Processing at home

[NuggetN8]

This summer I'm going to have A LOT of dirt to process. The thing is I usually end up having to pan it in a wheelbarrow in the back yard. What would be the best cost efficient piece of equipment I could use to process dirt in my back yard? I get tired of sitting on a bucket trying to pan in a wheelbarrow it's a very awkward position to pan in. Plus I don't really like sitting around in 90+ dregree weather. It would be nice to have some type of recirculating sluice or something. If I have to pan it than I will but if anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated =] . (Oh yeah I forgot the wheelbarrow won't even work to pan in anymore because it has a big crack in it now..)

 

[AlwaysBusyJ]

Is this straight up dirt, cons, or classified material? I'm not sure how much dirt is a lot for you, but there are plenty of good recirculating setups out there. I like using the goldcube for what I do. Doesn't require a huge amount of water to run and is a great way to quickly reduce a lot of paydirt to just a cup of cons. It might be a little pricey though, think it runs about $500 or so, but it's a good investment and saves a ton of time.

 

[favored papa]

go to a feed store (for live stock food) look for a black plastic tub. mine is about 18 inch by 24 inch. Make a table any height,( three buckets and a piece of plywood) better than a wheelbarrow. Next step up, add a landscape pump and build a mini sauce. hh

 

[AzViper]

The black tub that papa is speaking of is like this. Under $5.00 and Home Depot...

 

[wingmaster]

Walmart has big rope handled plastic tubs, thats what I've been using to pan the material in but also built a stand to set my sluice in to make it a recirculating setup with bilge pumps. The stand was made from 1" pvc pipe and have a bracket to adjust the level of the sluice.

 

[Frank G]

There is an under water flow, or under flow sluice set up that I saw on you tube by "the grumpy prospector" I have not tried it, but it might be worth taking a look at it. Im also looking for some one to finnish the 1,400 lbs I have in my garage from my claims which I can no longer do because of my heart issues.
what I have is very prestine and contains 2-4 oz's of gold and platinum per pound. good luck to you my friend.

 

[NuggetN8]

Is this straight up dirt, cons, or classified material? I'm not sure how much dirt is a lot for you, but there are plenty of good recirculating setups out there. I like using the goldcube for what I do. Doesn't require a huge amount of water to run and is a great way to quickly reduce a lot of paydirt to just a cup of cons. It might be a little pricey though, think it runs about $500 or so, but it's a good investment and saves a ton of time.

Straight material out of a creek bed. Gravel sand and rocks of all sizes. I've got 20ft sq ft of material varying from 1-2ft deep. It's still in the creek at the moment.. I have to wait for the creek to dry up then I get to haul it home. I'll be classifying it before I do anything with it.

 

[goldenIrishman]

You can make a recirc sluice setup for well under $100 and a trip to Lowes or Home Despot. I'm in the desert and our place is on a well which is why I went with a recirc setup. I don't want to be running the well dry. 1x6 for the bottom of the sluice with 1x4s for the sides. Mine is 6ft in length and I even made up a set of Hungarian riffles for it. Water is moved by a 750 gph 12 volt bildge pump and it works really well on classified materials. Ribbed carpet lines the bottom with plastic gutter mesh on top of that. Stand was made from some old 2x4s that I had left over from another project and allows me to stand in a comfortable position while working. Panning still takes place in a construction wheelbarrow but I'm working on that as well. I'm also working on some other ideas for modifications and will post them to the forum if they work out.

My sluice has been recovering flour gold very well and I'm sure it will work on larger color too. (As soon as I find it that is)

 

[mtau]

If you are waiting for the creek to dry up, why don't you get a sluice and run the gravel there? Then you can bring the concentrates home to pan.

 

[NuggetN8]

If you are waiting for the creek to dry up, why don't you get a sluice and run the gravel there? Then you can bring the concentrates home to pan.

The hole is 4.5-5ft underwater. I've tried to come up with all sorts of crazy ways to divert the water around the hole then drain it, or gravity dredge it etc.. But I decided letting it dry up would be the best way to go. And the creek isn't running good enough to sluice at the moment. Although there's a lot of water in the hole, it's because it's just a deep hole. Not sufficient flow going out. I was sluicing it for a while but it's a little too deep to do anything with now since I've removed a lot of the overburden inside the hole.

