Placer Claim Mined Out?

[desertgolddigger]

I belong to a local club that owns a claim. This club has had this claim for many years, and acquired it after the old timers had mined it previously, and others after they commercial outfits closed up.
I walked quite a bit of the 160 acre claim, and noted that just about every wash had been worked. Most of the surface nuggets has also been detected by those with gold detectors. In other words, this place has been picked over and over and over.
But I m a stubborn type of person, and I figured, just watching how people ram their puffer and blower drywashers, that some gold was just being blown through them. maybe not much, but some small stuff that never got a chance to settle behind the riffles.
I know many of you would never go to the effort of digging for three to four hours through the tailings in these washes. Again, I'm a bit stubborn, and anyway, I just wanted to have some fun locally, instead of driving 300 miles roundtrip to something that gives a little more for less effort.
I've spent the last three weeks, digging a few times a week along about 30 yards of wash, and have recovered just about a gram of gold. That might not seem like much, but I have only dug up 5 grams, not counting this one gram in almost 20 years out here drywashing in the desert of southern California.
As you would know, things always seem to go wrong. My gas powered blower motor decided it was time for the repair shop, and haven't heard from the shop in two weeks. So I purchased a WORX WG521 corded electric leaf blower to use with my Royal Large drywasher. I'm using a portable generator to provide the power. And it actually is working better than with my old gas powered blower. I have to run the blower on the lowest speed, or I just blow everything through the riffles. Results are very good, as I am getting gold specks so small that I will have to use the Blue bowl in order to recover them.
I'm not only getting a little gold, I'm having some fun, and I am getting a good workout. I've lost 10 pounds since I started. So things are going well.
I'm still digging test holes around the old time hard rock mines in the hope I will find where the gold has drifted downhill below these mines. So far just a couple specks here and there. I figure I just have to move laterally one way or the other before I get something better Of course, I' don't really know if the old timers stripped the hillsides. Even if they have, they apparently aren't as thorough as I am. I hope that I may be lucky and find a larger piece of gold that the old timers, previous placer miners, and detectorists have missed.
Hope everyone is having as much fun as I have been having.

 

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[Assembler]

As written, "approximately", so there could be tens, if not hundreds of thousands more added to the 3/4 million. In other words, this post wasn't meant to provide something even close, but to give the curious an idea of the massive number of particles involved to make just one troy ounce of gold.

PS - Somewhere I read that someone had calculated that over 1.5 million of these particles. One reason why two years into collecting such fine gold, I only had come up with 6 1/2 grams. My goals is to get 10 grams, and then melt it into a button.

Who is willing to take the time and count?
Tens to hundreds of thousands sounds close enough to me........LOL.

Hey remember the metal detector can help you locate iron and there could be some valuable colors or better next to it that you can spot with your eyes?

 

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[Assembler]

Yes, I've seen a chart similar to the one referenced. One reason for my curiosity is the fact that some of the gold particles I've recovered are so small, a loupe with greater than 5 power was needed to observe them individually. Amazing what a finely tuned sluice can recover. Based on my microscope with installed size graph, a few were as small as 800 mesh. Now I can't find that microscope anymore. Probably lost in the clutter of my storage shed.

The 5 power to maybe up to 20 power should work well to spot micro values that may lead to spotting bigger colors you can see with your eyes. The microscope may not be needed unless you are following a line in the rock that you may think is pinched out.

 

[desertgolddigger]

The 5 power to maybe up to 20 power should work well to spot micro values that may lead to spotting bigger colors you can see with your eyes. The microscope may not be needed unless you are following a line in the rock that you may think is pinched out.

I rarely find any rock that shows visible gold on its exterior. Most of the time I look for indicators, oxides, or coloration, that may mean gold is inside, or as some rock sometimes has, a thin seam of mineralization. It's slow going when you have tens of tons of material to pick through. Guess that's the fun of it.

 

[Assembler]

I rarely find any rock that shows visible gold on its exterior. Most of the time I look for indicators, oxides, or coloration, that may mean gold is inside, or as some rock sometimes has, a thin seam of mineralization. It's slow going when you have tens of tons of material to pick through. Guess that's the fun of it.

