First time dredging any tips/ advice?

[Strebs]

Hello, i just picked up an 3 inch gold king dredge for 300 bucks everything runs just no air compressor. I've never ran a dredge before and pretty new to gold mining, but the area im working is averaging 2 grams a yard but its all flood gold. What im thinking is just clear the top layers of the bench. Or should i go into the main river channel to find bigger gold?

 

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[russau]

great price! now just learn what your dredge can do. then add air when you can afford it! air will enable you to see what your doing. and learn to NOT hog any material ! and learn when to clean the matts. when the material in the riffels stop dancing about , its way past time to clean it out

 

[Hoser John]

#1 is a blaster nozzle as you'll speed that tiny thang up x 100% as it slices through all the hardpack,clay, silt, increases your recovery and blasts them righteous cracks and crevices clean as a whistle. Any make/model/pic?John

 

[SierraMadre]

2 grams per yard! Hot damn!

 

[Doug Watson]

Even without air I'd still recommend a wetsuit and a mask and snorkel so you can see what's happening. Also laying down while dredging is much better than being bent over.

 

[russau]

and find someone you can learn from that knows how-2-dredge. Knowledge is your golden info! where in New Mexico are you wanting to go? Phil Hontz of Abq.NM. had a GOOD DEAL going for New Mexico until some jerks from a (big club) group messed it up for all!

 

[Goldmember]

First, some advice: I'm not sure if you're dredging in New Mexico, from there, or just live there now, but the maximum inlet diameter allowed in New Mexico is 2". Using motorized equipment (like a suction dredge) in a stream in New Mexico requires a General Wet Permit, which you will be unable to obtain since the permit application asks for the inlet diameter of the dredge you plan to use. This is all assuming you plan to follow the rules; you may be in a remote area where it isn't likely you'll encounter anybody else, much less someone who will question you. Keep in mind though, all it takes it the wrong person stumbling onto your operation to make your life miserable. A permit costs $50, a fine for violating the Water Quality Act can be up to $10,000 a day per violation. Not trying to scare you or anything, but as a fellow dredger in NM, I wouldn't want you to learn about these regulations the hard way.

Now, a few tips from someone that just started dredging a year ago myself:

- As russau mentioned, don't wait too long to clean out your mats. There is a lot of heavies in the material that I run, and if I don't clean the mats every hour or so I worry that gold is rolling right over the heavies. Most dredges are designed to release the mats fairly easily; depending on your setup you might be able to take out the mats, rinse out the box (into a bucket or square pan of course), rinse out the mats (in a bucket), and place the mats back in the box in a matter of a few minutes. Before resuming, I usually take a test pan of the concentrates from that round to see if I'm still on the gold. It also gives me a chance to warm up and stretch out, since you're mostly in a static position for long periods while dredging.

- Similar to the point above, if you're having to stop and start frequently (like to deal with plug ups), you'll want to clean out the box sooner rather than later. If your sluice box has Hungarian riffles, the heavies will stay nicely tucked behind the riffles, as long as water is flowing over them at the right pace. With each stop and start, your heavies be released from behind the riffles, gradually make their way down the box, and potentially leave the box. Avoid stopping and starting the flow of water, but if it happens, increase the frequency of your clean outs.

- Make sure your angles are correct; if your dredge has pontoons and floats, it should be designed to sit on the water at the right angles. You probably already know this, but if the angle of your sluice box is too steep, too shallow, or leaning in either direction, you're probably losing gold.

- Don't plunge the tip of your nozzle into the material you're running, as it leads to plug-ups. Less is more in some cases, because continuous plug-ups are counterproductive and frustrating. I try to move the nozzle towards the material, and get it close enough to where I can hear the sediment and rocks clanging against the nozzle; at that point I know I'm moving material, and I slowly advance the nozzle as I progress. I use my left hand to guide the nozzle, and my right hand to constantly feel just ahead of my inlet for rocks bigger or the same size as my inlet. I'm probably throwing a rock once every five seconds for 45 minutes at a time. The larger the inlet size, the less you have worry about in terms of throwing rocks, but as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we're restricted to a 2" inlet in NM.

