Grizzly Pan

[Fighter59]

Has anyone ever used this pan? I'm new to panning and want to buy one and found this searching the net.

http://www.sluicebox.com/goldpan.htm

Would it be easier to just buy a regular pan?

 

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[nebraskadad]

I've got both, I've played with the grizzly a bit.. I don't know if I would use it for clean up, it's more for volume material.. If you buy one it comes with instructions.. Make sure you classify your stuff good 1st.

 

[Chris in BC]

save your money. buy something that works.

 

[Comanchero]

Classification is the key to any successful recovery of values in any piece of equipment, no matter what it is.
At Virginia City, Montana about 35 years ago, there were thousands and thousands of tons of old tailings piles left by the dredgers. At that time I had a D-Tex metal detector and went one weekend to search those old piles. Because those dredgers were set up to classify all materials to be processed down to 1/2" mesh through their trommels, any gold larger than that would be dumped out with all the oversize burden. This happened in Alaska and elsewhere also.
Well to make this short, I found about 20 chunks of gold that weighed over 1 lb each and a whole lot of over 1/2" nuggets. At that time, gold was cheap so I only made about $40,000 on that weekend trip. (Good money back then!) I figured that not too many people had ever thought to work that particular area with a MD before and I must have been correct. My deepest dig was about 1 2/2 foot as those old detectors did not go near as deep as these new ones do.
Unfortunately, I never got back to that area, as I had another job to do in another state far away and just never got back until a few years ago. Needless to say, nothing looked the same at all, and some of the locals told me that several outfits had been in since I had been there and "cleaned up" millions in gold left behind by the old dredgers.
Anyhow, classification is extremely important, and every class should be checked for the amount of gold in it, then determine your best zones of classifications and set up to run each one separately if you intend to go this route.
I mainly like hardrock type deposits, but a good placer still gets my blood to pumping good also! Comanchero

 

[nebraskadad]

I agree with classifying.. Sure speeds up the panning process. I've tried the grizzly and don't think it is something I will keep. I will take it with me when I go but my guess is I will stick with something I can see gold in.. The grizzly buries any gold in the black sand in the captrap.. I like to see my "colors".. The Griz pan might be ok for an area of known gold where you want to work yardage done to concentrates.. But it is not for recovery stuff.

 

[Comanchero]

Yeah ND, seeing those "colors" just makes ya wanta work that much harder and steadier at a good prospect or project, don't it? Comanchero

 

[nebraskadad]

Amen Comanchero!! I love that "YELLER ' "color..

Nothing quite like it. Almost better then sex.. Depending on the mood of Momma sometimes better!!

 

[warsawdaddy]

I would recommend a reg goldpan.However,I just bought a new model that I like the concept of but have not used it yet.It looks like it will really be worthwhile.You can see at:
www.trinitybowl.com

 

[Comanchero]

Yeah, that's interesting Warsaw. Best and fastest panners I ever saw were in Central America using Bateas. I have always wanted to become proficient with one but never took the time to do it. They can do ten times more material than I can without losing hardly a flake! Comanchero

 

[aarthrj3811]

Hey Fighter.....Over the past 25 years or so I have bought a lot of gismo pans. Right now I have about 30 pans in the garage. I always go back to the garett pan. I go back to it because it is easy to use and seems to fit my hands better than the others. Work more on your skills with a pan and find one that fits you. Can hardly wait to see the next flash in my pan...Art

 

[Willy]

The Garrett Super Sluice pan is, as far as I'm concerned, the way to go. It's a monster production style pan for those that want to move a lot (relatively speaking) of material quickly with a high recovery rate. Can't cook in it, but that's what pots are for and, anyway, there'd be no grease to float out the fine gold. ..Willy.

 

[Comanchero]

I don't know how well this works, but a fellow once told me that if you have an old blender that still works well, to put your black sands with the micron gold into it with plenty of water (about 1/2 full) and about a Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil and then "blend" the heck out of it for several minutes until all the Vegetable Oil looks like it is gone into the water.? Turn it off and wait awhile, and all that very fine micron gold will float to the top of the water with the Vegetable Oil as it slowly separates and the black sands stay down on the bottom.? He said the platinates would also "wet" with the Oil and float with the gold too. ? Said it made separation and collection real easy, but like I said, I ain't never tried it yet, and that was a long, long time ago. ? If any of you try this and it works, let me know. ? Heck, I'll go to a second hand store and buy me an old blender if it does! It would be my luck that everything would float, and I would be right back where I started from! Comanchero

 

[aarthrj3811]

Hey Comanchero ........I have a file called Things to try....Your post is now in it....thanks...you never know what will help in the recovery of micro-gold. If you don't process for micro-gold your thowing a lot of money away. ...Art

 

[Comanchero]

Yeah Art, you're right there! ? Thousands of dollars worth of micron gold is cast away every year by prospectors, et. al. and they don't even know it.
He seemed to believe that only the micron gold and platinates would be "wetted" with the Vegetable Oil causing them to float as the oil gradually separated out from the water black sand mix.? I also suppose that the black sands would also be attritioned a lot more too, possibly releasing more gold and/or platinates contents.
Heck, since I just now remembered it after all this time and never tried it, I believe that I will just go ahead and try it on about 6 oz. of stuff I got setting out there that I was gonna crush finer and leach. ? And now that I think about it, I do think I also have an older blender that will work just fine that I replaced with a new one last year stashed away somewhere.?
Hmmmmm.....Letseeeee now,(scratch head) where did I.................?? Comanchero

 

[aarthrj3811]

Hey Comanchero...I roast the black sand and then run it in a tumbler with some ball bearings. If I have to crush anything It's to get the last gold out. I use a Steel post hole driver and a 1 inch bar to crush it. If you have a large amount of consentrates you can use a concrete mixer and large rocks...Art

 

[Comanchero]

Yeah Art, sounds like you got it figured out pretty good for your ops. I have a 12 lb Rock Tumbler and crush all my stuff to -400 mesh with steel ball bearings too, then I leach out the micron goodies with either halox or iodine leaches. If halox, I use a sat.sol. of Ammonium Nitrate to drop the pure gold crystals. If Iodine, then I use zinc shavings. Both ways are great for getting at least 95% of all the gold and platinum values outta your blacks sands and high grade materials.
Yeah, if ya got plenty, a concrete mixer and a lot of different size flint rocks does the trick alright. Then just transfer all the material after it's been well crushed to a plastic or rubber lined mixer for leaching, etc. Ya can get 10 times the amount of gold this way than all those dredgers can get in big stuff, unless they are in virgin territory! And they are throwing it all away! Comanchero