Hydraulic mining

[principedeleon]

I see very few info on this subject and i was thinking of trying it out.. But in a small scale.
I have spoke a land owner and he gave us the permision. I was thinking of using a ladder pipe that has a 1.5" outlet and 2.5" inlet.. I dont know if its rated for 750gpm because there is a bigger one rated @ 1000gpm. I have about 900gpm from two keene pumps.

So my questions would be if this would be enough water / pressure to blast hard pack. I want to blast open a hole that was dug by the old timers that has flood layers of hard pack.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[bill-costa rica]

if it was me doing it , i would want for a small scale hydraulic 500 or 600 gallons a minute to a 2 inch nozzle maybe 1 3/4 inch.you would have to play with it a little that would do what you want.

bill/cr

 

[principedeleon]

if it was me doing it , i would want for a small scale hydraulic 500 or 600 gallons a minute to a 2 inch nozzle maybe 1 3/4 inch.you would have to play with it a little that would do what you want. bill/cr

Do you think a 500gpm pump with 1 3/4" nozzle will create enough pressure to blast 20-40' away . I want to limit the use of hose and pipes. This why i wanted to use a little more water then normal.

I dont have currently the ladder pipe. Which will give me better control with less effort but i was thinking trying it out first with a nozzle that could be held by two people or spliting the water into two nozzles which i believe is better.

 

[bill-costa rica]

with the small amount of water you are talking about and 40 feet it is not going to work very well, we used 2 8hp with keene pumps off of 5 inch dredges and that worked , but only at 8 or 10 feet . i cut down a 4 meter bank with my big pump 1500 gpm out of a 2 1 /4 nozzel , that worked well. i was shooting water about 30 feet. had to tye the nozzel down. no way 2 people could hold it. good luck

bill/cr

 

[principedeleon]

I been told that people here didnt pan the dirt .. That they would pick it out with there hands. I dont know if is true wasnt there to see that.. Im leaving to the US but when i come back i think ill try to dedicate more on this then dredging. Theres gold in them hills! And Thanks!

 

[bill-costa rica]

hey man ,,,,.............. you in there ?

Pueblo Viejo, located in the Dominican Republic is receiving a lot of attention. Barrick Gold is mining what could possibly be the largest gold resource on earth at Pueblo Viejo. The issues related to archaeology are being respected and included in the business model in order to go forward with mining. This effort is worth close study for all miners. Much can be learned from the work being done to mitigate possible impact on archaeological sites within and surrounding proposed mining sites.
Pueblo Viejo represents an opportunity to view early Spanish Colonial mining from the view of given by archaeological digging.
Go to www.barrick.com for more information on this topic.
Also, please feel free to open discussion on the topic!
- Geowizard

 

[diverrick]

at I never understood is how they could get all that material in to the sluice box. Seems like it would just run down all over the place

 

[principedeleon]

I really dredge for gold.. Hydraulic mining is something new i want to try since.. The old timers who dug up in the hills have found pay streaks that are rich in gold. Its more productive specially if your equipment is more advance then theirs. They would make caves 2' in height and about 30 ' deep into the paystreak hammering into hardpack.Pulling out 4-5 grams daily for 3 months.

One of the guys working there is alive and tells me the stories.. Im dredging under the same place and im pulling out 2-3 grams daily with my 4".. The place have been barly mine uphill since the paystreak is known to stretch about a mile long .

The big gold had always been told to been found high in the mountains .. In la cordillera central .Im working to trying to save up gold to finish my 6" .. Im looking also into putting my truck into propane since ever since i put my 4" dredge motor on propane i have saved a lot .. With just under 5 dollars i could run a day dredging.

Loma miranda is another place they want to explode.. They dont stop talking about it in the news... Its on the other coner of the country so there is no doubt there is gold all over the place..

 

[principedeleon]

at I never understood is how they could get all that material in to the sluice box. Seems like it would just run down all over the place

Well i had couple ideas.. Since i have havent make it reality.. But those are having a hole down hill where all material will deposit and ill dredge it by gravity to a sluice box...

Another idea i had was taking overburden off with the noozle and then just pick and shovel the paystreak to a highbanker..

Actually thats why they wasnt so effecient with there operation and had so much loses.. Even though they had capture lots and lots gold in those sluices.


C

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Well i had couple ideas.. Since i have havent make it reality.. But those are having a hole down hill where all material will deposit and ill dredge it by gravity to a sluice box...

Another idea i had was taking overburden off with the noozle and then just pick and shovel the paystreak to a highbanker..

Actually thats why they wasnt so effecient with there operation and had so much loses.. Even though they had capture lots and lots gold in those sluices.


