Mosswisher

[nuggy]

Anyone else out there ever seen a moss washer or moss - swisher? Years ago I helped a friend build a tiny floating trommel with a sluice box under it. Anyone who has a floating dredge could probably make one up to fit above their existing set up.
Moss covered rocks in rivers can act like carpet in a sluice box and sometimes hold quite a good amount of fine gold. Its tedious and time consuming breaking up the moss by hand to wash it in a pan or sluice box. I have done very well from doing this a few times though, and the friend had found a really loaded lot of moss on his claim, but thought a machine could take out some of the work and increase the amount of moss he could process in a day. More moss equals more gold, and who doesn't want more Au in their day.
The trommel was made of an old air filter body from a big digger, but any thing ten inches diameter and around two feet long and tubular with holes about quarter inch should do, if not too heavy. A piece of expanded metal mesh would probably be ideal, rolled into a cylinder.
He had been trying to make water pressure from his pump rotate the drum but was unable to make that work. We made up a reduction by driving a sprocket off the pump shaft with chain driving a large sprocket on the end of the pipe the trommel rotated on, but belt drive would probably work just as well.
Anyway we took it out to the claim when we had it finished, and with a fair bit of adjusting angles, water pressure etc we got it to where it would wash all the moss we could pull off the rocks and stuff into it.
We were very happy to end up with just over half an ounce of mostly very fine gold, for about four hours work by two men, and we were definitely losing a small amount, this was more than made up for though by the extra amount washed and the labor was far less than would be expended doing it by hand.
We wore waders and we worked in water between knee and waist deep. One staying with the swisher picking close by, and the other roaming further putting the moss into a floating plastic bin, then taking this to the machine to feed through.
Try panning some moss off the rocks if you haven't already, it is a good indicator if gold is coming down the river. Later Nuggy

 

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[Doug Watson]

Sounds good. I've found a lot of gold in moss over the years and yes it's a lot of work washing it.When I wash it by hand I add a little dish soap to the water as the moss is kind of oily. I seem to retain more gold that way. My problem is that my moss washers have grown up and won't work any more. The grand kids will be there pretty soon so I'll be back in business. Doug.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nuggy--I'm no fabricator, but what you describe sounds like a great idea about how to process the moss. I did a test a few years back of some moss on a great gold river. I busted a bunch of it up and panned it--wow--there was an incredible amount of fine gold in a relatively small amount of moss. I was quite stunned actually. But, it was so time consuming busting up the moss to get the gold out that I never pursued it again. The moss I was working was very dense--it wasn't the slimy, slippery type. The area I was working had lots of coarse gold that was readily available.

Sounds like you've got a good idea for anyone with a lot of moss to wash in a proven area.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[nuggy]

Hi Doug, yes moss in a suitable river can be a very good source of gold.
Grandparents must be exempt from child labor laws in your neck of the woods too, by the sound of it. Good opportunity to learn the work ethic as well, with enough little helpers who needs machinery! Good luck Nuggy.

 

[nuggy]

Hi Lanny, yes the moss I spoke of is short and dense like tight carpet pile, not slimy at all, it holds way more sand and grit than I would have guessed until I busted some up.
Another way of processing it is with a cement mixer, then tipping it into a sluice box. Todays light plastic mixers might be more suitable units than the heavy old steel clunkers from thirty years back.
It really is quite a surprise how much gold can be in that moss. Yes too, that coarse gold has a pull all right, I've known about the moss idea for many years but haven't pursued it much.
Good luck Nuggy.

 

[jog]

One of the rivers that I like to go to has a lot of flour gold and fines. I have broken up moss into my pan to see what was there and with the right equipment a person could do very well.
Thanks for the advice and now I have another project to add to my list.( "THANKS")
This could be a great way to work a river during the dredging off season. Depending on conditions. Could make a small portable trommel made just for that.
Do you have any pics of your creation?

 

[nuggy]

Hi Jog, Sorry no photos, I had a house fire just over ten years back - no memorabilia survived. This gives you the opportunity to come up with your own improved version! The one I helped build was pretty crude.
Things I remember that might help; the moss fell into sluice box at end of trommel for final rinse off, water pipe went halfway up trommel from exit end, and had holes spraying water down as well as a deformed angle cut end to put out most water in top third of trommel. Trommel sat on two pipes about one inch diameter with rubber hose forced onto them, these were mounted in greased wooden blocks drilled to fit. One pipe being driven by chain and sprocket. Whole thing could be lifted off sluice box by disconnecting break link in chain. and undoing water hose. Front of frame sat in two pieces of alloy sticking up from box front. Rear the same, but on a bit of round steel across box, rod was put into a row of holes to raise and lower it as required. The whole unit floated on two inner tubes, front one being larger than rear.
I would make the unit on smaller box with high sides, spread to go halfway up sides of trommel. Make a frame to hold four 5 gallon plastic containers, for better stability. Modern smaller motor with pulleys, one driving pump the other to a small reduction for driving trommel. If trommel was sturdier it could also be used to shovel dirt into. Water being pumped from another source, or gravity fed. This would make it more versatile, more desirable too. Dang it, now you really have to make one lol.
Nuggy

 

[homefires]

We use to just put it all in a Dutch Oven and burn it to ashes.