Well if one of the indicator rock in your area happens to be iron you should have no problem of first spotting it, second you may find a mineralized crusty type of zone around the iron that could have other minerals in it such as gold?
A swarm of colors is common around some iron deposits and can be spotted by your eyes in very good light.
Thin seams of mineralization is also good for spotting colors.
The hunt is the fun part no matter what the rock pile is like.

P.S. Glad to see you got your handle name back :-)

 

[desertgolddigger]

Not much going on of late. Placer mining is basically a bust, as I was only getting a few hundredths of a gram per ton of material moved. I decided to quit until early October, as the heat will be here soon.

I got a chance to prospect several old timer waste piles to see if they contained any worthwhile gold. Three did have gold, but aren't worth the effort. If I had a big setup like a jaw crusher to hammer mill to shaker table, and could process a few tons a day, these old piles would probably give a gram or so per day. But I'm just a backyard type with a chain mill, electric sifter, and sluices, giving me a few hundredths per day. I know many of you don't like the term hobby miner, but that's basically what I am. Never going to pay for my equipment, or the fuel I use.

Three other piles I checked had slightly better gold, but nothing to get excited about.

I'm working one waste pile that may be giving me fair gold, and I'm happy with that.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Got a Question: I purchased what is call the Vortex Gold Trap Mat some time ago to replace my ribbed carpet matting in my big sluice. This isn't the spiral, or Dream mat design. I believe Gold Hog used it years ago.

I finally cut the pieces I needed, and installed it.

Ran a test, but wasn't happy with the results. I think that is because I installed expanded metal riffles over these mats. It caused a buildup of sand atop the mats.

I get the feeling that the design helps eliminate things like that, and the riffles aren't needed.

I did get a lot of my usual, super fine gold though.

The question is to whomever has experience with this product, and is my assumption of the expanded metal riffle overlay the cause for the sand buildup.

If I can eliminate that thick layer of sand, maybe I can run the sluice longer than the 25 cups of material I've had to limit myself per sluicing round. My sluice matting is 9 inches wide, and 36 inches long. I would think I could run at least twice that amount of material. Problem is I don't understand a lot about the fluid dynamics when it comes to catching gold, and moving lighter material through the sluice.

EDITED: the maximum size of my material is 80 mesh, as I rarely find anything larger. I just drywash the larger material

 

[southfork]

Got a Question: I purchased what is call the Vortex Gold Trap Mat some time ago to replace my ribbed carpet matting in my big sluice. This isn't the spiral, or Dream mat design. I believe Gold Hog used it years ago.

I finally cut the pieces I needed, and installed it.

Ran a test, but wasn't happy with the results. I think that is because I installed expanded metal riffles over these mats. It caused a buildup of sand atop the mats.

I get the feeling that the design helps eliminate things like that, and the riffles aren't needed.

I did get a lot of my usual, super fine gold though.

The question is to whomever has experience with this product, and is my assumption of the expanded metal riffle overlay the cause for the sand buildup.

If I can eliminate that thick layer of sand, maybe I can run the sluice longer than the 25 cups of material I've had to limit myself per sluicing round. My sluice matting is 9 inches wide, and 36 inches long. I would think I could run at least twice that amount of material. Problem is I don't understand a lot about the fluid dynamics when it comes to catching gold, and moving lighter material through the sluice.

EDITED: the maximum size of my material is 80 mesh, as I rarely find anything larger. I just drywash the larger material

Try it without the riffle I run just a ribbed mat catches the fine stuff great.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Try it without the riffle I run just a ribbed mat catches the fine stuff great.

I'll try that tomorrow. I want to watch the blond sands to see if they move down the sluice, or pile up. I'm guessing that part of the trick is adjusting the water pressure just to the point where those blond sands do move.

I Googled a question to the AI they have doing those questions, and it said that a 500 mesh piece of gold will displace an 80 mesh piece of white sand. If that's true, these mats may allow me to run my sluice longer.

 

[N-Lionberger]

The rough top conveyor belt material as far as I have seen is best run by itself and on sluice startup you need to clear air bubbles from the mat using a brush. Hope this picture makes you feel better about your placer mining situation cause this is mine LOL! That’s my 5” mercury remediation dredge on the bottom with pump peaking out.

