Bought a Gold Cube and here is some of the first tray

[GoldpannerDave]

after two 5 gal buckets of classified material that was screened for a Gold Cube but not sluiced or dredged. It was brought home to work but has been sitting.

There are about 10 nice pieces; only 1 made it to the 2nd tray. But there should be more in-between the chunks (about 2 mm) and the tiny stuff. There was lots of dirt and therefore dirty water. Jet Dry was used Maybe all the stuff I thought should be there is on the third tray. Any ideas?

 

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[GoldpannerDave]

Takoda, thanks. I love your pictures of Alabama gold! What a nice huge specimen you are now using in your sigline. WOW; I wish I have found stuff like that when I lived in Alabama. All I ever got was specs, not specimens!!

 

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[GoldpannerDave]

Kevin, this is not from the Denver area, though I still have a bucket of Clear Creek material to run and a half bucket of Platte River material, but those are cons, along with a bit of Cache Creek cons sitting in the garage. This came from the Arkansas River area near Granite but not Cache Creek and some from the Beaver Creek area above Fairplay from the GPOC claims there. I will be sending you a PM later today.

What a collection of spots! I bet your wife will be pleased to see the end of all those buckets of paydirt!

Actually, I realized there IS some Cache Creek cons in there and some classified, unwashed material from south of Como from the Tarryall drainage area. I hate to admit but that bucket was filled in 1987, left in storage as we went to Germany for 7 years and then has been sitting (forgotten) ever since we got back. It has a huge amount of clay which was partly why it sat. Then there actually is some Arkansas river cons from near Buena Vista. There is probably some other stuff there, too.

 

[russau]

Dave , I have the same problem. Ive been cleaning out and organizing my garage/shop since I cant go out dredgeing and ive found several 5 gallon buckets of material and several coffee cans with material in them. this week is supposed to be real nice so im going set up my tub and my Gold Cube and run that material. probly not a lot of fine gold but more than ive got the last 4 years.........................anyway itll be something todo while im out enjoying the fine weather.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Dave , I have the same problem. Ive been cleaning out and organizing my garage/shop since I cant go out dredgeing and ive found several 5 gallon buckets of material and several coffee cans with material in them. this week is supposed to be real nice so im going set up my tub and my Gold Cube and run that material. probly not a lot of fine gold but more than ive got the last 4 years.........................anyway itll be something todo while im out enjoying the fine weather.

Yes, I completely understand, Russau. If I have time, with good weather, I tend to go out and get more cons with my Bazookas. This garage is not heated, so I don't get as much work done in it over the winter as I would like. Previously, we had a carport in Air Force Academy base housing (that makes great sense, a carport in Colorado!!). Typical short-sighted gov't attempts at saving money. They used the housing plans from Williams AFB in sunny Arizona. The houses also had flat roofs, which meant the snow did not slide off. So they had to spend more money to put a proper gabled roof on the houses. Some of the houses literally rotted from snow melt. So when they put new roofs on the houses, many had all the walls knocked down and replaced. Yep, that saved a lot of money.

Here's to hoping your physical problems lighten up and you get out next season! In the meantime, may your top tray in the Cube be golden this weekend.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Ok, I mentioned I did not get much but those chunky pieces and some very small fines and wondered where the in-betweens went.

Maybe the answer is between muddy water and a non-spray clean up, they are just hidden, AWOL. I did my clean up like this:

using a brush and hand splashing water on the vortex material. I did not do this:



So maybe there was so much fines, I could not avoid still trapping some, but perhaps most of the fines and the in-between material is still caught in the vortex matting or in the mud in the tailings. I put a 5-gal bucket under the water coming out of the bottom tray, catching most of the heavier tailings. When the bucket gets about half full, I put in a new bucket. I have not run these buckets yet, though I will. I am still trying to get to buckets I have not put through the Gold Cube first. Then I will look at re-running material, though I may have to consider doing it now to solve the mystery.

Though maybe there just wasn't much in-between in the first two 5-gal buckets. They both came from the same area.

