2021....

[Tathradj]

I really like the adaption of the hydraulic tensioner.

Forwards thinking at it's best.
The fellow who taught me to be tenacious was bloody smart.

He went to buy a new piston for his Honda 90
and was shocked at the price of it.

So, He spun one up on his Lathe. Bored it out with same.

He taught me that if you could not find it, Make one yourself.

He was a shipright in the Norweigen Navy
in the 2nd world war before he was put in a War Camp.
And some of those stories he told were just out of this world
what they did. They ran the resistance from within he camp without
the enemy knowing. Not quite as well as Hogans Hero's but making
hand grenades kept them busy for a while. LOL

 

[Moneybox]

It must have been 40C today but I got out there for an hour at the end of the day. What a beautiful day is was but just a little too hot to be in the sun.

I made a little bit of dust. The pile under the end of the conveyor is this afternoon's effort.

And got a little bit of gold

It's not much but not too bad for an hour. The belt didn't play up so I'm steadily sorting some things out.

 

[Mackka]

That's great Phil. How many ton of dirt?
Mackka

 

[PabloP]

Great news that things went ok Phil, and you have something to show for all the effort that you have put into the project. Keep up the great work.

Rob P.

 

[Moneybox]

That's great Phil. How many ton of dirt?
Mackka

If I was to tell you it'd be a wild guess. How do these guys work that out?

I think I loaded five buckets at about 1.5m so I guess about 7.5 tonnes.

 

[Mackka]

Thanks MB, I was wondering if it was one bucket or 50. At that rate is that classified as payable or par for the course? Again just wondering.
I believe this is one of the two best threads on PA, the other being What to look for.
Congratulations,excellent work.
Mackka

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

That's great Phil. How many ton of dirt?
Mackka

If I was to tell you it'd be a wild guess. How do these guys work that out?

I think I loaded five buckets at about 1.5m so I guess about 7.5 tonnes.

One cubic metre is around 1.8t for stone and less for soil....around 1.5-1.6Tonne. Hard to say from photo's
but it looks around 10 cubes or around 15t

 

[Mackka]

Thank GL, wow, 15 tonne for 1.5 g, is that good?
Mackka

 

[Moneybox]

That's great Phil. How many ton of dirt?
Mackka

If I was to tell you it'd be a wild guess. How do these guys work that out?

I think I loaded five buckets at about 1.5m so I guess about 7.5 tonnes.

One cubic metre is around 1.8t for stone and less for soil....around 1.5-1.6Tonne. Hard to say from photo's
but it looks around 10 cubes or around 15t

Is that for the one pile Tony?

You might be right. The bucket can handle 2t heaped so I might have put more through than I realised. And I could have done more than five buckets, I wasn't counting, just having fun

Is that payable? Yes I think so. I just need to put more time in and I will when I stop fiddling with modifications and adjustments. Yes I know, it'll never happen :lol:

I'm not getting enough air into the engine bay so I'm doing away with the Donaldson precleaner and putting a vent that will hopefully encourage the airflow to go down the tube. I've got visitors passing through today so not too much progress.

This is the dirt rejected. You can see the amount of chunks that need to be broken down. The lumps are the deeper dirt that will most likely have more gold than the lose powdery stuff but I don't have a plan for that yet.

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

G'day Phil...my guesstimate is based on one pile...I could be well off as it's hard to guess from a photo.

As for the economics???....too early....spend the time to dial it in.....get some run time and you will soon establish the recoverable grade....which of course varies on every site. If you do try to work out the economics, don't forget to factor in the vale of the machine you have built. In today's market I would put a price tag of 30k plus on it and prob more once it's working right.

 

[Moneybox]

Today I made up a vent to hopefully improve air intake for the Honda.

I mounted the spindle on a couple of small ball bearings inserted into a tube. I fastened that into the existing PVC stack.

Hopefully the air will ram down the tube.

I gave it a tail to keep it facing into the wind.