- It would be tough to give you advice on how to dredge your area without seeing it with my own eyes, but in general you'll want to dredge as deep as you can, and if you can make it to bedrock in your area, all the better. The biggest advantage of running a dredge compared to a traditional sluice box (besides increased volumes) is the ability to pull material out of crevices and low points that you otherwise would not have been able to extract with a shovel. Flood gold or not, in general you'll want to get onto bedrock to find the best and biggest gold.

I've only been dredging for a year, but those are a few of the things I've learned that might help someone just starting out. Oh, and 2 grams a yard? Claim it before someone else does, or before that area is designated as "Wilderness." - G

 

[russau]

GM very good pointers!

 

[omnicron]

Let me add a few things...blaster nozzle is worth it's weight in gold...it will speed up production. While feeling you way around may work, you need to see what your doing...if you don't have air a simple mask and snorkel will be invaluable.

Sorry Goldmember but I'm going to contradict you on cleaning out so often. Are you mining for gold or are you a black sand miner? As long as material is dancing behind your riffles, you really don't need to clean out. Gold is heavy and will settle at the bottom behind your riffle. While your running your dredge at dredging speed, stick your finger behind the riffle, you should feel nothing and the heavies will move away from your finger.

Check your tailings when you shut down...test pan your tailing from several different spots. This way you will know if your catching gold or blowing it out. This will give you confidence in your equipment. Also when you clean out your sluice box, clean out the bottom half separately from the top. You should find very little gold in the bottom half. If you have lots of gold in the bottom, then you need to make some adjustments.

 

[Jason in Enid]

wetsuit, mask and snorkel. If you can't see what going up the nozzle (long-arming) then you will spend more time fighting plug-ups than actually dredging. It's going to take some time to learn how to move the most material while still keeping your hose clear. If you get a jamb in the hose, use a rubber dead-blow hammer to bang on the spot to loosen it (this is why we use clear hose). Whenever you take a break to re-fuel, take a test pan from underneath the lip of the sluice to see if you are losing gold. Eventually you will want to get a compressor and regulator, even for shallow work.

Keep your fingers away from the nozzle tip! A 3 inch is small, but repeatedly smashing fingertips with rocks really hurts!

Getting the dredge dialed in can take time and lots of patience. Too steep and you can lose gold, too flat and you can pack your sluice with cobbles, same with water speed. test pan, test pan, test pan!

 

[Goldmember]

Let me add a few things...blaster nozzle is worth it's weight in gold...it will speed up production. While feeling you way around may work, you need to see what your doing...if you don't have air a simple mask and snorkel will be invaluable.

Sorry Goldmember but I'm going to contradict you on cleaning out so often. Are you mining for gold or are you a black sand miner? As long as material is dancing behind your riffles, you really don't need to clean out. Gold is heavy and will settle at the bottom behind your riffle. While your running your dredge at dredging speed, stick your finger behind the riffle, you should feel nothing and the heavies will move away from your finger.

Check your tailings when you shut down...test pan your tailing from several different spots. This way you will know if your catching gold or blowing it out. This will give you confidence in your equipment. Also when you clean out your sluice box, clean out the bottom half separately from the top. You should find very little gold in the bottom half. If you have lots of gold in the bottom, then you need to make some adjustments.

I actually agree with you omnicron, I like to clean out more often due to a few more reasons I didn't list. I find a fair amount of mercury at my claim (not sure if it's natural or from old mining operations), and although it's relatively heavy compared to the black sands, it's only 70% as heavy as gold and much more mobile. During plug ups when I'm not running water at dredging speed (but water is still running), that mercury is making its way down my sluice box. I worry that some of it is amalgamated gold, so when I start seeing small beads of mercury in the lower riffles of my box, I'd rather just clean out. Plus, even though mercury is mostly a nuisance, I'd rather remove it from the stream. Dredgers in other parts of the country (under pressure from environmentalists) like to point out that they improve stream quality by removing mercury; I'm just trying to follow suit.

In addition, my sluice box is very short (probably 3 feet or so) due to the small dredge design. If my sluice box was twice as long, I'd be a lot more confident that I wasn't losing anything. You'll probably say the length of the sluice box shouldn't matter if angles are right, but 3 feet just doesn't pass the eye test, even if it is doing its job. I'd rather have to pan a little more concentrates at the end of the day and capture everything than lose some, but that's just me.

