water speed

[ctjonb]

hello all, I was wondering how fast should my water be in a sluice box ? I am using one for the first time. I constructed a homemade box similar to a pic 2cmorau had sent me in another posting titled
( Sluice box ) its 5ft long and 10" wide i am using just screen with both carpet and miners moss, I do not have ripples in it. we took it on a test run and tried various speeds, wasn't sure is it natural to have black sand at the end of your box ? or should it all be caught in the carpet. as is there's maybe flour gold in this river in Conn, so I have to be extra watchful

also I am guessing the iron ore is that what I pick up with a magnet ? is there any use for this other than making a home made exer sketch hahahah
like when I was kid, that was a fun toy.
my daughter was having fun with this stuff on a plate with a magnet underneath of it.
I found a lot of this material far as Gold at Best Maybe one super small flake
I have to look at it with a eye loop or magnifier, it is that small you could see it and it did not move in pan while swirling it, while the rest of the black sand was moving so I am guess I may be found a trace ?? there is a TON of Mica in this river, a lot of quartz and bed rock showing everywhere, its listed as a gold bearing river in Conn, I am gonna go dig some more tommorow can't this is fun I am loving this what better thing to do between hunting and fishing seasons and during the dog days of summer
no matter it was fun playing in the river and not having to work today

 

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[B H Prospector]

Hi ctjonb,
If your waste material washes out in less than 15 sec then the water flow is too fast. If your riffles are filling up with material it is flowing too slow. You will get a certain amount of material build up in the riffles but it should be heavies (black sand, garnets, gold and other heavy material). The black material that your daughter was playing with is magnetite, an iron oxide.

Good luck!

B H Prospector

 

[TerryC]

B H is right.... 15 secs, too fast. More than 35 secs, too slow. I llke to send the water down the chute just fast enough to get some bubbles on the downslope of the riffles in a CLEAN sluice. Frothy bubbles, to me, is too fast. Cleaning out the riffles, while still set up, using a gloved hand, CAN be done, if done into a bucket. Most all of your gold should be under the bottom of the riffles (usually up at the start of the sluice) if the speed is good, not in the black sand. Pan out those cons to see if you are losing any gold. If yes, adjust to slower. If not, adjust to faster. I also like to put a small bubble level across my Jobe highbanker (it has a cross support) to make sure my sluice is level, quaranteeing an even flow down the chute. Others will also pipe in soon to help ya. TTC

 

[Astrobouncer]

Since they answered your other question, I'll get the bottom ones.

Where black sand is in the box depends on a lot of things. Not all black sand is the same size so naturally the lighter smaller stuff will make its way to the back as the raised expanded riffles ahead of it upgrade with other heavies.

If its attracted to a magnet then its probably magnetite which is iron oxide. There are some other magnetic black sands, but they are only weakly attracted (ilmenite for example).

As far as your question about any use for the black sand, there are some outfits online that will buy it (gold fever prospecting for example) but I don't know how much they pay. Also some people claim it can have micro gold encapsulated in it (and depending on what the black sand is, it might! Google refractory ore for more info about that ).

It does sound like you found gold . Mica (mica is ok but biotite is better), quartz, and black sand are all common associations. Good luck and take some pics so we can feel like we are with ya out there.

 

[ctjonb]

Thank You everyone that was some really good info, I appriciate it
John