Just because.....

[arizau]

Just because I have an otherwise unusable left over piece of GH Downdraft mat I decided I will do an experiment with it. Doc says "It is a great mat for fine gold recovery" thus the experiment described below.

There has been much discussion about indicator mats on bazooka style sluices. I agree with the opinion of many others that they are not necessary, but I decided to take the indicator mat idea a step further. I just so happen to have a home made zook that is unconventional in more ways than one but one way is that the final 6" of the slick plate is straight and about the same width as my left over piece of mat. I'm going to cut and attach it to a piece of left over low rib mat (the ribs will run with, not cross the flow) that covers the flare/slick plate and hope to try it out on an up coming trip. Yeah, I know, why do that? Just because!! If I get some gold in the GH zone that will be a plus since my zook concept is experimental anyway (see above). I plan to seed it with some stored concentrates known to contain minus 80 mesh gold, to be sure that some gold actually goes through the sluice, then check and see whether the mat the zook or both captured any of it.

 

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[johnedoe]

Sounds like an interesting experiment.... Keep me informed.
Also as you know I have plans to make some changes to my setup as well... More on that as it materializes.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Hope you keep us posted, AU. We were getting 30-50 colors/pan on the Snake not far from here...about 3 weeks ago. And we were not filling the pans full by any means. Takes 100,000 colors to make an oz., so from $.35 to $.50/pan. I think a guy could make wages with some tight classifying, and a good sluice. Not to mention some hard work...LOL
Jim

 

[johnedoe]

Hope you keep us posted, AU. We were getting 30-50 colors/pan on the Snake not far from here...about 3 weeks ago. And we were not filling the pans full by any means. Takes 100,000 colors to make an oz., so from $.35 to $.50/pan. I think a guy could make wages with some tight classifying, and a good sluice. Not to mention some hard work...LOL
Jim

What kind of equipment can you use where you are? Any motorized like a high banker or dredge?

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Frankly, I haven't looked into it. I probably wouldn't use a dredge, but would not be afraid to use a highbanker. Dredges don't work well on the typical flour found in the Snake anyway. Best recovery is achieved by classifying to -1/4, or even -1/8", and then running through a sluice designed for flour. There is no gold, or very very little, bigger than 50 mesh.
Jim

 

[johnedoe]

Thank's for the info.
I have a gold cube and I use a cleangold sluice on the beach for our super fine beach gold. As a rule I don't need to classify because we are just shoveling sand.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

LOl...shoveling nothing but sand sounds like a day at the beach....no pun intended...ha! Wish that was all we were shoveling.
Jim

 

[arizau]

Frankly, I haven't looked into it. I probably wouldn't use a dredge, but would not be afraid to use a highbanker. Dredges don't work well on the typical flour found in the Snake anyway. Best recovery is achieved by classifying to -1/4, or even -1/8", and then running through a sluice designed for flour. There is no gold, or very very little, bigger than 50 mesh.
Jim

Interested in what your mat, etc. configuration is? Doc at gold hog recommended to me a few years back to use razorback and downdraft for fine gold so that is what I use. The recommendation today is probably different.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I'm thinking of building a continuous-feed classifier first. That's where the real work gets done on recovering fine gold. Once that's done I've been thinking of one of Devin Mining's 3" x 36" urethane rubber drop vortex sluices. Maybe something a little bigger if it's available before I get to it. I've got so much going on, I doubt I'll get all this done before winter. Working on an electric drill driven sampling auger right now, to use for gems in Wyoming. I think Doc, at Gold Hog is pretty sharp, but very few people have experienced flour gold like we have in the Snake.....it does not act like gold!
Jim

 

[arizau]

I used mine once for beach mining in Oregon and caught the minus 100 that is prevalent there but not sure how much I missed. Volume runs are key so hope your feeder works.

Good luck.

 

[johnedoe]

I think our Oregon beach gold is pretty similar to your Snake River gold.... very fine -100 and smaller.
Have you tried the clean gold sluice in your area?
I spoke with Dennis Katz a few weeks ago and he has done the Snake River with good results.

You are definitely on the right track with the continuous feed classifier ..... gotta keep material flowing.

 

[GrizzlyGoldTrap]

Just because I have an otherwise unusable left over piece of GH Downdraft mat I decided I will do an experiment with it. Doc says "It is a great mat for fine gold recovery" thus the experiment described below.

