Mary,

Big difference in some ways, but in other ways no difference
Use the power of the internet and research

Bill

The fast down and dirty answer is generally a sluice is set up in the waterway and is fed by hand with a shovel or scoop, and the stream flow going through it processes the material.   Dredge is usually defined as a suction dredge where water is sent by a high pressure pump to either the nozzle or back up by the flare.  The high pressure water flowing in the nozzle or hose creates a suction like a vaceum cleaner and sucks the material up the hose.  The material is then run through a sluice box mounted on the equipment, with the operator not having to touch it, except to clear the occasional plug up when rocks get jammed up in the hose. 

 

Depending on the person and location, dredges generally run from 1 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter (the opening in the nozzle)  for small scale mining.  Once in awile you will run across a 5 or 6 inch unit, but those are getting into more commercial sizes and may get into higher $ permits depending on the state regs.

Posted By WILLIAM HALL on 06 Jun 2016 04:21 PM



Mary,







Big difference in some ways, but in other ways no difference



Use the power of the internet and research







Bill

I did Bill. Just did not watch many videos of them in action and was looking for an experienced opinion. I learned for instance what a Trommel is and does. I'd honestly never heard the term before. It appears that the most lucrative setup anyone could use would be a highbanker dredge with a trommel!

Posted By ARTHUR WAUGH on 06 Jun 2016 04:47 PM

The fast down and dirty answer is generally a sluice is set up in the waterway and is fed by hand with a shovel or scoop, and the stream flow going through it processes the material.   Dredge is usually defined as a suction dredge where water is sent by a high pressure pump to either the nozzle or back up by the flare.  The high pressure water flowing in the nozzle or hose creates a suction like a vaceum cleaner and sucks the material up the hose.  The material is then run through a sluice box mounted on the equipment, with the operator not having to touch it, except to clear the occasional plug up when rocks get jammed up in the hose. 

 

Depending on the person and location, dredges generally run from 1 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter (the opening in the nozzle)  for small scale mining.  Once in awile you will run across a 5 or 6 inch unit, but those are getting into more commercial sizes and may get into higher $ permits depending on the state regs.

Thank you Arthur! So a dredge is actually an attachment to a Sluice. Makes sense.

In a way, yes.  Dredge generally floats in the water on some kind of a pontoon system.  You are just sucking up the material from the bottom and running it through the box and back into the waterway.  Lead, mercury that happens to be in the material you are working be it from the old timers or naturally occuring, and other heavy metals tend to stay in the box for recovery.  So we are actually cleaning up what others have left in the past and making a better world for aquatic species, despite what the eco fringe spouts.

 

Highbankers will be a sluice box that has a feed hopper and wash bar on it that you shovel material into to process, set up usually on dry land   Water is generally pulled from a settling pond of some sort so the turbidity caused by washing the dry (usually) material doesn't get back to the stream.

The old bucketline dredges, like the one on Gold Rush this past season, used a trommel to sort the material and send the finer stuff that washed through the screen to multiple sluice boxes.  The material that did nt wash through the scree was dropped on a conveyor belt and on out the back end, making the rock piles you see behind them.  The kicker is, lthey were after the finer gold and the screens on the trommels ran from 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.  Anything bigger went right out the back end and was lost.

The Sumpter Dredge has 5/8" screens in it's trommel.

Posted By ARTHUR WAUGH on 07 Jun 2016 10:53 AM

In a way, yes.  Dredge generally floats in the water on some kind of a pontoon system.  You are just sucking up the material from the bottom and running it through the box and back into the waterway.  Lead, mercury that happens to be in the material you are working be it from the old timers or naturally occuring, and other heavy metals tend to stay in the box for recovery.  So we are actually cleaning up what others have left in the past and making a better world for aquatic species, despite what the eco fringe spouts.

 

Highbankers will be a sluice box that has a feed hopper and wash bar on it that you shovel material into to process, set up usually on dry land   Water is generally pulled from a settling pond of some sort so the turbidity caused by washing the dry (usually) material doesn't get back to the stream.

The old bucketline dredges, like the one on Gold Rush this past season, used a trommel to sort the material and send the finer stuff that washed through the screen to multiple sluice boxes.  The material that did nt wash through the scree was dropped on a conveyor belt and on out the back end, making the rock piles you see behind them.  The kicker is, lthey were after the finer gold and the screens on the trommels ran from 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.  Anything bigger went right out the back end and was lost.

The Sumpter Dredge has 5/8" screens in it's trommel.

Thank you!

There are often a few job postings in my field in Fairbanks Alaska. I do intend to eventually get up there and will have a chance to tour the Fairbanks Gold Dredge #8 for a good macro-example.  I've explored some tourist sites of that place today. Fairbanks also pays a slightly higher wage than the lower 48 and it should give me a chance to prospect with Alaska GPAA chapters.

Cheers!