 

[Gold:Au]

Got a Question: I purchased what is call the Vortex Gold Trap Mat some time ago to replace my ribbed carpet matting in my big sluice. This isn't the spiral, or Dream mat design. I believe Gold Hog used it years ago.

I finally cut the pieces I needed, and installed it.

Ran a test, but wasn't happy with the results. I think that is because I installed expanded metal riffles over these mats. It caused a buildup of sand atop the mats.

I get the feeling that the design helps eliminate things like that, and the riffles aren't needed.

I did get a lot of my usual, super fine gold though.

The question is to whomever has experience with this product, and is my assumption of the expanded metal riffle overlay the cause for the sand buildup.

If I can eliminate that thick layer of sand, maybe I can run the sluice longer than the 25 cups of material I've had to limit myself per sluicing round. My sluice matting is 9 inches wide, and 36 inches long. I would think I could run at least twice that amount of material. Problem is I don't understand a lot about the fluid dynamics when it comes to catching gold, and moving lighter material through the sluice.

EDITED: the maximum size of my material is 80 mesh, as I rarely find anything larger. I just drywash the larger material

Yep, lose the riffles, they are hindering the process.

Think of vortex matting as horizontal riffles. As the slurry flows over the top, the fine gold sinks to the bottom layer and gets caught up in the vortices. Additional riffles prevent that initial stratification and pulls out captured gold.

 

[Gold:Au]

BTW, have you seen this?

 

[desertgolddigger]

Yep, lose the riffles, they are hindering the process.

Think of vortex matting as horizontal riffles. As the slurry flows over the top, the fine gold sinks to the bottom layer and gets caught up in the vortices. Additional riffles prevent that initial stratification and pulls out captured gold.

Thanks so much for that info. I just had the feeling something was amiss.

Yes, I watched that video. If I were to use something like that, I would still need to classify everything, so that heavier material didn't bully the lighter material. I've the motors, controllers, and other stuff to build something similar, but like the shaker table Jim in Idaho tried to help me make, I just don't have the skills to make mechanical things work. I have trouble just using an electric screwdriver.

I own a drywasher, which is powered by a 12 amp corded blower motor, which is powered by a large generator. But this little table would run a long time off a small car battery. But I would still have to classify the material down to something that would be able to move through this little table.

Maybe, while we have our scorching summer, I can figure out how to build something lightweight enough for the field. I'm ki.nd of tired lifting a 105 pound generator up and down from my truck.

 

[desertgolddigger]

The rough top conveyor belt material as far as I have seen is best run by itself and on sluice startup you need to clear air bubbles from the mat using a brush. Hope this picture makes you feel better about your placer mining situation cause this is mine LOL! That’s my 5” mercury remediation dredge on the bottom with pump peaking out.

Yeah, you situation looks pretty rough. Be safe doing that.

I'm a backyard operation, so I'm very limited on space. Don't have a garage. Just have a pieced together 8x8x8 shed, with most of my equipment outside, and covered with water resistant covers.

I'd love a small jaw crusher, with a conveyor to a mill, and a conveyor to a sifter, then to my sluice. It'd be much less labor intensive.

Problem is I live in the city, and am surrounded by other properties, one of which is an AirBNB rental, which means I have to wait until 7AM to do anything noisy. And even then, those tourists give me the evil eye.

But my gold take is pitiful, and any more investment will never get paid for. Gosh, I've only paid for my drywasher and the two chain mills, one of which got housing metal fatigue after five years of use, and developed a six inch crack.

So I just try maximizing my take with careful sluicing.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I did two test runs with the new Vortex Gold Trap matting without the expanded metal riffles this morning. One run was with the very poor blond sand I dug from an old waste pile. Got maybe 100 specks of gold in my normal 25 cup run. This was actually better than I had been getting with my carpet mats.

The second run was again with pretty poor material from various old waste piles. Again, not much, but maybe a few hundred tiny specks.

I have one problem with this new matting. Once it gets wet, the fabric backing, which I assume is to make gluing it down easier is warping lengthwise. Even using side push down strips held against the side with clamps doesn't get rid of the bowing completely.

