Here you will find an
ongoing list of helpful ideas you can use in you prospecting.They are learned over time out in the field while
looking for gold, some
are mine, some I picked up from others. If you have
ideas to contribute
please e-mail me.
Buckets
Sometimes you need buckets, lots of buckets.They can be had for free from any bakery or grocery
store that has a bakery. They come in 2 , 3, and 5 gallon sizes.
Siphon tube
It's a
siphon tube. It will transfer water from one bucket to
another as in a recirculating system when you are
trying to only pump clean
water and not all the sediment.
You have to have the tubs or buckets full of water and
then fill the tube
and cup your hands over the ends
and flip it around and into the water quickly. Then the
water will drain
to the lower one as you pump it out.
Classifiers
Can be homemade or bought, Pictured are 3 home made classifiers, 1ft.
square out of 1
x
1 1/2 in. boards and screen and screen molding
boards. Sizes
of screen are
1/16 in win screen, 1/8 in win screen and 1/4 inch
screen. If you
can get all
the material screened to about the same size, it will
be a lot easier to
separate
the gold out of it!
Surface tension.
Surface tension will cause small flat pieces of gold to float. Add a drop or two of any
dish soap will reduce the surface tension of the water and
let the finegold drop out. I use Jet Dry myself.
Magnet
There are a variety of
magnets that can be very useful to the prospector.
They help us separate out the magnetic black sands from
our gold.
They come in all sizes and powers. They make clean up much easier.
be sure to re-pan those magnetic cons they will trap your gold.
Bees in your camp
If you're bothered by honey bees, they HATE chlorine
bleach. Just spray a little up wind and they will vanish.
Bilge pump hose alternative.
Did
you ever go to the hardware store to buy some bilge pump
hose and gasp at the price? At about $3.00 a foot I wanted to find
a alternative. Here I'm using an old bicycle inner tube for the
1 inch hose and it works great! I also found a smaller one
I had works great for 3/4 inch pumps.
Gas Burn
When dredging in deep water and you
can't quite reach when re-filling your gas tank - DON'T allow the gas to come
out of the breather hole in your gas can and run down into the arm of your
wetsuit. You will notice the burning sensation right away as it continues
to get worse - Get your wetsuit off and wash the gas off!
Run Away Dredge
I was dredging with my partner on
the river once near some fast water and my mistake was having only one anchor on
a small dredge. Can you guess the rest? That's right. I came
up to do something and while I wasn't looking the hose of my 3" Proline caught
the current and pulled the dredge into the fast water and rocks. It was
kinda sinking for a minute or two. It was very difficult to say the least
but I pulled the dredge back up river to where we were. I was
standing there trying to catch my breath after all that when my partner came up
from dredging. I was grateful that he missed the whole thing.
Unfortunately it was the day when they were shooting a video about prospecting
and they told me they got the whole thing on tape. Now I can't even lie
about it! Always use two anchors when dredging near fast
water.
Engine Oil
We had been dredging in some fast
water and I had 80 pounds of weight on and I stepped off of a ledge at a new
spot and down I went 14' and my feet got entangled in in some tree limbs.
I had the hose of my 3" Proline in my hand so I climbed up it to my
dredge. I was a little panicked and was breathing heavy. I knew that
if I dropped my weight belt that I might never get it back (at least that day)
. I climbed up and as I reached up to grab on to the back of my dredge my
weight lifted the front of the dredge out of the water. Well, I had a
Honda 5.5 with the Low Oil safety feature on it. I must have been low on
oil and when I tilted the engine it quit. So there I was struggling to
hang on to the dredge, under water and quickly running out of air. I made
it around to the front of the dredge. I was in a back water area and there
I was going around in circles. I finally made it out. Quite a sight
I am sure. The hole I stepped in was 18' deep at its lowest and I have
since found good gold in that spot. I bought a 4" shortly after that. Always make sure you have full oil.
Diving Gloves
Put a thin layer of wetsuit repair
glue on the areas that will get worn from dredging and you can make your gloves
last for years instead of weeks.
MISC
Don't let the end of your nozzle
suck air or you will lose gold. (applies to jet
flares)
Do use two pans when testing on
the river. You get the visible gold into your sniffer
and pour both pans back into your dredge to catch any gold. You may be
surprised at what gets away from you. Drill a hole in each pan and
connect them by rope. You can clip them onto your dredge.
Classifying your cons will result
in better gold recovery. Classify them down to 20 mesh to get the
larger flakes and 100 to get the fines. I run the 20 mesh thru the
gravity bowl, then run the 100 mesh thru. It seems to recover gold
good. Classification is the key to good gold recovery.
Save all your black dirt even
after you think you have got all the gold out. You will wish you
had. I'm not exactly sure why cause I got enough dirt at my
house already that dump trucks stop and ask for directions but that is what
everybody says.
Put a thin
layer of wetsuit repair glue on your gloves to make them last.
Get a bottle of swimmers ear to
protect your ears. An earache will keep you out of the water for sure. You can make
your own if you want with 10% Rubbing Alcohol and 90% Hydrogen
Peroxide.
Have two anchors when dredging in
fast water.
Bring along an extra air
compressor drive belt. This can ruin a good day if it
breaks and you don't have a spare.
Bring a good sized rope. You can use it to climb in and out of the river, pull your dredge
out of the water, make a clothesline, etc...
Get a blower that you use to fill
up your air mattress and use it to get your fire going. Works good on damp wood.
When you are getting ready to
start your engine have a short piece of rope tied to your dredge and tie the
nozzle to it so it will be sucking clear water. You really
don't want plug your hose with sand, believe me. Do you know how much a
4" hose filled with sand weights? Even under water it is exhausting to clear
it.
Do use automobile transmission
line for your connections to your heater. The hoses that come with the heater
can't take the heat and melt, split and pop off easily. You will notice
when they pop off right away by the rush of cold water into your wetsuit.
Brrrrr...
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