Is this possible?

[laidback4sho]

Ok, here's the scenario...

You've gotten a 5 gallon bucket of paydirt and you're back at the house and are just about to go through it all.

You fill the bucket to the top with water and then attach one of those paddle-style paint mixers to your drill motor and proceed to stir and agitate the water/mud solution in your bucket.

After a few minutes of mixing, all the gold has fallen out of suspension down to the bottom of your bucket.

You then throw away all but the bottom couple of inches of dirt in your bucket, which you now pan.

You've lost no gold and saved a ton of time.


OK folks, is this even possible? I know gold is heavier than pretty much everything, but would this actually work?

 

[chlsbrns]

Yes it will work and work well!

 

[austin]

It will work, but I think you will still lose some gold because mix as you might, you'll never mix it it well enough to release all the gold particles...

 

[OwenT]

I think you would end up with a bunch of material that was just as mixed up as it was when you started. The gold is probably going to be getting tossed around with everything else in there until you stop mixing. I think if you really wanted to do that to speed things up I would just take my bucket and shake it like a pan then take off the top material. I've used this method to just get a glimpse of my gold in the bucket before actually processing.

 

[Underburden]

Do it at the creek and save yourself the aches and pains of hauling 5 gallons of raw paydirt home.
Of course, I'm old so I tend to work smarter since I can't worker harder.

 

[Au dave]

I think you would end up with a bunch of material that was just as mixed up as it was when you started. The gold is probably going to be getting tossed around with everything else in there until you stop mixing. I think if you really wanted to do that to speed things up I would just take my bucket and shake it like a pan then take off the top material. I've used this method to just get a glimpse of my gold in the bucket before actually processing.

I pretty much do the same Owen ..with the material I bring home a good 'pan shake' of the bucket ensures that the gold falls to the bottom and I do this everytime I remove a handfull for the pan. Most pans from the upper part of the bucket show little if any colour but when down to the last couple of handfulls it gets more prolific. I feel doing this with my cons ensures I don't miss anything. I keep all my pan tailings, screen them down to 20 mesh and I'm yet to find colour in my secondary run thru the cleanup sluice and final pans.

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[laidback4sho]

I'm thinking a test is in order...

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[Oddjob]

If mining was easy get rich fast then everyone would be doing it and hardware stores would have a miner section full of oddity tools, methods and ideas taught by a salesman.

Me I am just way to picky, I do not want even one speck getting past me and no way could I sleep at night knowing that I chucked out more than half a bucket.

 

[tinpan250]

What if you took some PVC pipe fittings and made a square that would just fit in the bottom of the bucket held at the bottom by a small amount of a tight fit to bucket walls and drill 1/8 hole thru the pipe,along a line top to bottom and extend a Pipe up the side for a hose connection and clamp to the side of the bucket,making a kinda fluid bed that would wash the light stuff over the top edge of the bucket,you could even use re circulation and settling tubs if water is scarce or cost a lot,sit in the lawn chair and watch the bubbles,maybe even enjoy a barley pop or two.
maybe even modify one of those slinky type sprinkler from wally world if you need a circle.I wonder if that would work and give the gold and black sand time to sink?

 

[Jeff95531]

I too practice the bucket snipe method cuz yes...if it's in there and/or there is any size to it...it SHOULD be in the bottom corner of the bucket, right I have brought this up before but there seems to be a stigma with confessions to this. lol

 

[et1955]

Don't rely on any opinions here but go and test your Idea and let us know how it worked out.

 

[laidback4sho]

I'm planning to test this out. And yes, as tinpan said, a fluid bed... just like the Bazooka Gold Trap. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. Just have to get a few materials and testing will be underway. I'll post again once I'm finished.

