Home dredge pond?

[Ragnor]

Well under the advice of my brother I have decided to initiate the undertaking of digging a dredge test pit in my yard. I always wanted a fish pond anyway and it may end up doubling as an aquaponics set up but that is beyond the scope of this forum.

So I'm wondering how many guys have already done this? I know there are at least a couple.
It has become appearant that I will need some kind of liner. This ground can drink all the water you can give it. I'm hoping this old semi tarp someone gave me will still hold water. My primary concern is siltation. I do not know how much brown water the pump can handle without damage. However in my test today it appeared that the silt should fall out fairly rapidly. It's not really clay so much as fine top soil of mountain ash and forest duff. After that is a 2-3 foot layer of loosly cemented cobbles and below that is well sorted, well bedded layers 4"-18" thick of sands, gravels, and cobbles . Bedrock is around 75-100 feet, won't be getting there any time soon. I am thinking to have the main dredge pit and then a muck pit for the tailings and effluent to spill into. The muck pit will be fitted with sorting equipment possibly including a trommel eventually. The dredge will sit between the dredge hole and the muck pit. Then a short run into a sediment pond and another longer run back to the dredge pit. I have a large piece of steel reinforced mesh material used in industrial paper manufacting dryers. I plan to line the return trench with this material to prevent any sediment from making a return to the main pit.

This project will also be part of my hpa submission when the time comes.

I've thought about it quite a bit and I think it seams reasonable and fairly easy to accomplish. I now submit my project on here in hopes that I may get some constructive input, thoughts, suggestion? I have a habbit of missing potentially important details at times and my biggest concern is for the saftey of my equipment. I do not believe garden ponds are regulated in this area. I don't want to damage pump seals, etc.

The digging is good training for the upcoming season too. Turns out I've lost allot of muscle recoving from my near fatal horse kick a couple years ago. I am definately not the digger I once was, but I'm sure I'll get back in shape soon enough. I sure better had if I'm gonna find the gold nobody else has yet up in them mountains this summer.

Here is day 1's accomplishment, the main sump pit. The bottom of the hole is just to the top of the cemented cobbles layer. As witnessed by the few small stones.


This is the result of my drainage/retention test. Ran water into that hole for 3 hours to achieve the level of the line. It emptied in about 15 minutes after I turned off the hose.


day 2's accomplishment. The roll of material above the holes is the industrial paper dryer belt fabric.


And an overview of the current state of the project.


The return will cross the full length of the distance at the top of the holes. The muck pit will probably be enlarged enough to float the dredge in for setting the sluice angle before I take it out and have to set it up in the field. I need to fit the 'upgraded' 12" sluice to the frame. The guy who sold me the dredge said instructions is on keenes site, but I have not looked that up yet.

So anyway. That's my project. Lemmee know what yah think. Am i doing it wrong?

 

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[Gold Maven]

nice holes, that's a lot of work by hand.

I guess my question is why not work out the kinks in the field? I mean how can you dredge from a hole that won't hold water?

Isn't there a stream close by that you can work out the kinks in? Save your back for moving boulders.

good luck.

 

[Ragnor]

nice holes, that's a lot of work by hand.

I guess my question is why not work out the kinks in the field? I mean how can you dredge from a hole that won't hold water?

Isn't there a stream close by that you can work out the kinks in? Save your back for moving boulders.

good luck.

Well, I have a very short window for operating the dredge on my claim. I have never operated a dredge before and I hate going into anything blind. clearing jams, avoiding jams, etc. I do have a couple of neighbors I could ask about putting the dredge in the creek, but I would still like to have it all up and running right first.

I do have the semi tarp if it's not too old and brittle to line the holes and I want to work on my "siltation free" dry land dredging technique.

Honestly I don't mind the work, Ive always had a penchant for digging holes anyway, these ones are just scratching the surface. and I really do need to get back in shape. My muscles are in bad shape after laying on the couch for almost a full year.

I am curios what my ounces per ton of gold and silver are just for kicks also. The gold is actually closer to specks per tonn I'm sure, but I recently learned of an old silver placer about a mile from my house and that's pretty cool, it's in the same gravel I think.

Basically it's my way of getting around all the regulations and having an easily accesable test bed for my gravel processing equipment. Getting into my claim with equipment is no small task, So I want everything planned out and 'perfect' when I get my 2 weeks of open dredging (because I can't afford to take it to court and probably lose.).

So, uh, yeah........ That's my reasoning. If I hadn't got new neighbors I would probably have already sneaked into the creek. But they bought my sneakin' spot.

 

[Hoser John]

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much work. For under $20 at ToysR us/Walmart stock kiddie pools made of rigid plastic that work just fine instantly. Ez to dewater/clean/store in next to no time and not a slimy muddy pit in your yard to create a huge mess. Think smarter and live longer.-John

 

[Ragnor]

Hmmmmmmm, but it would cost me $40 to drive to toys are us, lol. Maybe I'll look for a used pool on craigslist.

