O.K., so I don't have a lot of concentrates, but I have more than I want to pan. I also have come to realize that panning is not an efficient way of going about business.

I know oppinions will vary, and I welcome that.

What say you, fine people of coloradoprospector.com? What is the best piece of equipment for seperating gold from all the other stuff.

I am open to building something out of a rain gutter and pump, or even spending some coin to buy something like a blue bowl or gold cube.

I hope to elicit a number of ideas, and have a hard time choosing between them. I have seen some good write-ups on individual pieces of equipment, but nothing that really puts equipment head to head.

It's no secret I'm a big fan of the Bowl. It works well for concentrates that are smaller that #30 mesh... your flour Gold.
You still need something to handle cons larger than #30. A recirculating micro sluice will reduce that material to a nice pan of super concentrate.
There are many options for the micro... including building your own from a gutter. I first purchased an inexpensive micro sluice (gutter style) on eBay for about $30-$40 and it did really well for the stuff that was over #30. I've since upgraded to a Micro Sluice 1 which captures very well with a much higher production rate.
Start off inexpensive and tinker a bit. I think you'll find what you're looking for.

Swizz has good advice! but to really save on the $$$$ make your own classifiers or buy some.a 1/4 inch and smaller to a -30 mesh screen will do. and run all of these seperatly to take advantage of specific gravity. my favorite and least expensive cleanup sluice is my Miller table. it can be made from plywood or aluminum painted with blackboard paint. no riffels,no screens no nothing for the fine gold you want to trap.as you screen the material down you can pick out the bigger stuff as you go!when you run a Miller table you want the water fow as flat as possible and maybe only 1/8 of a inch deep. you want to see only a flat smooth flow of water and DONT feed to much matrial at any one time. just a little across the top of this device and let the water do the work. i always rerun my cons at a lower water rate and tilt of the Miller table to futher catch anything i may have missed by over feeding. all of the fine gold will be left on the headend of this device. if anything is lower on the table, your either feeding to fast,to much or your water is to fast! the smaller your gold, the slower your water and the less you feed. and itll clean it all up with no black sands left on your gold. depending on your fabricating skills, your total cost might be $10. for this minus the bilge pump cost. and its GPH should be a small pump.under 500 GPH. i put valves on my device to further controll my water output. i do have a Blue Bowl and lots of other equipment, but this Miller Table is my favorit!

I still prefer my good old trusty gold pan. Screen down and pan, if you looking over say 5 lbs of concentrates I do use a blue bowl.
Its a hobby, not a job, panning is more relaxing to me. So I sit down somewhere with a coffee at home and pan.

Ken, you and I are pretty much in the same spot. I've got some ideas in my head for a recirculating microsluice built into a plastic tub. Hopefully I'll be able to flesh out some of these ideas and get something working in the next month or so.

We use a mini sluice made from rain gutter and a recirc set up with tubs and buckts to catch tailings. We switched out the short black matting for deep v matting all the way down and always use soap in the recirced system as tension buster. Not as refined as Russ' or Swizz's set ups but works pretty well when set up properly with angle, flow and feed consistency just like the others.
Screening down to 1/4- for the mini sluice definately helps too. What's nice about taking home to these concentrate clean up systems is they all let you retry your tailings from the catch buckets/tailings to check recovery or loss.
Have a great time with all the practice guys and post up the smiling pans too.

Here's a pic from a few years ago, all the gold in the pan was caught using the mini sluice set up and then panning out one super concentrated pan. (not all the same day ) Patience, test and trial, have fun and do again........What ever set up you use should do well when set up is dialed in and feed is good and the end result will always be a pleasure.

Regular sized blue pan for final panning and pic.

Click to view attachment

Blue Bowl works great if you screen down 30-50-100 mesh. Run each at the proper water height. Kind of slow going but works if you make sure everything is set up correctly. Not a big fan of the gutter sluices. Work OK. GC is supposed to be real good at reducing a lot of cons quickly. Only have to screen to -8. I am now using an Angus MacKirk Desert Rat recirculating sluice. I screen down to -8 for 1st run and then re-screen the tailings to -20 and rerun. Still end up with super cons. I then screen down 50-100 after drying and crushing up the cons. Pull out the magnetics. Ready for BB then. No easy way to really get all the gold. Classifying, pulling magnetics out, and proper equipment setup are key.

