What size classifier do you use?

Hi All,

I was watching a video about sluicing and panning, the guy started with a 1/4" and ket going down until he used a 1/20, each time they panned the result and more, albeit smaller gold was coming through each sieve, he eventually settled on the 1/20 and then fed the sluice with this, the also ran the +20 through a separate sluice.

Just wondering if any of you have tried this method and what kind of success you have had, The smallest sieve I have is a 1/8 bucket sieve I made when I was starting out. used it a few times but not as thorough as the guy in the video was.
Seemed like a good way to get more of the finer gold that gets displaced by the larger gravels going through the washer, be it a pan or a sluice.

Video was on a site called Prospecting channel. some not to shabby videos on there.

Cheers, Tone

I use a 1/2" classifier that comes with the Garrett Deluxe kit but really need to invest in a 1/4". I wouldn't mind getting a stacker/nested set like this http://www.highplainsprospectors.com/camel-nesting-classifier-set-p-426.html

i made a sieve from a woven wire mesh for stopping fat spitting out of the frying pan, its about 1/50 mesh maybe more
being a painter by trade i have lots of 20L buckets
the metal ones are really good for this and they have a ring clamp
by using a grinder

• cut off the top part of the lid about 60-100mm down[/*]
• remove lid and discard [/*]
• using the mesh from ( cooking mesh, fly screen or other mesh you have) over cut to size to fit the drum[/*]
• using the ring clamp and mesh, pull tight and clamp mesh where lid use to be[/*]

A presto you have sieve to all different sizes at a fraction of the cost to buy one
will take photo and post soon

at -50 mesh i run through the gold wheel for a lot of fine gold
so i take home my cons and put them through 20,30,40,and 50 and put them all through the wheel
you can run them + and -20 but for best results classifying them down more i get about % 20/30 more
especially the fine gold

I just go with the 1/2" mesh in the bucket sieve & make sure to wash the pay dirt really well - that's the key.

Any bigger gold should stand out easy enough to pick out & anything smaller is easy to pan off.

If you think you're loosing gold, then improve your panning technique perhaps?

My thinking is that I don't get much time at the creek, so I try to spend as much time digging & less time sieving.

Put more volume thru should = more gold.

I just pan off so there's say 1/4 of a cup left in my pan & then just fill it up with fresh pay dirt again. I only do a full clean up pan say every 10 pans & then just snuff up the majority of the cons & clean up at home.

My opinion - Time at the creek is too valuable to sit & pan every bit of black sand out.

If there is some advantage to sieving down to 1mm or what ever, I recon by the time someone has worked their pay dirt down that far, I've processed 5 times as much & ended up with more colour in the pan.

I've used the 1/2" sieve at Eldorado with no problems & that place is well known for its miniscule sized gold.

The two alloy sieves I use are 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch, Thankfully they stack ontop of one another, which allows me to work more dirt through at any one time. I also go after gems so these size's are invaluable. Any Gem as nice as it may be that ends up in your pan is too small and not worth much anyway.

I bloody hate classifying it destroys my back, so I was so happy yesterday running the highbanker. Well until I got back to the car and was taking of my wet socks and did my back. hahaha Irony much?

Yeah it's a great thing to have the highbanker do the classifying for you ...... sorry to hear about the back injury. Can't wait to get out there again ..... (not till September sadly). Looking forward to the next vid Balx, hope you did ok.

Here's my ol' bucket classifier - handles are hooks from Bunnings:




Drewe.

I use 1/4 inch, only time I have needed smaller was when using shivans blue bowl, which needs the material all the same size.

DD

Mr Sism said:

Yeah it's a great thing to have the highbanker do the classifying for you ...... sorry to hear about the back injury. Can't wait to get out there again ..... (not till September sadly). Looking forward to the next vid Balx, hope you did ok.

Here's my ol' bucket classifier - handles are hooks from Bunnings:

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...8/1376815344_photo_on_2013-08-18_at_18.26.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...1376815370_photo_on_2013-08-18_at_18.26_2.jpg

Drewe.

Click to expand...

Thanks Drewe. Thats a nice bit of kit, its been a rough old winter I am keen to get out there and hit it hard this spring, went out yesterday but just to much water about to have a good go. balx

Balx said:

I bloody hate classifying it destroys my back, so I was so happy yesterday running the highbanker. Well until I got back to the car and was taking of my wet socks and did my back. hahaha Irony much?

Click to expand...

Hay Balx,
just get a metal bucket , drill some holes in it and a cordless drill with a mixer
will save the back somewhat
but yes the highbanker will save your back
until you have to go back up that hill out tanjil

I've used a mixer on clay balls with my mains power drill .... threw them all in a bucket while testing the highbanker a month ago. Using a big bucket & lid (with a hole cut-out for the shaft) - no ugly slurry splashes - breaks up the clay good & proper (with several water changes). Thought I'd find something in half a bucket of clay but this time nothing ..... also managed to disintegrate the mixer paddle. Thinking it's pretty much not worth the effort, thoughts anyone?

