5 inch mini

[Mgumby16]

Hello everyone,

I am looking into building a 5 inch mini dredge. I'm surprised keene doesn't offer one given that they have a 4 inch mini and a 6 inch mini. I currently have a full size 5 inch which is the same size as a 6 inch mini.

My main question is, how much do you think the sluice box can be shrunk down before it begins to loose a majority of the fine gold. Currently the 5 inch box is 60"x20". I have parts and pieces from an old 5 inch triple and the 20" wide part of the main box is about 40 inches in length. Any idea what percentage of gold would be lost with a box that is 20" shorter?

Another thing to bear in mind is that in the majority of the areas I dredge fine gold actually makes up a rather small portion of the amount of gold recovered.

 

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[ratled]

I am not a real fan of the "mini" concept as you have little return on the advantages you think you will get. That said, and I know there will be a ton of nay sayers, but I am huge fan of the semi subbies. They don't loose gold like everyone thinks, and that is usually stated by someone who has never used one, but you get a lot of the advantages you are most likely looking for in a mini and the gold recovery is good.

Steve Herschbach, bigfoot and several other AK miners, as well as "Subbie George" on the Feather River took the time to school us on subbies when we built our 8" subbie. Steve has a good overview on AMD About Subsurface Suction Gold Dredges and they are worth your consideration. Here is Steve's 5" story 5" Subsurface Gold Dredge at Mills Creek, Alaska. In fact most of his stories back then were all subbies.

ratled

 

[Hoser John]

Trev Alty has made the mailbox underwater dredges in NZ for many years. Biggest trouble with unders is the jet right at the box-which are miniscule in comparison to a above water unit. The suction nozzle style is far superior as suction is created at the nozzle intake and the whole long hose is akin to a creek as by the time it hits the box your gold has stratified to the bottom of the hose and away you go with much better recovery vs the horrendous remix right at the box-. Take any dredge style and insert a painted red lead weight(not as heavy as gold which hits the bottom sooner) and watch that weight work it's way up the hose on the bottom. Do this and absolutely PROVE to your self your on the right track as costs zilch and a few minutes. 5" minis are great as we made plenty BUT I much prefer a over/under configuration for much better fines recovery and much smaller surface box. Different strokes for different folks-John