Gold Rush Nugget Bucket Questions

BrettCo124

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Apr 29, 2009
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Outside of Philadelphia, PA
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Minelab Safari, Tesoro Sand Shark, Bazooka Gold Trap Mini, Gold Rush Nugget Bucket, Garrett Supersluice Gold Pans
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Hey all,

I received the Gold Rush Nugget Bucket today. I had some material to run through it from a local creek, and I have some questions for those who own one or have used one. Kevin, I know you have commented on this several of times, so I am sure you could be a big help in this:

The dirt I took home was already classified. I know one of the benefits of the bucket is that it classifies as you deposit more dirt on the screens. My question is, that only takes me 3-4 minutes to classify a bucket of dirt. So, other than that, when I put all of my material in it, it funneled all of it down in to that small glass pan at the bottom.

It literally looked like i could have just put all of what I had in to the small glass pan without doing anything else. Tons of tiny stones still remained in the top of the glass pan, and nothing overflowed out of the dish. So it looked like it simply collected everything I put in.

I guess what I am getting at, is, what exactly did this bucket do for me? Once its in the glass pan, I had to still throw it all in the gold pan anyways. I feel like I put A in to B, and A ended up in a tiny glass dish. And I paid 125 bucks for it haha. I'm BRAND NEW to all of this, so I MUST be missing something.

I am not here to bash an entrepreneurs invention. I am trying to establish whether I should return it because i simply don't know what it did other than classify, which isn't worth 125 bucks.

Unless the answer is I could have kept on dishing in more materials which would have ended up releasing more of the lighter materials from the small glass pan and ultimately leave more heavy black sands behind. I didn't put in a whole lot of material, so perhaps it didn't filter out all of the lighter stuff, making it appear to have done nothing? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks all.
 

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It literally looked like i could have just put all of what I had in to the small glass pan without doing anything else. Tons of tiny stones still remained in the top of the glass pan, and nothing overflowed out of the dish. So it looked like it simply collected everything I put in.

Its a concentrator, like the Gold Cube.. Put a cup and a half in, get a cup and a half out.. put 3 cups in, get a cup and a half out... Put half a yard in, get a cup and a half out... Put 10 yards in,
get a cup and half out.

Sounds like you put in a small amount and expected it to do something amazing for you, it won't, it can't... What it can do is take a larger amount of dirt, and turn it into a
smaller amount of dirt, *hopefully* without losing any gold. Throw a couple buckets through and it will concentrate it down to just that little pan..
 

That completely makes sense. The more I wrote the thread, the more i began answering my own questions haha. You're absolutely right. I only put in a small amount and it just put it back in the glass dish. With that being said, I will give it another go when I move more material. Thank you for confirming that for me.
 

That completely makes sense. The more I wrote the thread, the more i began answering my own questions haha. You're absolutely right. I only put in a small amount and it just put it back in the glass dish. With that being said, I will give it another go when I move more material. Thank you for confirming that for me.

Right. Put 3to5 5-gallon buckets thru it and then see how that little dish is working. It's a fluid bed so it should catch all the gold as you go :-)
 

Its a concentrator, like the Gold Cube.. Put a cup and a half in, get a cup and a half out.. put 3 cups in, get a cup and a half out... Put half a yard in, get a cup and a half out... Put 10 yards in,
get a cup and half out.

Sounds like you put in a small amount and expected it to do something amazing for you, it won't, it can't... What it can do is take a larger amount of dirt, and turn it into a
smaller amount of dirt, *hopefully* without losing any gold. Throw a couple buckets through and it will concentrate it down to just that little pan..

Exactly that! As you are feeding, the material in the cup is constantly exchanging out the least dense material while at the same time retaining gold and other mostly more dense material. There is no need to clean it out until you run out of material to feed it or it is time to quit. If you have only a small amount of material to run you may as well save time and just pan it. I am finding -100 mesh gold in my concentrates so it does work and work well. If you are feeding sandy material only make sure you put a handful of marble sized rocks in the cup to avoid blowing out the cup.* That is suggested in the instructions if I remember correctly.

Good luck.

*I add regular marbles to my NB.
 

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Exactly that! As you are feeding, the material in the cup is constantly exchanging out the least dense material while at the same time retaining gold and other mostly more dense material. There is no need to clean it out until you run out of material to feed it or it is time to quit. If you have only a small amount of material to run you may as well save time and just pan it. I am finding -100 mesh gold in my concentrates so it does work and work well. If you are feeding sandy material only make sure you put a handful of marble sized rocks in the cup to avoid blowing out the cup.* That is suggested in the instructions if I remember correctly.

Good luck.

*I add regular marbles to my NB.

I like this thing wayyyy more now lol. I'm so compulsive with buying gadgets and equipment that I didn't take a second to think about its purpose and use. It's definitely staying right here now and not being returned lol
 

Right. Put 3to5 5-gallon buckets thru it and then see how that little dish is working. It's a fluid bed so it should catch all the gold as you go :-)

Thanks Kevin! I panicked for a second there. That's a prime example of a newbie mistake lol
 

Been using this for awhile now and it retains at least 95% of gold. Definitely put some pebbles in the tray or you will lose some.
 

Been using this for awhile now and it retains at least 95% of gold. Definitely put some pebbles in the tray or you will lose some.

Thanks for the advice. I will be sure to add some stones. I'm happy I have it and can't wait to use it out in the field!
 

Yeah its definitely nice to use. Beats panning. Good for Minnesota where we can't use a sluice.
 

I have one of these and it works well.
More of a two man op I think. One keeping a constant flow of water, the other feeding and clearing the classifiers.
Great tool for the areas with strict regs (Panning only).
 

This is also great to know. So this would be acceptable for "panning only" locations? I'm always afraid that when I ask permission, they forget that digging is still involved...
 

I have one of these and it works well.
More of a two man op I think. One keeping a constant flow of water, the other feeding and clearing the classifiers.
Great tool for the areas with strict regs (Panning only).

Unless your panning only literally means hands and pans. Don't you dare bring a scoop nor a bucket! They tell you to dog with your pan.
 

If someone is looking to buy one of these. If you go to the website and place one in your cart, but don't complete the transaction. You will get a coupon for 10% off, by email in about 2 days.
 

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