Sluice questions, water flow and riffles

[GoldReport]

I'm building my own recirculating sluice/highbanker setup. It's 26" long 4.5" wide. The expanded metal I'm using is from a local welding shop they had laying around.

My first question is whether the riffles are too big?
Second question is around water flow. I have a bilge pump I wired in to a power supply so I can run off an outlet. The label says 600 Gph. When its running it seems like good flow but hard to guage. Too much or too little?


I'm building this as cheap as I can so excuse the wood and overall jankiness. I'm running essentially dirt just to test the system out. I plan to build a hopper above like a typical highbanker which would help I think.

 

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[russau]

Well a guy has to start somewhere ! Different size /style riffle systems capture different size shape gold. As long as your building material is free and ava. try making several different set up's and run the same material through each one to see what works for it's style . A bag of con's will help you in seeing how gold works in these "test" sluice's and keep good notes on what the water flow & depth works best for that size gold . measure the angle of the downward slope of the sluice & and keep the sluice level sideways !!!! Always recirculate your water and save your "waste con's " !!! when you really get a handle on the sluice's ability to save different size / shape's of gold , then rerun that "saved " material and see what you lost over this time ! GOOD LUCK and please post your adventure !

 

[GoldReport]

Well a guy has to start somewhere ! Different size /style riffle systems capture different size shape gold. As long as your building material is free and ava. try making several different set up's and run the same material through each one to see what works for it's style . A bag of con's will help you in seeing how gold works in these "test" sluice's and keep good notes on what the water flow & depth works best for that size gold . measure the angle of the downward slope of the sluice & and keep the sluice level sideways !!!! Always recirculate your water and save your "waste con's " !!! when you really get a handle on the sluice's ability to save different size / shape's of gold , then rerun that "saved " material and see what you lost over this time ! GOOD LUCK and please post your adventure !

Well a guy has to start somewhere ! Different size /style riffle systems capture different size shape gold. As long as your building material is free and ava. try making several different set up's and run the same material through each one to see what works for it's style . A bag of con's will help you in seeing how gold works in these "test" sluice's and keep good notes on what the water flow & depth works best for that size gold . measure the angle of the downward slope of the sluice & and keep the sluice level sideways !!!! Always recirculate your water and save your "waste con's " !!! when you really get a handle on the sluice's ability to save different size / shape's of gold , then rerun that "saved " material and see what you lost over this time ! GOOD LUCK and please post your adventure !

Do you think these riffles will capture fine gold? Since that's all we have here in the northeast

 

[BoulderTroll]

Do you think these riffles will capture fine gold? Since that's all we have here in the northeast

It certainly will catch some. Probably more than 90% of the fine gold.
And Russ is right, you want to set up some sort of test to find out how well it actually works. Run some dirt with a known amount of gold, and then test your tailing to see how much you lost.

 

[GoldReport]

It certainly will catch some. Probably more than 90% of the fine gold.
And Russ is right, you want to set up some sort of test to find out how well it actually works. Run some dirt with a known amount of gold, and then test your tailing to see how much you lost.

Thanks, is there an alternative to using gold for a test? I don't have any at the moment.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Buy a bag of paydirt online?

Thanks, is there an alternative to using gold for a test? I don't have any at the moment.

Another option could be lead. Maybe scrape some tiny pieces off a fishing weight?

 

[russau]

lead shot would be to big of a test piece ! QAnd round would be unworkable to check the result of the test you need to do ! Maybe squash the lead pellets flat and then cut them with a scissor into smaller pieces and maybe paint them with florescent paint to see them in the cons BUT don't forget to weigh them on a good scale so you'll know what your recovery is or isn't working ! GOOD LUCK

 

[GoldReport]

lead shot would be to big of a test piece ! QAnd round would be unworkable to check the result of the test you need to do ! Maybe squash the lead pellets flat and then cut them with a scissor into smaller pieces and maybe paint them with florescent paint to see them in the cons BUT don't forget to weigh them on a good scale so you'll know what your recovery is or isn't working ! GOOD LUCK

Great idea! I'm working on a feedbox next then will resume my testing. Will try experimenting with angle first. I assume you generally want it as steep as possible without losing gold. I'm also assuming that catching tiny lead bits would make it a pretty safe bet you would catch gold since lead is still less dense than gold (11 vs 19sg). Does that reasoning seem sound?

 

[russau]

Yes it does ! BUT I would change the angle of the sluice slowly to help save the fines ,the nuggets take care of themselves ! i would classify everything and run them separately and start your process all over again ! I'm NOT a fan of running your hard earned material in 1 pass and think , I've got it all ! And I would save the last pan and put it into a bucket as with all of your other "last pans" to pan at a latter date ! you'll be surprised at how much really small gold builds up from your "last pan " bucket's !

 

[russau]

Do you think these riffles will capture fine gold? Since that's all we have here in the northeast

Not much if at all any !