C

Hydraulic mining, as cool as it is
Might not be effective in this part of the world in this day
The alaska school of mines did a study on it and it showed hydraulic miners
Experience up to 54% losses, specificly course gold becuase it is so heavy it wont make it
To the sluice, just my input do it if you want to do it,do it
But i think its a bad idea

 

[principedeleon]

Hydraulic mining, as cool as it is
Might not be effective in this part of the world in this day
The alaska school of mines did a study on it and it showed hydraulic miners
Experience up to 54% losses, specificly course gold becuase it is so heavy it wont make it
To the sluice, just my input do it if you want to do it,do it
But i think its a bad idea

i look at it from a different angle; i know it wasnt effective but i think it was a good idea because they produced so much gold with such a small investment and also opened up a lot of areas of mining for those others who are metal detecting and also dredging.
if it wasnt maybe for them a lot of findings would'nt been made and what we need is to open opportunity for everyone.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

i look at it from a different angle; i know it wasnt effective but i think it was a good idea because they produced so much gold with such a small investment and also opened up a lot of areas of mining for those others who are metal detecting and also dredging.
if it wasnt maybe for them a lot of findings would'nt been made and what we need is to open opportunity for everyone.

yes but back in 1949 gold was around $20.00 a troy ounce when rent cost $5 a month so in proportion to costs of living and price of gold they could get by with less gold
and this was when people where still throwing sewage in the street, prostitution was legal, and it was not known bacteria existed, and smoking was thought to be good for your health-not very widespread education then
so could it have worked then, yes
will it work now, no
otherwise more people would be using it

 

[principedeleon]

i thought it was more because is illegal as back then it wasnt..
Plus in a Gold Rush series the young kid up in alaska did supposedly well when they had frozen ground using a little giant.

as for the gold price i believe is about the same as before people say its high but money now doesnt have the same value.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

i thought it was more because is illegal as back then it wasnt..
Plus in a Gold Rush series the young kid up in alaska did supposedly well when they had frozen ground using a little giant.

as for the gold price i believe is about the same as before people say its high but money now doesnt have the same value.

no its illegal because its bad for the environment and its horribly ineffective

the kid on gold rush was just using it to thaw frozen paydirt, they used excavators to dig it once it was thawed
and I used an inflation calculator in todays money a troy ounce of gold was around $600
land was $130 an acre compared to many thousands of dollars an acre today so everything would be cheaper in proportion

 

[principedeleon]

no doubt about that but these large mining companies are doing the same.. so what example do you leave others ?

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

no doubt about that but these large mining companies are doing the same.. so what example do you leave others ?

last time I checked large mining companies where using huge excavators not water cannons
its the small mining companies that use it to move over burden, but never pay gravel
I think your confused how hydraulic mining works in the form you are talking about using it, its referred to as the Dahlonega method
what happens is they have to find a deposit on the side of a cliff, not in the ground
from there they dig a trench under that cliff to act as a tributary that carries gold in the slurry made with the water cannons
in the trench they would have people moving big rocks out to stop them from getting in the sluice
the sluice would be placed at the end if the trench and all the material from the slurry would run through the sluice if it hadn't already settled in their ditch like it would in a creek
heres a video of what it looks like, only difference is back then a the end of the trench there would be a sluice

 

[principedeleon]

last time I checked large mining companies where using huge excavators not water cannons
its the small mining companies that use it to move over burden, but never pay gravel
I think your confused how hydraulic mining works in the form you are talking about using it, its referred to as the Dahlonega method
what happens is they have to find a deposit on the side of a cliff, not in the ground
from there they dig a trench under that cliff to act as a tributary that carries gold in the slurry made with the water cannons
in the trench they would have people moving big rocks out to stop them from getting in the sluice
the sluice would be placed at the end if the trench and all the material from the slurry would run through the sluice if it hadn't already settled in their ditch like it would in a creek
heres a video of what it looks like, only difference is back then a the end of the trench there would be a sluice

whats the different from using water instead of heavy equipment?.. they both tear down the place and leave it on bedrock.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

whats the different from using water instead of heavy equipment?.. they both tear down the place and leave it on bedrock.

couldn't tell ya, not a commercial miner

but im quite sure its not effective on the small scale considering
-you will lose half your gold
-needs many people to manage
-illegal in many places and bad for the environment

 

[H&F909ORO]

Like he kiddo said it's extremely bad for the environment, very bad for it. If you look at some places here in Cali there are places where the hills and mountains have been scarred due to mining. Most destructive mining out there. We love to work in the natural beauty of nature when mining. Not tear it apart.

 

[arizau]

Like he kiddo said it's extremely bad for the environment, very bad for it. If you look at some places here in Cali there are places where the hills and mountains have been scarred due to mining. Most destructive mining out there. We love to work in the natural beauty of nature when mining. Not tear it apart.

The visual effects you are referring to here are merely cosmetic damages that were caused by, state of the art for it's time, mining practices. In our time we would have used modern earth movers with much the same visual effect. Eyesores? Yes. The actual environmental damage from these activities, and the reason they are illegal now, was caused by unnatural downstream erosion, contamination by heavy metal concentration and sedimentation as a result of washing the dirt, etc. into active or seasonal waterways. If the water and sediment had been contained then there would be little to no environmental damage except in that immediate area much like conventional open pit mining that is accepted and practiced worldwide as a legal mining activity. Past practices are past practices but we must and are developing new, practical, environmentally friendly practices that continue to "rape the earth" and create eyesores but supply world populace with metals and minerals that are necessary for human progress and survival. Past practices have/are caused the locking up of unknown and probably vast mineral resources here in the US and probably worldwide in the name of environmental preservation.
Just a rant from a retired open pit miner who is also a practical, common sense, environmentalist who realizes that some earth deformation is necessary in mineral extraction.
See below.