Dredging Question

[Yukon99669]

So I have a cpl. Suction dredges (2” and 3”) that I used a lot when I lived in Alaska. Since moving to Colorado I’ve more or less put them away because they just seem like overkill on the fine gold here. I also don’t usually have the time to set up so much equipment in the field due to pretty short mining windows of like 2-3 hours a few times a week.
Here at the house I have 2 good sized ponds (about the size of a football field) where I can bring in material and run it at my leisure. I have spots where I dig and bring truckloads here to run.
I’d like to start dredging in a couple of areas and just catch the material in buckets and truck it home. Does anyone know the best way to do this? I already have 8 mesh screen over my nozzles, so I won’t be lugging around any big stuff.
I was thinking of just running the discharge hose into a 30 gallon trash can and dumping it every time it got 5 or so gallons of material to keep it manageable. I’m not sure if fines would wash out as it overflows or not.
…or is there a better way of doing this?
I know overall it a lot of extra work, but it’s about the only way I can manage to operate right now.

 

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[Reed Lukens]

If they don't seem right for the area that you live in now, either modify or sell them.

How to build an over/ under dredge conversion

Here is a good way to build yourself an over under conversion for your dredge. It doesn’t really matter what brand you are building it for. Mine is a Proline and it works great. I built the over under so that I could run my 4” dredge with a 9hp Honda with the Proline HP500 pump maxed out for the...

www.treasurenet.com

 

[wildminer]

If they don't seem right for the area that you live in now, either modify or sell them.

How to build an over/ under dredge conversion

Here is a good way to build yourself an over under conversion for your dredge. It doesn’t really matter what brand you are building it for. Mine is a Proline and it works great. I built the over under so that I could run my 4” dredge with a 9hp Honda with the Proline HP500 pump maxed out for the...

www.treasurenet.com

I highly recommend Reed's over-under design. I modified a 3" using a p-180 pump using Veranda carpet with expanded screen in the lower box which captured an amazing amount of flour gold.

 

[Yukon99669]

I do like that sluice design! I even have everything to build 1 or 10 of ‘em.

The only problem that it isn’t solving for me is getting in a 2 or 3 hour dredging session w/ out it taking 5 or 6 hours.

The only way I’m seeing this happen is to leave the sluices at home and dredge into containers and truck the pay dirt home.

Does anyone even do that?

My pump is pretty powerful and the discharge is rather violent. That’s why I’m trying to figure out a reasonable way to catch pay dirt and not wash out the fines.

These claims have pretty fast water most of the year and shovels are a waste of time. Everything washes off before you can get it out.

Any other thoughts

 

[arizau]

I do like that sluice design! I even have everything to build 1 or 10 of ‘em.

The only problem that it isn’t solving for me is getting in a 2 or 3 hour dredging session w/ out it taking 5 or 6 hours.

The only way I’m seeing this happen is to leave the sluices at home and dredge into containers and truck the pay dirt home.

Does anyone even do that?

My pump is pretty powerful and the discharge is rather violent. That’s why I’m trying to figure out a reasonable way to catch pay dirt and not wash out the fines.

These claims have pretty fast water most of the year and shovels are a waste of time. Everything washes off before you can get it out.

Any other thoughts

Even if you figure a way.......a cubic yard of stream gravel probably weighs upwards of 3,000 pounds when wet......gonna need a heavy duty pickup to haul your gravel if the dredge pump can move that much material

Hope you figure it out. Good luck.

 

[Yukon99669]

Even if you figure a way.......a cubic yard of stream gravel probably weighs upwards of 3,000 pounds when wet......gonna need a heavy duty pickup to haul your gravel if the dredge pump can move that much material

Hope you figure it out. Good luck.

Silverado 3500HD w/ Duramax, Lift, and overload springs…it can haul anything I can put in it easily.

…need more gold to pay for fuel though

 

[Yukon99669]

Silverado 3500HD w/ Duramax, Lift, and overload springs…it can haul anything I can put in it easily.

…need more gold to pay for fuel though View attachment 2040169

…and yes I’m trying to compensate for my small we.we. and lack of self esteem.

 

[arizau]

…and yes I’m trying to compensate for my small we.we. and lack of self esteem.

Here is an idea for you. Devise a crash box that attaches to the discharge hose and diverts the flow down. You can fill buckets, barrels or even a tarp lined truck bed with settling, dredged solids all while only excess dirty water overflows the containment. If you fill the bed you need to pump as much water out as you can........the load could liquify in transit and cause the solids to shift and make your truck swerve.

Good luck.

 

[AKSasquatch]

Seems like a 2" backpack dredge set up would be way more efficient, but I'd rather dredge and sluice a yard than haul a yard of raw dirt in buckets. What about leaving the floats and using the dredge sluice like a highbanker on shore? Speeds up set-up, lessens any hauling and decreases amount of dirt you have to haul home.

 

[AKSasquatch]

You could then run something like a Le Trap Sluice as an extension for the dredge sluice to give you another chance to catch fines.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Going to need a lot of pump power to dredge out of a stream and up into a lifted pickup. 8 mesh screen on your nozzle?

 

[Yukon99669]

Going to need a lot of pump power to dredge out of a stream and up into a lifted pickup. 8 mesh screen on your nozzle?

The nozzle screen was a very failed experiment. I thought I might be able to make it work on a cpl sand bars w/ pretty fine sand. As you already know, it plugged up immediately.

 

[Yukon99669]

The nozzle screen was a very failed experiment. I thought I might be able to make it work on a cpl sand bars w/ pretty fine sand. As you already know, it plugged up immediately.

I reworked my Dredge sluice w/ classification above the full length. I also reworked floatation w/ emphasis on quick deployment. I’ll get some pics up in the next day or so.

 

[N-Lionberger]

a big part of the joy of dredging is using the dredge to move rocks out of the way you otherwise had to pitch by hand. Putting an 8 mesh screen on defeats that purpose as well as robs the sluice of water.