John-Edmonton

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. 

4 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

John  

  That’s what I call thinking inside and outside of the box. Great looking setup what I see.

 Chuck 

It's great for fine tuning your clean-up system, and saves battery power in the field by not running your highbanker at full power.

Here's the one I purchased off of Amazon. Just find a plastic container, drill some holes, buy some connectors, solder them and it's done. 

Out prospecting again today. I think I did well, judging from the gold showing in those convex bumps. I built another electronic flow regulator. Now I have one for my cleanups and one for use in the field. They cost very little and can be constructed in plastic lunch containers available at the dollar store. You just need a drill, screwdriver, pliers, soldering gun and some velcro to mount the elevctronics in the container. ......easy peasy!

Got my gold fix today. I used my new Johnson 2200 gph bilge pump today. ( it was a free warranty replacement) I only had to run it about 3/4 using my variable voltage regulater. It was a lot cooler today, which was great. It rained off and on. Had a steep trail down to the river. Using a sled really makes it a simple task I was greeted by a whole bunch of Canada Geese. Just curious as to what I was doing today. Here's some pics from today's 3 hour prospecting adventure.

I usually just dig the top 4-5 inches.

Thanks.....great hobby eh!

I haven't been to this location for at least a couple of years. The river has finally dropped considerably, opening more potential gold bearing locations. Today I went there and did several test pans. The first few indicated only 6-7 fly poops. I searched an area near an island of grass, and bingo! There were about 80 poops/pan. I dug both the roots and surrounding gravel and got some vitamin "G." Three hours digging, four clean-ups got this today.

Just a demonstration with some possible design changes for some improvements.

The problem with gold around this area, is that it is all flour gold, left behind from glaciers. There is no source. Normally, the gold gets larger in size as you get closer to the source, however that is not the case here. Gold is gold no matter what size it is.🍻 

We just had copus amounts of rain. The North Saskatchewan River flowing through Edmonton rose 12 feet, so I had to find an alternate river to prospect. And it rose about 4 feet and the water is receading. 
 

My buddy and I hit a river today. Sampling gravel indicated maybe 5 specs. The vegetation roots faired much better, so I spent the day only washing roots. Such a simple process too. Just put a chunk of roots with sand and gravel in your hopper, and let the water break it up. I got some great fossils, a ring, and other goodies using my metal detector. I faired OK with the gold too, considering it was not the North Saskatchewan River. "ROOTS ROCK."🍀🍀🍀🍀 (lots of pics)

 Another 4 weeks of tumbling resulted in these results. I was running 3 tumblers.

Very well written story about your adventure. The thunks we do do get a bit of that shiney!😁 That's a nice piece of nuggy you found.

Here's my totals from last week and today's hunt. Man....it's "HOT" working on the North Saskatchewan River. Had to fill up my baseball cap with water periodically to douse myself with water. These were 2, 3 or 4 hour digs. This worked out to be about 14 hours worth. For the 2 hour hunts after work this past week-end, I used the California mini, as it can be carried down to the river and set up in 10 minutes. Also got some dino bone pieces.

9 hours ago, SwiftSword said:

Neat! How much gold is that?

About a gram.

Found a pay-streak in a patch of hard pan. It had about 1" of mud covering it, and it didn't look very enticing. It was a challenge getting my shovel into it, but what a surprise! I used my bigger GEO drop riffle highbanker.....faster shoveling = more gold, right? Here's what yesterday's adventure looked like. And..........and also dug up a nice coral fossil out of the North Saskatchewan River. Here's what 4 hours of digging got me...........