So I'm going to purchase some 1/8 inch thick aluminum sheeting, and glue the matting to them. My big sluice is fixed, so the mats must be removeable to clean.

Anyway, I believe the new matting is possibly better than my old carpet matting, but is a pain right now without being stiffened/flattened by a backing. Good thing is the worthless debris is about a quarter what I was picking up with the carpeting. And I only have to do one round on the cleanup sluice. Panning was super easy.

 

[russau]

BTW, have you seen this?

Thanks for showing this dry table ! Great idea & for showing the plans ! I don't need one anymore BUT I really like this !

 

[southfork]

Not much going on of late. Placer mining is basically a bust, as I was only getting a few hundredths of a gram per ton of material moved. I decided to quit until early October, as the heat will be here soon.

I got a chance to prospect several old timer waste piles to see if they contained any worthwhile gold. Three did have gold, but aren't worth the effort. If I had a big setup like a jaw crusher to hammer mill to shaker table, and could process a few tons a day, these old piles would probably give a gram or so per day. But I'm just a backyard type with a chain mill, electric sifter, and sluices, giving me a few hundredths per day. I know many of you don't like the term hobby miner, but that's basically what I am. Never going to pay for my equipment, or the fuel I use.

Three other piles I checked had slightly better gold, but nothing to get excited about.

I'm working one waste pile that may be giving me fair gold, and I'm happy with that.

Not sure if you have a small furnace or not but I roast all my samples makes it easier to crush. In fact, some of it just falls apart, and it helps to release gold encapsulated within the ore. I just posted some result photos of my last crush some of the gold is microscopic

 

[desertgolddigger]

Not sure if you have a small furnace or not but I roast all my samples makes it easier to crush. In fact, some of it just falls apart, and it helps to release gold encapsulated within the ore. I just posted some result photos of my last crush some of the gold is microscopic

Yes I have an electric and a propane gas. I use the electric just for melting gold. I guess this means the gas one might be best for roasting samples in a crucible. I was going to roast some of the heavier material (not black sand) that I've accumulated to see if there might be gold lurking in it.

 

[southfork]

Yes I have an electric and a propane gas. I use the electric just for melting gold. I guess this means the gas one might be best for roasting samples in a crucible. I was going to roast some of the heavier material (not black sand) that I've accumulated to see if there might be gold lurking in it.

I just stack it in the propane furnace without a crucible 10-12 minutes per load. But my furnace has seen better days pick the hot rocks out with tongs place in a steel bucket sometimes the rock falls apart let it cool and keep out of the weather. the chain mill loves dry small pieces. I smash the large pieces with a single jack small is better.

 

[desertgolddigger]

This is a review of the Vortex Gold Trap mat after two test, the last of which was more scientific.

NOTE: When I prepare a load for insertion into my bulk sluice, I do the same thing every time. I put five cups of material, which is 80 mesh and smaller. I add

My sluice is one of those three part fold up sluices I converted to be my bulk material sluice. I use a gutter sluice with ribbed matting as my cleanup sluice. two quarts of water, and then take a stick, and rapidly stir the contents to break up material that likes to clump int. clay like balls. I stir/agitate the material fifty times. I then pour into the upper portion of the sluice in small amounts until two thirds of the volume is through the sluice. I then swirl the bucket 20 times to further breakup the larger material that's settle in the bucket bottom. I then pour a small amount, then swirl five times, pour, then swirl, etc., until the pail is empty. I do this procedure five times for a total of 25 cups of material. I know it soulds slow and tedious, but I've estimated a 95 percent catch rate.

On my first test, My bulk sluice had all three areas covered with the Vortex mats. I cleaned out everything all at once, including flushing the bottom of the sluice bed.

Results looked good, though, at the time I hadn't evaluated the size of the gold particles. My subconscious was telling me they looked larger than normal, and I confirmed this with my second test this morning.

The bulk sluice had the Vortex mat only in the upper third. The two lower slots were covered with my carpet mats, overlayed with aluminum expanded mesh. I poured 25 cups of material through the sluice.

