Do Bazookas really catch fine gold?

[Au dave]

i agree that zooks collect fine gold..and i think my panning is getting better..the way i look at it, take what nature gives you enjoy the scenery and dont worry too much about losses

 

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[Au dave]

sorry forgot pic

 

[CO2]

I went out today to a nice spot I found and the first thing I did was dig a big hole to sink a 3.5 gallon bucket with #8 classifier so that the BGT Prospector 30" would sit on top of the classifier, which would catch all the BGT's tailings. I then ran good material through the BGT until my 3.5 gallon bucket was full of -8 cons. The BGT was ripping along but I still had to pull the baseball sized rocks off the grizzlies by hand. After every pail of material I fed the BGT I had to shake the classifier and scoop the cleaned rocks out. Then I did a cleanout on the BGT, and afterwards I started running the tailings bucket through the Angus MacKirk Adventurer 22". I did 3 cleanouts on the MacKirk before that bucket was empty. I then did a field test pan on both the BGT cons and the tailings cons:



The BGT failed to catch 5 flakes (4 of which are pictured here). I blame the clay that got swept over the BGT grizzlies but got pulverized by the rocks in my #8 classifier during agitation. If all you have to dig is clay, and the only tools you have are a shovel and and a BGT, then you're probably not going to have a very good day.



The BGT did not fail to catch all these flakes plus the micros in the pan. I didn't even classify out the +8's before I panned these cons so if anything I probably tossed more colors out of this pan than from the tailings cons. Keep in mind my panning skill is equivalent in both photos.

I hope somebody appreciates how much time I spent tooling around doing this experiment instead of ripping through that material with the BGT for that much longer. I wasn't sure what I was going to see in the pan before I did the test pans but that was all I needed to see. I kept both cons samples too so I can run them through the blue bowl and see how much gold I really blew out. I have a couple videos of this experiment too but you'd have to send me a message if you want to see them.

The result of this experiment is I failed to become convinced that I should be disappointed with the BGT's performance.

 

[Goldwasher]

I tell people to be careful of material that could make it over the grizzlies....Good chance one or two flakes made it over the grizz. The important question did you remember to run the material that you dug out for your test bucket?

 

[CO2]

The important question did you remember to run the material that you dug out for your test bucket?

No need, that material was tailings on top and clay granules all the way down. Definitely not what I was trying to dig today. My wing dam was solid like a levee let me tell you.

 

[AMP_kbell]

Johnedoe - How do you like your CleanGold for recovering "super fine" gold?

 

[2cmorau]

even in suspension BS will build up,to a point that fine flour gold blows out, displacement
black sand is the robber of gold
you can move a boat load of material , probably 3 to 1 buckets vs a conventional sluice box if your screening, advantage BGT
conventional sluice box allows for a visual of build up of blacksands
but, i would venture to say based on my experience, handsdown for fine gold the conventional sluice box, and i always take cons home to process later, screen and pan
i will save -8 run again, screen again and run -30 with the wheel, even with the wheel it will load up with black sand, so i wash this out and set aside for later process which involves a floating mag
i average about 2 to 3 dwt per every three to four gallons of -30,
the wheel captures gold so fine it is very difficult to see even with a 10x loupe
about 30 years ago i was blessed to meet a old timer on the NF Yuba who was using a medium size sluice box, a box running almost flat, with a very mild flow of water, spooning a table spoon at a time of screened material -8
that he spent the morning scraping and screening just the surface of flood material and filling a couple of buckets half full
he showed me a vial of his workings from the last couple of days
i am sticking to my conventional box,
BGT is a great box to move material, but i prefer all my prolines thanks folks,

 

[Goldwasher]