There has been much discussion about indicator mats on bazooka style sluices. I agree with the opinion of many others that they are not necessary, but I decided to take the indicator mat idea a step further. I just so happen to have a home made zook that is unconventional in more ways than one but one way is that the final 6" of the slick plate is straight and about the same width as my left over piece of mat. I'm going to cut and attach it to a piece of left over low rib mat (the ribs will run with, not cross the flow) that covers the flare/slick plate and hope to try it out on an up coming trip. Yeah, I know, why do that? Just because!! If I get some gold in the GH zone that will be a plus since my zook concept is experimental anyway (see above). I plan to seed it with some stored concentrates known to contain minus 80 mesh gold, to be sure that some gold actually goes through the sluice, then check and see whether the mat the zook or both captured any of it.

Arizau,
Here is a video of sampling riffle in the Grizzly Gold Trap sluice. You can see gold in different parts of the riffle. It pretty cool to see if you are on a paystreak without doing multiple cleanups. You can easily clear the sample riffles by waving you hand in the water above the riffles, and then run more material, watching the riffles to see if there is any color in the new material.

 

[SRP_KBell]

Jim in Idaho -

You are right on the money - High percentages of black sand on the Snake is the killer - I'm afraid most mats are quickly overwhelmed.

Dennis Katz and I used Cleangold last year at the Snake. It performed extremely well. It likes 1/4" classification so your continuous classifier idea would be a great addition

 

[johnedoe]

Or maybe something like Trev's New Zealand beach box.... Which is where the gold cube design came from.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

I think our Oregon beach gold is pretty similar to your Snake River gold.... very fine -100 and smaller.
Have you tried the clean gold sluice in your area?
I spoke with Dennis Katz a few weeks ago and he has done the Snake River with good results.

You are definitely on the right track with the continuous feed classifier ..... gotta keep material flowing.

From the micro pics I've seen, of the beach gold, it's much coarser than the Snake gold, which is very thin and flat. Beach gold is rounder, which makes it easier to recover, believe it or not...LOL. Snake gold is about as difficult as any gold, anywhere. I'll have to take a look at the Cleangold setup...thanks!
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Jim in Idaho -

You are right on the money - High percentages of black sand on the Snake is the killer - I'm afraid most mats are quickly overwhelmed.

Dennis Katz and I used Cleangold last year at the Snake. It performed extremely well. It likes 1/4" classification so your continuous classifier idea would be a great addition

I've always thought that an auto-feeder is also a big help. You need a very controlled, and consistent feed rate. Any surges at all, and the flour gold is history. I have an auto-feeder for gems, but I don't think it will work very well for flour gold. Wet, and maybe a bit sticky material would be a killer. I'm thinking a new feeder that is based on an auger may be what's needed, though a belt might work. I've got a lot of stuff to do this winter...LOL
Jim

 

[arizau]

I recently got back from the trip on which I was hoping to try the zook experiment out but was unsuccessful in setting it up due to pretty extreme runoff from snow melt and recent heavy rains. I was trying to set up on a friends claim that spans the river and has bench deposits on either side...Actually best suited for a high banker which I don't have.* I tried for about 2 hours to build wing dams in shallower water on an inside bend where I could anchor the sluice with exposed rocks but just could not get enough depth or flow. Virtually all of the bigger, potential anchor rocks in the main channel were under water. One of those cases where next week or next month would probably be ideal. Oh well I have permission to go back any time, and we go virtually every year, so maybe next year.

*In retrospect, I considered taking my rocker box that I can set up to recirculate the water. Got to remember that for next year.

 

[Prospector70]

I've never liked the idea of anything on the slick plate of my bazooka. I'd like the gold to go straight to the fluid bed without anything holding it up, even momentarily, especially right by the grizzlies...

 

[johnedoe]

I've never liked the idea of anything on the slick plate of my bazooka. I'd like the gold to go straight to the fluid bed without anything holding it up, even momentarily, especially right by the grizzlies...

Not sure what difference it makes where you catch the gold as long as you catch it.......

 

[oneguy]

Not sure what difference it makes where you catch the gold as long as you catch it.......

I'm a rookie but bigger rocks blasting down the slick plate then hitting the sampling riffles might cause things to get a little shaken up? Sure does on both my sluices (riffle & drop riffle).....? I think I might be in Prospector70 s' camp on this one? Looking forward to some field reports on the new GGT..........