John-Edmonton

Went back to that rich flour gold patch today and again got a substantial amount of flour gold from the North Saskatchewan River. Today's amount was 1.9g for a 4 hour gig. So, that makes a total of four grams of gold during my last 2 trips (totaling 8 hours).

I can pick up the battery with my baby finger.

I am using a 60A/Hr Lithium ion battery, with a Johnson 2200gal/hr bilge pump. The spray bars come with the unit. I purchased the unit at Geo Sluice Mining.

This stuff is almost as expensive as gold. I made 5.1 LBS of this stuff. Here's my jerky fresh out of my dehydrator this afternoon. Got to keep warm during the cooling days ahead.

This is the hottest gold streak I have hit. This is the cleanup results from this past Sunday.  Those drop riffles really "ROCK!" I got over 2 grams of flour gold in 4 hours. Unbelievable! I believe it's a record for me.

Bugs are gone, cool weather and low water opens up more gold-rich gravel. I think I found another pay streak today, judging by the amount of gold showing in my hopper drop zone on the sluice. Ran out of time to clean it this evening. Will do a final clean up later on this week.

That would be nice. A group hunt with all the posters on this forum.

I finally got out highbanking. The river levels were a bit high, and I kept getting called into work as there is a covid outbreak and some of the staff were ill. Anyhow, the river dropped nicely today, so my buddy and I headed out for most of the afternoon for a prospecting trip. Below are the photos of todays adventure.

Finally, some cooler weather along with the leaves starting to turn colors. My favorite time of year! Here's the results from the last couple of hunts. I found a beautiful dino bone specimen yesterday.

6 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

John I don’t know how the weather is for you up there but down here in South Texas it’s hotter than two kinds of hell . It’s not that I’ve been there it’s just a roomer that I heard.

 Got my coat out for the week being it’s going to be in the low hundreds this week.

 Keep coming with the gold pictures.

 Thanks!

 Chuck 

Well, the high for today was forecast at  62.6 F, with a possible thunderstorm late this evening. It was supposed to rain today, so I went prospecting anyway, brought along a raincoat, but no rain.

6 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

 Don’t make any difference how small gold is it’s still gold. It’s funny when it’s in a pan you saying I’m rich but put in that tiny bottle and reality sets in .

 John you may not know this but if you wash gold too long it will shrink on you.😂  

  Chuck 

In cold water? Yikes 

OMG! Look at the size of those nuggies😨. Looks like a great day.......gold, exercise, fresh air, sunshine (vit D) and a good night's sleep too. You are so lucky that you can dredge.  No dredging in my local and only flour gold.  But.....gold is gold. Great post!

Wow......the air quality in Edmonton was terrible this weekend. I wore a n95 mask to screen out that toxic particulate from the smoke. No sore throat like last week. I have come to the conclusion, that using a sled is the best means of moving my highbanker and supplies from my car to the river. It slides nicely on grass, trails and gravels along the river. I have previously tried 3 different wagons, a converted gold club carrier on wheels and 2 different 2 wheeled carts. The sled is strong, light and should it crack, can easily be repaired or replaced for under 20 bucks. I have started removing my tailings pile periodically throughout the day. Much easier to work without the pile behind the hopper. And, much easier to flatten my pile/fill in holes at the end of the day. (got the idea from Kyle- Utmost Outdoors.)

The sled is really useful for getting my equipment down to the river in winter and summer.

I like to keep the area behind the hopper clear.

It was a nice change switching from a gasoline pump to a bilge pump. Simple, lighter & less maintenance. The downside is that you have to set up closer to water. Sometimes I pre-fill 5 gallon buckets if the best gravel is too far away from my highbanker.

Here's about 4 hours shoveling. It's flour gold, and when you put it in a glass vile, it looks like a tiny fraction of what it looks like in a pan. My guess is about 0.4 of a gram.