So far, it sounds like the Blue Bowl is popular. And I will look into one. I picked up a piece of gutter from my dad, and am going to try to make a reciculating sluice with that. If for no other reason than to have made something myself for this gold adventure.

I have seen a a couple of different blue spiral wheel type things. Anybody have an opinion on them?

Any more specific ideas on the gutter sluice set up would be welcome too.

Thanks again to all.

Forgot to mention the California Sluice Box Bucket Sluice. It is set up to run on a 5 gal bucket. You just drill some holes in the side so the water will flow out into a tub and you can recirculate it with a pump. It is a drop riffle design and only cost around $25 shipped. Still have to screen your material down and run it a spoonful at a time, but is good at catching the small stuff and greatly reducing the amount of cons that you have.

I prefer the Desert Fox gold wheel. I found that when properly set up it will recovery far more gold than I can when panning. Makes the panning much easier as all I have to do is get down to the concentrates.

my previous post reflects my lack of wanting to spend money if i dont have to. yep all of them peices of equipment work fine and i also have them at my disposal, but i still prefer the Miller table for its cost to make,ease of use and its good results that are faster than most other peices of equipment! and i love using my autofeeder on all my equipment. and i owe thanks to Gat for showing us his autofeeder that i sorta copied for my feeder!

aaahhhhh.... this is one of the things I like about this pursuit
so many ways to skin a cat
constantly evolving processing strategies, equipment, and techniques

I recently modified an A52 to run narrow with fewer (and smaller) riffles for low-flow water situations. I think I've run it at least a dozen times this year and damned if I didn't tweak it just a little each time to increase it's recovery or efficiency. Really fun dialing this stuff in for particular needs. I enjoy the tinkering aspect quite a bit.

yep making it work for you and actually seeing it in operation makes it all worthwhile! Ill be on the Arkansa River Aug 28 for 2 weeks to see this happen for me again!

O.k., so I have started to make a gutter sluice, just need a pump. I AM GOING TO MAKE AA MILLER TABLE TOO? i am going to get a pump to run both to keep costs down. I will keep you updated.

Sorry about the caps. Not used to typing on this nook

Hi Ken,
I run a 500GPH on the Blue Bowl and 750GPH on the Micro Sluice.
The 750 is pretty powerful and would probably do everything you need. Just add a flow regulator to the hose and you're all set. If you're worried about overworking the pump when choking it down, there is a solution. Install a Y-connection to your hose that comes from the pump and bleed off the excess... back into the recirc tub.
I did a very quick search on eBay for "bilge pump". There are many 12V listed with a variety of flows, here's one that's reasonable: 750GPH Bilge
Can't wait to see your system!

I just came up with another question, imagine that. The piece of gutter that I have is only 3 inches wide. Should I hold out to find a 4 inch, or just go with the 3?

Right now I have a swamp cooler pump. Not sure of the gph, but figure it will get me going. I am hoping to have the gutter sluice going this week. And, start accumulating miller table materials this week as well.

Then, it will be dig, dig, dig, till the snow starts flying. Followed by a winter in the garage.

I am in the same boat as you, kmontoya. Just joined the forum and I am looking for places that sell screens that I can use for classifing. Down to 1/8 in. is no problem, but where can I get some 30, 50, and 100 mesh screen? It would be great to find a place, northern front range.

I haven't found any in the northern front range area so far. All the places I had seen on the internet are closed or don't have valid phone numbers any more. I have been buying most of my stuff from Gold n detectors in Golden. It is right on the way up to Clear creek any way. They have all the classifiers you might want about $24 a piece. You could probably find the screen to make your own at Orchard ace hardware there in Loveland.

The classifiers I have so far; 1/4 for pre sluice (A52)
12
30
My next 2 will be 50 then 100

Thanks for the tip. I saw their place in Golden last week when I drove through but didn't have time to stop. I'll try Ace. Maybe they can order it if necessary. I would love to get my hands on some 50 and 100 mesh stainless steel cloth. I just love this forum!

sunspirit, welcome to CP!

I live in the mtns so I have been ordering equipment online for a while.
There are good suppliers out there that I'm comfortable recommending.
These are my favorites:
Black Cat Mining
Blue Bucket Mining
Gold Fever Prospecting

Welcome to the world of prospecting, dig in!

