Trommel to Where?

[OreCart]

It is apparent, that while my heart is set upon hard rock mining, my recent test panning of my gravel pit has shown by volume and size, that it would be best to start a mining operation from there. It is still a challenging situation because my gravel pit has a lot of fines in it. I would have to do more testing, but I would say well over 50% will pass through a 1/4 screen straight out of the bank. In all the videos I have seen on YouTube, all seem to have lots of rocky gravel, so I do not see people dealing with what I have.

I can see where a trammel will be a first stage screen, but then where too? I do not see a sluice as being able to sort out the fine gold I have, in that much fine gravel, effectively.

I like the idea of a concentrator, but I am unsure if that will handle that much fine gravel being moved through it either?

When I typed up my question in Google, it brought me to a forum conversation where it was stated no one runs concentrators, but use jigs instead. Those did not look like they could move that much material though.

I am not looking for a huge amount of production, maybe a few cubic yards an hour?

 

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[arizau]

If I had your problem, and your mobile equipment, this is my first thought on how I might approach it:

Grizzly first to 1 or 2" under size used to feed a trommel and over/under sluice box. Additional classification is done by washing it over or through appropriately sized punch plate or screens at the head end of the sluice setup separating the final feed for each sluice section. The two stages of classification after the grizzly should create feed that each sluice section can easily handle then concentrate efficiently depending on how the capture media* is set up for both. Oh and just in case, metal detect the trommel tails and grizzly over size. Those pieces that sound off or are otherwise suspect for potential values can be stockpiled for further processing through a crusher.

Good luck.

* Mats, riffles, expanded metal, miners moss, etc.