New to dredging. Need suggestions...

[biggdave92]

Attached is a pic of the area i'm working. i want to dredge on top of the waterfall to get in the cracks, and dredge beneath the waterfall. water depth is between 6"-36". I am currently using a bazooka super mini. I have been looking at hand dredges, and power dredges. Dont want to go the full blown dredge route. I would like something that i can collect a bucket of material at a time, then run through the bazooka. I would love something that didnt require manual pumping. I've thought about gravity and electric. Maybe something i could run off of a car battery or small generator. I'm looking for the most economical way to do this without killing me physically. Thanks for any help!

 

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[biggdave92]

Anybody have experience with this? http://electric-gold.com/Super-Bucket-12v-Electric-Dredge-SB-1.htm

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[omnicron]

Attached is a pic of the area i'm working. i want to dredge on top of the waterfall to get in the cracks, and dredge beneath the waterfall. water depth is between 6"-36". I am currently using a bazooka super mini. I have been looking at hand dredges, and power dredges. Dont want to go the full blown dredge route. I would like something that i can collect a bucket of material at a time, then run through the bazooka. I would love something that didnt require manual pumping. I've thought about gravity and electric. Maybe something i could run off of a car battery or small generator. I'm looking for the most economical way to do this without killing me physically. Thanks for any help!

A shovel and a hand pump sucker is the cheapest way. You want the easiest and faster way to move more material...that's a dredge. You want the get the most gold for your buck? That's a dredge. Don't want to be killed physically? Get a dredge. Nuff said. lol

 

[principedeleon]

From the pic you dont enough head there for a gravity dredge unless you use pvc pipes to achieve 5-6' of drop. . But if you are trying to sample i wouldnt want to hassle with a bunch of pvc pipes. . First sample around there by digging to bedrock and snipping for gold with just a snorkal and dive mask ..with your hands using the force of water you can move about 1-2" of overburden to locate bedrock and hardpack where the gold is located. After you locate it and before you plan on dredging. I would rather use a motorized dredge because if bedrock gets deep you have air. .

 

[Timberdoodle]

If your using a bazooka super mini then it sounds like moving a lot of material is not what's important and having something that will help clean out crevices and clean bedrock is what your looking for. Not to toot my own horn, but perhaps you want to check this out while your doing your research. Goldsnare SGS-1 mini gold dredge.

 

[Hoser John]

What you can do is predicated upon your state,which are you in as not posted-John

 

[biggdave92]

thanks for the replies guys. i ordered the super bucket from electric gold. i really have my doubts about it, but we'll see. figured it was worth paying for the thing instead of spending time trying to build one myself. in that pic up top, all my gear is on that sand bar. well, i found bedrock about 12-18" down. my plan is to clean it up completely basically where my gear is sitting. would love to have a 4-6" dredge but i cant here. thanks again!

 

[Sick4gold]

From looking at your picture why are you digging up a sandbar when all that sexy bedrock is right before the waterfall.
If you can't get heavy equipment in there then get yourself a hand dredge and clean those cracks. Bet it will pay off more than that sand bar.
Also not sure how you feel about it or if your allowed to in that spot but don't be afraid to bust up that sweet bedrock

 

[Sick4gold]

Also what about a smaller dredge?
A 2 or 2 1/2 inch is quite manageable for 1 person and will help you suck out those crevices a shovel can't touch. Also even a 2 inch dredge moves more than you can with a shovel.

 

[biggdave92]

I built a small hand dredge but it just doesn't get the job done. I bought a electric gold super bucket but cancelled the order because it would be 2 weeks before shipping. I'm racking my brain to figure out how to clean this place up properly. No need in disturbing the potential gold with a shovel or inefficient dredge. This is private property so I'm just gonna let it sit till I figure out a way to clean it up.

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[biggdave92]

And I did try to clean some crevices above the waterfall with my hand dredge but it just doesn't work well. I need some serious vacuum to clean it out.

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[matrix master DBA]

I've worked places similar to that with just a screwdriver and a gold sucker tube. Just use the screwdriver to loosen up the material in the cracks and suckem out. You would be surprised how much gold can hide in those cracks. GL

 

[Timberdoodle]

This is the type of area I like to work and the reason I first built a small electric dredge. I didn't like having to reposition or stand up to use a manual sucker and always felt material was getting away from me. Having something that can suck material out of the cracks while breaking material up with a screwdriver or crevice tool is the key and I always seem to do as well doing this and find more pickers this way. In Maine the majority is fine gold so making a submersible dredge that was extremely efficient on fine gold was the real trial and took a lot of work. The last thing anybody wants is to take the time to move the material only to loose it out the sluice. Now I can achieve such low losses as to compare with the best surface sluices on the market while only being a 1ft long sluice box. A small dredge is certainly not for everyone, but it excels in these types of areas where you don't need to move a lot of overburden and you have at least 4" of water to submerge the dredge. It also works great as a handheld powersluice if you have more overburden to move you can shovel material into a bucket with a 1/2" classifier and simply suck material out of the bucket to process which eliminates the need to have running water to setup a stream sluice. I usually use this method when I first start working a large crevice to move as much material with a small shovel or hand scoop and then work the crack with a crevice tool.