Mining "Boxes" and other equipment explained... Links to plans to build them!

I know times are tough for everyone right now, and most of you might not have a couple hundred extra to spend on mining equipment, but are quite capable of building your own stuff but you would like some plans and explanations allowing you to do so. In many cases, with experience, a person is able to design and build equipment best suited to the ground they are working.

Not all sluice box configurations will work good for all streams or material. For instance, in my area, most of the gold is very fine, so I will use my LeTrap sluice box... It is molded plastic, no carpets to clean out, and it traps even the most fine gold... Particles so small you may never even know they are there without a magnifying glass.. In fact, I have gotten stuff so fine, that even at 10X magnification all you see is a yellow glint in bright sunlight letting you know it's there. But it takes a lot of current to use, and it is pretty much a two man operation to clean up, since one person alone is quite capable of losing all the concentrates from one accident.

If the gold is coarse, and I can't classify as small as I do for the LeTrap, I will run my Keene A51 Hand Sluice. I have replaced the ribbed carpet with 3M Nomad Miners Moss... Looks like rubber spaghetti molded together in a mat. This stuff is very effective. But I learned that efficiency goes up when you use it only with the hungarian riffles and remove the expanded metal.

So, what I want to do here now, is give you a run down of various equipment, and common configurations and why they work so well and what types of conditions they are best suited for. And of course, I will provide links to pages that show you how to build these pieces of equipment.


ROCKERBOX

A somewhat forgotten but highly effective piece of equipment revered by the oldtimers, the trusty rockerbox. These are probably the most easy to make if you have a table saw, though I made one entirely by using a band saw. In the old days, they would use rockerboxes. They were best suited to two man operations, since one person could dig while the other person rocked the box and dipped the water. The material was dropped into a small hopper with holes in the bottom. Water was dipped from the river and poured over the material, and the box was rocked side to side. This allowed the gold to settle out in the carpet as well as help shake the material in the hopper. Once all the stuff that could pass through, did, the hopper was emptied and new material added.

Rocker boxes had the advantage of being able to be used in areas where waterflow was not high enough to allow sluices to be used, and they could be worked well by one person. They were highly portable, cheap to make since their primary material was wood, and could be made in just about any size needed. The amount of material moved in a day is greatly increased over that of a gold pan... But I would say more material can be processed with a sluice. And in general, the bigger the sluice, the more material you can run.

There aren't many commercially made rockers available, but there are some that fit in small totes that allow you to reuse your water... A good option for the desert if you don't want to pack batteries AND water. But generally, your best and cheapest bet is to make your own.

Here are a couple links to different plans for building one:
Old style rocker
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/design_plans/DIY_rocker/Rocker_box.htm

River Rocker
http://www.minnesotagoldprospectors.org/RiverRockerBox.pdf


Another old rocker design, as well as interesting information:
http://lapidaryworld.com/pdf/gold_rocker_box.pdf

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SLUICE BOXES

The Sluicebox is the most common box used by prospectors and miners. It is probably one of the oldest tools used as well, second in age only to the gold pan to be sure. They can be made in any length and width that is practical to use. The longer the box and the wider it is, the better the gold recovery... Wider is better for fine gold, along with a slower flow of water. But longer is good because it increases the likelihood any gold going past the top third of the sluice will settle out before dropping off the end. Most gold will get caught in the first third or so of the sluice if it is set up properly.

They used to be made out of wood, lined with burlap or canvas, and they would use all sorts of systems as riffles... From the famed Hungarian style riffles, to using blocks laying accross the sluice, in some cases they used railroad track or rocks to make their rifles. Anything that would give gold a place to hide and trap in. The old sluices were generally made with great lengths, and they would run sometimes weeks at a time before cleaning up. The efficiency was not the best, but the great lengths and sheer size gave the gold ample time to get caught. Any losses would have been due to cracks in the wood, or perhaps old discarded burlap or canvas. Most old timers would burn their old carpets and pan the ash to get all their gold... And sometimes burnt their old rocker boxes and sluices too! Wood can track a stunning amount of fine gold... However, before torching an old rocker box from the gold rush years, please consider that it's collectors value probably far outweighs any gold still caught in the wood!!!

