Best mechanical finishing device

Gold Cube gets you to a cup and half or so... Less if you only play with the top tray..

How many clean outs was the 2.5 gallons? Before you head home can you re-run your cons to re-concentrate them down to the volume of a single clean out?
If it caught it the first time, it should catch it the second time.
 

matt_unique said:
With my first dredge outing I also have more concentrates to process. In my case 2.5 gallons and a tablespoon at a time on my Miller table will just take too long.

For those who do not pan out their concentrates, what do you use?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Why do you seem to be reluctant to at least preliminarily pan your concentrates? There is a good chance that WELL OVER 95% of what you have is not gold or contains any gold. The most basic and desired result of panning is to reduce the quantity of material to a more manageable quantity (super concentrates, usually black sands or other heavy minerals and gold) that can later be panned or processed in smaller portions, by whatever means, for the final recovery of gold. If you are afraid you are losing gold while panning then save the waste material and pan or process again until you are satisfied that you have recovered all the gold that is worth your time to recover. I think you will find that you got the vast majority of the gold in the first step. Put your trust in specific gravity!

Good Luck!

PS: It always helps to classify before panning/processing for final recovery especially in particle sizes below about 30 mesh.
 

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I've been using a Black Magic Miller table for several years but it's a slow feed, 1 tablespoon at a time.
I don't want to prioritize the time to pan.

Of course, with my pump perhaps I could rerun my cons on the sluice using river riffles with just the carpet or such...

I've found 5 or so 'fly poop' flakes from running a few scoops on the table. One portion of my cons are 20 mesh or less, the other portion is 3/8 to 20 mesh.
 

matt_unique said:
I've been using a Black Magic Miller table for several years but it's a slow feed, 1 tablespoon at a time.
I don't want to prioritize the time to pan.

Of course, with my pump perhaps I could rerun my cons on the sluice using river riffles with just the carpet or such...

I've found 5 or so 'fly poop' flakes from running a few scoops on the table. One portion of my cons are 20 mesh or less, the other portion is 3/8 to 20 mesh.
Click to expand...

I've got Black Magic also.. I think its still sitting out on the back porch...

Here is what sucks about mechanical gold separation... Its based on weight and density, regardless of the device, the separation of gold is still based on weight and density.

A larger less dense piece of dirt/sand/rock will knock out a smaller piece of gold.. A flow on the black magic to move the large lights will also move the small heavies...

It all boils down to CLASSIFICATION!!! The Golden Rule.... If everything in your pan (device) is the same size, GOLD RULES!!!!

My Black Magic sits there (I think its still there) because I found once you classify it all down, it is SO EASY to pan that the Black Magic didn't serve a purpose for me anymore.

Here is some tiny little gold, .0025 to .004", somewhere around the average thickness of a human hair.. Everything in the pan was the same size and it panned out super easy..
For a random reference the human eye can only see something that is approx .003" in diameter and bigger.. I went down even further, but I couldn't get a good pic.

Something to concentrate your 2.5 gallons down, and then move on to your finishing would be my recommendation.

And yes, classifying both sucks and blows at the same time... I generally just go to 80 or 120, suck out the bigger stuff and get a feel for what I have with the smaller stuff and
dump the rest into the panning tub, and when that gets full I concentrate it again and go from there.

19901564351_874fc79d8c_c.jpg
 

arizau and bobw53 have it! However, like Bob said, it's difficult to classify beyond a certain point. So let me NOT recommend the following:

For ultra-fine gold, some people will toss their super-concentrates into a tumbler and add enough mercury to attach to the super-fine gold. They can then pan out larger clumps of amalgam. And finally, they'll burn off the mercury using a retort, so that they can continue using the mercury over and over. MERCURY FUMES ARE DANGEROUS!! Also, mercury is poisonous to handle and can be absorbed through the skin.

There has been a lot of research into other mechanical ways to capture the ultra-fine gold, but there's only so much that can be done mechanically. Randy Clarkson has had some success using a rod mill to flatten fine gold so that it will become larger than the other minerals, thereby allowing for easy separation. However, it is possible to over-grind the gold, or that the gold may adhere to the rods.

Just for educational purposes ONLY, let me add this article about using a retort to recover mercury from amalgam:
Mercury retort (Practical Action Technical Brief) - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

There are MANY such articles and videos out there. That said, it only takes one bad setup to take your life.


Also, keep in mind that I am NOT a miner!! To the best of my knowledge, I've never stepped foot in gold-bearing country! This is "learned information" only!

Look to the other, actually-experienced miners before deciding on what may work best for you. In the end, it comes down to what skills you have, what you feel comfortable AND confident doing, how much you want to invest (time and money), how much material, etc.

For the record (and in "my" opinion), Bob's post rules!
 