Thanks for the welcome swizz! I will certainly check out those vendors.
I would like to also thank you for your excellent post on working with concentrates. It is apparent that classification is WAY more important than I originally thought, and I will be picking up a "Blue Bowl" as well.
Also, like kmontoya, I will be digging and concentrating untill the snow flies and am looking forward to a golden winter.

Hey Swizz

After you use your blue bowl do you find any gold left in your blue bowl tailings? And if you don't is running the blue bowl just a trial and error piece of equipment or are there certain levels on the bowl that you can run your water up to. I have watched that video on the prospecting channel and followed his instructions but there was still gold that seems to have made it up and over the lip. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks
MDM

Hi MDM,
All of the bowl tailings I checked last winter showed zero to miniscule amounts of loss... not sure why you're losing some but there are a few possibilities.
There is a learning curve with the bowl and it takes some practice and patience, but well worth the effort. Once you're dialed-in it's easy breezy. The video is definitely where I learned a lot in the beginning. NOT the Gold Lab video, which is an overbuilt joke in my opinion... the other one on processing fine gold (which highlights the Keene Super Concentrator Sluice). The bowl markings that he suggests may be a little strong and I typically run a hair slower. I also stop the bowl occasionally and run a magnet... then resume. Another VERY critical note is to use surface tension-breaker when running the bowl, like Jet-Dry... especially because the concentrates are so small. Possibly the most popular problem with the bowl is maintaining consistent water flow. When adding material... if added too fast it will bog down the centrifugal spin, keep an eye on that. An autofeeder (home-made or other) will reduce this effect. Slowly feeding it with a spoon works well too, which is what I do. Also - a higher quality flow valve doesn't hurt. I recommend a standard round garden hose valve from the hardware store rather than the El Cheapo plastic lever-style that comes with the system. If mounted 6" or further away from the bowl it works even better.
Spin to win!

Man, just when I had decided not to spend money on a blue bowl, it starts looking good again.

Chris (swizz), how much material would you estimate you can move through the blue bowl per hour? Lets say in 1/4 buckets. And, of course, I am talking about classified concentrates; 30, 50 and 100 mesh.

Also, still looking for an opinion on the 3in vs 4in. gutter. I have the deep v matting, and just got my pump wired up tonight. Going to get some fittings together tomorrow. I would love to do a test run this week, but don't want to cut the mat until I have to. It is the most expensive part of the system.

Another question just popped into my head. Do you store your concentrates wet or dry? I currently have mine about 50/50 Dry in gallon sized plastic bags, and wet in buckets. The wet stuff in buckets can get a little nasty in this heat we are having.

Tough call on the production speed... definitely slooowww. It really depends on the heavies you're spinning as well. A high percentage of very heavy magnetite vs blonde sands or mica in your super-cons for example. The magentite concentrate will obviously be more time consuming. Either way, I'm guessing 1/4 bucket per hour (three separate classifications) would be a stretch. I do all of my blue-bowling during the winter months in front of a toasty fire and 47" tv... actually that's when I do all of my processing (other than occasional field processing). I'm sitting on a bunch of buckets now, mostly from my claim and tagged for sampling purposes.
As far as storing wet or dry, it doesn't matter. Storing them wet sometimes breeds nasty mold or mildew, even insects. I tend to let mine dry in buckets, then get them wet again prior to processing.

Hey Swizz

Thanks for the info. That is kind of what I figured about just using the bowl and getting use to it. I was using the markings from the video and I agree they seem a bit strong. I of course kept all of the concentrates and will run them again and again and again. Then maybe pan them again and again. I just hate the thought of letting any of that yellow stuff get away, especially after working so hard to get it.

Good info on the blue bowl. I'm new to all this, but have one, and have run it twice so far, classifiying with a 30, 50 and 100 screen first, as I've seen and read about.

So far I haven't actually seen anything in the - 100, but I am told over and over, there is a lot of stuff that you can't see in there, so I'm just collecting the - 100 concentrates for when
I have enough of them to figure it out/worry about it.

No doubt it takes a bit of practice to get the bowl down good. I have used all the suggestions, and still always find non-gold heavies on the inside rim, sometimes more than I want to deal with, then it becomes a long process of pushing stuff around the stopped water getting the gold bits away and in a pile to suck up.