Mr Sism said:

I've used a mixer on clay balls with my mains power drill ....

..... also managed to disintegrate the mixer paddle. Thinking it's pretty much not worth the effort, thoughts anyone?

Click to expand...

My opinion - not worth the effort.

I've heard plenty people try it but recon there's less effort in breaking up the clay by hand in a bucket mixed with a few rocks

Mr Sism said:

I've used a mixer on clay balls with my mains power drill .... threw them all in a bucket while testing the highbanker a month ago. Using a big bucket & lid (with a hole cut-out for the shaft) - no ugly slurry splashes - breaks up the clay good & proper (with several water changes). Thought I'd find something in half a bucket of clay but this time nothing ..... also managed to disintegrate the mixer paddle. Thinking it's pretty much not worth the effort, thoughts anyone?

Click to expand...

If you through in a hand full or two of small rocks it will break it up a lot faster
I'm more talking about doing the same thing with your shovel full of rocks and sand
To classify your materials down. Saves the back somewhat by shaking it by hand.

Going to give XIV sieve a go, got some aluminium flyscreen and found a steel paint tin with lid clamp in a new estate down the road... i will take a few pics when made and see how it goes with my pile of panning wash ... results to follow

Hi ToT, I use 5.75mm seive (Server Rack shelf)

TenOunce Tone said:

Going to give XIV sieve a go, got some aluminium flyscreen and found a steel paint tin with lid clamp in a new estate down the road... i will take a few pics when made and see how it goes with my pile of panning wash ... results to follow

Click to expand...

tone, mate, please after you cut the drum up go over the edge with a file!!!!! there will be some sharp bits, trust me i know.
i cut myself in the webbing on my thumb
f@$! that hurt

I will! I was thinking of cutting just below the lower ridge (down about 100mm from top) fold over to take away sharp edge and rivet a piece of black garden irrigation hose to form handle of sorts.. will take a few pic of the build and post..
Cheers, Tone

Hi again, well I took the grinder out for a play tonight, I followed XIV's instructions and come up with this.. the mesh in the paint tin is about 1/17, the mesh in the bucket is 1/8, the pan is a standard 14" pan.

If you are going to make one out of a 20lt metal paint can, then make sure you tap over the cut edge, I just used a hammer and the back of my little vice. Total time was was about 20 mins, you can buy the aluminium fly mesh at bunnings by the meter, The piece I bought was about 650 mm wide, I bought 1200 mm so i will have spare, total cost under $10.00 for the mesh, Found the paint can on a new house build, just peel or rinse the dry paint out to stop fumes or fire when grinding. (You may also find the Metal cans at your local fish and chip shop, some of them get oil delivered in them)

There is about a 10 - 20 mm gap between the bottom of the 1/8 and 1/20 when stacked as on the pan, hope it proves a success..







Cheers, Tone

Looks really good mate.
All the best and hope it works for you.
I'm sure it will

Hi again,

I went to a local stream this afternoon on the way home from work, I wanted to do an experiment with screens and see the results..

Well the results are in!

I know this stream has fine gold and I wanted to see if I could get more gold after running through small sized screens, I started with about 10 - 12 l of material from a likely looking spot among some crevicey looking bedrock, it was just wash sand and gravel, I did not want to spend too much time on site. (I did not take any pics as there were a few earth children hanging around, I wanted to get in and out before I had to explain why I was taking the soils of the land blah blah... or I would have stayed and ran a few buckets from a few spots I have had luck before)

Anyway, I grabbed my bucket and headed home, I used the trusty bunnings plastic screen which is 1/4, I had used my half inch bucket sieve to ensure all the gravel was thoroughly washed.

After panning out the 1/4 screen I ended up with this lot..

About ten colors or so.. very small to about a 1.5mm is the largest. Not to bad from ten liters..



I then discarded the +1/4 and ran the lot again through the bucket sieve combo shown above, the sizes are about 3.5mm and then the fly wire mesh.. about 1mm.. or 1/17, I did pan out one round of the + 1mm and found nothing so I didnt bother again. I had a visual inspection of the sieves but nothing caught the eye, so into the stock pile it went.

After panning out the gravel that went through the fly wire I found this..



Another four or five really small colors, enough to prove the system works.

Yes it is a small amount of very fine gold, but remember this was from about 10 lt of random gravels

well there it is, for what its worth, I think I will do a few more random samples from richer grounds and see what happens, I might even lash out and buy a 1/20 sieve...

P.S. sorry for the dodgy pics, lighting was very ordinary and could not get a decent pic, editing pics is not my forte

Cheers, Tone