Non-Chemical Desert sluice. Thoughts?

[GotTheBug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nXBToLkjBg

 

[kurtak]

It will work (at least to a point) for heavier gold - off the top of my head I would say penny weight & bigger nuggets (maybe even as small as 1/2 gram) but its not going to catch "much" fines (though it will catch "some" fines) most of the fines are going to stay air born simply due air speed

Like any sluice how effective if is in catching gold (in terms of size) is in large part determined by volume of flow (whether water or air) & speed of flow (whether water or air)

Other factors that play a roll in catching gold (in a sluice) are riffle size, riffle angle, riffle loading, sluice length, feed material size etc.

Trying to catch gold in a sluice is a double edged sword - though a sluice will catch both large & fine gold - it won't be effective at catching both - it will catch "primarily" one or the other - depending on the above factors

That's why miners that want to catch both large/heavy gold & fines use classifier screening & then run the classified (sized) material in sluices regulated (by above factors) for the specific classified material size

One problem I see in his design (especially for catching much fine gold) is that he is using round pipe - which due to the bottom curve of the pipe - gives him very little surface area to catch gold before the riffles are loaded & continued loading of material just allows gold (the finer for sure) to move down the sluice over the top of the loaded riffles

He would be better served to use square tube - with 4" pipe you only have about 1" to 2" of effective surface area (riffled) to catch the gold compared to the full 4" of square tube (see pic)

And actually I "think" the best design would be 4" channel (on the bottom) with round pipe (cut in half) glued/welded on top (see pic) I could be wrong here - but don't think so

Kurt

 

[Barren Realms 007]

If he went to a 6" or 8" pipe to slow down his air flow through the pipe it should solve some of those concerns and give a little more surface area.

 

[kurtak]

If he went to a 6" or 8" pipe to slow down his air flow through the pipe it should solve some of those concerns and give a little more surface area.

Correct - to a point

Just like running a water flow sluice - IF (big if) you first classify your material - you can better control your gold size collecting by running the classified material through a sluice "tuned" to the collecting of its (the golds) classified size

When I was In Northern California I worked for a "large" placer mining operation --- they would dump a 3 yard scoop of gravel into the classifier (done by screening) each classified size then went through its own sluice that was "tuned" to deal with that class/size

I guess what I am trying to say here is --- its not a matter of one size fits all if you want to maximize the collecting of both large & small gold --- you have to "first" classify it - then run it in a sluice "tuned" to that class/size

There is no reason the same principal can't be applied to this "dry" sluice method - but it would require the same principal of having different sluices tuned to the class/size

I would still go with at least a square tube rather then a pipe & more likely the square bottom round top design

I would then tune the sluices for each class/size by changing the width (4", 6" 8" etc.) &/or the height (from bottom flat to top round) of the tube to increase or decrease air flow & as well I would likely put a valve between the end of the sluice & the vacuum that could be opened or closed to further control air speed/flow

Kurt

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Yea I got ya.

He was not doing any classifying on his material in the video and it probably would have helped if he had explained that.

 

[galenrog]

I have seen many home made sluices and other small scale mining equipment. This will work, but the constant clean out of the vacuum and cleanup of the "sluice" will eat into production time greatly. This is simply a VERY small drywasher. I would not use this.

 

[GotTheBug]

Reading discussions between you guys is like drinking knowledge from a firehose sometimes.