I like the idea of a garden hose valve away from the bowl. That's for that suggestion. No doubt the one that comes with it is a bit hard to deal with at times.

Just tested the water flow over the deep v mat in the gutter. It looks like it will work well. Can't wait to test some material.

I would welcome some suggestions on the angle of the gutter.

Well, I broke down and got a Blue Bowl and some classifiers. (30, 50, 100)
As I got going, it seemed that the water flow is really strong. If I put in some 30 minus stuff in and turn it on with the water flow about 1 in. below the rim and it seems to blast the cons away very fast, leaving nothing. Finer material is worse. As I watch the material go over the edge it sure looks like gold flecks. After turning down the flow to where it looks OK(?), the water is about 1 1/8+ in down from the edge and takes 45 min. to process with me babysitting it. If I run the water, say 1/2 to 5/8 in. from the rim, it would need 8- size to keep from being blasted away immediatly.
Am I not set up correctly? Maybe there is no gold in my cons? I guess what I need to know is, how long should (say) a tablespoon of 30- take to process? Or a tablespoon of 50-? and do you need to keep stirring it up with the turkey baster?
Anyone who can help me out?

Hi sunspirit,
Go to this link and watch the video... listen carefully and take notes: How To Process Gold Concentrate
The vid should answer all of your questions regarding the bowl, he does an excellent demo.

OK, I will do it just as the demo does this weekend and see what happens. I would try tonight but I have to pick up hay and after that I'm not good for much. Anybody on the list have a need for composted horse manure? Of that, I have plenty!

Darn you Chris,

I never wanted a Blue Bowl before. I was always satisfied to do it the ol' timer way. You know, saving it for the winter time then it was spoonful by spoonful into your pan and meticulously picking out all the specs until your eyes were shot. Now after watching this video it is instantly one of those accessories I just can't live without. I'll be looking to pick one up sometime this winter. Great demo.


Sorry about your luck Sunspirit,
Bad Timing, the market is currently flooded with Horse Manure. The White House has been giving it out for free as of late. Lol Woody.

I have run some more material through my recirculating micro sluice and noticed I have some water flow issues. I am running the water up through a hose into a 3/4 in tee. Sometimes, the water flows just fine. Other times, I cant get it to run evenly down, across the matting.

I will also have to play some more with the angle. I can't find the speed I like best yet. I'll keep experimenting until I figure it out. When I do, I will post up some pics.

Spin to win!

Swizz thank you soo much for above link

I was surfing net looking how to make blue bowl .,.. but after watching video .. buying pre made .. sold on blue bowl and classifers

Glad you found that useful! It definitely straightened the learning curve out for me.

Are you still in Michigan... or is that where you're originally from? Curious about beach sands if you're still there.
I grew up in the da U.P. and Dan & Denise have Michigan ties as well. You're in good company here.

I'm still in Michigan have yet to try panning or sluicing here , concentrates we have are from trip to Colorado fall of 2010

Cool, post up some pics if you managed to get some color on that trip.
I've been running my Bowl for the last few evenings from some 2011 samples.
I've added a bleeder valve to the inlet which gives the pump some relief and also provides another flow control mechanism.
If I run it tonight, I'll take a pic. It's basically just a garden hose Y connector (with control valves)... a simple, fast, and inexpensive modification.

or.... if you're feeling more adventurous, this setup has very good control

with your mods and a autofeeder ,that a combo thats hard to beat.i hate spooning in cons. to much wasted time for me.id set up my bowl with the autofeeder and do something else. works for me! Gat gave me the idea on the autofeeder when i was at the RMMR in Idahoe Springs, CO. with D&D. i sat right next to it in the DEF welcome tent for 3 days,and saw its effectiveness. i was impressed to say the least.i wonder how ole gat is doing up there in the NW??

All right, it's been a while since I posted anything up. After much trial and error, I scrapped the home fab recirc. micro sluice. I did go out and buy the blue bowl with some saved up + Christmas money. I ran about 3 cups full of 30- through it and was pleased with what I saw at the bottom when I was done.

For Chris, How do you keep your water clean so you can watch what is going on? Also, how big of material can you run in the blue bowl? I have a lot of 30+ but 12-, can I put that through, or is it too big?

