Gold cube and miller table

[bottlecap]

Now that I have a little experience with prospecting I was thinking running material through a gold cube then using a miller table to cleanly extract the cons from the cube might be a good one two punch. Any thoughts? I get really frustrated panning some of the really fine stuff, very hard to separate from the black sand without panning black sand out and probably losing gold.

 

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[arizau]

If you are not classifying to smaller sizes you need to do that. Gold mixed only with equal sized material is relatively easy to pan. Many don't bother using any other equipment. 30, 50, and 100 mesh will probably do the job and 4 or 6" sets of these classifying screens are pretty inexpensive.

Good luck.

 

[Jeff95531]

^^^^^^ What arizau said. You're getting frustrated cuz you're missing a step or two is all. Break it down and it does get easier. Kevin in CO pretty much has it down to a science. Personally, my Miller Table catches gold I can't see until it accumulates in the vial so...I'm happy with it.

 

[bottlecap]

So you have to classify 5 times before you're done?

 

[russau]

BC that is how I run my cons (Gold Cube / Miller Table)and I classify accordingly! It works for me

 

[bobw53]

So you have to classify 5 times before you're done?

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but the answer is YES.. Mike Pung's(the gold cube man) Golden Rule...

"If everything in your pan is the same size... GOLD RULES!!"


Watch these videos.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html

My procedure lately has been #8, then through the cube.. Then 20,50,80,120,250,450.... Once everything in your pan is the same size, the black sand and the gold seperate really easy...
I bought a miller table because I couldn't get the fine stuff seperated out.. Once I figured out this classification thing... Its just sat there doing nothing.

Here is a pic of some small stuff, panned easy... I couldn't get a pic of the -250+450 because the camera just wouldn't pick it up.. For reference an average human hair is somewhere
in the .003-.004" thick.. And the naked human can't even really see anything smaller than about .003" in diameter.

So, yes you can get the small stuff out, and no, its not that difficult, but the key is classification.

 

[bottlecap]

Oh o.k. guys, gotcha. I obviously haven't been classifying down small enough. So just to get this straight you run 8 mesh through the cube then go smaller and run smaller through the cube or just 8 through the cube then classify before panning?

 

[Goodyguy]

Now that I have a little experience with prospecting I was thinking running material through a gold cube then using a miller table to cleanly extract the cons from the cube might be a good one two punch. Any thoughts? I get really frustrated panning some of the really fine stuff, very hard to separate from the black sand without panning black sand out and probably losing gold.

Works for me. I usually wait until I have several 5 gallon buckets full of cons before running through the cube and then I run the pint of super cons from the cube down the miller table. Saves time and beats panning all those buckets full of cons hands down.

GG~

 

[KevinInColorado]

Run the -8 thru the cube. Then separate the resulting stuff into three pans: +30, 30-50, -50 ( this means you use 2 screens: a 30 mesh screen and a 50 mesh)...you can skip the smaller screens until you have a few gallons of -50 already-cleaned concentrates saved up.

To read the whole process, check out my blog entry which Jeff referred to. It's at www.findinggoldincolorado.com & scroll back a couple months to find that entry

 

[bottlecap]

I guess what I am also wondering is if a guy ran material through the cube then went straight to a miller table could you skip additional classification or would you still be losing gold somehow? I have no problem working but my small amount of free time needs to be spent gathering material, working 60 hours a week leaves me little time, I know I am not the only guy that has to spend all week working but I am looking to be efficient, I would also like a system that leaves me with pure gold, I hate getting the last couple grains of black sand out of my vial. Another reason you may know I am not afraid of work is I live in Mn and after a half day running a pro pan my gold still barely registers on a scale!!!!

 

[Jason in Enid]

Oh o.k. guys, gotcha. I obviously haven't been classifying down small enough. So just to get this straight you run 8 mesh through the cube then go smaller and run smaller through the cube or just 8 through the cube then classify before panning?

Classify it once then run it through the cube. Classify those super cons into 20, 30, 50, 100 and pan those super-cons. The "tap and wash" method is the best I have found, and works awesome. It will take a little practice to get it down, but once youre there, you can pan with 100% efficiency and about 4 or 5 times faster than "shake and swirl"

 

[Jason in Enid]

I guess what I am also wondering is if a guy ran material through the cube then went straight to a miller table could you skip additional classification or would you still be losing gold somehow? I have no problem working but my small amount of free time needs to be spent gathering material, working 60 hours a week leaves me little time, I know I am not the only guy that has to spend all week working but I am looking to be efficient, I would also like a system that leaves me with pure gold, I hate getting the last couple grains of black sand out of my vial. Another reason you may know I am not afraid of work is I live in Mn and after a half day running a pro pan my gold still barely registers on a scale!!!!

I have tried miller tables and honestly don't like them. You have to tweek and tweek to get every set up just right, and no you can't run it all at once. The water pressure that will wash 8 mesh cons will blow off 100 mesh gold. PLus, you have to feed it with a teaspoon. I can finish pan much faster than I can run a miller table.

 

[Hoser John]

Give me a good old Le Trap sluice and my Blue Bowl and I'm good to go always..John

 

[bottlecap]

I don't post many pics so I thought I would give you an idea of what I am dealing with. Found a really good spot with a lot of super find gold, it is right on the inside of a 90 degree bend in the river, right at the corner there is a scour hole, I am thinking the gold goes into the scour hole and can't make it up the ridge down stream to get out. Good old lazy gold.

 

[bottlecap]

And how many thousand pieces of that little stuff do you think it takes to make a gram?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Goodyguy]

If you are going to pan......... Mike Pung is the hands down expert on the backwash and tap method.

 

[Goodyguy]

I don't post many pics so I thought I would give you an idea of what I am dealing with. Found a really good spot with a lot of super find gold, it is right on the inside of a 90 degree bend in the river, right at the corner there is a scour hole, I am thinking the gold goes into the scour hole and can't make it up the ridge down stream to get out. Good old lazy gold.
View attachment 1306473

Definitely stuff I would want to miller table or bluebowl.
I suggest trying all methods and see what works best for you.

The cube and miller table works best for me but obviously it's not for everyone. And yes classification is at the heart of success.
Mercury and a retort is also an effective way to recover gold from black sand cons.

While I am adept at using the backwash and tap method I still prefer the miller table or blue bowl when it comes to separating flour gold from black sand. Panning is faster but I am fond of using my miller table. (it's a miller table thing) The blue bowl is the most time consuming and classification intensive method but fun to operate if you like gizmo's and I do

GG~

 

[arizau]

And how many thousand pieces of that little stuff do you think it takes to make a gram?!?!?!?!?!?

By Doc at Goldhog's count; 23,731 pieces. Scroll to the second to last paragraph on this link for his counting guesstimation. Gold Sluice Tuning

 

[Goodyguy]

By Doc at Goldhog's count; 23,731 pieces. Scroll to the second to last paragraph on this link for his counting guesstimation. Gold Sluice Tuning

That's why I save up lots of cons for processing during the winter when I have plenty of time.

GG~

 

[Goodyguy]

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but the answer is YES.. Mike Pung's(the gold cube man) Golden Rule...
"If everything in your pan is the same size... GOLD RULES!!"
Watch these videos.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html

Really good thread....... Lots of great info!
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html


GG~