Processing +20 classified material

[Hunt4gold]

Wanting to get some insight on how to process my +20 classified material... Have learned a ton from people on this site (just started prospecting in October) so I am confident that good advice on this topic. If I can set up my Bazooka on a stream/river, then I just run all my material through it, but sometimes there is not enough flow (and no way to build a dam) to set it up. So then I begin by running material through a #8 classifier, and then a #20, and on occasion I will then put it through a #50 and then pan out the remaining -20 or -50 material. My question is what is a good method to process the leftover +20 material. Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I hope that someday there will be a +20 nugget or flake in there! Have gotten decent in panning out the -20, but panning the +20 seemed difficult. I also tried running it through my Miller table - cranked up the slope to 6-7 degrees and increased the water flow. Seemed to work Ok, just have to move along some of the flatter pieces. Any help/suggestions appreciated.

 

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[rodoconnor]

The Snake was bucket line dredged a few times, not very profitably. Most of the gold is -100 and it just blew through their sluices. If they could have had more modern recovery methods, there would not be much left today. It takes some effort to grab that fine stuff but once you figure it out there is a whole lot of it get. G/L

 

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[johnedoe]

The Snake was bucket line dredged a few times, not very profitably. Most of the gold is -100 and it just blew through their sluices. If they could have had more modern recovery methods, there would not be much left today. It takes some effort to grab that fine stuff but once you figure it out there is a whole lot of it get. G/L

A little on Snake River gold. The second attachment starts with that blank page?? Just scroll down to the body of the article.

 

[kcm]

I checked out the possibility of going and working the Snake from a boat, but their boating restrictions are crazy!

 

[KevinInColorado]

As Brian053 says, -50 gold is half or more of what I find here in CO. Getting down to 100 mesh is key here!

Brian, you BETTER get out here again...we are going to have a great time on great gold!!

 

[rodoconnor]

I checked out the possibility of going and working the Snake from a boat, but their boating restrictions are crazy!

I'm not familiar with the boating regs. I do know that the State is very concerned about non-native algae and such polluting the waterways. All Spring and Summer there are PSAs advising how to clean your boats before entering waterways.

 

[kcm]

I'm not familiar with the boating regs. I do know that the State is very concerned about non-native algae and such polluting the waterways. All Spring and Summer there are PSAs advising how to clean your boats before entering waterways.

I think that problem is pretty much everywhere. When I was researching, they were using some sort of drawing or something of the sort so as to limit the physical number of boats, as they were worried abut congestion on the waterway.

I swear, it's gettin' to where nobody can do nuttin'! Most all the land is bought up. That which isn't is state or federal land and off limits. Now can't even register a boat without getting on a waiting list. ...Now, this "might" just be for houseboats. That's what I was looking up at the time, so that we could go in and rest or cook or....do our duty, whenever we pleased. But has been a few years since that research, so can't remember if houseboat-type boats or all boats.

 

[johnedoe]

For being a free country there sure are a lot of rules..........

 

[rodoconnor]

I would imagine that appiies only to houseboats. A jet boat utilizes a high pressure pump and a venturi to operate, just like a suction dredge. Yet they aren't considered in the EPA harassment.

 

[Kenmitch]

Remember, it's this kind of thinking that has kept parts of Nevada from being mined until modern day. Miners/prospectors should ALWAYS know what they're working with. It could very well be that someone right now is working in an area and doing a good job of getting every piece of visible gold that is available to them, when the real prize just lays there waiting for someone to do a thorough sampling.

If you're certain your area/claim doesn't have micro gold, great. Otherwise, occasional full-scale testing now and then won't hurt.

I know. One of the reasons I save my concentrates. Only recently purchased a USB microscope but haven't searched the concentrates yet to look and see. Looked with a loop only so far. Just getting into prospecting within the last couple months so still getting supplies for adventures next year. Currently just playing around with panning. I'm sure there are many areas with micro gold only.

 

[johnedoe]

Micro Gold?..... You mean like this....