 

[NuggetN8]

You can make a recirc sluice setup for well under $100 and a trip to Lowes or Home Despot. I'm in the desert and our place is on a well which is why I went with a recirc setup. I don't want to be running the well dry. 1x6 for the bottom of the sluice with 1x4s for the sides. Mine is 6ft in length and I even made up a set of Hungarian riffles for it. Water is moved by a 750 gph 12 volt bildge pump and it works really well on classified materials. Ribbed carpet lines the bottom with plastic gutter mesh on top of that. Stand was made from some old 2x4s that I had left over from another project and allows me to stand in a comfortable position while working. Panning still takes place in a construction wheelbarrow but I'm working on that as well. I'm also working on some other ideas for modifications and will post them to the forum if they work out.

My sluice has been recovering flour gold very well and I'm sure it will work on larger color too. (As soon as I find it that is)

I might have to make one of those. Thanks!

 

[pmgsourdough]

I personally use a Keene super concentrator, but i normally process 1000 pounds of concentrates every 30 days. The keene is my personal favorite, but overkill for most prospectors.

 

[Andy D]

You can make a recirc sluice setup for well under $100 and a trip to Lowes or Home Despot. I'm in the desert and our place is on a well which is why I went with a recirc setup. I don't want to be running the well dry. 1x6 for the bottom of the sluice with 1x4s for the sides. Mine is 6ft in length and I even made up a set of Hungarian riffles for it. Water is moved by a 750 gph 12 volt bildge pump and it works really well on classified materials. Ribbed carpet lines the bottom with plastic gutter mesh on top of that. Stand was made from some old 2x4s that I had left over from another project and allows me to stand in a comfortable position while working. Panning still takes place in a construction wheelbarrow but I'm working on that as well. I'm also working on some other ideas for modifications and will post them to the forum if they work out.

My sluice has been recovering flour gold very well and I'm sure it will work on larger color too. (As soon as I find it that is)

What's the minimum GPH you think I could get away with on the bilge pump to run the recirc system on my Keene A52? I'm looking at a pretty cheap one but it's only 500 GPH.

 

[pmgsourdough]

500 gph would work, but you will need to classify material to 12. I use a 1200 gph bilge pump for sampling dry areas where i need to recirculate and haul in water. Classifying at 2.

 

[Aurabbit79er]

This summer I'm going to have A LOT of dirt to process. The thing is I usually end up having to pan it in a wheelbarrow in the back yard. What would be the best cost efficient piece of equipment I could use to process dirt in my back yard? I get tired of sitting on a bucket trying to pan in a wheelbarrow it's a very awkward position to pan in. Plus I don't really like sitting around in 90+ dregree weather. It would be nice to have some type of recirculating sluice or something. If I have to pan it than I will but if anyone has any ideas it would be greatly appreciated =] . (Oh yeah I forgot the wheelbarrow won't even work to pan in anymore because it has a big crack in it now..)

I have often brought back extra material with my cons so I built this to run my $40 EZ Sluice. I uses a 1/4 hp Harbor Freight Sump pump.
Here it a prototype to get you thinking. I now have field tested it in the desert. It worked like I designed it.





I need to up load my desert video of this wash plant

 

[Frank G]

Hi azviper, have you tried this system, and do you know if it would work on gold and platinum head ore milled down to about -350 mesh?
Also, how would a sulfide ore effect the out come?

 

[discordia]

I want that EZ sluice circulating pump thing so awesome. I'm still new at this but as summer approaches where I live the streams dry up. And the idea of bringing some water and sampling and bringing home some buckets of material then running it through a sluice at home sounds like a good idea.

 

[marke17026]

Where do you live, I may be able to help you out?

 

[Aurabbit79er]

Here is the latest video showing the plant running out in the deep desert in Mojave California. The plant worke well but my drywasher may have a problem.
I didn't find much and I was in 2 different hot zones.



I have to run some tests on my gear.

 

[Fabrication Specialists]

What's the minimum GPH you think I could get away with on the bilge pump to run the recirc system on my Keene A52? I'm looking at a pretty cheap one but it's only 500 GPH.

You'll need atleast 1200 gph for the A52 and that's going to be really close due to the width. DON'T get a Harbor Freight bilge pump, WalMart sells decent Tsunami pumps for about $37 and they're much better quality. Remember a bigger pump can be turned down with valves and larger pumps allow you more options for future expansion.