John-Edmonton

Here's my first run rock tumbling. The petrified wood and dino bones used the rough grit #1 to tumble, the misc. stones used the #2 grit, as they were already somewhat smooth. There's 4 stages of tumbling normally with fresh stones, with rough edges. Next week I'll change the grit again. All these were found in the North Saskatchewan River.. Prospecting can create other hobbies too!

Here's a pic on how the geo sluice works. I love mine! It uses less water flow then other types of riffles and gets the tiniest bits of flour gold.

Man....did I ever get a woody this afternoon .......a petrified woody that is! Out sluicing with the ity - bity sluice today. Pulling some gravel at about 4 feet off the ground in the gravel bank, when I saw the familiar contour stripes of petrified wood. I carefully dug it our, and stopped at a car wash to give it a good cleanup. Just a lovely specimen too. And, I also got a little ity bity gold too. It's not much, but it photographed using a macro lens to show that the pieces look like large nuggies.

On 2/12/2023 at 1:30 AM, Valens Legacy said:

Looks like a nice day with some results that will pay off when it warms up some more.

That looks larger than the flower gold I get from some of the creeks I have.

Are you getting the gold out of the river or out of the bank?

Good luck on your next outing.

I use my macro camera on flour gold. It does make it look bigger, but shows what the tiny pieces look like..

A fine day it was yesterday at the North Saskatchewan River. Warm, partly cloudy with light winds. I took my Geo (Geometric) drop riffle highbanker for another dig. All I get is flour gold out of this river. Last year I got 17 grams of that powdery stuff. It's about 1/2 mile from where I parked pulling the sled. Easy going down the valley, a good workout pulling my equipment back out, up the river valley. Got some gold, and a first....a clay marble in one of my shovel scoops. It could predate back to the late 1800's. Also got some smaller pieces of petrified wood, a small piece of petrified dino bone and a fossilized bone in iron stone. I highlighted the bone with nail polish.....unfortunately, it wasn't dry and just reflected my light. Lesson learned!

I haven't posted here for a while. I started a Face book Le'Trap and drop riffle highbankers and river sluice discussion group last year, so that has been taking up a bit of my time. Anyhow, Steve can probably relate to this. Headed back down to the North Saskatchewan River (Edmonton Alberta) today. I took my favorite drop riffle highbanker, the Geo (geometric) highbanker. Ice had formed along the banks, so I had to dig further out in the current in 2 feet of water at times. After a couple of hours, I started getting cold, so I shut it down and did my one cleanup today. It was above freezing outside, so my equipment did not got seized up from freezing. The electric bilge pump did however run a little bit slower then usual. Over all. it was a successful day. I did get some vitamin "G" today and I will sleep well tonite!

 Due to a late snow melt in the mountains and  above average rain in Edmonton, my favorite spots on a local river are still under 3-4 feet of water. I went to another another nearby river not affected with mountainous spring runoff, did some sampling, only to find  3-4 specs of gold per pan. Somewhat disappointed, I grabbed some grass and pulled it out with the roots. A quick check showed about 30-40 specs per pan. Who knew? So, I spent the rest of the afternoon washing roots. I made a quick video showing my process.

On 6/25/2022 at 12:19 AM, Valens Legacy said:

Looks like a simple system to use, I will be checking into it more.

Thanks for sharing.

I have wanted to use a le'Trap for over 33 years. I purchased one a couple of years ago, my 4th highbanker and am very pleased with it. I just started semi-retirement, and am finding weight being more of an issue these days. This unit, combined with a 60   Ah lithium battery & Johnson 2200 gph bilge pump is enough to run it for about 5 hours, which is plenty for  me.  The lithium ion battery's have really come down in price, weigh very little and can be charged thousands of times. No more gasoline to haul around,  lengthy hoses, oil changes, gas fill-ups. A perfect recipe for us older fellers!

I Started A Facebook Discussion Community For Le'Trap and Other Drop Riffle group. It's non-commercial and hopefully stir up some good discussion.( Please delete this post Steve if it is not allowed.) The Le'Trap was originally designed In Canada some 30+ years ago, and still has a following today. It has been reproduced by different manufacturers throughout North America.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/425638906120030

I figured this forum is busy and a great place to throw this out.

It sells for $99.00, and the science behind it sounds reasonable.  Screening your material and controlling the water flow should allow the user to tweak it up to a functional level. It's been out for about 5 years, yet has few videos, many good comments, but some not so good ones. I only have lots of flour gold where I live, and am looking for an affordable' simple tool to reduce my concentrates at the end of my season, to then  run them through a second time, then through my miller table. Below is a link to the product:

Any comments would greatly be appreciated.

John-Edmonton

I live in Edmonton, Alberta. Been metal detecting for years.....I dabbled in prospecting over 20 years ago and got the bug this year. I am running a highbanker in the North Saskatchewan River, which flows through Edmonton. Only flour gold present. I am spoiled! A 5 minute drive, and I can set up my equipment and dig. No claims, no dredging but 5 year ($50.00) mining licence required. I enjoy the many surprises coming out of the river.....petrified wood, petrified dino. bones and the odd relic or coin. The exercise and fresh air are the other rewards. Below are my most recent finds from last week. We got an early snow, but went out anyway! Below is a pic......the ring I found metal detecting (14.2grams.)