They aren't blowing out any fine gold that other sluices wouldn't blow out as well....Dig better material get better gold....run more material get more gold....and find more material to run faster.....because you run out of material to run faster....I have three kids I've fed them all with tablespoons....I don't go dig to reminisce about feeding my kids I see them enough
I run a large sluice for claim production...using gold hog because of how well it exchanges. More open recovery area = better fine recovery...just like a Bazookas trap..once gold settles into one of a gold hog matts many traps it isn't coming out.
I have seen Goldenmojo running his super mini on flood layer..and his results many times....He will send you home carrying your aluminum sluice in one hand and your head in the other...Its all about what you dig...he is recovering exclusively flood gold in this spot..is he losing some yep....if any box has an average recovery capability...its main retention factor once set up is going to change based on feed AAANNNNDDDDDD richness of material...The more gold you put through any system the more you will NOT recover....10% loss out of a bucket will obviously be less than 10% of a ton or yard !
At the end of the day GoldenMojo will go home with more gold by weight than Joeproline would in the same spot running the same layer...When you are running less than a yard a day...and using a stream sluice...your loss is argued in pennies. We all strive for the "BEST" recovery.....the program of trying to catch EVERYTHING...can be counterproductive....if your not running as much as you could.....this conversation makes it sound sometimes, like bazookas are running at like sub 80% recovery on gold...Im telling you flat out that is just plain SILLY!!!!!!!

 

[johnedoe]

Johnedoe - How do you like your CleanGold for recovering "super fine" gold?

I like it very much.
For the beach I don't think you will find a better system.
Every system has it's strong and weak points, CG is hard to beat when it comes to handling the fine materials and recovering fine gold.

 

[CO2]

The main sentiment underlying this thread is the suggestion that the BGT isn't a quality product and/or BGT users will be unhappy with its performance. To me that's just nonsense. If you like sluice XYZ better than the BGT, well that's your preference - in which case the BGT has excellent resale value. Maybe the BGT will blow out a little more gold than sluice XYZ would, but if at the end of the day you're taking home at least twice as much gold as sluice XYZ would, are you going to complain? If the answer is yes, please describe your level of greed to me.

The way I see it, the gold in the stream doesn't belong to anybody. It belongs to the earth, and if you have the appropriate knowledge and tools then the earth will give you the privilege to take some home with you. That's still the earth's gold but now some of it is in your possession. So if blowing a little bit of gold out of the BGT bothers you, maybe you should consider the beauty of your environment and reevaluate your prospecting privilege because the gold you take home never really belonged to you anyway. Think of that "loss" as "giving back to the community". The more gold that stays in the stream, that much more will be available to future generations as something nice to dig up when you're long gone under the dirt.

 

[GFBurke]

Hey, I'll leave all the smaller than 100mesh for all ya'll
Btw, gold is falling from space into our atmosphere all day, it's in the air. You can have that too.

Just got my 36in.. i just HOPE it's not too cold to go camping again this season!! ahhh!!!! My 79 f150, oh she loves scratches and canyons. raar.

 

[crusty]

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead lol

Spent the day on Clear Creek yesterday. I have a Keene 2.5" dredge and sluice with Gold Hog matting. I long tommed my Angus Alaskan Flare, because I just changed out my GH matting run to try and get better recovery with my dredge (previous run of GH matting was set up for highbanking in an area with clay). My buddy, who likes to do things more deliberately, was classifying and scoop feeding his Angus mini long tom. At the end of the day I'm pretty sure he got more out of the 6 buckets he ran than I did in 4-5 hours of dredging. My cons had considerably less black sands (we were in an area with a LOT of black sand) and micron. His Angus was LOADED with micron gold. He didn't clean it out all day.



I've spent quite a few trips on CC (last winter I was there a couple times a week, working through the ice) trying to get my dredge/GH matting tuned and am at the point of not bringing it to CC and going back to shoveling, but my back can't handle a day spent bent over a classifier! I've had casual conversations with a few prospectors with Bazookas, and some Googling led me to this thread. Glad to see a few Colorado folks weighing in here, since we all know how small the gold here can be.

Thanks for all the inputs here; I think I'm ready to jump on the Bazooka bandwagon. Now to figure out which one lol

 

[G-bone]

..the way i look at it, take what nature gives you enjoy the scenery and dont worry too much about losses

Agreed

I was watching a video from Wal n Liz down in your neck, and they live by the idea that it's good to give a little back to Momma Earth, when you find some color.
And I too think that's a good way to look at it.....

