGT. Opened up it helps if you're needing to create some drop. (Folded up it will also keep your Prospector from going too far into the bucket when traveling.).

 

[KevinInColorado]

Love the lighting aspect of your outing...you gave me a new reason to dig in the city!

You were definitely running too flat. Build a little dam to create a few inches of drop...or pick a different spot. Remember, big rocks collect big gold

The Denver PD are used to seeing us around. I've had them stop (on bike or horse) to ask how I was doing..."good gold today?"

With the Bazooka you will often find you have to shove your tailings aside since you are moving so much more material. Still, please don't waste energy classifying, the fluid bed just can't tell the diff!

 

[utah mason]

I was running pretty flat about 2% or 1/4 per ft slope which ever you prefer. But super fast flow clearing baseball size rocks no problem. I thought maybe to fast and was worried fines were blowing out of trap. Material was about 1/2" from top of trap. I could wiggle finger into trap ok. I ran about 45 min first time 2 hours second time between clean outs. My plan was to clean out every hour at least, but was enjoying (or fascinated) watching the material flow off bgt so much I lost track of time. Seemed to catch -100 pretty darn good as you can see from pics I posted on this thread(especially considering gold from area has silver content 18k and a little lighter then 24k). But after packing out the two cleanups worth of cons, and the 30+ pounds of "interesting" rocks my son put in pack. me and my back where really glad there wasn't more
C02 have watched the gold lab videos? He goes over water levels for different size classifications. And other various tips that might help speed things along for you. I'm in middle of gold lab knock off build, need to finish soon! So close just need couple of free hours to finish so I can process already panned material and see what I missed.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Love the lighting aspect of your outing...you gave me a new reason to dig in the city!

You were definitely running too flat. Build a little dam to create a few inches of drop...or pick a different spot. Remember, big rocks collect big gold

The Denver PD are used to seeing us around. I've had them stop (on bike or horse) to ask how I was doing..."good gold today?"

With the Bazooka you will often find you have to shove you tailings aside since you are moving so much more material. Still, please don't waste energy classifying, the fluid bed just can't tell the diff!

And as Kevin once told me, to put the tailings on your wing dam, I will pass along. Since you are shoving out the tailings anyway, just toss them on your dam.

 

[AMP_kbell]

CO2 - You must decide what gold you're after and plan accordingly. The Bazooka is a production machine - you cram in as much material as you can. You give up catching a high percentage of "super fines" (100 mesh and below) for the potential to capture more gold with quantity of material moved. Finer gold will suspend in taller, faster flows. Once it is suspended it is hard to pull it down into the box.

If you are in an area where there is only smaller gold and you don't want to risk blowing out 100 mesh and below there has to be a trade-off. That means shoveling less material at one time (which allows the material to spread out wider on the material tray and particles to separate) or leaning out your bazooka to slow the water flow on the material tray and reduce the water height. That will allow you to still catch the bigger gold but still have a chance at your super fines.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Finish panning starts with a finish pan and this is the best one that I have found. I stopped into Armadillo Mining last week just to pick up a bunch more to give out this Christmas to my partners. They don't sell them everywhere. It's the little blue Falcon finish pan in the link below. The right pan makes all the difference when it comes to finish panning.

Dredge Sales, Dive Equipment, Mining Supplies and Metal Detectors - ArmadilloMining.com

I show its use here -

 

[CO2]

Thanks for the help guys. I've been busy with actual obligations the past few days and haven't done much with my cons; I will watch the videos sometime when I'm on wifi and have some extra time. Thanks for reminding me I bought a finishing pan at Sidewinder this summer. It's around here somewhere I'll have to dig it out. I will also have to add a dam barrier/tarp to my gear. Sounds like just what I need.

Well I bought the Blue Bowl so it would save me time and I still intend to use it. But instead of waiting for it to clear which has not been saving me time, in the future for the 30-50 and 50-100 stages I intend to run the bowl long enough to eliminate the blond sand and then pan off the super-cons cons when it's down to a couple tablespoons. That seems like the best balance of efficiency with that machine. I think what I'd like to do in the future is run my cons through a recirculating sluice to get out the easy gold and set the rest of the cons aside, then when I have a bunch of free time I'll make a day of processing the remaining material.

You should know that the BGT did a much better job at capturing the fines on my Clear Creek Canyon outing. I ran probably half the material I did on Cherry Creek, did 5 cleanouts, and diligently finger tested the trap to make sure it stayed squishy inside. I screened off the +30's the other day and the -30's were about a gallon. I'll finish classifying the rest soon and once that's done I'll post a picture of the -100 cons in a measuring cup. Should be a pretty good quantity of those.

 

[CO2]

Let's hopefully put this topic to rest. Pictured below is the -100's I collected from a known producing spot in Clear Creek Canyon. The BGT Prospector 30" didn't quite have enough water so my digging partner and I were frequently nursing the rocks off the grizzlies, but not including exploration we got about 7 hours of solid digging in with 5 cleanouts. The result was 2/3 cup of -100 cons. Is that enough There are hundreds of colors in the blue bowl and most of them are so small the phone camera didn't pick them up very well.

Now if all that's available to you is -200 flour then maybe you should consider a specialized tool to recover it such as a Sidewinder sluice. But if it's more important to you to leave the ibuprofen at home because you didn't have to hunch over a classifier all day, you should probably consider the Bazooka Gold Trap.

As for the lack of micros in Cherry Creek I'd like to offer a hypothesis. At first I thought perhaps my gravel bar functions like a poorly-designed riffle and only the heaviest flakes get snagged there, and that's certainly a possibility, but the real clue was on Ralston Creek when my samples had a sporadic showing of some chunky +30s but not as many -50s. So I thought the same thing for that location. That is, until I saw the oil slick on top of the gravel bar near my dig. I propose that in these more polluted creeks that the petroleum product contaminants detract from the fine gold's ability to deposit there. The oil floats it downstream instead of dropping it like it normally would. Your thoughts?

 

[mytimetoshine]

Fly poop recovered last weekend with the prospector.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Yep, that is fly poop size; I had to really enlarge the photo to see it very well. Great job.

 

[johnedoe]

Yeah..... They catch fine gold...... But you ought to see how much they blow out......
Yeah ..... I also know how much crap I'm gonna get for this post............................

 

[goldog]

That's a different thread. This is about catching it. Not cleaning it. . Nice poop.

 

[CO2]

Yeah..... They catch fine gold...... But you ought to see how much they blow out......

Ok challenge accepted. If I can, next time I'm out with the BGT I will try to dig a big hole for a bucket to catch the tailings and run them through the Angus MacKirk. We've established that yes, the BGT catches the fine colors so now the question is how much don't they catch.

 

[johnedoe]

Ok challenge accepted. If I can, next time I'm out with the BGT I will try to dig a big hole for a bucket to catch the tailings and run them through the Angus MacKirk. We've established that yes, the BGT catches the fine colors so now the question is how much don't they catch.

Sounds good....