View attachment 1383520

 

[kcm]

That there's some right purdy stuff!!

 

[johnedoe]

That there's some right purdy stuff!!

Thank's..... Now I just need MORE...........

 

[goldenmojo]

Wow! Panning down to -1500 does sound crazy. Especially since it takes about 50,000 colors to a troy ounce with -50 mesh screen. So at -1500 screen size gold - thats about 150,00 colors to make an ounce. Not worth the extra effort for me to pan to that size. Although I tend to try and recover to about -100 myself.

How about others --- how fine of gold do you try and pan down to and recover?

In the field I tap out all the color that I can and quickly as to not waste much time and snuff that up, sometimes tapping and snuffing before I have all the junk out of the pan especially if the gold is larger or fines are more plentiful than usual. I do about three quick sessions of tapping and snuffing and save everything else to be processed later usually by pan which usually isnt much. If I can get to not immediately visible size in three snuffs then I am good, but looking at pics of my panshots there is always very small gold in there. like way below -100. When snuffing in the field I will take about a 1/4" line of the black sand that is along the nearest edge of the concentrated gold as that will have a higher concentration of small fines along that lip that wont be visible at the time.

 

[Kenmitch]

View attachment 1383521

Micro Gold?..... You mean like this....

View attachment 1383516 View attachment 1383517 View attachment 1383518 View attachment 1383520

Is that from Oregon beach sand? Looks pretty small too me. 1st photo doesn't make it look small. Guessing because it's concentrated.

 

[Hunt4gold]

View attachment 1383521

Micro Gold?..... You mean like this....

View attachment 1383516 View attachment 1383517 View attachment 1383518 View attachment 1383520

Johnedoe,

That is the icon image for micro gold. So my question is: Did you pan it or was it out of a bowl or miller table?

 

[Hunt4gold]

Back to recommendations to pan out my +20 material. Spent an hour this afternoon practicing panning out about 4+ cups of +20 material. Put two buckshots in with each pan (also about +20 in size). Always found the buckshot where it should be at end of each pan, unfortunately, no gold was keeping it company. By the last pan, I was down to about 3 minutes, so I was getting faster. Thanks again for all the advice - will keep working at it.

One of these days there will be a little gold nugget with that buckshot!

 

[johnedoe]

Kenmitch
Yes that is Oregon beach gold.

Huntforgold
I ran it over the little cleanup sluice I made from Timothy's sawtooth mat, then panned off the rest.

 

[Jeff95531]

Back to recommendations to pan out my +20 material. Spent an hour this afternoon practicing panning out about 4+ cups of +20 material. Put two buckshots in with each pan (also about +20 in size). Always found the buckshot where it should be at end of each pan, unfortunately, no gold was keeping it company. By the last pan, I was down to about 3 minutes, so I was getting faster. Thanks again for all the advice - will keep working at it.

One of these days there will be a little gold nugget with that buckshot!

One of the suggestions I got as a newbie was use BB's. While they may have the gravity of gold, there is no way it behaves like gold, as it is a sphere. I was told to flatten them out for a more realistic shape...but it was much easier said then done. It was more like....get sledge... get BB...Smack it...Ricochet, Safety Glasses win again, repeat (because you can't find BB). Trust me...get some pay dirt for $20 and play. Gold acts only like gold does and once you see it in the pan, you can easily deal with it.

 

[johnedoe]

Actually lead shot works much better.....
It is also easier to alter the shape with a little tap from a hammer...
You can also easily split the shot into smaller pieces after you have flattened it out some..
But Jeff you are absolutely correct in getting that bag of pay dirt to practice with.

 

[Jeff95531]

Actually lead shot works much better.....
It is also easier to alter the shape with a little tap from a hammer...
You can also easily split the shot into smaller pieces after you have flattened it out some..
But Jeff you are absolutely correct in getting that bag of pay dirt to practice with.

And yep, tiny split shot (or shavings) is a dam site better to work with and acts close enuf.