recirculation highbanker help.

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Hi everyone.
found a nice gravel spot in a gully its got some nice gold in it only issue its about 2km away from any water.
my goal was to set up my highbanker with a recirulation and put in 2 days worth of shoveling into it over the weekend.

how do i go about making a recirulation unit and how much water will i need to take to last me?

Cheers Ben
 
top layer is gravel only about half to a foot deep .. bottom layer is a clay layer 1 foot deep.
plan was to do all gravels first then try some clay once all gravel is done incase it makes water to dirty
 
Clay is likely to be a big issue, though depending on the material might be worthwhile. If you do run clay you should look into using a clay breaking chemical (l don't use it so can't recommend any). The aim should be to get as much of the tailings removed from the water as possible, depending on the material this might be as simple as a bucket at the end of your sluice that you empty every time it fills up to quite elaborate systems.

You need a suitable setup to catch as much of the water as possible, most people run directly into a tub or pond, but if the site is suitable then use heavy black plastic under the slice with the water first running into a bucket u can empty (a few holes drilled in the bucket will help drain most of the water if your running gravel) and have the black plastic drain into a decent sized tub to run your pump from. If your using black plastic then try to find something to filter the water a bit before it enters the tub(even some straw held down with rocks can work). If you can't do this then generally run two or more tubs one running in to the next. The heavy gravels are easy enough to shovel out of a big enough tub, but the finer stuff is what will get you and clay can just be a nightmare. One of the main ideas is to give the material time to settle out, thus the two tubs, plus you need to keep the pump from blocking up with sediment and general crud. The tub your pumping from is best off being fairly deep and you should put something under the pump(big rocks normally) so it's not sucking up the sediment that will settle in the tub. I've thought about using a bit of shade cloth over the tub the pumps in to slow for easy/quick cleaning but haven't tried it yet. But no mater what method you use you will likely have to clean the system(just dig out the sediment) from time to time if your running a lot of material, just remember water is heavy so focus on saving as much as u can.

I hope you can get it working first time out, but a lot will depend on the material your running so it's likely to need a bit of tweeking to get everything just right.
 
You would have to look at the costs and benefits. Prospectors use recycling set ups in the States primarily in deserts like Nevada where there is no water. If you are about 2Km away from water it may actually be more effective to cart the dirt to the water than cart all the machinery and water into the where the dirt is. The only real benefit for such a unit, which BTW you will have to clean out every couple of buckets used, would be to use it to test your gold bearing layers. I have been in a similar situation and found it far better to take the dirt into a trailer and truck it to a place where I can set up the banker and run it through without stopping.

Araluen
 
We need some sort of spin dryer/filter set up, maybe through a medium like hessien that could easily be shaken out. Just an idea. Anyway I usually just take a couple of buckets to test pan to make sure I am digging in the right spot. Do a rough seive of my paydirt then take my pay dirt to a water source. Chicken feed bags are good.
 
The clay you mention, have you dug to the bottom of it it yet and hit bedrock? I have found thick clay layers before, with wash underneath it, then bed rock.
I do like the gritty orange clay that breaks up easily under the spray bars. This stuff you will notice the color coming off it in the hopper.
The clean grey clay ... I avoid digging down past the top layer. I've always found ts a waste of time and effort.
I would be tempted to dry classify it first through a bread create into a heap, then down another size or two, cart it to the water and see how the yeild is... or wait for a bit of rain
 
mudgee hunter. no i havnt dug down to the bed rock as i think it be to deep. the gravels are in a small gully dosent look like its had water in hundreds of years. and now there been a road cut though it up the top so water will never run there again.
dry washing might be the way to go but the ground does look damp so might have to wait till summer time
 
Hmm, these awkward spots can be very rewarding as many dont give it the effort.
Is it on private property?
How is the vehicle access situation ?
Can you get a box trailer in there close?
 
not private land. and closest you can get to it is about 250 metres steep walk down hill.
might need to do a day of recirculation with the high banker see how it pays off.
might need a bit if water but.
 
Ben, when the road was put in they would have made allowance for the water to travel under the road, if it wasn't done the road would wash away on the first decent rainfall. Ken.
 

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