Video - Proportional Force

[goldhog]

Part One of our "tuning" series I've been working on for a while.
Before getting into the specifics of TUNING... one really has to understand proportional force.
Yes... it's one of those boring "learning videos" but it shows a LOT of different equipment running,
flows, etc. Part Two will deal specifically with tuning.


Doc

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Solid video!

 

[russau]

Good video Doc! Im ready for the next video.....

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

Yes... it's one of those boring "learning videos"

I have to disagree with that, Doc. I is definitely NOT boring. Science is never boring

Michael

 

[goldhog]

Believe it or not... I'm sending this one to commercial ops now that are having recovery issues
or wanting to add an additional sluice on their plant.

I think it's the first step in understanding good recovery as well as building and designing equipment.

It's how we got this plant to better understand how they needed to reconfigure their sluices.

 

[russau]

I didn't hear the audio (voice) but I heard the equipment running...

 

[goldhog]

I didn't hear the audio (voice) but I heard the equipment running...

No voices...
They shot this video after converting their sluices over from expanded and moss over to bare mats.
You'll notice the two 36" wide sluices have been divided into four 18" wide sluices for the mats.
They later added a second sluice which is shown below being added.
We reduced the water DEPTH... and removed all turbulence due to heavy losses from slurry viscosity.
Same issue Todd had in the jungle that season.

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

It would be cool to see the original setup at work for comparison because the new setup is sooo..... smooooth

 

[goldhog]

It would be cool to see the original setup at work for comparison because the new setup is sooo..... smooooth

I didn't save any of the old footage.
But they did the best controlled testing I've ever seen.
Group of smart guys from the US.
Varying setups with 4 lb expanded, moss, riffles, etc.
Close to 100 controlled tests varying from 50 - 70% losses on fines no matter what they did.
I do have a copy of all the documented tests, but not allowed to share.
Pretty cool stuff.
Doc

Old sluice below.

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

Thanks Doc,
quite interesting that they did not use any higher riffles, just expanded metal.
What I don't understand: If you reduce the water DEPTH, it means that you reduce the Gph.
So having less water and processing the same amount of dirt, the viscosity should increase and therefore boosting the scour effect even more....

Michael

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

You can reduce water depth and maintain the same flow volume by increasing the sluice slope.
You can also increase the box width if you want to reduce water depth without increasing water speed.
Point being you don't have less water necessarily.

 

[goldhog]

Thanks Doc,
quite interesting that they did not use any higher riffles, just expanded metal.
What I don't understand: If you reduce the water DEPTH, it means that you reduce the Gph.
So having less water and processing the same amount of dirt, the viscosity should increase and therefore boosting the scour effect even more....

Michael

They tried every combination that exists on the earth.
Just expanded, just riffles, riffles and expanded, you name it.
That's when they came to us.
After studying the GREAT footage they had it was pretty clear.
They are running lower velocity mats bare... just like a regular highbanker.
They reduced the water volume on the first sluice 50%... so they added the second sluice.
Now back up to original feed rate and capture rates about 90% which for that area... is VERY strong.

They run 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This was their first 7 days on bare mats.

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

Aaah, thanks
to me it looked like they did just replace the sluice (same width), same pitch, which made no sense to me.
But using two sluices lead to doubling the width while reducing the water depth /2
Thanks for clarification!

Michael

 

[Capt Nemo]

They tried every combination that exists on the earth.
Just expanded, just riffles, riffles and expanded, you name it.
That's when they came to us.
After studying the GREAT footage they had it was pretty clear.
They are running lower velocity mats bare... just like a regular highbanker.
They reduced the water volume on the first sluice 50%... so they added the second sluice.
Now back up to original feed rate and capture rates about 90% which for that area... is VERY strong.

They run 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This was their first 7 days on bare mats.

View attachment 1343219

Add some punchplate at the tail to classify the fines into a fluid bed, and I bet they could get that last 10% captured. Just depends HOW fine the gold they're chasing is, and what's falling off the sluice.

 

[AUT_Fraggle]

Add some punchplate at the tail to classify the fines into a fluid bed, and I bet they could get that last 10% captured. Just depends HOW fine the gold they're chasing is, and what's falling off the sluice.

Or you end up with hydraulic riffles like Parker in Gold Rush

 

[goldhog]

Add some punchplate at the tail to classify the fines into a fluid bed, and I bet they could get that last 10% captured.
Just depends HOW fine the gold they're chasing is, and what's falling off the sluice.


They did run jigs at the end and did capture a bit more, but keep in mind it's a 100 yard an hour plant,
so kind of hard to manage / work tailings.

Or you end up with hydraulic riffles like Parker in Gold Rush

Not the issue there. It's not impaction from heavies, but slurry viscosity that was causing the issue.

 

[Capt Nemo]

A fluid bed the width of that sluice, 3" deep, with 36" of run could easily process that much. It would also cut the viscosity with the added water. A jig runs at a dead stop compared to a fluid bed. Look how fast your electrical box fluid bed could process. (though I think you're running that bed too hot in the video) The biggest drawback is the large amount of cons that need to be taken down at the end of the run. You would have 4.5 cubic feet of cons from that bed that need to get superconcentrated for cleanup.