 

[Hoser John]

$40 ?? Either massive engine or live in BF Egypt Wish ya luck as a 5" is really just about my favorite stream dredge as MUCH much less water required than a 6" for sure(my river favorite for ease of use and volume moved)-John

 

[Alex Burke]

Your back yard looks like a lost scene from the movie "Casino" or maybe if someone just went overboard with their Halloween displays

 

[russau]

BUT.......... what if he finds gold in them there hills!

 

[winners58]

Clumping Cat Litter has sodium bentonite that is used to seal ponds the regular clay litter wont work you have to get the kind that clumps
Can You Seal A Pond With Clay Kitty Litter? | Northwest Edible Life

 

[russau]

Should he use , used or unused for best results?

 

[Bill_saf]

call a feed store and see if they sell either western or southern bentonite clay in 50# sacks its used in animal feed and drilling wells, foundry work and building ponds. it doesn't cost all that much


Bill

 

[winners58]

testing my 4" dredge a few years ago, unless you test in the river just have to expect to fine tune the balance with material and water in the box.
.
.

 

[Alex Burke]

 

[Ragnor]

$40 ?? Either massive engine or live in BF Egypt Wish ya luck as a 5" is really just about my favorite stream dredge as MUCH much less water required than a 6" for sure(my river favorite for ease of use and volume moved)-John

Yep, i live in BFE and I would not have it any other way. My truck gets about 8mpg also, it costs me $20 just to leave the driveway. I am currently resurrecting a honda for my 75 mile drives to my prospecting location.

 

[Ragnor]

Clumping Cat Litter has sodium bentonite that is used to seal ponds the regular clay litter wont work you have to get the kind that clumps
Can You Seal A Pond With Clay Kitty Litter? | Northwest Edible Life

I had wondered about bentonite as I had looked into using it for a small well drilling rig my grand dad left me. I wasn't sure if it would work for this pool project or not.

 

[Ragnor]

Your back yard looks like a lost scene from the movie "Casino" or maybe if someone just went overboard with their Halloween displays

You know it's kind of funny about that. The neighbor used to tell their kid to stay away from my place because I kill people, lol. Which plays into this scenario where when my brother first brought his new gf to my place I had several piles of topsoil/overburden I had removed for my 'root cellar' project lined up to next each other. She saw them and immediatly saw them as shallow graves. My brother told me about it so the next time she stopped by I had planted some crude wooden crosses at the head of all the piles, lol

 

[Ragnor]

One thing I do regret John is not knowing that Washington had revised it's rules to allow for 4 and 5 inch dredges since the 1990's. I bought this 2.5" prior to learning that the rules had been changed. However I am looking at having to haul this dredge over some very rough terrain which currently has barely a foot path. So the weight conciderations still make me think maybe the smaller machine is better in that respect.

 

[OwenT]

Ive always had a penchant for digging holes anyway, these ones are just scratching the surface.

The neighbor used to tell their kid to stay away from my place because I kill people, lol.

It all makes sense now

Washington had revised it's rules to allow for 4 and 5 inch dredges since the 1990's

And make sure you have the very latest ones. I was using the 2010 rules all last year when they actually rolled out 2015 rules in July. Most notable change is that there is not a distinction anymore between electric and gas-powered high banking, so you can run an engine just like electric all year .

 

[Hoser John]

Always remember that what goes up can/has/will go back down. Having as many sizes as possible is great. Towards the end of summer when water runs low that 2.5" will be a god send for them creeks that were raging before. Lots of luck-John

 

[Jason in Enid]

Dredging in your test pits won't teach you anything about real-world dredging. You can't even use it to figure out what angle to run. How you set up the box, how you run the throttle, and how you suck the gravel depends completely on the spot you are dredging. Flour gold, flat gold, round gold, flakes, pickers, nugs, all need different arrangements for best capture. Running gravel up a nozzle has to be learned on the fly if you don't have a mentor. You can't be efficient dredging long-armed and blind. Laying on the bottom, watching what goes up the tube and watching what to stop before it goes up the tube is the real deal.

I'll give you some tips, don't let long and flat rocks up! If one does go into the nozzle, pull away for about 5 - 10 seconds (depending on the length of your hose) to hopefully let it work out before you resume sucking gravel. Don't stick the nozzle into the bottom (hogging) unless you are just trying to move empty overburden sand. When running gravel with gold try to keep it at about 90% water, 10% solid. You will spend as much or more time tossing boulders as you do sucking gravel.

As for running your box, you gotta watch and play. Run gravel for 10 minutes then come up and look. Are you packed up? Increase throttle or angle or both. Blowing almost everything out (scouring) then decrease throttle, angle or both. You may not be efficient, you may blow out gold in the beginning but it's the only way. If you move to a new dredge spot, start with your last settings and watch it and adjust as needed.