So by me not going after every little speck, I feel like I'm giving a little back to Momma without even trying

Don't get me wrong - I'm not letting that nugget get by.
But if some fly poop gets by, so be it.

 

[Au dave]

exactly right g-bone dont let greed get in the way of the experience... life and living isn't all about work sometimes you need to stop and smell the roses or listen to sounds of nature around you ...Momma Earth continues wether we are there or not, we just have to take care with what we do and limit the impact .


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[rodoconnor]

Where I'm working on the Snake R. close to 2/3s of the gold I catch in minus 100. Hungarian riffles are useless and BGTs are almost as bad. After years of "adapting and overcoming" I've come up with an effective way of keeping most of the gold that goes through my sluice. No classifying either. I work too hard to let most of my gold wash away.

 

[Au dave]

dont get me wrong ..I do catch the fine stuff as a majority of the gold in my neck of the woods is 20 mesh and under .. its how you set the zook that makes the difference. Most times I set up the zook is on the same plane as the water its sitting in just as long the water is going OVER the grizz your'e gonna catch gold

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[Au Chit]

I patiently waited a whole three days for my new 36-inch Sniper to arrive on the porch! That has to be a USPS record for a Bazooka!

This maybe a greenhorn (which I am) response to all of the above, but wouldn't it be appropriate to have a tailing bucket or additional sluice to catch the fines and flour if someone was worried about catching all the gold? I was considering running my A52F behind the Bazooka this Thursday simply because of the area I intend to prospect (Bear R in CA). However, I am not too concerned about catching everything. That being said, working too hard does concern me!

This will be the initial trial run, but I have a ton of confidence I this new piece of equipment; which, is probably the most important factor this early in the learning phase IMO.

I am planning on a cleanout every hour and bringing the cons home to run in the G/Cube at a later time.

 

[Au dave]

I patiently waited a whole three days for my new 36-inch Sniper to arrive on the porch! That has to be a USPS record for a Bazooka!

This maybe a greenhorn (which I am) response to all of the above, but wouldn't it be appropriate to have a tailing bucket or additional sluice to catch the fines and flour if someone was worried about catching all the gold? I was considering running my A52F behind the Bazooka this Thursday simply because of the area I intend to prospect (Bear R in CA). However, I am not too concerned about catching everything. That being said, working too hard does concern me!

This will be the initial trial run, but I have a ton of confidence I this new piece of equipment; which, is probably the most important factor this early in the learning phase IMO.

I am planning on a cleanout every hour and bringing the cons home to run in the G/Cube at a later time.

setup is simple you can have some drop at the trap end but air going under the top plate causes some scouring in the trap....cleanout / hr if you like but once its set you can forget vleans till the end of the day or till the trap fills with heavies and locks up (shove ya finger in the end) if its loose alls good, I personally cleanout every 2 - 3 hrs just to see if I'm still on the right track (sample panning whilst digging). Heavy pans

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[arizau]

Where I'm working on the Snake R. close to 2/3s of the gold I catch in minus 100. Hungarian riffles are useless and BGTs are almost as bad. After years of "adapting and overcoming" I've come up with an effective way of keeping most of the gold that goes through my sluice. No classifying either. I work too hard to let most of my gold wash away.

Stream sluice or high banker? Would be enlightening if you care to share what you do.

Heavy pans.

 

[rodoconnor]

Arizau, currently just stream sluice. I have a 48" long sluice with Rough Top conveyor belt material for the mat. The same stuff in the Gold Cube. I also have on the upper end an 18" damper to push the material down into the mat. No riffles.I do have a low lying stip of metal to kinda clamp the mat down [ A La Doc @ Gold Hog] The speed of the water doesn't seem to make much difference.I think the combination of the material, length and especially the damper are what makes this thing grab the fines . Like I said, I don't classify. A bucket takes just few minutes or I shovel right from the bank.