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!
