Screened Material Freezing While Feeding My Mini La'Trap

[John-Edmonton]

Finally, my buddy and I got to try out our Le'Trap mini sluices today. Most of the water had a thin layer of ice on it, so that had to be broken. We each filled up nearly one 5 gallon bucket....one screened to 12 mesh, the other to 20 mesh. Next, we properly set up our mini sluices to a slight angle....enough to keep the screened concentrates moving along the riffles, yet not blowing them out or packing them. Adding the concentrates was a long process, as the wet concentrates in the bucket starting to produce small frozen clumps, which took even longer to break up at the upper sluice end. So, to compensate for the freezing, we had to add water to the concentrate bucket and keep stirring the concentrate muck, which surprisingly worked well. It was cold all day, well below freezing

in the river valleys. Below are my finds......one bucket filled with 12 mesh. We never did go metal detecting as planned......the sun just sets way too early!

 

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[russau]

The next time you go out and it's cold.........Make a small fire next to you and use a metal 5 gallon bucket for your cons and keep it close to the fire to slightly warm up the cons water and yourself! Warm water is better to pan or cleanup cons because gold to drop out of suspension . But your picture is worth a million words!

 

[N-Lionberger]

Having used the mini how does it compare to the regular size LeTrap? I was thinking about getting one to sample.

 

[Assembler]

The next time you go out and it's cold.........Make a small fire next to you and use a metal 5 gallon bucket for your cons and keep it close to the fire to slightly warm up the cons water and yourself! Warm water is better to pan or cleanup cons because gold to drop out of suspension . But your picture is worth a million words!

Excellent tip russau. I'm wondering if a thread about just this would have some following as out here in the west a lot of work now has to be done during the cold months now that there has been a lot of fires burning off the trees / fuel load that the FS has let go for the last 50 years plus.

Welding up a stove or maybe rivet up a sheet metal stove etc. Any ideas here ...........thanks.

 

[russau]

Well it all depends on what you want the stove todo for you ! Something that you've described would probley be another heavy object to carry to where your panning at . BUT the bucket idea would carry some of your tools to the spot and hopefully back to your vehical when done for the day!

 

[Assembler]

Well it all depends on what you want the stove todo for you ! Something that you've described would probley be another heavy object to carry to where your panning at . BUT the bucket idea would carry some of your tools to the spot and hopefully back to your vehical when done for the day!

One has to make these decisions as one goes. I'm thinking a 5 gallon sheet metal type of stove to start with.

 

[delnorter]

Having used the mini how does it compare to the regular size LeTrap? I was thinking about getting one to sample.

Yes John, I’m also interested in the LeTrap mini And how you like it. I’ve had the standard size for a long time. I would be nice to have the small version for packing along the rivers for sampling plus.

Mike

 

[Assembler]

One has to make these decisions as one goes. I'm thinking a 5 gallon sheet metal type of stove to start with.

Maybe someone will start a stove type of thread with some great pictures and ideas.

 

[John-Edmonton]

The next time you go out and it's cold.........Make a small fire next to you and use a metal 5 gallon bucket for your cons and keep it close to the fire to slightly warm up the cons water and yourself! Warm water is better to pan or cleanup cons because gold to drop out of suspension . But your picture is worth a million words!

That's a great idea.....Thanks!

 

[John-Edmonton]

Having used the mini how does it compare to the regular size LeTrap? I was thinking about getting one to sample.

Well, no comparison really. I use the full size Le'Trap as a highbanker, and can run a lot of gravel through it in a day. Now the mini, well, it's used as a river sluice. I use it specifically for flour gold. It works great in a smaller body of running water. Takes a bit to tune it, but once running properly, it handles my classified (10 mesh) material quite well. I am impressed at how well it hangs onto the flour gold. Like it's full size sluice relative, the concentrates are minimal. I also have used it with my fluid bed concentrator, and works well. The sluice is so light, fits in a 5 gallon pail and is great for hiking and getting gold too.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Yes John, I’m also interested in the LeTrap mini And how you like it. I’ve had the standard size for a long time. I would be nice to have the small version for packing along the rivers for sampling plus.

Mike

Mike, you nailed it! A shovel, a couple small containers, a screen and the mini. There are days when hauling all your equipment (pump, hoses, gas, highbanker etc.) just isn't a recipe for a good day. So, travel lightly and still get some gold. The mini isn't going to break the bank either!

 

[N-Lionberger]

I’m mostly concerned with the fines as the big pieces take care of themselves. The places I usually work well except for Kanaka have more fines than big pieces and the stuff really ads up.