My claim also only has enough water to dredge in the spring, and the water is bitterly cold at nearly 10,000 feet in May and June, so cleaning out and taking a peek at my concentrates gives my toes and hands a chance to thaw out. I'm better equipped this spring to deal with the cold, but while I'm warming up I'd rather see a little gold; gives me a little motivation to continue despite the cold.

I guess I was offering advice on the frequency of cleanouts based on my preferences, my claim, and my setup, not dredging in general. You are right, ideally it's better to clean out less often, have less black sand at the end of the day, and increase production time, which increases the amount of gold you'll find over a days work.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I actually agree with you omnicron, I like to clean out more often due to a few more reasons I didn't list. I find a fair amount of mercury at my claim (not sure if it's natural or from old mining operations), and although it's relatively heavy compared to the black sands, it's only 70% as heavy as gold and much more mobile. During plug ups when I'm not running water at dredging speed (but water is still running), that mercury is making its way down my sluice box. I worry that some of it is amalgamated gold, so when I start seeing small beads of mercury in the lower riffles of my box, I'd rather just clean out. Plus, even though mercury is mostly a nuisance, I'd rather remove it from the stream. Dredgers in other parts of the country (under pressure from environmentalists) like to point out that they improve stream quality by removing mercury; I'm just trying to follow suit.

Put a copper plate in the bottom of your sluice. Mercury loves copper as much as gold and will prevent a lot of the migration.

 

[mxer47]

You'll need a dead blow hammer and a ramrod for plug ups. All hand tools should be neon orange so you can easily find them when you drop them in the water.

 

[specksandflecks]

Hello, i just picked up an 3 inch gold king dredge for 300 bucks everything runs just no air compressor. I've never ran a dredge before and pretty new to gold mining, but the area im working is averaging 2 grams a yard but its all flood gold. What im thinking is just clear the top layers of the bench. Or should i go into the main river channel to find bigger gold?

There has been lots of good advice offered here, but I don't see an answer to your question. Russau dropped a good lead, and definitely worth following up on for any number of reasons. An experienced miner can give you valuable information about the general area you are working without being given specifics as to your exact location. I would PM russau for contact info.

There could well be bigger gold in deeper water, or 'used to be bigger gold in the main channel', until someone dredged it up. There is only 1 way to know for sure...

Assuming flood gold to be finer gold, you can find it in shallow deposits on benches and gravel bars as well as the main channel in compacted gravels amongst larger rocks and even boulders.

General rule of thumb is 1' of overburden per inch of nozzle size, if trying to reach bedrock.

Not familiar with gold king, but most mass produced dredges are made to recover a wide range of gold sizes. As you become more familiar with your dredge and the size of the majority of gold in your area, you might consider making changes to the recovery system to further facilitate the recovery of majority gold size.

Modifications need not be complicated or expensive. Many dredgers prefer an undercurrent sluice, for example.

 

[roadrunner]

How about just reducing the 3 inch nozzle to a 2 inch.
Simple fix I would think.
Does the law say Nozzle, or suction hose and nozzle.

 

[Strebs]

Hello everyone thanks for tips! Sorry for the late reply i was on my motorcycle and got rear ended by a dude doing 75 finally feeling better and at the house. But I did manage to go out and try the dredge before my crash! And number one was wish i had a blaster. The suction power was pretty good just sometimes the hardpacked areas needed alittle extra. Only dredged for about and hour and about a yard i noticed some gold in the tailings and shut it down. The pontoons seemed too small and was front heavy once it going and packed up the riffles.I did notice 75% of my gold was in my prescrub mat in the crash box so i figure i lost a fair amount of gold but thats learning. The area im working is southwest colorado

 

[russau]

Glad your feeling better!

 

[fowledup]

Put a copper plate in the bottom of your sluice. Mercury loves copper as much as gold and will prevent a lot of the migration.

There ya go mitagating the problem using common sense! A piece of coppler plate in the upper part of the box. Plus a piece of braided copper like used for a buss link in a large electrical panel thinned down and hung on some all-thread across the sluice discharge, kind of like a knock down curtain. Turn that 96-98% capture rate of Merc. into 99%. Gee why can't the state of California or the enviromentalists apply such logical "fix the problem" thinking?