Posted By Mary McCarty on 07 Jun 2016 01:05 PM

Posted By ARTHUR WAUGH on 07 Jun 2016 10:53 AM

In a way, yes.  Dredge generally floats in the water on some kind of a pontoon system.  You are just sucking up the material from the bottom and running it through the box and back into the waterway.  Lead, mercury that happens to be in the material you are working be it from the old timers or naturally occuring, and other heavy metals tend to stay in the box for recovery.  So we are actually cleaning up what others have left in the past and making a better world for aquatic species, despite what the eco fringe spouts.

 

Highbankers will be a sluice box that has a feed hopper and wash bar on it that you shovel material into to process, set up usually on dry land   Water is generally pulled from a settling pond of some sort so the turbidity caused by washing the dry (usually) material doesn't get back to the stream.

The old bucketline dredges, like the one on Gold Rush this past season, used a trommel to sort the material and send the finer stuff that washed through the screen to multiple sluice boxes.  The material that did nt wash through the scree was dropped on a conveyor belt and on out the back end, making the rock piles you see behind them.  The kicker is, lthey were after the finer gold and the screens on the trommels ran from 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.  Anything bigger went right out the back end and was lost.

The Sumpter Dredge has 5/8" screens in it's trommel.

Thank you!

There are often a few job postings in my field in Fairbanks Alaska. I do intend to eventually get up there and will have a chance to tour the Fairbanks Gold Dredge #8 for a good macro-example.  I've explored some tourist sites of that place today. Fairbanks also pays a slightly higher wage than the lower 48 and it should give me a chance to prospect with Alaska GPAA chapters.

Cheers!

Ps, googled for the Sumpter dredge. There are pictures of larger pieces of gold in quartz specimens that the dredge missed. I'd think that crushing ore prior to sluicing it is a good move? I was able to harvest some pink quartz from the pink granite uplift just outside of Marble Falls in Texas. I had a couple of pipe crushers made by a welder for crushing that rock. It yielded some fine gold. I should have spent more time doing that instead of panning the river...

There is an 87 troy oz. nugget on display at the bank in Baker City that was found about 30 crow miles from the Sumpter dredge.  Rumor is 3rd biggest found in the state.  The other two were from SW Oregon in the 107-112 range in the later 1800's and were broken up and melted down.  No one wanted those kind of specimins back then.

Yep, when you find lode gold (trapped or still in rock, got to crush it to recover.  Lot of times if you have visible stringers of gold, it is worth more as a specimin than spot price on the contents.

 

While payscale is higher up there, so is cost of living as everything has to be brought in except for some local produce from the truck farms in the summer.  My guess, probably is a wash in the long run.

 

If you get out to this area, there is a standing invite to be shown the area and some areas that still produce some of the yellow stuff.

Jump over to YouTube and check out sluicing
Then check out dredging

Bill

Posted By ARTHUR WAUGH on 07 Jun 2016 03:18 PM

There is an 87 troy oz. nugget on display at the bank in Baker City that was found about 30 crow miles from the Sumpter dredge.  Rumor is 3rd biggest found in the state.  The other two were from SW Oregon in the 107-112 range in the later 1800's and were broken up and melted down.  No one wanted those kind of specimins back then.

Yep, when you find lode gold (trapped or still in rock, got to crush it to recover.  Lot of times if you have visible stringers of gold, it is worth more as a specimin than spot price on the contents.

 

While payscale is higher up there, so is cost of living as everything has to be brought in except for some local produce from the truck farms in the summer.  My guess, probably is a wash in the long run.

 

If you get out to this area, there is a standing invite to be shown the area and some areas that still produce some of the yellow stuff.

Iirc, you are in the PNW?  I want to spend the summer in Colorado, then, jobs willing, end up in Washington State (or Oregon) for the winter. The PNW is my favorite place on the planet.  

I know the cost of living in Alaska can be higher but the company I work for pays for my rent, furniture lease and utilities. I don't eat much so food should not be much of a problem. I am aware of the food supply issues in Alaska. I really just want to go there to play around with prospecting and to fulfill one of my bucket list items which is to see the Northern lights with my own eyes...

Appreciate the invite and hope to meet you sometime in the next year or so. Thanks!  As for the thread gold in the quartz in the Llano river area, the specimens I found only had micro gold. You could see some flecks peering thru a loup. Maybe hunting more might turn up better samples providing the owner of the property (Long's fish and dig) will once again allow me to search on untouched property like he did last time. I think I know a bit more now what to look for since I've studied up a bit.

 

Cheers!

Posted By WILLIAM HALL on 07 Jun 2016 03:31 PM

Jump over to YouTube and check out sluicing

Then check out dredging



Bill

Thanks Bill. I have looked at some. It was difficult to visualize the mechanics of the process but I likely did not pick the right videos!

I think the only stupid question a prospector can ask is "What is Gold?".