Any comments are welcome. Like I said, this is a new purchase for me and I have no previous experience, other than watching some videos. BTW, I don't have running water in the garage and since there is a nice tight seal on the water hose to the top (slick plate), I don't want to keep removing it to use that water source. So I have just splashed water and used a brush to try and clean the mats. There is still some black stuff stuck in the mats, but I don't see any gold. If you guys think it needs sprayed water, I will take the trays to my daughter's back yard and rinse them there.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Just pull that hose and wash those trays down. Hoses are cheap and last longer than you'd think.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Just pull that hose and wash those trays down. Hoses are cheap and last longer than you'd think.

Hey, Kevin, it's not the hose so much as the tight connection it makes on the top tray so that no water is leaking on the garage floor. I splash enough without adding a steady drip, drip, drip. Pulling it off and putting it back on frequently will probably lead to that. But, you know, I do have hose clamps!

It is supposed to be rainy starting Wednesday through this weekend with highs only reaching 59 or 60 degrees, so it looks like Saturday will be a good time to give those vortex mats a good spray washing!! They are probably loaded with gold and black sands--at least that is what I am hoping!

 

[russau]

So little time and so much todo! where do I start?

 

[arizau]

Hey, Kevin, it's not the hose so much as the tight connection it makes on the top tray so that no water is leaking on the garage floor. I splash enough without adding a steady drip, drip, drip. Pulling it off and putting it back on frequently will probably lead to that. But, you know, I do have hose clamps!

It is supposed to be rainy starting Wednesday through this weekend with highs only reaching 59 or 60 degrees, so it looks like Saturday will be a good time to give those vortex mats a good spray washing!! They are probably loaded with gold and black sands--at least that is what I am hoping!

This may be a simple solution.....How about a garden hose wye connected outdoors, a separate new hose and a ball valve to regulate flow on the dedicated cleanup hose? No need to disconnect hose from cube.

 

[bobw53]

This may be a simple solution.....How about a garden hose wye connected outdoors, a separate new hose and a ball valve to regulate flow on the dedicated cleanup hose? No need to disconnect hose from cube.

That's what I was thinking of doing, I just haven't got around to it yet... I get a little nervous using the garden hose to clean out the bottom of the buckets, or water in the bucket,
swish and dump. I don't want to throw a big surge through the cube and blow anything out. Diverting the regular flow for bucket cleanout shouldn't change the flow
rate at all, or at least not much.. Bonus for using it for cleanups when you don't have a garden hose available.

 

[johnedoe]

That's what I was thinking of doing, I just haven't got around to it yet... I get a little nervous using the garden hose to clean out the bottom of the buckets, or water in the bucket,
swish and dump. I don't want to throw a big surge through the cube and blow anything out. Diverting the regular flow for bucket cleanout shouldn't change the flow
rate at all, or at least not much.. Bonus for using it for cleanups when you don't have a garden hose available.

Your making this more complicated than it needs to be....
Just use the GC hose and pump.... when and if the hose loosens up? .... well thats why god made hose clamps.....

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Your making this more complicated than it needs to be....
Just use the GC hose and pump.... when and if the hose loosens up? .... well thats why god made hose clamps.....

When I started out, I checked the internet for cleaning the Cube. I found the two videos I posted. Since I did not have running water in the garage (whoever heard of a garage without water? the washer/dryer connections are in an alcove off the kitchen) I used the one that just splashed and scrubbed with a brush. Should have gone with the Gold Cube one.

Anyway, not trying to make it too hard, though perhaps I did.

Thanks...and I love your sigline; I suspect many of us here do.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hey, Kevin, it's not the hose so much as the tight connection it makes on the top tray so that no water is leaking on the garage floor. I splash enough without adding a steady drip, drip, drip. Pulling it off and putting it back on frequently will probably lead to that. But, you know, I do have hose clamps!

It is supposed to be rainy starting Wednesday through this weekend with highs only reaching 59 or 60 degrees, so it looks like Saturday will be a good time to give those vortex mats a good spray washing!! They are probably loaded with gold and black sands--at least that is what I am hoping!

