John-Edmonton

Got out the Le'Trap. My 3000 GPH pump draws 12 Ah, so my new 100 Ah 12 volt battery can run my pump for about 8 hours. Much more time then I could do in a day.

Here's the setup I used.

 Got a little petrifird wood today.

Here's 2 hours worth of digging.

Ha! My larger fuel tank came in the mail today. This one allows me to run my Geo Highbanker for about 12 hours. This new battery is rated at 100 Ah. My current battery is 60 Ah. Both of them will give me about 19 hours run time with the Geo Sluice and 53 hours with the California Mini. And, the new battery only ways 24 LBS. If I add a solar panel, it will be even more run time.

A cold NW wind today, however, had a good deep river valley today to protect me. Even got some snow......adds to the adventure. I used the Geo Highbanker. Being that I run it with a battery, I added some tips today. Enjoy the pics.

It all fits in a plastic fishing sled, that will float for easy transportation.

Got my highbanker up and running.

Tune your machine like a concert piano, and it will capture most of the gold in the first couple of drop riffles.

The lithium ion batteries manual says you could damage the battery if you short it out. I use an electric control to manage the flow, and it has a fuse  in case it does short out.

The PVC plastic units are light, making it easy to move to  a new location.

After my first cleanup, I was happy to see some gold in the pan.

I added some miner's moss with backing into the hopper to protect it from all the abuse I give it and to catch a bit of gold.

And that pretty well wraps up today's adventure!

What a day, what a day, what a day. It was a gamble. Very strong winds forecast, the river at a iffy depth with the potential of it rising even more. 30% showers. Assessed 3 different locations. I chose one, the gravel to dig was about the same square footage as my bathroom. Heck......if you don't take risks, you can't win. Well, the river dropped about 5 inches for the first 3 hours, then started rising again. The ice was breaking upstream, so I had to monitor a possible ice-flow attack on shore. I even had all my supplies stored on high ground, with a trail to quickly evacuate the area, just in case. Well, nothing happened, and it turned out to be an uneventful day. Except, getting some nice shiny.

On 4/6/2024 at 1:15 AM, Valens Legacy said:

Looks like all that hard work is paying off for you, I never thought of finding platinum i a pan like that, but never really knew what it would look like in the pan or sluice.

Nice looking gold for the day and I wish you better luck on your next outing.

Stay safe and don't over do yourself.

There is a tiny bit of platinum that shows up occasionally. Not enough to really go after it. Thanks for your kind words.

On 4/7/2024 at 8:34 AM, Ridge Runner said:

John  

 You may not got a promotion but due to the price of gold your hourly wage has gone up.and platinum is not bad at about 940.00 .

 You may not want to fool with that cheap stuff like platinum so I’ll email you my address and to show you what a great guy I am I’ll pay shipping..haha

 You be safe out there going it alone. Having you coming on here with your show and tell is like being there.

 I thank you for your time doing so .

 Chuck  

Too late. I threw that platinum in the garbage. It's ugly, so little of it too. Damned if I am going to spend hours with a set of tweezers picking out $00.50 worth.  For safety, I always carry my cell phone and about 50 feet of rope for those challenging steep trails. I spent the last 15 years working with folks with hip, shoulder and knee replacements. I do my best not to become a patient on my unit. And, I most certainly  don;t want to see me butt naked either. 🤣

Looks like a lot of team spirit at the Garrett factory. Lots of employees too.  Charlie has sure built up a nice empire from the ground up. I sure do miss him. I still have some correspondence from him at home. He often times used to answer questions himself. RIP Charlie!

I was lucky.....I got the last one. 

It was supposed to get up to at or above freezing temperatures today. That never happened, however, fresh air, exercise, appetite, good food and a good night's sleep. What is there not to like? Made a quick, short video of the Easter Hunt.

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

What size pump do you recommend to run on the sluice?

Depends on the width of the drop riffles. Up to an 8" wide, the 1100 GPH should do fine. 10" to 12" works well with the 2000 GPH and the Le'Trap runs with a 2200GPH pump, although, I sometimes add another 500 GPH pump to to run the Letrap.

8 minutes ago, chrisski said:

How much material did you run?

Was this pay dirt or concentrates?

I was using the California mini highbanker. I shovelled fresh gravel into the hopper for about 2 hours, including gravel containing a lot of roots. It's flour gold in the pan.

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

I picked up a 90 Ah Bosch battery for $116.00 at a NAPA Auto store near me just 2 weeks ago. Could of had a 120 Ah for just 12 dollars more.

Now to find a bilge pump at the right price.

There are lots of bilge pumps for sale at Amazon and Ebay. A lot of prospecting places sell them too, as do  marinas if you happen to live near water. Did you purchase a Lithium ion battery?  Below is an article about lithium ion batteries and a  comparison chart to simplify things.

https://tritekbattery.com/choosing-between-lithium-ion-and-lead-acid-batteries-for-e-bikes/

A couple of things to bring to your attention. Drop riffle highbankers require less water flow then your standard riffles. Drop riffles allow the gold to drop out of the water flow, like it happens in nature. Standard riffles require more water flow, to create a low pressure zone, hopefully capturing gold. Larger stones can knock flour gold out of standard riffles, but just roll over drop riffles, where the gold has already dropped out of sight. Because of less water flow, drop riffles run very well on bilge pumps. The California Mini runs nicely using a 1100 gallons per hour pump. The Geo Sluice runs well on a 2000 gallons per hour pump.