The general rule of thumb for running a sluice, is one half to one inch of drop per foot of sluice... Depending on how fast the water is and the size of the gold you are finding. Fine gold generally needs a flatter angle. You don't want your riffles loading up with blonde sands, but if you are seeing only black sands collecting, you might adjust it so just a slight amount of light sands cover the black.. If you can catch some lighter sands, you are probably catching your gold. A good way to test a sluice set up, is to throw a penny or other coin into the head of the sluice box. If it gets trapped in the first riffle or two, your set up is probably good. Your first scoop of material should take a few seconds to clear the head of the box. It shouldn't rush through super fast, but it shouldn't just sit there on the bottom either without much happening. Feeding a sluice steadily is important. If you leave any sluice unattended for great lengths of time, it is possible gold will blow out, since the material behind the riffles is constantly churning. Any exposed gold that isn't covered by concentrate is at risk of being lost... But it might take a significant amount of time before something like this happens. If you are going to leave your sluice alone for more than an hour or two, I recommend cleaning up.

There are many commercially made sluices available... I find the best deals are on eBay, or you can go to shops that I have done business with in the past and am very pleased with the speed and professionalism they give. www.minerox.com is based in Riggins Idaho, and I have done much business with them, all without incident. They have just started offering sluice boxes. And I know the URL might bring something bad to mind, but www.lifestylestore.com is actually a prospector supply shop! Their prices are generally unbeatable, and I am more than happy to keep ordering from them. Please note, I AM NOT in ANY WAY affiliated with these companies. I am a very satisfied customer who doesn't like dealing with companies that don't treat their customers right, and these two have treated me the best out of any. www.angusmackirk.com is another great supplier, based in Boise, Idaho... I have done business with him one time and am very pleased with the transaction. His sluices are similar in design to the LeTrap... Molded plastic riffles, no carpet, ensuring a 100% cleanup.

Right now, I recommend using the LeTrap... In my opinion it is the best sluice ever made. I like it better than my Keene sluices... But when I am by myself, I do not like using it because it is plastic, and because water weighs a LOT, it is hard to get it out of the water, and a few times I have had an accidents with losing my concentrates since there is no carpet. However, two people have no problem hoisting it out of the stream without problem. It catches every particle of gold, though if you are getting large flat flakes, I urge you to reduce the water flow, but it works best when you see material bouncing around in front of the riffles. Also, it pays to keep it well balanced, if you have the sluice twisted, material will collect strangely in the riffles and you are at risk of having your concentrates washed out. It is a bit finnicky to set up, but once it's set up, I recommend running it until it's time to go home. It's well worth the trouble.

My second recommendation are Keene's sluices... The factory configurations work great, but I found I was getting better results using miners moss, and I have since learned you need to have a second layer under the miners moss or the gold will work its way out of the sluice since once through the nomad, the sluice is slick aluminum and gold slides out easily with vibration of the water flow... Putting tool box liner under the nomad worked perfect. And I have just learned that expanded metal is a bad idea to use with the miners moss, so I will test my sluice without it and compare results to that of the LeTrap.

You can expect to pay anywhere from $75 to $150 for a sluice box... Keene's A52 would be a great choice if you didn't want to go with a molded plastic sluice like the LeTrap. And if you didn't want a huge sluice, then the A51 Hand Sluice is a good choice... A bit more compact and easier to pack around. The plans are a bit hard to find lately, later I will post my own, but here are a couple good links.

Building a sluice isn't too bad of a job, and here are some links to some plans:

http://webspace.webring.com/people/fw/wyogold/sluicebox_st1.html
http://nevada-outback-gems.com/design_plans/DIY_hand_sluice/hand_sluice.htm

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I hope you have found this post useful... I will keep bringing you good information and resources on a regular basis, so please, feel free to bookmark my blog, or subscribe to it for future updates. I am unsure what my next post will be on, but I will do some thinking, and it should be here in a few days! Good luck and may your pan always have some yellow in it!