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[chlsbrns]

Forward this video to 3:50. A vortex will sort by specific gravity. The gold will be dead center on the bottom.

https://youtu.be/d6Tcq6cALlM

 

[nh.nugget]

I know down at the river we usually wet classify mainly because the dirt is wet. I find some gold in the upper part of the bucket but the bottom is better. I still run all of it I have gotten some chunky stuff that didn't make it to the bottom.

 

[winners58]

I screen to 8 mesh at the river, if I start running out of buckets I will load up a pan wash the lighter stuff off.
I can speed pan a whole bucket in just a few minuets, that way I end up with 1/4 of what I started with.
I've tested using my power sluice when running my cons, I use a wide tube sucker bottle to catch the gold that sticks to the rubber mat.
when I do a scoop at a time, I can see it's the fine gold that wont settle especially if there is a lot of black sand.

 

[Goodyguy]

Ok, here's the scenario...

You've gotten a 5 gallon bucket of paydirt and you're back at the house and are just about to go through it all.

You fill the bucket to the top with water and then attach one of those paddle-style paint mixers to your drill motor and proceed to stir and agitate the water/mud solution in your bucket.

After a few minutes of mixing, all the gold has fallen out of suspension down to the bottom of your bucket.

You then throw away all but the bottom couple of inches of dirt in your bucket, which you now pan.

You've lost no gold and saved a ton of time.


OK folks, is this even possible? I know gold is heavier than pretty much everything, but would this actually work?

It all depends on the viscosity of your slurry.

Have a 5 gal bucket with a 2" plastic end cap off a mailing tube centered in the bottom plugging a 2" hole.
Set the bucket into another bucket as a safety catch.

Stick a garden hose down to the bottom of the bucket and let all the light material and muddy water wash out over the top. When the water turns clear you are ready to stir up your vortex. *Dont run the hose full blast, it just takes a medium flow to do the trick.

After you run the vortex reach down through the material and pull out your cap full of gold.


GG~

 

[goldenIrishman]

Goodguy is dead on. How well the gold is going to fall to the bottom of the bucket(s) is going to depend on the slurrys ratio of water to dirt. If it's still even slightly thick then gold can and often will be left in suspension. This is especially true of anything say -30 mesh or below.

If you really want to test this out, I would suggest only using a half bucket at a time. That way the gold has more of a chance to fall out before getting washed out with the slurry. I use the mixer paddle to break up clay chunks when I come across them but I keep the slurry as thick as possible since it's run through my recirc sluice.

 

[Terry Soloman]

THIS IS PERSONAL OPINION, NOT INTENDED TO HURT ANYONE'S FEELINGS!!!!!

I still marvel at greenhorn's that want to reinvent the wheel, and the equipment manufacturers that prey on them. "New and Improved" gold pans, "Magic" boxes, "Solar Powered" drywashers.. the list goes on and on. Let's think about the OP's idea. If it were really that easy, wouldn't we ALL be using this technique already? Tried and true seems to be boring and outdated to this new generation of "just for fun" placer miners, which really took off in the early 2000's. Every gold show you go to is filled with fleece artists selling the "new" way to harvest gold.

There is a reason we use "old fashioned" drywashers, highbankers, recirculating sluices, and round dark colored gold pans - they work. If you have a "new idea" when it comes to placer gold recovery, you can bet your first born it has already been tried and tested by somebody between 1781 - and now. If it was a good idea, we STILL using it. If it wasn't, well, let's discuss whether it will work or not here.

 

[rodoconnor]

It's interesting to look at old lithographs of the miners of the 19th century. Specially the Chinese miners. Their pans, rockers and sluices. Some of the sluices were drop riffle and a vortex type as well. Like Terry says , it's been done before

 

[Goldwasher]

Sounds like a great way to slow down production....so if you intend to sit and drink beer, and watch for hours and hours ,the various ways to slowly fill a bucket with dirt...and still need to get the gold out of the dirt when all is said and done....probably with a pan or blue bowl....so for this Idea I'm with Terry S.

However don't count on there never being new ideas that will work great.