1 hour ago, glacialgold said:

Oh man, I'm totally jumping your claim....right after that short 25 hour+ drive from Indiana! 😆

Anyways, you're running a similar idea as to what I was thinking of. Here in Indiana, the good state forest territory where I find the most gold at prohibits anything equipment-wise beyond panning, including a "no shovels" policy. So highbankers and even hand sluices are out of the question. 

What I thought about doing instead was using car floor mat, wool mat, or something similar to drop into the creek and scoop into, something good at catching gold that doesn't "technically" meet the definition of a "sluice". Would only work in the winter months, most likely -- the best creeks are dry in the summer here.  

Good luck with your ideas! Heck, just grab a cotton beach blanket, dump a pile sand on it, then drag it through the water. Repeat Repeat Repeat!

4 hours ago, YumanAndy said:

That not a bad looking result. Ill have remember that, where was this river ?

Yes......the North Saskatchewan River

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Nice work and it looks to do very well for you.

Good luck on your next outing.

Thanks!🙂

I ran 2 buckets of sand from my local gold producing river through my modified Geo highbanker and caught this much gold. So..........when the river is too high, dig the sand. You will come home with at least some gold. Easy digging, no holes to fill in and stay in shape for your next prospecting trip. Check it out...https://youtu.be/43KHLnsgoks

Feels strange not having any tailings build up behind the hopper.

My buddy and I headed to a different location today. We shifted gears......I used my California Mini, he used his Le'Trap mini. I brought along my metal detector, searched the gravels, and thought I may have dug up a nuggy. However, it was not so. Anyhow, here's today's adventure......lots of pics

8 hours ago, YumanAndy said:

wow, nice job, nothing wrong with that and looks like good weather too

I wish we had chunky gold like that in my neck of the woods. Nice looking gold!

17 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Nice looking gold for your hard work.

Those gold pans will never be a frisbee or a UFO.

Good luck on your next outing.

They don't work well as a boomerang either......they never come back when you throw them.

Here is this weeks total shiny. Mostly using the Geo Highbanker, however, I took the mini down to the river after work last weekend. Drop riffles really like to hang on to the flour gold and lots of black heavy sands when set up properly.

What could this be?👽

Can you see the 2 skulls?  

Out with the Geo highbanker yesterday. I had to stop after 3 hours as thunderstorms were moving in. Back home, my clean-up system is full of cleaned black sands, and it needs to be cleaned up before I can clean up todays concentrates. I did get a cool fossil. I will clean up my concentrates today, if I have time. 

20 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Great information and I thank you for sharing it with us.

How big of a battery do you use to handle everything, and how long will it last.

I am using a 60 amp/hour lithium ion battery. I carry it in my back pack. I get over 10 hours on my smaller drop riffle unit 1100 GPH, and about 8 hours with my 2200 GPH Johnson bilge pump.

On 8/3/2023 at 9:32 PM, Cascade Steven said:

John:

A sluice newbee question:  what criteria do you use to judge the proper water flow in your sluice, assuming the slope angle is correct?  Thanks in advance for your help.

So, I am using a drop riffle system, completely different dynamics then the usual raised riffle system. My drop riffle system uses much less water flow, allowing the gold to drop in the holed riffles, just like it would in the real world river. Raised riffle systems require more water, to get over the riffle, causing a low pressure and allowing the gold to settle and get buried in minors moss, carpet, hog matting or whatever you are using. Because my system uses less water, I can use a small bilge pump and a lithium ion 12 volt battery. This makes my equipment very light, so I just use a sled to move my equipment, instead of a wagon or dolly. Both types of riffle system will work well, as long as you have the proper angle and water flow. My drop riffle system runs best with a minimal angle, and a water flow which still allows exchange in the riffles. On this type of unit, it runs 3 different types of drop riffles, with a great capture rate. Just as other riffle systems, too fast water and angle will blow out some gold, and too little water flow and angle will plug up the riffles and the gold will just roll over the riffles.