I took off the Vortex mat, and cleaned it, and processed that material through my cleanup sluice. I did separate cleanups for mat #@ (carpet, and mat #3 carpet. I flushed the bottom, and added that to my #3 mat pan.

Results are #1 pan (Vortex mat) gold larger than 150 mesh, maybe 100 particles.
#2 pan (carpet mat) gold smaller than 250 mesh, estimated at several hundred particles
#3 pan (carpet mat and sluice bed flush material) gold smaller than 250 mesh, maybe 10 specks, which I feel were from the sluice bed flush material.

My conclusions for the Vortex mats is that they are good for catching gold 250 plus mesh, but fail with anything smaller. I would recommend the Vortex mat for anyone doing placer mining cleanups.

But when it comes to gold smaller than 150 mesh, you need to use a a carpet mat, or other type of mat that can trap this smaller gold.

The Vortex mat, as with the Dream Mats and it's clones just aren't designed for capturing micron gold, though they do catch a tiny bit. They pretty much let the micron gold blow completely through the sluice. Lowering water flow in these Vortex/Dream mats only causes them to silt up, and allow the micron gold to blow through anyway.

I'm sure there will be a big difference of opinion about these mats, but this is what I've found sluicing over five years, and testing these mats.

 

[southfork]

This is a review of the Vortex Gold Trap mat after two test, the last of which was more scientific.

NOTE: When I prepare a load for insertion into my bulk sluice, I do the same thing every time. I put five cups of material, which is 80 mesh and smaller. I add

My sluice is one of those three part fold up sluices I converted to be my bulk material sluice. I use a gutter sluice with ribbed matting as my cleanup sluice. two quarts of water, and then take a stick, and rapidly stir the contents to break up material that likes to clump int. clay like balls. I stir/agitate the material fifty times. I then pour into the upper portion of the sluice in small amounts until two thirds of the volume is through the sluice. I then swirl the bucket 20 times to further breakup the larger material that's settle in the bucket bottom. I then pour a small amount, then swirl five times, pour, then swirl, etc., until the pail is empty. I do this procedure five times for a total of 25 cups of material. I know it soulds slow and tedious, but I've estimated a 95 percent catch rate.

On my first test, My bulk sluice had all three areas covered with the Vortex mats. I cleaned out everything all at once, including flushing the bottom of the sluice bed.

Results looked good, though, at the time I hadn't evaluated the size of the gold particles. My subconscious was telling me they looked larger than normal, and I confirmed this with my second test this morning.

The bulk sluice had the Vortex mat only in the upper third. The two lower slots were covered with my carpet mats, overlayed with aluminum expanded mesh. I poured 25 cups of material through the sluice.

I took off the Vortex mat, and cleaned it, and processed that material through my cleanup sluice. I did separate cleanups for mat #@ (carpet, and mat #3 carpet. I flushed the bottom, and added that to my #3 mat pan.

Results are #1 pan (Vortex mat) gold larger than 150 mesh, maybe 100 particles.
#2 pan (carpet mat) gold smaller than 250 mesh, estimated at several hundred particles
#3 pan (carpet mat and sluice bed flush material) gold smaller than 250 mesh, maybe 10 specks, which I feel were from the sluice bed flush material.

My conclusions for the Vortex mats is that they are good for catching gold 250 plus mesh, but fail with anything smaller. I would recommend the Vortex mat for anyone doing placer mining cleanups.

But when it comes to gold smaller than 150 mesh, you need to use a a carpet mat, or other type of mat that can trap this smaller gold.

The Vortex mat, as with the Dream Mats and it's clones just aren't designed for capturing micron gold, though they do catch a tiny bit. They pretty much let the micron gold blow completely through the sluice. Lowering water flow in these Vortex/Dream mats only causes them to silt up, and allow the micron gold to blow through anyway.

I'm sure there will be a big difference of opinion about these mats, but this is what I've found sluicing over five years, and testing these mats.

Nice test I don't think most of the miners on here are catching that micro gold. My cleanup sluice is rubber ribbed the whole length looks like floor mat controlling the water flow and some dish soap I'm catching micron gold. I need a loupe to even see it unless there's a lot here's some floating on top of a mercury ball looks like gold paint. Happy Mining