Va river prospecting

[Mgumby16]

Got to go out last Saturday on a local river and do some prospecting.

The river barely counts as a river but I can navigate it with my small jon boat and decided to put the 4 inch dredge in tow. Only have to get out a few times and drag everything over rapids heading back up river.

I need to find a better system because the dredge is like a damn boat anchor in tow. How do you guys transport your dredge on rivers?

Got to the spot that I've been wanting to hit an did two sample holes before the rising river and incoming thunder storms chased us out. Found a few decent sized flakes, but the spots we tested had only flow sand and flow gravel on bedrock with the occasional crack full of a little hard pack. Deepest overburden where we tested was about 2 feet. I believe we were in a blow out zone since there was almost no hard pack.

Let me know what you guys think!

 

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[arizau]

You mentioned some rapids. Have you tried just below them or in the rocks or bedrock that is causing them? They should act as riffles. The area shown seems to be slow flat water and most of the gold will probably drop out and concentrate as soon as the flat water begins with little migration, except by floods, further downstream. That pool is probably narrower at it's head too so I might try just as it widens.

Good luck.

 

[Mgumby16]

The rapids are formed by gravel bars that form in the middle of the river between the point bars. Also I believe that rivers on the east coast have not truly transported gold in a very long time since they do not have the fall that rivers out west do.


There is a set of rapids down stream a little that I plan on sampling. Also the whole formation the river flows over in this area has the potential to be gold bearing. There is also a fault/contact between the metamorphic fm and an igneous pluton.

All in all it's a very interesting area that requires a great deal more of sampling and investigating.

 

[enamel7]

If you think gold doesn't travel in the east you're mistaken. Any rip roaring flood will move the gold. If not then when places are dredged there's no reason to go back. I keep going back and finding new gold. Check after those rapids!

 

[Mgumby16]

Sorry u should have been more specific about the gold not moving I the east. Will gold that is in loose sand and gravel move yes. However the gold that is locked in or under hard pack I do not believe has moved in a very long time in most cases but not all. And next time we hit that area our focus is going to be the fault/ contact area and the area below the rapids.

 

[Mgumby16]

I meant I should have been more specific.

 

[enamel7]

What you said is true of any virgin area. The hardpack is undisturbed and has gold locked up from long ago. However, new gold is still being supplied to the streams as continued erosion takes place.

 

[Mgumby16]

Anyone with on advice or ideas for a better way to transport the dredge up and down the river since it acts like a boat anchor while your towing it?

 

[arizau]

Anyone with on advice or ideas for a better way to transport the dredge up and down the river since it acts like a boat anchor while your towing it?

Streamline the floats. You need some type of apparatus that smoothly diverts water around and especially under the floats. Maybe something like a cone end for the floats (kind of like a cataraft) or a rounded section of a plastic barrel crossing between and under the floats (kind of like the bow of a barge) will work to encourage the floats to plane rather than plow when under tow. As an after thought, a pyramid shape may be easier to construct than a cone and should work well.

Good luck.

 

[ncclaymaker]

Perhaps the easiest, more practical means of avoiding the towing predicament is to change what you are towing. I would investigate using a cheap, second hand paddle boat. The draft is almost nothing, they're light weight and are easily modified to carry a dredge. Craigslist.com is the best place to search for inexpensive solutions.

View attachment 1183745
Best of luck

 

[fowledup]

Set it cross ways across the gunnels of your Jon Boat or look for an old beater jon boat to put it for towing behind. Love that old motor on your boat, great stuff seeing old motors still running and doing their job!
Looking at that picture all I could see in my minds eye was that beautiful dredge getting submarined to Davy Jones locker for a time.

 

[Duckwalk]

Hell try some water skiis or something. once you get going maybe it would "glide" on top of the water. im 6'2" 240lbs and they work on me!

 

[Mgumby16]

Thanks for all the ideas! I think the first thing I'll try is making it so I can put the dredge on the front of my jon boat. Unfortunately this will make it so I can't take any passengers.

The thought of using another jon boat or paddle boat is good but my space is limited without a trailer. prospecting mobile!

The motor is a 1958 evinrude electrum 7.5 hp. Works great! Probably has less then 30 hrs on it. It was seized up when I got it due to it not being used for 30 some years. But all it took was some oil and a little force to get the pistons moving again. Pic below also has my homemade rock guard on it.

 

[ncclaymaker]

This is really a great place to throw something against the wall to see what sticks. I take it that the paddle boat wasn't a winner. But, while I was removing the "new" 55 hp engine from the jet ski hull, I noticed how light the fiberglass hull assembly was without the engine. So, I plan to cut the entire area at the deck line, and then replace the top/superstructure with a piece of marine plywood. I would then mounting the sluice w/classifier onto the deck of the hull. In an effort to keep the center of gravity low, I'll create a well in the deck to store 5-10 gallons of fuel. Should help with preventing those nasty tip-overs and submarine mounted sluices. Would love some feedback on the idea with pros and cons alike.

Chances are, without having seen this thread, I would have cut the hull up for easy handling at the landfill.

View attachment 1185782


This where the Bombardier-Rotax power-plant of this ugly duckling is going. Power for the boat and lots of high pressure, high volume water for the 4 inch sluice.


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I'll update the whole circus after the engine is mounted and the crude, but effective sluice is mounted and working.

 

[Mgumby16]

I have a new river prospecting method to show that has worked great.

I basically took my jon boat and my 3 inch keene and combined the two to make a jon boat catermaran dredge. It works great for sampling a spot pulling up your hose and motoring to the next sample spot with minimal break down.

I started the trip with an outboard but started having issues with it overheating so had to leave it at the car. With the outboard attached the boat floats much more evenly then what you see in the photos. But the system work either way.

This system took me only about a half day to fabricate and works very well with Keene dredge designs. Haven't figured out an easy way to adapt it to my proline 4. Hope this gives you guys some more ideas for getting out and projecting larger navigable waterways.

Thanks!