Processing black/white Sand Concentrates

[desertgolddigger]

I'm sure this subject has appeared on these Forums before, but I want to first pose how I think they should be processed, and then have others, correct me, or mention how they do it.

First, I drywash out in the high desert of southern California. My clubs mining claim, Humbug is sprinkled with about a dozen hard rock mines/quarries the old timers worked.

After those shut down, and mining returned, a few tried working those hard rock mines to find any gold left, but mostly, it has been placer mining for nearly a century, and the washes have been worked extensively, though the lower washes are covered by quite deep deposits of sand and rock, that have not been worked to bedrock due to the depth required.

There's actually a lot of gold to be had, if you're willing to do a lot of digging.

Now to how I think I can process my concentrates. These are what's left after I pan them, and remove anything I can pick up with tweezers. I'm sore the great majority of you don't bother using tweezers, and I probably will stop once I develop my equipment to do all the processing.

I have a high banker recirculating sluice, a Miller's Table, and a Blue Bowl. I currently don't use the Blue Bowl due to water control problems. The Miller's Table works like a dream. The Sluice is a problem to use on the material dug in the dry desert, but probably will work if the concentrates are washer of all that fine dirt to keep the recirculating system from clogging up.

I first, of course dig at the claim, and tote back my concentrates, and pan them down so that only the heavies remain, and I get rid of as much if the fine dirt as possible.

I then classify the concentrates by size.

I'm hoping that my sluice can then reduce the white sand and black sand further, so that I have most gold in the upper part of the sluice. I run the classified concentrates separately.

The last step is using the Miller's Table for final cleanup.

Reed Lukens shared videos of his and his friends cleanup systems. They used vibrating motors to settle the gold. I am planning on using motors with my sluice, but am unsure of which 12 volt vibrating motors to purchase, and where to place them on the sluice. If there is a good one listed on Amazon, could someone please post the link below. Also, what kind of commercially available concentrate feed mechanism might I purchase on Amazon. I am not good at fabrication so I tend to purchase what I need.

I think I've covered what I have on hand, and what I wish to accomplish. Hopefully you can clarify anything I've misspoken on. Thanks

 

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[southfork]

Sounds like you have it covered classify get everything wet a little dish soap or jet-dri feed your miller table real slow. Same with the blue Bowl run it slow and low I feed a spoon full and walk away. I pick out as much as possible with hemostats then run the rest. Happy mining and be careful with the heat.

 

[desertgolddigger]

southfork, Thanks. Yes, that's why I limit myself to the crack of dawn expeditions. I start out when it is dark, and usually arrive just as the eastern horizon is showing just a bit of glow. I work a few hours, then come home, and sit in front of the house, panning the concentrates in the shade.

I don't even bother going out if it never gets below about 85F at night, which normally means a high of 100F+. You too stay safe, and hope you find more rich ore to process.

 

[Reed Lukens]

I don't ave this exact one, but small and cheap fit the bill. -
Amazon product ASIN B08P34VB15
If you look down the page, you can see that this is also sold with a variable speed control... For the most part, this could be used to dial it in a bit more, but I'm not sure if it's needed on this. Lots of the recovery tools have vibration figured in.

If you contact Frank or Heather at Pioneer mining, who make and sell the Blue Bowls, he has a vibrator on his at home, maybe give them a call and see if they have a blue bowl vibrator for sale now also.

Pioneer Mining

www.pioneermining.com

 

[desertgolddigger]

Reed, Thanks so much. I wasn't sure about that one being strong enough, but apparently it's the same one you linked.

 

[desertgolddigger]

Reed, Another item that I cannot seem to find are the concentrate hoppers/feeders.

I thought I might be able to use a funnel, but could find nothing with a real narrow spout.

So maybe a condiment bottle would work. I'd just have to make the tip holes the right size for the mesh material I run. And these bottle tips twist open and closed. This might work.

I'll have to figure out how to make a framework to hold all this stuff. It's definitely an interesting project. I like challenges.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Yup, used catsup, mustard, or honey bottles work great.

 

[desertgolddigger]

I've built a framework for my Blue Bowl, and mini sluice, from left over PVC pipe and fittings. I need to get the valve for the blue bowl fitted and fixed to the framework. I'll do some more work o n it, then post a picture when there's enough done.

I'm going to set it in one of those cement mixing trays. I just need to find something the PVC legs can fit into on the bottom of the mixing tray, so the entire framework locks in.

More to follow.

 

[RTR]

I built one years ago (from a Angle cake pan),it worked , but it was a slow as a snail
>> https://www.kitchenrestock.com/winc...html?msclkid=6305062fc2d41a50df37649dc6af71d9

 

[desertgolddigger]

It's looking more and more like I'll just stick with my Miller's Table for concentrates processing. Today I worked some of my 26-49 mesh material.

I carefully removed as much of the magnetic black sans as I could using Dan Hurd's method of picking up the black sans a little at a time, then dropping them back in a second pan, and repeating three or four times, then dropping the black sands in a third pan. The method works very well, if you've got the time.

I next set up the mini sluice I purchased and tried running the remaining concentrates. Not a speck of gold stayed in the sluice through two runs of the same material I know had eight pieces of gold in it. The 400gph pump is anemic, barely creating a trickle don the center. Oh, it moved the material through the sluice, but I'm guessing the black ribbed doormat material isn't the best thing for fine gold recovery. Anyone need a mini sluice from Martin Prospecting, as It rates a 1 out of 5 on my rating scale.

After sinking in several hundred dollars thinking a Gold Lab setup might help me, that's terminated. I'll use the things I purchased for other things, as I discover what they could be used for. I know the needle valve will go on my Table so I have more precise control of the water flow.

I'm tired of wasting money on things that never seem to work, so I'll stick with what works for me, panning, tweezers, a magnifying glass, and the Table for the stuff I can't tweeze.

Sigh, I could've purchased a 2.5 gram gold ingot with that money. Now I will have to do a yard sale for all the stuff I don't use, which is quite a lot.