River / Stream Sluices - advice, information and questions

[pjg100]

Thanks Slowflow.
Was a good day for colour, 1c at 8am onsite but the temp was not that harsh.
Teamed up with Bazza and Frank, great blokes.
A flair is definitely needed, ran the RS in a suggested flow and it worked, ran it closer to the dig at slower water did not work as well.

Will clean up later.

Peter.

 

[muzz]

good result good old bunnings floor matt

 

[pjg100]

Well everyone,
I will off tomorrow to the same place as before with my RS (still no flair), to hit some more coloured ground. Should be there around 10.30am after doing a few things before hitting the highway.
The second trip was done at a slower speed, with less results,

Not the best photo.

When I get home and do a clean up, I am going to put all three vials together just to see how much there is.

Peter.

 

[jamie]

Good job Peter, good to see the gold being rescued by your river sluice
that sluice is almost identical in dimensions as mine, i run my slick plate at 500mm and i don't have a flare on mine either but will be adding one to it, with mine i have expanded like mesh with nothing under it, then run the bunnings mat with bread crate on that, as mine is un-backed matting i have wires across the sluice in a 'v' shape with pointed part towards the downstream to stop cons migrating under the mat too much, my sluice really works the best with a fair flow of water through it otherwise it just wont clear properly

 

[20x]

Thanks Slowflow.
Was a good day for colour, 1c at 8am onsite but the temp was not that harsh.
Teamed up with Bazza and Frank, great blokes.
A flair is definitely needed, ran the RS in a suggested flow and it worked, ran it closer to the dig at slower water did not work as well.

Will clean up later.

Peter.

a thought on how to boost the flow rate of your RS...

I use a Hb but below is a pic of my dam looping system I use when a creek flow level is a bit uncomfortable. I dam above the section im going to work and then de-rock a section big enough for a days running and this squeezes the creek flow out of my way and to the outside.

the day before this pic there was another 3-4 inches of flow pumping down that race....I reckon an RS would perform awesome using this method

 

[Goldtarget]

I love keenness. This is the epitome of keenness. I'd rather pay for fuel but I see what you've done there, hats off brother.

 

[dwt]

Thanks Slowflow.
Was a good day for colour, 1c at 8am onsite but the temp was not that harsh.
Teamed up with Bazza and Frank, great blokes.
A flair is definitely needed, ran the RS in a suggested flow and it worked, ran it closer to the dig at slower water did not work as well.

Will clean up later.

Peter.

a thought on how to boost the flow rate of your RS...

I use a Hb but below is a pic of my dam looping system I use when a creek flow level is a bit uncomfortable. I dam above the section im going to work and then de-rock a section big enough for a days running and this squeezes the creek flow out of my way and to the outside.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/2569/1404544488_dam_loop.jpg

the day before this pic there was another 3-4 inches of flow pumping down that race....I reckon an RS would perform awesome using this method

20xwater's next effort :lol:

 

[pjg100]

Thanks Slowflow.
Was a good day for colour, 1c at 8am onsite but the temp was not that harsh.
Teamed up with Bazza and Frank, great blokes.
A flair is definitely needed, ran the RS in a suggested flow and it worked, ran it closer to the dig at slower water did not work as well.

Will clean up later.

Peter.

a thought on how to boost the flow rate of your RS...

I use a Hb but below is a pic of my dam looping system I use when a creek flow level is a bit uncomfortable. I dam above the section im going to work and then de-rock a section big enough for a days running and this squeezes the creek flow out of my way and to the outside.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/2569/1404544488_dam_loop.jpg

the day before this pic there was another 3-4 inches of flow pumping down that race....I reckon an RS would perform awesome using this method

Thanks 20x water.
At the moment, with Bazza we have a dam section. This section was wear I was getting good results from a better flow. Returned to the same section today and proved to be the answer for results. With the faster flow, the cleaning of the dirt is much better and at the moment I am happy.
Would like to try another area, maybe Tuena.
Another day Bazza and his friend Michael, windy and cold, but always good to go out for colour.

Peter.

 

[20x]

I love keenness. This is the epitome of keenness. I'd rather pay for fuel but I see what you've done there, hats off brother.

The section ive worked is the inside at low to mid water flow. the hard pack continues approx. 10-15m's to where the inside is at full/flood high water flow level.
colour continues under the hard pack of the inside of this worked section, minimum 500mm down to bedrock foliation peaks.
im thinking of taking a big cut into the inside and smashin out a couple of meters in the future simply because I want to know if it gets any better.

