First prospecting outing

[JHuck]

I took my daughter out today for our first prospecting trip in Central Indiana. I was surprised to see that the entire river bed was bedrock in both directions from the bridge we used for access. The depth was between 6 inches and 2 feet and the stream width was 60 or so feet. Right off the bat I noticed small pockets of sand and gravel in the surface of the bedrock. With the flow creating small surface ripples I'm hoping the bedrock pot marks have had a sluicing effect. I put a pan underwater and scraped in a couple hand fulls. I did this 4-5 times and noticed a pinch of black sand after each panning. We did end up with a few small specks of color which was encouraging, especially considering my newbie panning skills. I'm thinking that if I return with a small suction dredge I can suck the sand and gravel out of the pot marks.

I built a poop tube when I got home and I'm trying to figure out the best angle and flow. I've also started to read up on sluices for fine gold. I'd like to start building one in the next week or so. Because of the shallow depth, I'm considering putting the sluice and engine on a cart or small wagon. It won't need to float at this time.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts on initial sluice angel and GPM for fine gold.

Needless to say I'm excited. My daughter is looking forward to going back out also.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

The required flow is going to depend on a couple of things. Most important is the width of the sluice. The wider they are the more water it takes to get them working right. If the stream is fairly fast flowing you shouldn't have any problems getting it set up right. If it's sluggish you may be better off with a narrow box with wings on the intake to direct more water into it. Initial angle is going to depend on flow as well as materials you're running. General rule of thumb is keep it as flat as possible but still have the materials move through it. Play with the angle a bit but try to have the materials clear out between riffles in 8-10 seconds. Play with your feed rates on the materials as well. If the riffles fill up and take a long time to clear slow down on the feed. This is something that many of us spent a lot of time learning and while it's easy for us to do, explaining it is harder than you'd think.

 

[JHuck]

The required flow is going to depend on a couple of things. Most important is the width of the sluice. The wider they are the more water it takes to get them working right. If the stream is fairly fast flowing you shouldn't have any problems getting it set up right. If it's sluggish you may be better off with a narrow box with wings on the intake to direct more water into it. Initial angle is going to depend on flow as well as materials you're running. General rule of thumb is keep it as flat as possible but still have the materials move through it. Play with the angle a bit but try to have the materials clear out between riffles in 8-10 seconds. Play with your feed rates on the materials as well. If the riffles fill up and take a long time to clear slow down on the feed. This is something that many of us spent a lot of time learning and while it's easy for us to do, explaining it is harder than you'd think.

Good information, thanks Irish.

 

[Duckshot]

Here is a link to a government page of rules that you probably don't want to hear but should probably read anyways.
DNR: Recreational Gold Prospecting

If you read the links to prospecting regulations you will find that the state of Indiana does not allow motorized equipment without a special permit.

 

[JHuck]

Here is a link to a government page of rules that you probably don't want to hear but should probably read anyways.
DNR: Recreational Gold Prospecting

If you read the links to prospecting regulations you will find that the state of Indiana does not allow motorized equipment without a special permit.

I've read the rules frontwards and backwards a number of times and actually the DNR rules have been debated in an Indiana bedrock discussion that I started last week. Indiana does allow dredging. Below is the wording from the rules.

(3) Prospecting is performed exclusively by one (1) or a combination of the following processes:
(A) Without the use of equipment.
(B) With the use of nonmotorized equipment, such as a pan, sluice box, or pick and shovel.
(C) With the use of suction equipment, including motorized equipment, having a hand-operated
nozzle that has an opening not larger than five (5) inches in diameter.
Basically you can use things ranging from your hands to a 5" dredge