Classify and run through a normal ol'sluice prior to leaving and run through my green bowl(50+) blue bowl(50-) and always good to go in the winter when too cold to mine. Never waste precious time in the summer as get more cons is the mandate when possible as them cons ain't gonna run away-John
 

matt_unique said:
With my first dredge outing I also have more concentrates to process. In my case 2.5 gallons and a tablespoon at a time on my Miller table will just take too long.

For those who do not pan out their concentrates, what do you use?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I run my 1/8" classified cons down my "Gold Cube" to make super concentrate.

Usually I will save up several 5 gallon buckets full first because it only takes me about 6 minutes per bucket full to run down the cube. After running the buckets I end up with only about a coffee cup or so full of super concentrate. Then I run the super concentrate down the Miller table. Total time to process 25 gallons of 1/8" concentrate from buckets to gold in the vial/vials: 30 minutes or less.

On your highbanker you could remove everything from the sluice and install a vortex mat, which is the same mat that is used in the gold cube. Angle the sluice 15 degrees which is 3" to a foot of drop. That is the same angle used in the gold cube which is the magic angle for running vortex mat. Then feed your concentrates into the hopper of your highbanker and let them run down the vortex mat to reduce your cons down to super concentrate.

Here is a great deal on vortex mat: http://www.ebay.com/itm/fine-gold-vortex-matting-12-x-48-/111991217301?hash=item1a13325c95:g:RAIAAOSwVC1XL9jS
Way cheaper than buying a gold cube which runs around $389.95! http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2011673...&ul_noapp=true

When running your cons down the vortex mat slow your pump down to around 1100 gph (18 gallons per minute) same rate as a gold cube.
You can buy a 12volt 1100 gph bilge pump for around $37.95 online if desired.

After you gain more confidence/skill, then finish panning will not seem so daunting. Most all prospecting begins and ends with panning. It is a must have skill. With that being said, I still like to play with my Miller table because I really enjoy the process.:icon_thumleft:
For me it's also fun to use my diy blue bowl, its slower than the Miller table but really cool to operate and will recover gold so small that you can only see it when it's grouped together.


GG~
 

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Thanks for the replies. I started with panning 33 years ago, switched to a sluice, and then this year the highbanker/dredge combo. The theme was saving my back with time and age! Ha ha
Floating in my wetsuit on the nozzle this past week sure beat digging with a shovel and leaning over the sluice box.

PM's sent - thanks again.
 

I bit the bullet and bought a Gold Cube. It will be interesting to see the results of a pan out of the super concentrates.
 

matt_unique said:
I bit the bullet and bought a Gold Cube. It will be interesting to see the results of a pan out of the super concentrates.
Click to expand...

Congrats on your purchase :icon_thumleft:
It's a great piece of equipment that should last a lifetime.
Also the mats can be replaced if you ever need to.

And there are lots of accessories for it as well.
I'm thinking of adding a trommel to mine, if I do I'll build it myself.


GG~
 

GG, be sure to bring us along on your build. I love watching folks build their own equipment! Is a passion of mine as well.
 

kcm said:
GG, be sure to bring us along on your build. I love watching folks build their own equipment! Is a passion of mine as well.
Click to expand...

Will do.

I started gathering up parts for the drum and frame today. (some 1/8" aluminum, 1/8" mesh punch plate, and a 10" diameter stainless steel stock pot that we never used)

Will start a new thread once I finish getting all the parts together to start the build. Still need to go to the junk yard and get a 12v electric window motor, or may use a 12v electric seat motor, that is if I can find the one I put away for future use. :tongue3:

I will base my design on this concept except for a few modifications and refinements such as...... re-designing the spray bar and hopper assembly etc.
gctrom.jpg




Go for the Gold
GG~
 

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Goodyguy said:
I started gathering up parts for the drum and frame today. (some 1/8" aluminum, 1/8" mesh punch plate, and a 10" diameter stainless steel stock pot that we never used)
Click to expand...
Lovin' it already! :laughing7:
 

I ran the 20 mesh cons through the Gold Cube. Wowee what a product....2.5 G down to about 2 cups in 10 minutes. I spotted one flake at the top of the first box and even after rinsing with a hose it was still lodged in the vortex mat. I had to snuff it out. That stuff appears to really hold onto the gold. I ran out of time to pan out the super concentrates but threw in a couple tablespoons...found several small flakes. I hope to pan the rest of the super concentrates tonight.

I still have 2 G of >20 mesh <3/8 to process. I should have a 1/8" classifier delivered to the house tonight (max size for the Gold Cube). I'm chomping at the bit to see if I have something fun in there...I will post a pic of the final bounty from my first dredge excursion.
 

I finished going through the 20 mesh supercons. Bear in mind this is Maine and my first outing with a dredge, but it's the most flakes I have ever seen at once. The pic below is all fly poop size gold. I've never found more flakes than I could count at one time or get into a vial with a tooth pick. How would I get this into a vial?

I hope this is a sign of bigger pieces to come when I go through my remaining 2 G of larger cons.
image.png
 

Snuffer bottle from pan of course, but what about from snuffer bottle to vial?
 

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