Equipment, DIY, and upgrades for a Texas Prospector

[Jeff95531]

OK. Which leads me to my next question. Are you planning on wet sluicing in the desert where there is no existing water? I've never measured it but in my recirc system uses at least 40 gl during a 2 hour run on the 2200.

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

OK. Which leads me to my next question. Are you planning on wet sluicing in the desert where there is no existing water? I've never measured it but in my recirc system uses at least 40 gl during a 2 hour run on the 2200.

I want to be able to, but at this time, mainly just not to be tied down to the river. I'd rather be able to set it up on the bank, close to where I'm digging, instead of having to haul the material TO the sluice, wherever I can get it set up to work.

 

[Jeff95531]

Yeah, I originally had the dream to hook up the truck, sink the pump riverside in a nice little clean clear pocket o water and running to my hearts content. Then I woke up in CA.

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

Went out to the river today. Got a small bucket full of cons and some pictures out of it. Going to save the cons for a while, until I get "Project 2" underway (more on that later).

Here are some pics of the outing:


My oldest, Johnnie (nicknamed Kitty), running the bazooka.


My little girl, Micha (pronounced Mee-sha) trying her hand at panning.


Both my miners working, while I "supervise".


Both girls digging out a really large hole in the rocks (that was just full of black sand).


Kitty trying to teach Micha the "right way" to pan.

We moved about 12 full buckets of material through the sluice today, and ended up with about a cup of heavy concentrates after clean out and panning off some of the larger gravel and blonde sand.

All in all, a very fun day with the family, and you never know, maybe even a bit of gold!

 

[Tejaas]

Awesome thread!

I look forward to following your progress.

We gotta do something about them UT hats, though...




~Tejaas~

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

Awesome thread!

I look forward to following your progress.

We gotta do something about them UT hats, though...




~Tejaas~

Cant help it with the hats. My daughter is a fan, and my niece went there. Gotta support family :P

 

[Tejaas]

Cant help it with the hats. My daughter is a fan, and my niece went there. Gotta support family :P

Absolutely understand, and purely a good natured joke.

I'm an A&M guy, but at the end of the day we are both Texans and gotta stick together, haha.


~Tejaas~

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

Absolutely understand, and purely a good natured joke.

I'm an A&M guy, but at the end of the day we are both Texans and gotta stick together, haha.


~Tejaas~

Hey, if you ever get out this way on a weekend, look me up. I've got an extra BGT, and we could hit the river and run some material :P

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

That's some interesting bedrock for sure! You should be able to find some gold there. I'm not seeing any larger cobbles or boulders just sand. Are there any gravel bars nearby that cover the bedrock?

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

That's some interesting bedrock for sure! You should be able to find some gold there. I'm not seeing any larger cobbles or boulders just sand. Are there any gravel bars nearby that cover the bedrock?

Not so much

Some small gravel bars, but nothing like what I see in the photos of other places.

 

[B Street Blacksmith]

Just got back from a few hours at the river.

Ran about 15x buckets (about 75% full) through the Bazooka.

Would have run more, but met up with a pair of guys who had just got their first sluice and pan off ebay, and were trying to figure out how to run. Helped them for most of the day (setting up, running material, cleaning it out, as well as "teaching" them how to pan).

Overall, had as much or more fun helping them, than I would have running my own material.

Even let them try out my Hand Dredge, and my Bazooka (I should have brought both Bazookas).

Ended up with a cup of material that is almost all black sand and lead (haven't "checked" on how much gold is in it, but I did see a bunch of colors)

Good 78f day at the river!!!!