HOW TO Get Started Prospecting

Well, I wanted to follow a somewhat logical development with this blog... I want to start out basic and slowly advance into more stuff, more areas. Mining is such a huge area... Not only do you have the sciences that govern it such as Geology... But there is large amounts of history and then you also have the politics that shape the mining industry and affect the very lives of countless people. Then there are many viewpoints to present information from... Not only is there that of the small miner such as you and I, but then there is the large company's point of view, and then you have the government's point of view... After a while, you start finding there is considerable controversy in the world of mining... I am very passionate about mining. Of all the things that humans do in their lives, mining is perhaps one of the least destructive activities contrary to popular belief which I intend to prove. Mining is the most important part of any society, for the simple act of picking up crude stones to fashion into crude implements with which man first planted crops, is a form of mining. So it can be argued that Agriculture is second to mining.

So, let's start with the basics... Let's get everyone up to speed on various things... I generally ramble, but I will try hard not to. This post is going to deal with getting started in prospecting... We never will have too many people engaged in prospecting activities, and nothing makes me happier than to share this passion with the world.

The reactions I get vary from total shock that people actually spend time looking for gold, to totally impressing people. It is pretty much the final frontier of adventure in the world which we live. Unless you get to go into space, or unless you get to travel to the depths of the oceans, this may very well be the closest you get to true adventure.

All you need to start out is a basic understanding of the tools needed, and where you can and can't look for gold.

First of importance, is the gold pan. I recommend a 14" Keene plastic gravity trap gold pan... It isn't too big and it isn't too small, it is light and easy on the wrists, and easy to learn the motion and movements necessary to wash the gravels in your pan. Panning is the most important part of any mining operation. Even the great big bucket line dredges that roamed Alaska and a few western states in the bygone days, all ended up down to the panning to isolate the last few flakes of gold from the cleanups. I recommend going to http://www.goldprospectors.org/, and click on media, watch shows... There is much great instruction to be found in all the episodes they have up and should give you a good example of how panning works.

After that, you need a shovel, a bucket, and generally a screen is recommended. The smaller you can screen the gravel, the easier it is for the gold to sink and work it's way down to the bottom of your pan or sluice. Big rocks cannot be displaced by fine gold... So fine gravel makes for great gold recovery, but always check your screens just in case! If you are just panning, it is possible to work up to a quarter or half a yard of gravel in say a 12 hour day. Not very fast, but if you are very selective about the quality of the gravel you are panning, it may actually pay nicely. Some people are good enough at locating the gold in a stream that they can actually get a tenth of an ounce per pan!!!

However, a sluice will essentially run as much material as you can dig and screen. All it requires is say half an inch to an inch of drop for every foot of sluice box. It is lined with carpet or miners moss known as Nomad by 3M. On top of that is generally placed expanded metal, and then hungarian style riffles which create eddies as the current of water flows over them, allowing the gold to get caught along with the heavy sands. The light sands flow right out of the end. A sluice can handle many yards of gravel a day, but a two man crew will have their hands full trying to dig and process more than a few yards of gravel in a day. Quality is more important than quantity. You can run dump truck loads of gravel but if there's no gold, the guy who is looking for the best ground will do better with only a pan. I recommend going to http://www.keeneeng.com/ to look at equipment and get an idea as to what's out there.

As you advance through your prospecting, you may find you want to do some suction dredging. I believe my next post for sure will be covering suction dredging. I know this post was, but I felt it important to give you more of a basic background first. Suction dredging is heavily regulated, in some cases it is overly regulated, but that is why it is even more important we abide by the regulations where possible, because they are waiting for us to slip up so they can take one example and hang the whole lot of us as environmental villains. Unfortunately the people who understand it the least, have the most say about things like this.

Suction dredges range from an inch and a half all the way up to perhaps 12" or more... Though anything over 4" cannot be handled by one person, and anything over 6 or 8 is generally a commercial operation.

Then there are highbankers and power sluices. This just pumps water through a sluice box, but it has a hopper so all you do is shovel and it pretty much washes and screens the material by itself, allowing you to run as fast as you can shovel. But they do need permits in most places.

Recirculating equipment that is battery powered and self contained is a great way to avoid the regulations!!! But your productivity will be reduced as your water will need changed off and on.

Most federal lands are open to prospecting and, in the Western states, you can still file mining claims in accordance with the 1872 mining laws. But you also have state laws to go by as well. It is an interesting predicament. The state owns the waterways, but the feds own the land in the case with Forest Service and BLM. You cannot except under VERY rare circumstances perhaps, conduct any operations within national parks, or wildlife refuges, and it is indeed a very big crime if you are trying to mine in these areas without proper paperwork. I am aware they have regulations and guidelines for getting permission, but that doesn't mean they actually grant permission!!!

