How to make a sluice for gold washing with your own hands. Part 1.

How to make a gateway for gold mining with your own hands

This article was born in connection with the increased interest in gold mining. I often get asked questions about how to get gold from streams and rivers? How to make a gateway for gold mining with your own hands? Where and what kind of gateway should I buy? How to make a passage with your own hands?

In this article I will tell you how to make a gateway with your own hands. The equipment is so simple that anyone can make it in a couple of hours at home and in many respects it will be better than a purchased American aluminum gateway, the cost of which in Russia reaches 17,000 rubles.

I’ll tell you how to properly make a gold-catching sluice, a mini device for gold mining, popularly called a prodnushka. This is what the prospectors of Siberia and the Urals call it, the name that came to us from our grandfathers and great-grandfathers is prodnushka.

A passage (sluice) is a box made of three boards, at the bottom of which a mat is laid and a stencil (riffle) is placed. A walk-through made of wood is not only simpler and cheaper than one made of aluminum, but most importantly, if something happens, you won’t mind throwing it away. If you use dry and not thick wood, then the weight will be no more than that of an aluminum analogue, and with a skillful approach, even less. In addition, wooden boards in your car or backpack will not raise questions from strangers; no one will ask what kind of boards they are or ask unnecessary questions. You never know what purpose you need these boards for in the forest.

To make a passage (sluice) for gold mining, the main thing is to follow the basic simple rules in its manufacture, and you will be a more successful gold miner than other prospectors with short purchased sluices.

The longer the hole, the more gold you will catch. Foreign aluminum sluices have a maximum length of 1.5 meters; this is not enough to catch fine gold and disintegrate poorly washed sands or loams. The length of foreign locks is 1.5 meters due to legislation that limits the length of the lock, so that amateur tourists do not wash out all the gold on the stream and leave it to others. For example, in America, Australia, and New Zealand, gold mining is a hobby, like picking mushrooms or fishing in our country.

The width of the sluice depends on the amount of rock supplied; for bucket feeding, a width of 20-25 cm is sufficient.

To make a long and easy-to-carry passage, use a cascade of gateways, for example, install two gateways of 1.5 meters in series, for a total of 3 meters. This is sufficient to trap fine gold and disintegrate the rock.

If the soil is clayey and does not have time to be washed through the passage, you need to use other equipment called butara. I will talk about it in the following articles or videos on my channel www.youtube.com/user/RudolfKavchik

Installation of riffles or as they are also called stencils.

The stencil is the most important part of the pass-through. Behind them, a turbulence of the water flow and its rarefaction occurs. This creates conditions for the accumulation of the heavy fraction behind the riffle plates and the demolition of light unnecessary material. The angle of inclination of the riffle plates depends on the amount of water supplied to the passage and can be from 45 to 78 degrees. The greater the depth of the flow and the speed of the flow of water supplied to the sluice, the greater the angle of inclination of the riffles. The distance between the riffles is 5-7 cm. The shape of the riffles can be straight or with slightly curved edges in the direction of flow.

If the water flow is weak, then riffles are not used. The rock is sifted through a sieve before being fed to the mini device. See the chapter on material screening below.

The next chapter is about a gold catching mat and what to make a gold catching mat from. How to install a passage, sieve and screen for gold-bearing rock. From the history of gold mining - is there a need for a mat on the sluice?

Full set of mini dredges for gold mining

• The complete installation kit includes: Mini dredge for the extraction of placer gold and platinum group metals, assembled:
• — Sluice — Hopper — Support legs — Irrigation system — Rifle — Dredge carpet with a straight cell — Dredge carpet with an inclined cell — Prospector’s moss

• — Motor pump — High-pressure hoses — Polyurethane suction hose (frost-resistant) — Elastic slurry pipe for ejector — 2.3 or 4-inch ejector (to choose from)

For a long time, gold has been assigned the role of world money. The metal has become the basis by which the value of the currencies of different countries is determined and compared. It is not surprising that in such a situation, gold mining has always received increased attention. Thousands of adventurers went in search of the mythical country of Eldorado, where gold bars lie under their feet like simple cobblestones. Today there is no trace left of the former romance. The search for precious metal has turned into a well-functioning technological chain, one of the elements of which is a mini-dredge for gold mining.

Where can I buy it?