I don't have a precleaner up there now but it should be in clean air most of the time. Yesterday I thought the engine was choking through lack of air but when I cleaned the aircleaner I found that the problem was the Penrite Foam Filter Oil. I must have applied too much even though I squeezed as much out as I could. It's a really sticky product and would obviously catch the dirt but it also blocks the air flow.

 

[Moneybox]

G'day Phil...my guesstimate is based on one pile...I could be well off as it's hard to guess from a photo.

As for the economics???....too early....spend the time to dial it in.....get some run time and you will soon establish the recoverable grade....which of course varies on every site. If you do try to work out the economics, don't forget to factor in the vale of the machine you have built. In today's market I would put a price tag of 30k plus on it and prob more once it's working right.

Mmmmm..... I might have to move our operation across the highway.

ASX rookie Golden State Mining is hitting shallow gold grades of up to 56.6 grams per tonne (g/t), 500m from historic mining and exploration areas at its Cue gold project.

The junior explorer (ASX:GSM), which listed in November, told investors that the drilling program at its Cue gold project has demonstrated the prospectivity of the historic mining areas.

But the 56.6g/t high-grade gold intercept was particularly significant, as the mineralised quartz vein zone was 500m north of the historic Light of Asia mine and related historic drilling.

A gold mine with grades of 5g/t or higher is usually considered high-grade.

That's a good sign

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

lovely.....I would be expecting a phone call sooner rather than later!!

 

[Moneybox]

The dryblower ran well but the gold recovered was disappointing. Perhaps it might have been better if I'd put the magic mat in the right way around. I placed the mat in the sluice upside down so I guess I lost quite a bit.

I worked Tonka hard scraping right down to the bedrock which is only 300mm deep in most places. Then we went out at 6:30am with both detectors expecting to pull some gold off the bedrock but didn't get anything.

Scraping the hard base shook a bit of rust loose in the lower radiator tank so where there was a damp patch it ended up dribbling coolant. I decided to take Tonka back home for repairs.

I don't like working on heavy machinery but so far work on the Cat had been quite easy. The whole rear end lifted off including the oil coolers, AC condenser and radiator. I didn't try to get the radiator out of the frame because the corrosion is right in the base where a lot of dirt had collected. I'm waiting now for some Devcon brushable ceramic to coat the bottom tank. There's only about 25mm between the radiator and fuel tank so it's a good spot for dirt to build up and create a problem.

The front crankshaft seal was due to be changed so it was a good chance to knock off more than just the radiator repair. I used a bottom pulley off another engine and modified it to make a seal applicator.

It was a bit of an overkill but it ensured the seal was inserted nice and straight.

I'm also replacing the radiator hoses and belts while it's apart because they are too hard to do later on. I guess with freight delays we might be out of action for more than a week but Mrs M has a good sized list of jobs to keep me out of trouble

See that trench running across the yard? That's the new water supply to the shed/workshop. While I'm at it I'm laying a good sized conduit so that I can also run the irrigation and a septic/drainage pipe for when I put an external toilet and shower in the shed. It's one of Mrs M's little projects to keep me busy for a few days :8 She's just brimming with brilliant ideas and being our 21st wedding anniversary today I'm just fine with that. :heart: :heart:

 

[silver]

Maybe put that same load of dirt back through with the mat right way up to evaluate what you missed may be a good learning experience.
:drooling: :goldnugget:

 

[Mackka]

Congratulations on your Anniversary Phil and Sandra. They say that couples that play together, stay together.
I am loving your adventure however, surely your bad luck must end soon!
All the very best
Mackka :cake: :flowers:

 

[Nightjar]

Congratulations on your anniversary Mr & Mrs MB,
After you you have ticked off Mrs M's list am imagining this will be the next venture.

 

[Jaros]

Happy Anniversary Sandra and Phil. :flowers: :cake:

 

[kemjak57]

Happy anniversary Phil and Mrs M

 

[Moneybox]

Maybe put that same load of dirt back through with the mat right way up to evaluate what you missed may be a good learning experience.
:drooling: :goldnugget:

I would if I could.

My dirt has joined the waste in the wheely bin so considering how much I expect to have lost I won't bother.