Your equipment between a dredge/sluice/high banker/combo, etc.... can be quite confusing and none of those items will work the same depending on where you are prospecting. You can have a dredge that pulls ounces per week in California only to have it pull chicken scratch in Colorado while people with sluices or even dry washers are doing much better. Just a few degrees in tilt can determine everything for the area you are in, not to mention the riffles, or the characteristics of the gold.

Always ask and don't ever be afraid to tell people you are learning, we all have to learn some time and you will find the friends you meet prospecting will come to be some of the closest friends you have ever had.

Benjamin Crain
President of Western Colorado Chapter of Gold Prospectors Association of America

Posted By Benjamin Crain on 07 Jun 2016 06:35 PM

I think the only stupid question a prospector can ask is "What is Gold?".



Your equipment between a dredge/sluice/high banker/combo, etc.... can be quite confusing and none of those items will work the same depending on where you are prospecting. You can have a dredge that pulls ounces per week in California only to have it pull chicken scratch in Colorado while people with sluices or even dry washers are doing much better. Just a few degrees in tilt can determine everything for the area you are in, not to mention the riffles, or the characteristics of the gold.



Always ask and don't ever be afraid to tell people you are learning, we all have to learn some time and you will find the friends you meet prospecting will come to be some of the closest friends you have ever had.



Benjamin Crain

President of Western Colorado Chapter of Gold Prospectors Association of America

Thanks very much for your kind words Benjamin!  I really am looking forward to receiving my membership packet so I can start participating and meeting other members. Perhaps if I end up in the right part of your state, I can meet up with you and yours this summer... My manager tells me that jobs are usually plentiful in Colorado even with competition for the contracts.

Cheers!

I am about halfway between Salem and Eugene and 12 miles east of I-5.  Lebanon.  Can usually pull together a few people for a quick w/e trip to the public area and GPAA claims that are about 40 miles from me.  (Quartzville Group)

Posted By <a href='http://www.goldprospectors.org/Profile/userid/2862637' class='af-profile-link'>ARTHUR WAUGH</a> on 08 Jun 2016 06:04 AM
I am about halfway between Salem and Eugene and 12 miles east of I-5.  Lebanon.  Can usually pull together a few people for a quick w/e trip to the public area and GPAA claims that are about 40 miles from me.  (Quartzville Group)

Thank you. Funny, my last contract was in Corvallis. Did not know about GPAA at that point, unfortunately.

Mary,

Although I live in Tennessee, I have a place on Lake Marble Falls. I know they recently found gold in the Llano River but I believe that some decent gold was found in a creek that feeds into the west end of Lake Marble Falls. Unfortunately, all the property fronting this creek is private property. I asked my father, who lives at my place in Cottonwood Shores if he knew anyone on that creek, but no luck. I will be stopping by there next month on my way home from gold prospecting in California and plan on trying to find out more info. I find it interesting that you found gold in the pink granite. My property was used as a campground in the mid to late 1800s, so I mostly relic hunt. Finds include cavalry utensils from that period and arrowhead and stone tools from who knows when.

Posted By James Henderson on 09 Jun 2016 10:14 PM

Mary,



Although I live in Tennessee, I have a place on Lake Marble Falls. I know they recently found gold in the Llano River but I believe that some decent gold was found in a creek that feeds into the west end of Lake Marble Falls. Unfortunately, all the property fronting this creek is private property. I asked my father, who lives at my place in Cottonwood Shores if he knew anyone on that creek, but no luck. I will be stopping by there next month on my way home from gold prospecting in California and plan on trying to find out more info. I find it interesting that you found gold in the pink granite. My property was used as a campground in the mid to late 1800s, so I mostly relic hunt. Finds include cavalry utensils from that period and arrowhead and stone tools from who knows when.

Actually, I found gold in the quartz that is imbedded in the granite. The owner of the property told me to look there. There is no gold in just the granite itself. He told me that the quartz on the property contained thread gold. If you want to prospect there,Google/ look up "Long's Fish and Dig". It's a couple of miles just outside of Marble Falls. Last time I went (a couple of years ago before I started contracting), it was $20.00 per day to camp, fish, (stocked fishing hole!), prospect and hunt artifacts. Tell the owner you only want to prospect and not DIG for relics and he might do what he did for me and let me hunt quartz on the untouched areas of the property. He does not want the entire property all dug up. I've heard and read that the most public area looks like a minefield due to all the holes dug to look for artifacts! The Llano river runs thru that property.

Thanks for the info, Mary. I may look into this.

James

Posted By <a href='http://www.goldprospectors.org/Profile/userid/2881903' class='af-profile-link'>James Henderson</a> on 10 Jun 2016 08:06 PM
<p>Thanks for the info, Mary. I may look into this.</p>
<p>James</p>

Cheers! It is beautiful property. Bald eagles nest nearby on the river and it's far enough out to be away from civilization. The gold can be found in your pan and elsewhere.