Angus Leach

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:47 am

Quote:

Capture the fine gold laddy!

http://www.angusmackirk.com/product_pages/leach.html

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:01 pm

You can get that fine gold, $699+ s&h=$750 + chems = xx years before you break even...average Joe cant afford it...maybe a club...

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:10 pm

Most guys don't realize how much money they could be tossing out with the black sands.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,438592.0.html

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,86794.0.html

True a lot of that posted there is just hearsay but you can see Ike's assay reports of the gold + silver that was not free milling. Granted not all areas around here are as rich as say Arizona or Calif for silver but I would wager there could be some spots with more then a significant amount of refractory ore.

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:15 pm

Astro, I read your links, but I think you missed the point...Lets take you...how long will it take you to break even with this system to recover everything from spent black sands..? 10 years...???

Dredger Joined: 22 May 2010 Posts: 605

Good points all. If you are not targeting the fines you are digging, and tuning the equipment to actually capture it to begin with, there is little use in targeting it after the fact.

Sanman is right, if you are targeting the +20 gold initially, the fines will be back where you encountered them initially, back in the creek.

Processing fines, sulfides, and mineralized black sands is futile for the average prospector, as we've already dumped them back into the creek.

The best money you can spend to improve your take is 3/16" raised expanded metal. Period!

Bring it home first, THEN worry about how you will process it.

Sam

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:12 am

SamBurgin wrote:

Good points all. If you are not targeting the fines you are digging, and tuning the equipment to actually capture it to begin with, there is little use in targeting it after the fact.

Sanman is right, if you are targeting the +20 gold initially, the fines will be back where you encountered them initially, back in the creek.

Processing fines, sulfides, and mineralized black sands is futile for the average prospector, as we've already dumped them back into the creek.

The best money you can spend to improve your take is 3/16" raised expanded metal. Period!

Bring it home first, THEN worry about how you will process it.

Sam

What about the argument of moving more material equals more gold? If you have to run slower to catch the fine gold one could say your slowing production where you could have been moving more material and nabbing more course gold? However if youre in a spot that is obviously rich in fine gold youre gonna run it slow anyway. I do wanna try some 3/16" expanded in my box one of these days.

Dredger Joined: 22 May 2010 Posts: 605

Moving more material to get more gold is a tried and true method. The only problem I have with the whole notion is that it takes only a little effort, to make even that philosophy more efficient.

If I lived in an area with chunky gold and palm sized nuggets, I would set up differently than I would if I lived in an area with mainly fines an flakey gold. Product lines for West Coast prospecting, like Proline and Keene, are set up to capture the chunkier stuff, witness the types of and spacing between riffles.

Products set up to capture the fine Alaskan beach gold are more refined and allow for the prevalent gold of the area. Dumping a standard off the shelf Keene onto the beaches of Nome will not give you the same recovery as a set-up targeting that size gold.

Targeting fine gold is more about reducing turbulance, than slowing down. Sure, it is slower, but it isn't that much slower. Smaller riffles, and more of them - properly dampened, and properly sloped boxes, provide a better environment for recovery.

East coast gold is fairly small compared to the West coast, you can't expect their set-up to be that efficient here.

Check out the Alan Trees video linked below. He has an interesting solution for handling fines in a big gold environment. He runs the fines circuit from a boil box under his primary recovery 8” sluice. The upper sluice has a flared box and lots of expanded metal.

http://www.golddredgebuilders.com/6_super.html

Sam

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 9:07 am

Good point sam. Im gonna look into possibly getting my box more setup for the east coast but im not fully convinced that my recovery rate is that bad just yet. Mainly because im seeing im guessing -100 mesh gold in my first riffle. Still its not the small stuff you sent me but its pretty small. Im definitely gonna do some homework before next season and try a few things just for experimental purposes.

Guest

Picker Pete wrote:

Good point sam. Im gonna look into possibly getting my box more setup for the east coast but im not fully convinced that my recovery rate is that bad just yet. Mainly because im seeing im guessing -100 mesh gold in my first riffle. Still its not the small stuff you sent me but its pretty small. Im definitely gonna do some homework before next season and try a few things just for experimental purposes.

I didn't know we had seasons, I thought you could prospect all year Razz

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:07 pm

ywevis wrote:

Picker Pete wrote:

Good point sam. Im gonna look into possibly getting my box more setup for the east coast but im not fully convinced that my recovery rate is that bad just yet. Mainly because im seeing im guessing -100 mesh gold in my first riffle. Still its not the small stuff you sent me but its pretty small. Im definitely gonna do some homework before next season and try a few things just for experimental purposes.

I didn't know we had seasons, I thought you could prospect all year Razz

I suppose you can if you want to but when it turns into not being fun for me I call it quits. Could I do it? yup, I went dredging in January last year in 40 degree weather but it just wasnt fun. Im sure I could hang in Alaska if I really wanted to, just dont care for it. When I say season though Im usually talkin about dredging. I prospect year round. Went one time and had to break the ice up to pan. Dont mind that so much If Im sniping, actually like it alot but dredging? hell no.

Dredger Joined: 22 May 2010 Posts: 605

Hey Pete, what kind of under sluice does the mini have?

Sam

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:35 pm

SamBurgin wrote:

Hey Pete, what kind of under sluice does the mini have?

Sam

no two stage, just a single stage. Has a small section of miracle matting under the grizzle thenminers moss under the first set of riffles with green carpet underneath and expanded metal on top of that, then the wider riffles towards the end with just green carpet on it. The key with this unit is lightweight and the main reason I purchased it.

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:02 am

Don't change a thing Pete. I have tried adding the smaller punch plate to help fine gold recovery and all it done was load up and lose gold. The Keene mini dredges work great just the way they are.

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:35 am

Southern Prospector wrote:

Don't change a thing Pete. I have tried adding the smaller punch plate to help fine gold recovery and all it done was load up and lose gold. The Keene mini dredges work great just the way they are.

yeah I remember you trying that and it failing. Im happy with the recovery of it the way it is but wouldnt mind being able to catch finer gold.