Private property is fine, as long as you have the land owners permission. Back east, unfortunately you are going to have to generally find private land owners willing to let you prospect, perhaps in exchange for a percentage split of any finds. Be polite, and respect their wishes. The better impression we as prospectors can give, the more likely they will say "Wow, these gold prospectors are great people, they are welcome any time!"

Many people are mistaken and say "gold miners are greedy"... No, that's not true at all. How many people do you know voluntarily spend their lives pushing a number two shovel day in and day out many times not finding but a few colors in their pan. Robert W. Service summed it up quite nicely in "Spell of the Yukon":

There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;
It's luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder,
It's the forests where silence has lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace.

The full poem can be found at http://www.robertwservice.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=83 and I recommend you read it, it's well worth the time.

All I want, is to find the gold. I don't care how much of it I find, or how much I get. But I want to see lots of it in my pan. It's one thing to have gold, but it is quite another experience to actually find it. I cannot describe the thrill... But it truely will give you a gold fever when you see your first flake in the pan. Your next question... How do I know it's gold? Heh... Yeah, I worried about that too when I started. I went months not knowing what it looked like, and you know why? Because I never found any! When I finally did, oh man, there is NO mistaking it for anything else after that. It is a very rich buttery yellow color in most places... Some places, it can actually be a dull bronze color, but you can tell by how it hangs on the bottom of the pan when you swirl it around if it's gold or not. If you still have doubts, take a color, smash it with a hammer. If it shatters, it's not gold. If it flattens out into a bigger flake, well, you've definitely got something!

Which leads to another question. What areas should I look in? Well, you want to do some research. You want to look for gold where gold has been found in the past. It is a peculiar geology, and not all sources of gold deposits have ever been found. In fact, one of the streams I prospect that has been known for two ounce nuggets, the motherlode source has never been found. No one KNOWS WHERE the gold is originally from. They just know it's there. And a great many geologic events shaped the world over the centuries and milennias. It could be from anywhere, but gold is where you find it. Now, I am not saying there aren't streams that went undiscovered. I myself have found gold in a stream previously certifiably free of gold, and am proud of it. Unfortunately, I discovered also that it is mostly limited to an ancient streambed that crossed the creek. Before I could get to work on it, well, I lost access to that piece of land.

You want to see what general areas had gold production. How much gold was produced. Was it mostly byproduct of hardrock mining? Or was there some placering too? Googling is the easiest way to find research information... If you live in say, Colorado, you can google "Colorado Gold Localities" or "Colorado Gold Placers"... Enough stuff will come up to keep you busy. http://www.49ermike.com/ is a great resource as well, and he has quite a list of locations gold is known to be found all accross the country. It will at least get you started, and there is a great forum with lots of prospectors who are glad to help you if they can. Prospecting is not like fishing or hunting... Try getting a fisherman to tell you where he caught his trophy bass and how he caught it... Try getting a hunter to tell you the secret of getting his big trophy... Not gonna happen. But, prospectors are happy to show you how, and generally where you can go, because generally they will at the very least know of a spot that has gold in it, but they themselves don't work in... And even most of the time they will tell you where they are working.

For example, massive amounts of gold have been found and are STILL found around say, Boise Idaho... Now, common sense would say not to waste all of your time looking for gold around Pocatello, which is mostly a phosphates mining region. Go near where gold was found in the past. And the larger the river, the more likely it has gold, but the more likely it is very fine stuff called flood gold that can be panned off the shore and gravel bars, and that the good stuff may never see the light of day, because no one is going to dive 100' under water and somehow dig who knows how far to get the big gold caught in the big river. In my opinion, the same forces that made incredibly rich ancient gravel deposits thousands of years ago are still at work. I mean, there is massive amounts of gold under the major rivers, but the sediment is so deep, and bedrock so deep, it's more or less wrote off on the very large waterways. But, you can look for the tributaries that added the gold, and you can also look for old bench gravels the stream left when it was flowing higher than its present day streambed.

In the interest of time, and overloading you with information, TO BE CONTINUED!!! SOON! STAY TUNED AND FEEL FREE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BE EMAILED WHEN THE NEW POSTS COME OUT!!!