Hmm, right I forgot about the fact you are running it in the garage...all my gold cube experience is on the river's edge . Still, as a plumber's son, I'd say get a hose clamp and go to town with the hose washing the mats. In my experience, the pump that comes with the cube provides just the right amount of water to work well washing those trays

PS I'm in Shanghai thru this weekend so I'm not around to lend a hand...but don't let that slow you down!

 

[GoldpannerDave]

This may be a simple solution.....How about a garden hose wye connected outdoors, a separate new hose and a ball valve to regulate flow on the dedicated cleanup hose? No need to disconnect hose from cube.

That would be my solution except there are NO outside water faucets in this complex!! The only hose connection is in the kitchen alcove for the washer. They do all the outside work for grass, gardening, etc., and I think they are discouraging us to wash our cars in the driveways. Hence, no water faucets in the garage or outdoors. Sigh. I have to haul water from the bath tub to the garage to fill my tubs to pan or run the Gold Cube.

I have a hose and ball valve from when we lived in Air Force Academy Base housing but no place to connect it here except in the kitchen alcove, which I did once. I tightened the connections with vise grips, but the ball joint leaked. The wife was NOT happy.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Hmm, right I forgot about the fact you are running it in the garage...all my gold cube experience is on the river's edge . Still, as a plumber's son, I'd say get a hose clamp and go to town with the hose washing the mats. In my experience, the pump that comes with the cube provides just the right amount of water to work well washing those trays

PS I'm in Shanghai thru this weekend so I'm not around to lend a hand...but don't let that slow you down!

Thanks, Kevin: you have a great trip. The fact that you have experience washing mats with the hose and pump is encouraging (and the fact that it works).

 

[enamel7]

I circulate the water with my cube and just use the supply hose to wash off the mats into another tub.

 

[KevinInColorado]

That would be my solution except there are NO outside water faucets in this complex!! The only hose connection is in the kitchen alcove for the washer. They do all the outside work for grass, gardening, etc., and I think they are discouraging us to wash our cars in the driveways. Hence, no water faucets in the garage or outdoors. Sigh. I have to haul water from the bath tub to the garage to fill my tubs to pan or run the Gold Cube.

I have a hose and ball valve from when we lived in Air Force Academy Base housing but no place to connect it here except in the kitchen alcove, which I did once. I tightened the connections with vise grips, but the ball joint leaked. The wife was NOT happy.

Use Teflon tape or plumber's pipe thread compound to get a water tight connection. That'll keep you out of the dog house!

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Beautiful day here in sunny Colorado! I took the 3 trays over to my daughter's house. My son-in-law still had the hoses connected, so I rinsed the trays out very thoroughly. No more large gold and still stuff so fine it makes the black sand tailings look silver. So there was no gold in-between. It has been sitting so long, I cannot remember, but it is possible that it was wet screened it to +12 and the -12 was screened again to +/- 50 or 60. I've got to look at the coffee cans still sitting around. But that would explain the lack of other gold.

Oh well, these cons I got today from the mats go back through the Gold Cube with other classified but not previously washed material. Got about 3 more 5-gals of this. Then there is nearly 2 buckets of cons to run and a bucket of clay material from south of Como, Colorado, which had pretty good gold as I recall. When I was younger, I thought I would remember everything about every bucket; now I write on the buckets and coffee cans (plastic ones) so when I forget, there it is to remind me!

Everything I bring home from the creek now is run through my Bazooka, so it is washed and classified. Just need to classify it to Gold Cube size and run the minus fraction through the Cube. Though you know, I am tempted to run it all through the Gold Cube without further classification; the Bazooka separates out stuff by the grizzly, so 3/8" versus about 1/8".

Anyone doing that??

TIA.

 

[DizzyDigger]

If I was bring home several buckets of material I'd first classify
it all to 3/8" and run everything through the Gold Cube. The
Cube can handle 3/8" material just fine, and you know you're
not going to miss any gold.

Bazooka is an awesome sluice, but if you're bringing home cons
or classified (but not run) material you can't beat the Gold Cube.

 

[jagchaser]

FYI, a paint mixer will need a 1/2" corded drill if you are running anything thicker than paint. I was using my makita 3/8" corded drill trying to mix drywall mud and it burned the drill out.