Gold Cube or Gold Hog Stream Sluice for Lake Superior prospecting

[daworm]

Ok, my wife agreed that I could buy one of these if I make a trip to Colorado. I've been doing research about the two.
I live 1 mile away from Lake Superior beaches and would like to do some prospecting. I hear the Gold Cube is the boss
when it comes to capturing gold. But with Gold Hog introducing the wave mat, it has me wondering. I seen both can be
recirculationg. But I would like some input from people that have used either one of them with beach sands. Thank you.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

I’ve used the Gold Cube quite successfully on the beach. It is well proven and of course was designed just for fine beach gold and the fine gold of Colorado.

You do know Mike Pung, Gold Cube co-inventor, was inspired by Lake Superior fine gold. His co-inventor Red Wilcox is a long time Colorado prospector inspired by our fine hold here in CO.

I’ve sent you a PM with more info.

 

[arizau]

Go with what is proven to work best for the material you will process most often. Sounds like beach sand so a cube is, so far, the best option. Set up is simple as opposed to a stream sluice in many instances. On top of that, the wave mat is intended for highbanker applications and requires experimentation to find and adjust the angle to maximize the efficiency.

In any case, good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[daworm]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. What surprises me the most about people on here and the facebook page for finding gold in CO. Everyone is so helpful
and willing to help people out. I look for Copper where I'm from and everyone is so hush hush about stuff. Thanks again.

 

[daworm]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. What surprises me the most about people on here and the facebook page for finding gold in CO. Everyone is so helpful
and willing to help people out. I look for Copper where I'm from and everyone is so hush hush about stuff. Thanks again.

 

[daworm]

Has anyone used a Gold rush nugget bucket? Would that be a good thing to use in CO? Then run the concentrates through a gold cube?

 

[1637]

its because its a hobby,not many making a living,all though some forget it sometimes.
good luck brad

 

[flinthunter]

It might interest you to go to the Gold Hog website and read Doc's article about running the wave mat in the Gold Cube. He also mentions that some people are running the Gold Cube into a secondary stream sluice that has the wave mat installed.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. What surprises me the most about people on here and the facebook page for finding gold in CO. Everyone is so helpful
and willing to help people out. I look for Copper where I'm from and everyone is so hush hush about stuff. Thanks again.

It makes me happy to hear you say that about my FB group!

I modeled the tone of it based on what I’d experienced here. These folks are the best!

 

[arizau]

Has anyone used a Gold rush nugget bucket? Would that be a good thing to use in CO? Then run the concentrates through a gold cube?

I received one as a gift from a well meaning in-law. I had no intention of buying one before and I would still not buy one now especially if I already had a cube which is capable of much higher throughput. That said, it does work* but not with beach sands that have a high concentration of heavy black sands which I suspect is what you would encounter in your home territory. I tested mine with gold bearing ocean beach sand concentrate that was almost pure black sand and had virtually no upgrade of gold concentration compared to what was rejected (the tailings).

*Great for families and others who are not serious prospectors.

 

[daworm]

I received one as a gift from a well meaning in-law. I had no intention of buying one before and I would still not buy one now especially if I already had a cube which is capable of much higher throughput. That said, it does work* but not with beach sands that have a high concentration of heavy black sands which I suspect is what you would encounter in your home territory. I tested mine with gold bearing ocean beach sand concentrate that was almost pure black sand and had virtually no upgrade of gold concentration compared to what was rejected (the tailings).

*Great for families and others who are not serious prospectors.

I was thinking of when I went Colorado. That way I can make the most out of going to the streams and then running the good stuff through
a gold cube later.

 

[arizau]

That will work but you can save some money by just doing some production panning for your cube feed. The overall gold results will be coequal or maybe better than with the nugget bucket.

Here is how: Fill your pan and pan it down to less than half, add more material to that pan and repeat. You can continue to do this until you are in jeopardy of flushing out black sand and maybe fine particles of gold. When you reach that point empty the pan into a collection bucket and start the process again. Feed this to the cube at the end of the day or your trip.

Good luck

 

[daworm]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Capt Nemo]

You won't production pan beach sands up there. Just too much black! It forms a barrier, and doesn't stratify well. A panful will give about 1/4-1/3 of a pan of black once all the garnet and blond are out of the mix.

Best you can do is pan to black, and dump it in a bucket, and that takes a bit of time.

A Gold Hog Flow Pan will work with reduced loads.

Develop a market for your black sands, cause you'll have a lot of it, and it may pay better than the gold!

 

[johnedoe]

LOL.......
Hell.... I'd quit my day job if I could find a market for my black sand.

 

[1637]

i was at a small mine and they had someone buying there black sand.get looking
brad

 

[1637]

i was at a small mine and they had someone buying there black sand.keep looking
brad

 

[placertogo]

You guys would be amazed at how much gold is left in a bucket full of "cleaned" black sand.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Actually, a Gold Hog stream sluice with their power head would work in a recirc setup. It'd be kinda like a Multi Sluice, but it would run slower. You would have to preclassify at #16-20 (window screen) to get the rocks, roots, and decayed wood out of the mix, as that will kill your setup fast. With my Model 5 fluid bed (recirc high banker), the crap in the mix limits me to about 7 buckets before having to cleanout. The decayed wood makes a paper pulp mix of your water and clogs pump screens fast.

I could run open circuit with the Model 5 with a pump to the lake, but that will require a pump permit for some folks. Under the Great Lakes Compact, riparian owners of Great Lakes waters are free to pump, but all water taken must return to the Lakes. So for myself, I can tell MIDNR to go jump with their pump permit. But if you live in a county not part of the compact and not a riparian owner, then you must have the MI pump permit. So I lucked out by living on Lake Winnebago.

 

[russau]

I often thought of doing this BUT it's to late in life for me to be that physical . It's great that you have that access ! Enjoy it while you can!