In Krasnoyarsk there is a gasoline unit for gold mining with a productivity of 2–3 m³/hour. Tel., 290-15-07. In Orenburg – EB B 1.2 PKB EB B 1.2. Phone: 79058983008.

A very effective industrial device with one wheel axle and the ability to be used as a trailer for a car - MOK-GOLD-4MT, which is produced by Cybermash LLC, Novosibirsk. Its productivity is 1.5–4 m³/hour. Possibility of working at a distance of 20 m from the reservoir. Price is about 452,880 rubles.

Devices SB-4b - gasoline and SB-4d - diesel, in Russian cities: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, Ulan-Ude, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Novokuznetsk, Vladivostok, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk , Yakutsk. They can be purchased by calling: +7 (3952) 665-785, +7-908-655-7555.

In conclusion, I would like to say that industrial devices are available in local advertisements. You can place an order for production to the appropriate specialists. The idea of ​​lithium batteries is very relevant.

Gold mining: equipment

Industrial gold mining is carried out using dredges. This is a bulky unit weighing several tons and the size of a four-story building. The device is equipped with a mechanism with scoops that lifts soil from the bottom of the reservoir. Next, it goes through several stages of washing, as a result of which the metal is separated from the soil and deposited at the bottom of the trays. The advantage of using a dredge is that all stages of gold mining are concentrated on it. A relative disadvantage is that the unit cannot operate without water.

There are two types of industrial dredges:

In both cases, due to the cost, only large mining companies with a state-owned scale of activity will be able to afford to purchase such equipment. For small cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs, mini dredges are more suitable, the prices of which are several orders of magnitude lower.

Hoping for the richest “catch”

Since ancient times, man has known that gold is heavier than water. The legends about the Golden Fleece have their very real origins. People noticed that particles of gold can be found in mountain streams among deposits of sand, clay, and gravel, and they found a method for catching grains of the precious metal. The skin was attached in a stretched state to wooden boards. This structure was installed in water. It had to be located parallel to the water flow with the wool facing up. Along one section of the river, where it was assumed that there were gold deposits, the skins were placed in quantities of several dozen at a certain distance from each other. After some time, the skins were taken out of the water, dried in the sun, knocking out the gold dust from them.

Sometimes you get really lucky

There was a legend that if a sheep's skin was used often for this purpose, it could one day become golden. The ram was one of the animals that was sacrificed to the sun god. In ancient times, the skin of a ram was considered a symbol of success, prosperity, power and authority.

Echoes of the legends that a gold mining tool can become gold through frequent use have survived to this day. In legends, tales and tales of prospectors, an important place is occupied by stories about how a pan for washing, due to certain magical circumstances, becomes gold. There are fairy-tale versions of how miraculous creatures give a tray for gold panning that brings gold mining luck to the hero for courage, resourcefulness, lack of greed and other human vices.

Mini dredge for gold mining: design and principle of operation

A mini dredge is an analogue of an industrial unit reduced in weight and dimensions. If a team of at least ten people is needed to service an industrial dredge, then the minimized option can be easily handled alone. And it’s much easier to buy a mini dredge. At the initial stage, some material investments will be required, but with an average device productivity of 100 to 1000 kilograms of soil per hour, the costs will pay off quite quickly.

Mini dredges for gold washing consist of the following elements:

The equipment carries out gold mining in the following way: water is pumped into the ejector chamber under high pressure; then it is thrown out with sand and earth into the washing hopper; Then the pump turns on and the water washes out unnecessary slag through the airlock, leaving gold nuggets on the carpets.

Plate washing screen GPP – 3.0 (analogous to “Deroker”)

Purpose: a washing device based on the plate screen “GPP-3” of the “Deroker” type, designed for washing and beneficiation of gold-bearing boulder sands of alluvial deposits with a content of the enriched fraction of 50 mm of the order of 30-40%.

Technical data: Productivity when washing medium-wash sands with boulders

How to buy a mini dredge?

Mini dredging is an effective way to mine gold, which determines its continued demand among miners.

You can buy a fully equipped mini dredge at an affordable price from.

A mini dredge for gold mining, the price of which will be a maximum of 75 to 140 thousand rubles, depending on the model’s configuration, but by speeding up the gold mining process, it alone can replace several dozen people with manual trays and significantly reduce labor costs.