 

[pjg100]

Well, I am off to Tuena in the morning to hook up with Bazza, the Phantom, and Daveggs should be there as well.
Should be a good day for colour, albeit a little cold, will have my RS to test out.

Will take some pics and post them.

Peter.

 

[Goldtarget]

Good stuff guys hope you have a top dig and get plenty. Looking forward to the update. All these PA meet ups are great nothing like field time with good people to make finding it even better.

 

[pjg100]

Good stuff guys hope you have a top dig and get plenty. Looking forward to the update. All these PA meet ups are great nothing like field time with good people to make finding it even better.

Thanks GT,
Had a great day out at Tuena with Bazza. Met up with Bob and Eric in the morning. Had some food after driving for 3 hours and offered a seat in the Navara to Bazza. Bob and Eric had their pancakes before packing up for their drive home.

Driving thru the gate across from the camping ground and headed up the hill with a predetermined destination. Bazza had his spot he wanted to work and I went down stream of him.
Could not get the flow right with my RS, so I went back to the side of the creek where we parked. Set up the RS again and it was working. Cleaned up a few times with little success.
So I wondered around and picked another place to test pan, good enough to test out the RS again. By this time it was getting late afternoon. Every bucket I did a test pan, with a few specks.

So it was time to call it for the day.
I pulled the RS out without empting it, straight into the Navara. All that could be seen was iron stone at the top of the mesh thru to the matting, next to no blondes.

Tonight after work I was keen to see what I had in the RS. Without even lifting the mesh, I moved the cons in front of the mesh by hand and panned.
Well have a look at the little fellas that came home with me and I still have the two buckets of cons to go thru. On the right hand side of the coin, there is a darker piece it would just keep on hanging around, so I will have to have a good look at it in the daylight.

Getting out there with PA members and doing what I absolutely enjoy, you cannot beat this. Although I do not get much each outing, it will all add up.
Maybe one day I will do a video but that will come when I get one that sounds great when dropped back into the pan.
Heading back to Tuena soon.

Peter.

 

[MDH]

Thanks Slowflow.
Was a good day for colour, 1c at 8am onsite but the temp was not that harsh.
Teamed up with Bazza and Frank, great blokes.
A flair is definitely needed, ran the RS in a suggested flow and it worked, ran it closer to the dig at slower water did not work as well.

Will clean up later.

Peter.

a thought on how to boost the flow rate of your RS...

I use a Hb but below is a pic of my dam looping system I use when a creek flow level is a bit uncomfortable. I dam above the section im going to work and then de-rock a section big enough for a days running and this squeezes the creek flow out of my way and to the outside.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/2569/1404544488_dam_loop.jpg

the day before this pic there was another 3-4 inches of flow pumping down that race....I reckon an RS would perform awesome using this method

20xwater's next effort :lol:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/428/1404548126_untitled-optimized.png

Haha just seen this... Love it!!
With the effort as seen in 20x's posts it would not surprise me!

 

[pjg100]

Hello all,
Over the past month I have been testing the RS at Oallen and at Tuena.

So during testing, I have noticed that I am not getting anything in my mat other than blondes. So on occasions I have not returned the mat to the RS, just the expanded mesh only.

Still catching gold in the mesh and from the first set of wingnuts up that is where the gold is found. Now from those wingnuts down, I have not found one piece of gold.

So, tomorrow, I am heading out to Tuena again with Banksy without the mat, just the RS and mesh. I will test this with a pan at the tail end on the first run of the day and if it comes up clean of gold, I am thinking why did I have the mat in the first place?

I have been told that I should be looking into have some ribbed mat just above the mesh, well that will happen after this trip when I get sometime off from work and put all of my thoughts together as well as the advice from all.

Sorry about not posting any photos of the RS in action as I keep on forgetting to take the camera with me, so what was first charged and packed into the Navara tonight.

Still have not made a flair for the RS and I agree with all who mentioned the fact about the flair, it will come. As for the flair, I was thinking that I should have a short flair of 200mm long x 400mm wide down to the 300mm of the head of the RS and this will keep the RS to an 800mm length when bolted together, so that I can backpack the RS. Would this be OK?

Peter.