12 volt lithium ion batteries are really coming down in prices, and bilge pumps are not a great expense.  The lithium ion batteries can purchaced on Amazon or Ebay.

I did the math and pricing for running either the Californiaa Mini or the Geo Highbanker with different batteries. You could also run a 6" standard riffle unit on a 1100gallons per hour unit. These are in Canadian prices. US prices will be less.

Using a bilge pump is quiet, no gasoline, no oil, no tune-ups, no oil changes and the whole complete system is so light that you can carry it on your back and go just about anywhere. And drop riffles have excellent retention rates for flour gold. 

Thanks! You too!👊

1 hour ago, Ridge Runner said:

Hey John 

If you got a root beer I’ll sit down with you and shoot the bull with you. I found out long ago with one beer I’d chase just about anything with a dress on but now at my age it could be the end of me.haha

 You reporting the gold you finding keeps us going that can’t get out there.

 Thanks for your time!

 Chuck 

Well Chuck, full retirement  end of May. At 69 I feel blessed that I still have the body that allows me to prospect. I can't comment on the grey matter in my head. I do love the photography part of prospecting, and enjoy putting together the posts. We ALL need to keep our bodies moving and our brains challenged to get the most of our senior years.

 "When we are young, we should exercise. When we get old, we GOT-TO!"

9 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Beer?

I have to have something a little bit stronger than that, some high grade moonshine would do the best.

Too much of that stuff and you will go color blind.👀

4 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

The roots is just like miners moss both good at catching gold.

 Chuck 

You bet! Much easier then shovelling gravel. You can literally pull up a chair, wash some roots and drink a cold beer too!🍺

11 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

That's a nice amount of flour that you recovered , how much came from the roots.

Good luck on your next outing, and stay safe out there.

I would say an easy 60-70%. 

15 °C/59.0 °F was what it was today. (probably even hotter in the valley, south facing slope) I got out this morning and had  some serious gold getting in mind. I drove to an area which sometimes opens up early in the spring. Good karma today!

I brought along my climbing rope along. I work healing people with broken bones at a hospital for a living. I don't want to be a patient on my unit. It's nice to have a unit that runs on a 12 volt battery. The highbanker is ABS plastic, strong and light. No gas pump, heavy hoses or gasoline to tag along. My unit runs quiet all day, and allows me to hear all the bird's sounds with spring mating in mind.

I safely made it to the river's edge. A thick layer of ice was still intact in most places on the banks.

I did manage to find a small open, exposed area. Hacked another 10 feet more with my shovel to expose some more gravel.

The gravel had a lot of sticky silt mixed with it and little gold, so I dug up a lot of dead vegetation and washed the roots in my hopper. That got me more gold then just the gravel.

Here's the flour gold after my final clean-up. I might head down again tomorrow if the weather is suitable.

Took my California Mini highbanker back to the chunky-flour-gold river, and did mostly free digging, as the frost is starting to thaw out. I managed to move a lot more material, as I wasn't screening it into buckets for feeding the mini. And, the results speak for themselves.

I have done quite well with this little unit. The whole system fits in a 5 gallon plastic bucket, and my 12 volt  60 amp/hr lithium ion battery (very light) fits in my back pack. I can either pack it in my sled or just carry it in a bucket to get to those far away places.

I dug down to about 18 inches below these old gravel beds. Beyond that, the ground was still frozen. I dug for a bout 3 hours, which is plenty for me. Filled in my holes, went home and ran my concentrates through my micro sluices in the basement.

Here's the shiny from today! I should sleep well tonite.🥱

9 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Wish I had so much nice areas that you have for gold, here is harder to find it, but when you do it is about the same size that you are getting.

Good luck out there and stay safe .

Sometimes half the fun is searching for those places.

Well, the little river turned out to be a bigger river, as the temperature was rising and the snow was melting. I had to find a new river crossing to get home where the river was more shallow.

I haven't tried this location.....so, that's what I dug.

Adding water to my 1/2" screened gravel turned it into a sticky cement. I prefer feeding dry material. I just drop the material from a greater height to make that flour gold punch through the water's surface tension so that it doesn't float away.

And.....here's todays shiny fly poop. Gonna sleep well tonite!🛏️

On 3/10/2024 at 2:15 PM, Dean Stone said:

Whoo, i wish i had a creek close to me with that much gold. I dredge in OHIO, and get about that much in a year. Don't know if i could handle that ice or not, I can't do like i used to. I soon will be 73 years old, broken back, metal plate in my neck. I still keep going.  Good job.  Dean

Just remeber, it's flour gold. I enlarge the flakes with my camera, because they look so much nicer.

On 3/10/2024 at 11:12 PM, Valens Legacy said:

You are a true inspiration  to a lot of people because of how you area able to get every grain of gold from areas that are not wanting to give it up.

Good luck and stay safe out there.

Thanks. My grandfarher's saying was that "where there's a will, there's a away." I never understood what he meant untl I was  grown man!