I'll classify the rest of my concentrates this next week and run some more. Then, I will try to get some pics posted up. Happy new year to you all. Thank you for the warm welcome here this year. I've learned a lotof things from you all. And, I have had a blast prospecting.

Hi Ken,
Good to hear from you again and a Happy New Year to you as well!
Glad to hear that you are getting some color in the new bowl!
To answer your questions... keeping the water clean is a pain sometimes depending on the material. I'm recirculating in a 36 gallon Rubbermaid tub so it stays clean for quite a while. Easy enough to change the water every once in a while... small chore. Run your -100 class last, it is always the dirtiest.

The bowl will efficiently process concentrates that are smaller than #30 mesh (-30, -50, then -100 respectively).
Throw away the instructions and watch this vid if you haven't already, it covers all the nuances of the Bowl: How to Process Concentrate

I process everything larger than #30 with other equipment or pan.

Congrats on the Blue Bowl purchase and I hope that you get used to it and like it.
It requires a little patience to get the hang of it.

i use Clay Gone to keep my water clean. it works good.plus if you also use a seperate/another setteling tank youll further help keep your recirculating water clean.

Thanks for the responses Chris and Russ. I'm not sure if I learned a lesson today, or had a batch with nothing in it.

I started a batch, then came inside (for just a minute). I got caught up playing dolls with my daughters, and completely forgot I was running the blue bowl. When I went back out, it was completely clean. I had to laugh at myself. I will have to run that stuff again, just to be sure.

I watched that video when you first posted it, but think I'll go back and watch it again. I will get a bigger bin, as I am just using a mason bin now. Thanks for the pics, Chris, they look like your set up works quite well.

Hey Chris... I watched the demo, thanks for posting it... one question, did you find the measurements for the different classifications to be accurate? #30 - 1/4" , #50 - 1/4" to 1/2", and #100 - 1/2" to just under 1", all measurements from the top of the bowl? I like the flow control setup you've developed, I'm about ready to run the cons I got from your claim last summer... I'll let you know what I find... Bill

Hello All, It to has been a long while sence I had posted, so I to want to thank Chris for the links that he's put up for all to look/learn from, and all the others for all the great info they have given to this site, it has made this new venture of prospecting easier and more enjoyable than if I just jumped into it in the dark, I had went out a couple times with Kmontoya but wish I could have spent more time but when you have kids along they dictate how long you spend but I wouldn't trade my time with them for anything.

Chris, I had taken your advise last May and had bought a BB and have been working all my 30- concentraits, but still haven't had any luck with an auto feeder just yet, have you been able to adapt one to it yet? I'm currently trying to do my set up much like the gold lab, but the feeder bottle has been the issue (the hole size for the caps). I'll try to post pic's as soon as I can, also Chris I like your valve system set up, I changed my ball valve for the gate valve and so far so good. hope you all had a great X-Mas and are having a Great! New Year. Dennis

Great to hear from you again Dennis.
Really glad that you have benefited from our discussions here! This has been (and continues to be) an excellent place for me to learn stuff as well.
Regarding auto-feeders for the BB: I'm feeding my cons by hand and don't mind doing it. I decided to keep that aspect on the 'simple' side.
I am the auto-feeder.

Thanks for the reply back Chris, I to am begining to think simple is better, I don't really want to spend much more ($) on this feeder but it was/is worth a try, I'll try one more thing and if that doesn't work than I'll stick to the spoon on the 30-,50- and turkey baister for the 100-. I'll still try to get pic's up so all can see the contraption I've made, still it doesn't look as complicated as the gold lab.

Good to see you back on the forum Dennis. I can't wait to get back out there with you. Your kids are awesome, and you are doing great with them. Maybe this year we can get together with our kids and do a trip. I couldn't agree with you more about the help from everyone here, it has made it all easier.

I am going to copy Chris's set up for the blue bowl, to try and improve my recovery.

in useing blue bowls, from my experience, the closer you can keep everything consistant,the better recovery you will have!i use my BB with a autofeeder (similat to Gats)that i made. and it feeds slowly and consistantly while im doing something else. everything is reproccessed anway. and when i redo my (run one time cons) i change my water setting and tilt of my auto feeder for the finer stuff i missed.this is my winter projet.