carms
Sluicer
I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.
Posts: 226
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Post by carms on Jul 1, 2011 19:21:42 GMT 10
Hi all,
For all you highbankers / sluicers out there, how much gold do you have to see in a test pan before you start up the highbanker / set up the sluice ? Is it any amount of colour?
or do you have to see a certain amount ie small flakes and some dust etc and then off you go gathering as much as you can process.....
any thoughts?
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Post by Ric on Jul 1, 2011 22:06:14 GMT 10
Deciding weather to set up the sluice or highbanker can be a personal thing. It depend what you are happy with at the end of the day.
More important is to actually have something to show at end of day.
How much gold will depend on the type of area you are working. If it is an area of fine flood gold like The Shoalhaven or The Turon Rivers in NSW where the gold is very fine but lots of it, then 10 or more colours per pan would be worth setting up.
You still need to test pan cross sections of the work area to track the direction of the lead to stay on the best concentration of gold.
If you are in an area where the gold is chunky but maybe more sparsely spread then anything more than one or two chunky specks per pan would be enough for me to set up.
Cheers Ric
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carms
Sluicer
I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.
Posts: 226
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Post by carms on Jul 2, 2011 9:02:07 GMT 10
Ok im slowly getting it lol, so your saying that when i find some color after a test pan i should then branch out different directions/heights etc to try and trace where the flood/high tide deposited the gold along the shorline ....hopefully finding a long stretch of higher concentration gold?
sorry just want to learn as much as possible, i think the more i know the "luckier" i have a chance of being ;D
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Post by Ric on Jul 2, 2011 10:39:23 GMT 10
Hey Carms, it's all about learning. The day we stop learning is a sad day indeed. A gold lead may only be an inch (25mm) or two wide and can wind around or maybe only run a very short distance. It depends on where the current slowed enough to deposit the gold during that flood. So yes, as you say you need to test pan to find the best concentration and the direction the lead follows. Something what I do is find a good high vantage point where I can look down on the area and see and imagine where the water would be swirling or slowing during the flood that last changed the area, remembering that the waters edge would have been far from its present meander and much higher. If possible get to your favorite spot during a flood and take note of where and how the water swirls and eddy's to identify possible low pressure areas where the gold will drop from the current. Another method of finding a starting point is to be able to identify the local "indicators" which are concentrations of rock associated with the gold where it came from such as a concentration of well worn ironstone maybe mixed with quartz. I am no expert on this by a long shot but have a read of the posts on this subject. There is a post in this section and here are some links to more in our Tips & Tricks board on the subject alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=681alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=955alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=1007alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=2636Also read the old mining reports of the area you are wanting to work The DPI websites DIGS search is a good place to start.Also old newspaper reports from the 1800's or even the Depression days of the 1920's & 30's There is also a lot of good information stored on our Yahoo site groups.yahoo.com/group/Alluvialgoldprospectors/Ric |
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carms
Sluicer
I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.
Posts: 226
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Post by carms on Jul 2, 2011 17:54:51 GMT 10
After panning my concentrates from the last trip im a bit happier with the results although im sure others would find it fairly dissapointing lol, i actually tried a bucket of red clay from the old miners tailings and managed to locate a few "biggish" pieces....i actually mixed the concentrates at the end of the day from the 2 sluice runs so wasnt sure of where the
bigger pieces came from but after a quick squizz under the microscope i found red clay stuck to the sides of a couple of the larger pieces....im assuming this is because they were in the old tailings....might be worth running bit of that stuff and see how i go....although it was hard as cement after scraping off the top 1-2 cms
all in all i could actually see the gold from the last trip so im happy with that! maybe tomorrow i will pull a picker! just need to find a better spot as i feel the area i am at Turondale has been panned out quite a bit
thanks for all the info!
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