Angus Mackirk Grubstake sluice.

[Syndyne]

Nice to see the AM mini in action Rod! Looking forward to the shots of some nice gold in those riffles soon

We also use the small grub mini now and again for a quick prospect in new areas before bringing in the HB or AM Explorer (with the Alaskan flare attachment) sluice. They're a beautiful little piece of gear for a quick test or just to clean up a few pan-fulls of heavies.

All the best with it.
Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

Looks like you had it going ok there Rod, you should only need to sieve down to 1/2 inch for one of these sluices, a good rule of thumb is a 1/2 inch rock should take about 10 - 15 seconds to go through.. that is what worked the time I used a AM sluice..

Get yourself a 1/30 sieve or classifier and put the heavies into that, then pan out the + and - separately, you will be surprised at the amount of very fine gold you will have left in the black sands...

good luck mate

Cheers, Tone

 

[Ramjet]

Looks like you had it going ok there Rod, you should only need to sieve down to 1/2 inch for one of these sluices, a good rule of thumb is a 1/2 inch rock should take about 10 - 15 seconds to go through.. that is what worked the time I used a AM sluice..

Get yourself a 1/30 sieve or classifier and put the heavies into that, then pan out the + and - separately, you will be surprised at the amount of very fine gold you will have left in the black sands...

good luck mate

Cheers, Tone

Thanks for the comments
I classified that small Tone because Grabben Gullen has sapphires. Looked thru the pebbles but no biguns this trip.
A couple of tiny tiny ones tho.
Good sluice. Perfect for testing new areas to come back to.
Slow to process large amounts of material.
To dig a 20 litre bucket of gravel, classify and slowly put thru the sluice took about 20 minutes or more.
I didn't want to overload it. Give time for the riffles to clear.
I also had a Tee Dee EZ sluice the same size. It has plastic riffles and 'miners moss' which clogged up in minutes.
Possibly operator error. Not enough flow? Put it aside after half a bucket.
The time it took to clean it out, remove riffles, flush out the moss, put it all back together, I could have put another half bucket thru the mackirk.
Just for ease of clean out the mackirk is the better option IMHO.
If I was buying a bigger sluice it would be a Mackirk.
Simple, light, easy...

Cheers

Rod

 

[Beagleboy]

I have recently got the boss and it is fantastic piece of kit. It is very easy to clean out and really light. It needs to be set up correctly and it work really well. I thought of putting some adjustable legs on it to help with setting it up instead of using rocks. I don't know if that would be a good idea though. Does anyone have any opinions?

 

[Ramjet]

Good size unit Beagleboy. Would be able to put a lot of material through it.
What size rocks will it take?

 

[Beagleboy]

I use this classifier which is about 1/2 inch. I fill a bucket with water, put this in and shovel stuff in to it. Than you just shake it little bit and you are done. You can classify material really fast.

 

[Ramjet]

I got one about the same size. Bucket sieves are awesome.
I used one that size plus a smaller one as my sluice is small.

 

[Heatho]

I bought the AM Foreman yesterday, hope it's here for next weekend.

 

[Bushranger]

Thinking about getting a grubsteak ...... Any suggestions on the best model for small creeks?

 

[Nugget]

Bushranger, I can highly recommend the Grub Steak for low flowing waterways. It's very portable, lightweight and easy to clean out.

They're designed for low volume processing so depending on how you classify you may need to clean out often, but it only takes 30-45 seconds and your back up and running again.

 

[Bushranger]

Ordered the grub steak today! I don't mind classifying and cleaning out regularly. Give the dodgy back a rest!

 

[Nugget]

Good choice mate, you wont be disappointed.

 

[Bushranger]

Any advice on setting it up?

 

[Teemore]

Any advice on setting it up?

Hi Bushranger,
Had many similar question when I purchased my Foreman sluice.
Just do a search on Angus Mackirk, there's heaps of good info (not from me, mine would be just ordinary).
Good luck with it, you'll enjoy it,
Cheers Tom

 

[Nugget]

Any advice on setting it up?

It will vary depending on waterflow, but I find the Grub Steak operates best if the water level is half way up the sidewall on the flare end, and around (just over) 1/3 up the sidewall on the exit end. If you run a scoop of classified material through it and it passes without too much initial intervention, then it should be fine. Just make sure the traps aren't clogging up with stones.

I'll do a video soon enough to show how I run mine. It's not rocket science but it might help out first timers.

 

[Bushranger]

Any advice on setting it up?

It will vary depending on waterflow, but I find the Grub Steak operates best if the water level is half way up the sidewall on the flare end, and around (just over) 1/3 up the sidewall on the exit end. If you run a scoop of classified material through it and it passes without too much initial intervention, then it should be fine. Just make sure the traps aren't clogging up with stones.

I'll do a video soon enough to show how I run mine. It's not rocket science but it might help out first timers.

A video would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[gavfromoz]

Hell yeah! I've seen it work damn I love it.

 

[Daniel]

Will my Angus Mackirk Grubsteak catch Zircons?

Haven't got a gem Sieve and want to process a bit of material that has zircons and no gold.

Cheers.

 

[Nugget]

You'll probably find it'll catch very small stones trapped in the black sand but I wouldn't count on it to catch many at all. I could be wrong but there really isn't anything for them to hang onto.

 

[Daniel]

Ok thanks mate, I'll give that a miss then!

Probably just pan all the material and see if any hang back for now. Was specking material in a pan but 40L of material will take a week.

Only really need to see one I guess. Took dirt from like 3 different locations and one of the spots looked exactly like the Zircon spot at Nundle. When I was panning for gold found a few alright Zircons. So I just took some material from that spot assuming that would be it.. Maybe I should just check first.

Cheers!