Pan the ashes.

If you have a camp fire going any ways , it's OK.


How about a Chili Roaster with a water bar across the top?

 

[nuggy]

Hi Homefires, good spotting, gotta love that chili roaster, it looks like a great starting point, I never saw one before. If you kept the burner part, you could clean the moss remnants out and roast a mess of chili for lunch right there on the river!
Burning would be a bit of a problem with the moss here though - as it's heavy, wet and full of sand / fine gravel.
Being able to take the machine to the moss is an important part of the labor saving too. Nuggy

 

[FiresEye]

Yeah themoss holds the gold... but it's also pretty, and helps hold the soil in.. so if you're gonna take moss, try to leave plenty behind, as it takes years for the moss to grow big and pretty like that, but only seconds to bust it up. The moss also add a water breaker so the larger gold drops out below it. Ive also found that old driftwood can be a gold trap as the wood cracks and warps and then jsut sits in the river, with all that material moving past and into it...Also, I've some quartz rocks get rotten and have pockets in them with sand and or gold..
fine gold is fine and all that, but I prefer something visible to the naked eye, even if it's only fly poop specs, I can still see um

 

[nuggy]

Hi Fires Eye, we only take the moss off boulders and bedrock in the riverbed, where it can, and often is, stripped off by a big flood, or buried under gravel. It's not going to cause erosion or damage anything. This moss is only temporary, the fact that it goes under the floods and survives mostly, is what deposits the gold.
I don't turn down fine gold just because it's smaller. I'd rather have 2 ounces of fine gold than one of coarser stuff. Mind you an ounce of real nice nuggets would be a tougher decision. Nuggy

 

[FiresEye]

In today's economy I'd take two ounces of flour over an ounce of nuggets any day! About the moss yeah, I had a feeling you had a pretty good idea... It's just that if someone goes in and strip mines the moss in an area is can cause errosion only because there's not enough re sporulation of the moss gametes to sustain a repopulation...
I for one have taken some moss and washed it off at home, I even re planted it in a nice area around a pear tree... however, I did not seem to find much visible fine gold at all.
Now, are you guys talking fly poop gold( which to me is a tiny spec that you can see with the naked eye) or micro gold, one that needs fine screening and slow processing? There was some dust in the moss stuff but I don't think any of it was gold.. but I could be wrong.
I saw a really neat miller table design last night, gonna work on one for some fines.

 

[nuggy]

Yes, fly poop or bigger is about right, something I used to be able to see with naked eye, but probably need my specs for now. Nuggy

 

[FiresEye]

That's cool...I like the moss, it's real pretty. I learned all about the growth cycle of moss in Botany Lab and how the spores and gametes reproduce and grow, we then grew it under a mincroscope and within a week it was visible... Under ideal conditions. Finding a huge moss patch on a gold claim could be nice.. I tried a few clumps of moss with no results, but I am considering using some actual moss as miners moss in a modification of my home-made sluice. THAT would make the moss loaded.. I would stable gun down some expanded metal with moss under it in between on my my wooden riffles. Just remove staples and wash moss from sluice... I wonder if it works better than carpet or store bought stuf.

 

[nuggy]

Hi Fires Eye, the moss to check is the stuff that grows on rocks or bedrock in a gold producing river. It needs to have been well covered during floods, and sitting pretty much flat. To look at it resembles carpet, and has a lot of sand etc caught deep inside it. Never yet panned any that meets these criteria that had zero gold in it. Nuggy

 

[freddy williams]

I would have to say sun it so it dries out then burn it then i would pan the gold from the ashes, but alot of people might dissagree with me cause it is moss, this is just a opinion is all

 

[SushiDog]

Hi Nuggy.....Lanny was kind enough to post a link here, and I thank him very much....I have known about the "trick" with moss ever since I started in this hobby.....along with checking all of the culverts that run under the road.....I love your ingenuity! This is what I have found out from my own experience with moss:.....I dry and burn it......when I collect the moss from different locations, the bags are numbered so I know where I got the moss from.....I take it all home, dry it, place it in a gold pan (metal), or a coffee can, and put a torch on it.....then I place the burnt and dry debris in my gold pan, and wash it.....I guess everyone has their own systems, and all of them are great, but just do whatever is more easier and comfortable for you the individual.....SushiDog

 

[nuggy]

Hi Sushi, this is not the thread I was talking about - this is an old one but if you get here - go to the top of page just below banner click on the word sluicing and look for "new mini sluice" that's the thread I just started - with photos of mini sluice box. Nuggy

 

[SushiDog]

Oh...okay Nuggy..... will do.....thanks.....SushiDog

 

[prospectordamon]

im glad this was brought back to life, never thought of this idea and i THINK the area I work has this moss very similar just before a bend..... thanks