Friday, September 27, 2013

This post is for anyone interested in a gold prospecting equipment experiment

I envisioned this as a way to wash more material faster than panning. I got this far and had to quit. I am hoping that the concept will spark an idea from those interested. The point is that the cost was minimal. The funnel was one I used to change oil. The electric box cost about a buck at a hardware store. The bucket was free. The little kids "U" shaped table or stand or chair or whatever was 2 bucks at Goodwill. The screen was part of a set I bought at a gold prospecting show. Use any 1/8 " mesh and make your own. The container I "stole" from my wife!
I was able to pan the concentrate left in the container and find fine placer. How much I lost is a good question. But compared to what I was finding by  panning, the result was ok. More tweaking may make it better? If you are in the desert, you might want to use a Rubbermaid type container to put the whole unit in to save water for re-circulation.
Just click on the photo to enlarge and read the text.
Hope this is of value to B. from Alabama.


This is how much material was left after washing the dirt above which had blown over the side of the funnel when pouring too fast. I collected it from the bottom of the bucket and panned it. There was one very tiny flake. I originally poured about 15 gallons of material through and then panned what was left in the glass container. Clear glass lets you see the agitation and light material rising from the bottom. I then panned the material left in the glass container and got enough flake to cover half the bottom of a small vial. The material was pretty poor.




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