Trommels, sluices, riffles

        First off, we want to clarify something we are hearing from a number of people.  Members of the Gold Prospectors of America are telling us that they are limited to hand trowels and pans in the Black Hills.  A direct quote from SD Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, the state agency that regulates mining in South Dakota, states “Recreational mining, such as gold panning and mineral collecting that make use of hand-held equipment such as picks, shovels, gold pans, sluice boxes, or metal detectors is exempt from permit requirements. A mine permit is required for portable dredges or other mechanized equipment, even for use in recreational mining.”

        Secondly, we see a lot of innovative equipment out there.  A lot of what we see is commonly termed, “reinventing the mouse trap” or in this case, reinventing the gold trap!   Our geologist friend was a little puzzled why I use a cheap little black pan for test pans… until he saw me panning in a tiny stream and/or a tub!  That small pan doesn’t need much water, has small built-in riffles and does the trick nicely!  Now with larger amounts of concentrates, for example sluice box clean-up, choose a pan that suits your hand size and has a reasonably large inner circle circumference… allowing swirling!   

        So our conclusion would be… they all probably work, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money!  It’s the same gold, whether the equipment cost hundreds or a few $$.

        On this theme, the third item we will talk about is the tried and true, the basic concept that still works and is simple enough for someone with construction skills to build instead of buy!

        We refer to “How and Where to Pan Gold” by Wayne Winters, originally published in 1961.

        Bob wants you to pay attention to how simple an effective trommel can be!  This is a great example of a little electric trommel simply mounted on skids with one motor running both pump and trommel.  Note the small chute at the top where gravels are dumped and then it appears they are hand-fed.  Discharge is small enough to use only a wheelbarrow, indicating how much is being fed.  The set-up of 4-5 foot cut in the gravel has set this operation up very well for recirculation of water.  Even though there’s 1000’s of holes in the punch plate of the trommel, the discharge chute shows water dripping.  This might be designed to help gravel move down the chute or could be that much water actually retained in the spent gravels.  A simple screen would save those gallons.

         This commercial trommel set up demonstrates a good scenario for riffles in the sluice.  Note that closer to the trommel, riffles become more closely spaced until they are of equal distance.  At the bottom of the sluice, the gaps are for the fine gold to settle and carry water away from the operation.  Hard to imagine any gold getting away!

         Note that sluices are lined with tin, which these days could be easily bought at a lumber yard as flashing.

         A large grizzly is set up behind the main trommel with the only conveyor being a discharge for oversized rock.  The dump truck, seen top left, is vintage but effective with haul road leading to main grizzly.  It looks like a direct dump.

         Simple but effective, the difference between a few hundred dollars and thousands!

          Good news for all interested in our Iron Creek permit... an August hearing is tentatively scheduled and we may get mining yet!

        A final note to check out Black Hills Simple Life Magazine on-line… another editorial effort in my family circle!  We did a short prospecting article this time and there are tons of interesting and informative articles on all aspects of Black Hills living!