 

[Goldtarget]

Depends on what goes through and how long your running. I run two mats after expanded and vrib usually nothing but tiny speck stuff but get a nice water worn round picker like a lead pellet and drop it in it might surprise you. Those cheeky buggers will go popping out the end with a full had of steam, racing down the aly, getting lift of the expanded ramp without a soft spot to land at times , think of the mat like an emergency braking system for gold. Go the mat I say. It's like having an extra fire extinguisher, if you need it you wish you had it. I don't clean the second half for a couple hours but the top every 1 to 2 but I see what you are saying, the old yellow likes to sit heavy and soon.

 

[pjg100]

Depends on what goes through and how long your running. I run two mats after expanded and vrib usually nothing but tiny speck stuff but get a nice water worn round picker like a lead pellet and drop it in it might surprise you. Those cheeky buggers will go popping out the end with a full had of steam, racing down the aly, getting lift of the expanded ramp without a soft spot to land at times , think of the mat like an emergency braking system for gold. Go the mat I say. It's like having an extra fire extinguisher, if you need it you wish you had it. I don't clean the second half for a couple hours but the top every 1 to 2 but I see what you are saying, the old yellow likes to sit heavy and soon.

GT,
You raise a good point, which I have not tried as yet.
Don't clean the second half for a couple hours but clean the top every 1 to 2, so I will pack the mat and use this strategy. I will just clean-up from the top screws after every two buckets and the mat every 4 buckets. It is another test that I have no problems about.

The best thing about this is that every time I go out, I enjoy the time out. May not get much at times but it is great to get out.

Thanks for your input.

BTW, the second RS is still a virgin waiting for the final analysis.

Peter.

 

[MDH]

pjg, I too had my doubts about the effectiveness of the matted section after 3 runs when I first built my sluice when after cleans I found the results were 1 spec in the mat then nothing then 2 specs, the rest was caught in the expanded section with nothing beneath. Then you take it to a place which has a lot of really fine gold like eldorado and you get a shock at just how effective it is in catching the really fine stuff! Still the best part by volume is caught in the expanded section but from the 1 or 2 to hundreds of tiny specs caught by the matted section speaks for itself. Now I'm at the thought of I don't care if there's nothing in the mat but confident that safety net is there if I hit a patch of flour gold that it'll still get trapped.

 

[pjg100]

pjg, I too had my doubts about the effectiveness of the matted section after 3 runs when I first built my sluice when after cleans I found the results were 1 spec in the mat then nothing then 2 specs, the rest was caught in the expanded section with nothing beneath. Then you take it to a place which has a lot of really fine gold like eldorado and you get a shock at just how effective it is in catching the really fine stuff! Still the best part by volume is caught in the expanded section but from the 1 or 2 to hundreds of tiny specs caught by the matted section speaks for itself. Now I'm at the thought of I don't care if there's nothing in the mat but confident that safety net is there if I hit a patch of flour gold that it'll still get trapped.

Hey Matt84 and GT,
Just come home from Tuena.

Over the two days I ran the RS with the mat, cleaned out on the hour every hour, without cleaning out the mat until the end of the day.
The RS was doing fine catching the flood gold that was in the worked area. The iron stone was filling up the top section of the mesh as expected, with the majority of the blondes accumulating on the mat with the mesh. All of any fine gold was caught in the top section.
I will be making adjustments being, a flair, add some V mat, drop the mesh down to the end of the RS and put some handles on the sides.

In the creek with water flow.

Now, when I say that I cleaned out every hour, I mean that I would have placed two half buckets during the hour do to shovelling, classifying and collecting. This being the blue flexy bucket and when I finish the bucket to the RS I always leave enough to pan out to check if there is colour.

Now day 1, I did not finish until 4pm. This also included the mat clean up. Getting back to camp, both myself and banksy tested a sample of the mat, with zero results. But, here is day 1 results.

Day 2, produced a smaller amount from the same site, but this was from a shorter time frame as we left at 2pm to go home.

The total for the trip looks good but when I get this dried I should be able to weigh it.

All in all, another fantastic trip out. This time both Banksy and myself had our boys with us. It does not matter to me how much colour I get, it is about getting out.
Unfortunately, I won't be heading out for a month for both work and family commitments 8.( , so I hope to have the mods in my head transferred to the current RS and Tuena here I come.

Peter.

 

[MJB]

Nice work Peter,

Sounds like you guys had a cracker of a weekend...makes me jealous.

Cheers

 

[pjg100]

Thanks MJB,
Like I said, it does not matter to me, getting out is it.