How do you clean out your carpet / miners moss?

[carms]

After a few trips out im learning more things everyday, one thing i havnt learnt yet is how to clean out my carpet stuff at the bottom of my sluice.
I have had some very helpfull people say let it dry out and then shake into a big bucket but is there any other ways people clean there carpet out? I have heard of burning it but then i wouldnt have any carpet lol what do other people do?
your thoughts.....

[MrsFly]

Hi Carms,

I don't use miners moss very often, because the area I work has a lot of clay, and I find it clogs up the moss.

But when I do use it, to clean it out I get a bucket of water and wash it out in the bucket. Because the moss is flexible you can crunch it in different directions and dunk it up and down to release the particles from the fibres. A bit like hand washing a jumper.

The water is then carefully poured out and reduced, so that the remainder of the water and concentrates fit into a pan.

Cheers
Mrs Fly

[Deleted]

Burning carpet may be a problem too , especially if it is synthetic , you will end up with a melted blob with any gold stuck in it .
Ron

[Ric]

Hi Carms
What I do if I am using carpet is first rinse down any concentrates still in the sluice into a pan. I then roll the mat up and put it into a bucket or tub full of water and let it unravell and slosh it up and down in the water. then I unroll it in the water, hold each end and "rock" or "sway" it back and forth through the water (Hard to explain in words ya have to be there) turning it over so both sides can drop any gold out into the tub.

This gets all but very very fine gold out. I then roll it up and put it in a dry bucket and just leave it till next time I use it. Before I put it back in the sluice I give the now dry mat a good bash about in the bucket and tip any dust & dirt that falls out into a jar for later processing

A lot of us have moved away from carpet and miners moss and use rubber door mat that has either large round holes or diamond shaped holes and what we call Clarke Rubber "V" matting. Have a look through the posts here and the files & photos on the Yahoo page for examples.

Good luck and happy golding mate.

Cheers Ric

[vcubitt]

Hi Ric - this may seem a silly question but that rubber door mat material used in a sluice - depending on which way you turn it, the round holes are either bigger or smaller. I would have thought that smaller side up would trap more gold as the hole at the base is wider - does that sound right? Thanks

[Ric]

G'day Vcubitt

Boy would I love the day even one of those holes was full enough that no more gold would fit ;D

I suppose in theory the shape if the mat was upside down would create a low pressure area in under the lip of the hole so may be worth some experimenting.

I am not sure of the reason these mats were tried but my guess would be they are similar in layout and hole size to the 1" thick boards drilled with 1" holes that the old timers used in their sluices and Long toms.

Food for thought in your comments

Ric

[henryfish]

Hi Carms,Get rid of your carpet and use hessian,It`s cheap and does an excellent job,it`s easy to wash out and after some time when it becomes straggly it`s like a piggybank,dry it our well and burn it in a steel bucket or drum,remember to soak the burnt leftovers well and add a couple of drops of detregent to the water in the bucket as this will make the water wetter and stop your fines floating,I`ve done it like this for years and this is the best method.Cheers HenryFish.

[cliveybaby]

we used some rib matting from bunnings the other day and got great success.

big bucket of clean water and reverse rollings and jigging..

by example the older son (silly one) put all his previous weeks takings into the recycling sluice mix without telling us and the younger one got the whole lot out!

enjoy the vid and comment on the school project sluice.

andersond creek just up from the ford

[Deleted]

Wow Clive , Your young fellow knows his stuff. You must be very proud, only hope I can produce a miner like that ;D

DD