Remote Prospecting?

[Geowizard]

Setting up for the test run;

Yesterday, I set up the wash plant next to the tailing pile. I had peeled the moss and roots from the edge of the pile enough to expose tailings across a 100 foot area. The wash plant is six feet from the pile.

A high banker's dream;

I pump water from a 6 foot deep Beaver pond that's at least 100 feet across. The pump will be on the same elevation as the spray bar. The pump can operate at maximum capacity and minimum work.

Sluice tailings will initially flow into the "swamp". The swamp goes to a side channel that provides a two stage settling pond with return channel back to the Creek.

Everything Goes through the plant;

This revised sluice runs everything through the sluice. It's an over/under design as seen in typical suction dredge operations. "Over" level is maximum energy flow, larger (over size) rock. "Under" is low velocity screened slurry with GOLD.

Counter Flow;

The sluice is set at THREE TIMES the normally recommended TWO inches per foot drop! The original design was 16 inches drop over eight feet and now it is 48 inches drop over eight feet.

The angle has to be steep enough to discharge the over-sized material over the top and provide ample parking space for GOLD on the lower level. This approach requires a "counter flow" design. The lower level is designed to SLOW down the flow! I call it a "COUNTER FLOW SLUICE".

Stick around, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

It ain't easy;

It isn't "Rocket Science" either. The Maxi-banker has an 8 foot x 4 foot x 4 foot frame. The sluice box is 8 feet long.

Stick with me...

The sluice box is elevated on one end, so the length of the support for the sluice box INCREASES as the elevation of the head of the sluice box INCREASES. Hypotenuse of a right triangle.

Adjustable supports:

The support of the sluice box is done with three, eight foot sections of 1 3/4" unistrut steel tubing. The very nice thing about Unistrut is that it comes in different diameters; 1 3/4", 2", 2.25", etc. The sections can be connected telescopically because the wall thickness is 1/8" thick. Unistrut has 7/16" holes every one inch. Extensions can be added as needed and bolted through. This method of adding sections has almost to limit for coupling and extending sections of the Steel Unistrut.

Thinking "out of the box";

The head of the sluice can actually be elevated GREATER than the 4 foot height of the frame.

Don't go away!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

You heard it here FIRST;

Yep, right here on the Alaska GOLD PROSPECTING FORUM!

The "Counter Flow Slice". It's a NEW concept in sluice technology!

Geowizard, HOW does it work?

Stick around and find out!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

The law of averages;

I fabricated, got it all set up and ran the Counter Flow Sluice!

After running about 20 cubic yards, I shut down, removed the carpets and did a clean up.

There is no way to know the efficiency of recovery, the amount of GOLD recovered was less than "average".

I always keep in mind that 5,000 cubic yards of a tailing pile having 10,000 cubic yards will be BELOW average!

- Geowizard

[Joe S (AK)]

Of course - the amount of Gold recovered is important ----- but ----- to determine the prototype's efficiency the tailings have to be meticulously re-worked and the amount of loss found. Not just quickly re-run through the same machinery but rather carefully and systematically reworked to recover all the losses of all sizes. Recovering some Gold in the equipment is usually really rewarding - unless you are loosing a substantial amount in the tailings. "Feeling" and "Knowing" are two different things and proving through hard facts is the only way to know if the prototype is performing well as is, or if it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Certainly not easy to double work the 20 yard run of material but that is just what has to be done to find, and know, the actual efficiency of the prototype. The only way to skip that second, and more exhaustive, step is to not care at all how efficient the new prototype actually is.

In the past, often through outside considerations, all the miner cared about was recovering 'What he could with what he had for the time he had' before he quickly departed to spend his new found wealth. Many an Old Timer Alaskan miner did just that - grabbing the easy, large Gold during the summer and then just abandoning things at the end of the season. After a winter of spending it was searching for yet another quickly processed spot next spring. That sort of sounds how that powder Gold was left in those tailings got there - a "Smash and Grab" in the past.

[Geowizard]

Is it a science project;

Most Remote Prospectors are after as much GOLD as possible via the shortest path possible!

There are a few that are out to analyze the efficiency of their sluice, the percent recovery of GOLD at ten different mesh sizes, and then write a book on the subject. Was it 30 percent efficient or 35 percent? How was the calibration performed? All trivia for another thread!

I predict the motives remain the same as they always have been, to smash and Grab!

My experience on this forum and others is that sharing data is met with arrogant dismissal, disgust and down right condescending unfounded debate.

It's not a science project;

Readers of this thread want to get insight on Remote prospecting from a personal perspective. The trials, the tribulations, the drama and romance of getting out in the Wild in a place like Alaska!

Stick around, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

If it ain't broke;

If it ain't broke, don't keep FIXING it until it IS!

With that in mind, I dismantled the NEW Gee-wiz bang counter-productive sluice and re-configured things as they were in the original prototype! In my Remote Prospecting World, I have two miles of drag line tailing piles right on a creek with lots of water! The objective, now is to improve capacity while keeping the cost of operation.

Closing shop for the season;

Having made three trips with a high degree of success on each, there is a sense of accomplishment in getting the plan settled, equipment in place, with a mine site prepped for the coming season!

[Geowizard]

On the subject of science projects;

Remote prospectors must be very careful NOT to get into science projects.

Here's why;

Even with GOLD at historic high prices, $1950. per Troy ounce today, for example, look at a typical day or two in the life of a Scientific prospector:

Mine run GOLD might only be 900 fine. That's 90 percent pure GOLD. At $1950, deduct $195 for impurities and we have $1755 per ounce... divided by 31.1 grams per ounce = $56.43 per gram.

Our science project starts out running Tailing piles for a net milligrams per yard = grams of GOLD.

In theory we run a few hours, in reality, we run 10 to include clearing trees, clearing the tailings from the sluice, so, after 10 hours running and one half of a day doing a cleanup. The operating cost of day 1 is based only on one pump burning unleaded and one Bobcat burning Diesel. In the interior of Alaska, That adds up to a cost to run one day.

The revenue side and the operating cost (fuel only).

Not counting the half of a day doing the clean-up.

Now, in the interest of science, you re-run your tailings. Let's suppose you lost 20 percent of the GOLD and you re-run the tailings with 100 percent recovery and get more GOLD.

Another day and a half older and deeper in debt...

Are we having FUN yet?

- Geowizard

[Geowizard]

Economy of scale;

There is an economy of scale in GOLD mining!

Economy of scale is a practical calculation of the cost to mine and the pay. Look at a few examples where low values of GOLD become interesting;

In the cubic yard instance;

We covered the operating cost earlier, So, in this case, it is possible to see a net pay.

In a setting where milligrams per yard is average, it could be predicted that grams per day is an average gross pay. Less the operating cost.

The scale of mining must be consistent. In some cases, a second loader can be incorporated to assist with the clearing operations. That allows the production loader to focus on one job - production!

The economy of scale improves with two production loaders. The operating cost does not double because the operation only uses one pump.

Stick around, there's more!

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Now you said, "The operating cost does not double because the operation only uses one pump."

But the operating cost is significantly higher because of extra expense, Another person; double fuel, more maintenance = more expense.

Doubling the production of material into the sluice has the capacity to overload the system if it was set up for one loader. Recovery efficiency goes down in that, recovery is not doubled.

Not trying to be contrary here, but the things I listed need to be factored in. My point was that although the cost may not be doubled, it is a significant factor.