2018 Season

[Slatco]

Hi guys, for those who are interested, here is a brief video of my operation from last year. I have a full time job and only get out to the mine a couple weeks a year. The gold pays for grub, diesel and beer with a little left over for repairs and the wife (so I can continue to play) so I am a happy camper.

https://youtu.be/h15wez9YnM0

[Leonard]

Nice! Looks like a good operation.
Leonard

[chickenminer]

Looks like your ground is shallow. Makes it a lot cheaper to operate!
Nice trommel plant.
What's your reclamation standards like down there?

[Slatco]

You bet Chickenminer, shallow ground is so nice. I run everything from the surface down about 10ft after scraping off the topsoil. Reclamation is pretty strict (stricter than the Yukon I believe) with everything having to be filled, contoured, topsoil re spred and trees planted. Built that trommel a couple winters ago and have been super happy with it. The hydraulic tipping grizzly is the cats ass.

[GoldMember]

Looks like alot of thought went into your trommel build.I heard that working surface gravels in the omnica area result in fine gold only.Is this true in your case.Have you considered going deeper? You need to quit your job and go hard.Have a great 2019 .

[Slatco]

Yep, gold is mostly fine but it still pays lol. The deeper channels around Manson Creek and Germanson River have big nugs.

[GoldMember]

Thanks for the reply.Can you recommend your top 5 things you would do or add to your trommel if say a guy was to have a chance to go back in time and change things.I can see that the rollers (Type) would be a concern as they would have to be changed out with frequent yardage.Any adds or mods to design that you think could be added that would make anything easier or faster.What type of paddles inside trommel did you use for glacial till type gravels.Did you notice any surging and if so did angle change help or something else perhaps.I just think the design and size is the cats ass!Great Job,Also do you think a longer sluice would be an asset to the size of barrel being run.How about spray bars in hopper was this original or did you add after you got to run some material?What size water pump do you use or do you have an extra pump and line to help?

[Slatco]

Hmm, top 5 things......
- Make sure the thrust ring was perfectly flat. The one I am using has a bow in it as I cheaped out and bought the plate like that before it was cut out. The bow causes the drum to walk up and down slightly which likely contributes to roller wear.
-Better collector for when the drum overloads and material spills out the feed end. I had to build this in the field and while it works could have been better.
-Higher quality rollers. I have seen some guys use idlers off D3 that last forever in a trommel application
- Remote control actuation of the grizzly. Not required but would be really nice.
-Longer sluice. I clean up every two hours to avoid overloading the riffles.
-More spary bars in hopper would certainly help move the material through.

For the ground I am in, this trommel works really well. If I was building a bigger one to do more yardage, I think the main change I would make is to go to a 8-10ft diameter drum with a huge feed hopper and not worry about screening out the half barrel size bolders that are so common. Often the big rocks have gold stuck to them and washing them in the trommel would add to the recovery.

[GoldMember]

Hey Thanks for taking the time to post this info.Yes i agree thrust plates are critical component.The sturdy and truer they are makes for less hair pulling.You would not believe the pile of PA or eqivalant grade,of rollers i have seen thrown off to the side.A very common issue for sure.When you say better collector for overload,what can you explain more about ,are we talking a v type or a U,or am i not following.Remote control for sure i know how as you get older,jumping out just to throw a lever is a grind.Why would you clean up every 2 hours?is it a bit of insecurity
that gold loss might be happening.Do you find that your starting to pack up riffs.What really are some of the reasons.It's nice to get out and do a change out anyways with smaller runs stretch your back and legs an such.I know guys with similar size ops that just hydrovac the sluice material into their trailer tank and tow it away to cleaned up
Maybe some thought might be to given to splitting sluice inlets to disperse gravels and water at better intervals,seen guys do that.I bet the 8-10 ft drum would be ideal,i think the cost is why we don't see more of this.About the feed hopper I am now a true believer of 15-20 yard hopper feeders,dump and sit on chair and manually feed the trommel
as the coverbelting dumps a steady rate of material.It takes care of 2 majors,nice continous consistant feed rate,sluices love this.Also it lets you free up a piece of equipt that can otherwise be used ,instead of feeding the trommel.I will try to post a pic of the hopper feederunit,it has a stationary grizzly ,no need to tilt grizzly at all.Just pull larger rocks off with hoe every once a while.Alot of times a bungy cord to keep feeder going is all that is needed
while another 15 yards can be loaded.I totally agree a spray bar or 4 is super important.Just stack some boulders that have not been washed.Give them a good pressure wash and run some of the gravel thru a highbanker or your vortex clean up sluice.It's amazing what is stuck in that clay gravel in regards to gold.Thanks for talking trommels .

[chickenminer]

Slatco...
Yes, building a trommel that can handle anything you throw at it is the way to go.
I hate grizzlys on a feed hopper so I built my plant to handle any rocks that fit in a one yard bucket!
My plant is made from a piece of the Alaska oil pipeline, 48" dia and the pipe is 1/2" thick.
I've been abusing it for over 30 years and the only maintenance has been new screen and bottom plate
in the feed hopper.
Here is a photo of my plant in 2017. I'm working on a bench that is about 90' above creek level so I'm having to pump water in two stages.

washplant2017.jpg