You can make a mini dredge yourself, but in this case you will need certain knowledge about the extraction of placer gold, and you will also need to make certain components. Therefore, it is better to entrust the production of equipment to professionals who know their business in this area! For example, the question will arise where to buy a lower ejector and an upper ejector for a mini dredge. The answer is simple - you can buy components and equipment for mini dredges at. It should be taken into account that the mini dredge will require increased attention and permanent improvement, and installation will take about one month. If you want a mini dredge for gold mining to be highly enriched and to last a long time without losing its functionality, it is better to purchase ready-made equipment with a number of additional advantages.

Where can a future prospector find information?

The Internet is a source of much knowledge that can be perceived by a person in any corner of the globe. In this regard, gaining knowledge in the field of gold mining at home is a very real prospect. Washing gold by hand was captured on video by many users of social networks and other portals. As a rule, this is a video filmed directly at the mining site.

Water is drawn into the tray along with sand, after oscillatory movements it splashes out, leaving a certain sediment in the recessed central part. The sluice is installed directly along the stream. Here visibility is minimal, but this corresponds to the small scope of the miner's activities. It is important to be able to distinguish potentially gold grains from sediment of other metals and ordinary sand. The panning device can be used for gold mining on an industrial scale. You can purchase such a machine in specialized stores; the most convenient way to do this is on the Internet.

Here you can compare the parameters of different models, evaluate engine capacity, power, structural strength, a set of additional functions, total weight, and prices. A detailed study of the assortment will allow you to learn more about the industry itself and choose a good option to start with. An industrial device for gold mining can be rented, like any large-sized equipment.

Gold has captivated the imagination for centuries. Washing on trays gathers its audience on video sites. The opportunity to try your luck on a river or mine is provided as a tourist option. Many people go camping to find their happiness by sifting through soil and sand. Someone uses a metal detector, looking for placers.

In the summer, the extraction of grains is easier, especially in central Russia, in Altai. Where there are areas of permafrost, this method of extraction is not possible. This activity does not always require specialized education; often, people who are far from cartography and geodesy are involved in the development. Luck plays a big role, because it happened that people not only panned a few grams of gold, but also found nuggets - large pieces of gold. Its cost depends on the purity of the rock; it is not for nothing that every ingot has its own hallmark marking. Gold is a finite resource, so if you dreamed of finding your ingot, or even a grain of the yellow metal, hurry up.

We also add that the Golden-Inform portal can advise you to purchase a portable manual washing mini-sluice for gold exploration and mining from our partners from Cybermash LLC, whose contacts are attached below:

Methods of gold mining in Russia

Gold is considered an expensive, but still not a rare metal. Methods for its extraction from the soil are conventionally divided into mechanical and chemical (when combined with other elements). If we talk about the Russian Federation, the following are recognized as the main ones.

• Amalgamation is based on the special property of mercury to dissolve elements in itself. The rock containing gold is placed in a container with Hg. Over time, these metals combine to form an amalgam, from which the mercury is subsequently evaporated.
• Crystallization using NaCN - this method is very similar to the previous one, only instead of poisonous mercury, the gold-bearing rock is mixed with sodium cyanide, which, when combined with gold, forms yellow crystals.
• The dredge method is the use of a special floating installation (dredge), which collects enriched rock and washes out the precious metal from it.

These are the main methods of industrial gold mining in Russia. In addition to them, manual washing using a sieve is also widespread.

What is a dredge?

Dredges are special machines designed to work with different types of soil. The main functioning element of such installations can be either a multi-bucket in-line mechanism or a suction hose (if the rock is loose). The scooping mechanism is adjusted by a staff of 10 people.

Simply put, this unit acts as an attachment that can be installed on a floating platform or ground transport, and is somewhat reminiscent of a conveyor. Only instead of a tape, movable scooping devices are attached to the frame. They are the ones who scoop out gold-bearing ore from a quarry or from the bottom of seas, oceans, rivers, etc. Subsequently, the extracted conglomerate containing the required element is transported for processing. Below is a photo of the car itself.

Dredge device

If we talk about a dredge with a bucket working element, then there is nothing complicated in its design. However, there is also a vacuum type of installation, the design of which is different in many respects. It is intended for bulk deposits, which include marine gold-bearing sands. The machine consists of the following mechanisms.

• Pump - creates a suction effect.
• Sleeve - passes rock through itself under the influence of a created vacuum.
• Auxiliary hose - connected to a pump that pumps water, and directs it through a high-pressure pipeline into the hose.
• A sluice is a kind of container that calibrates the rock and throws away large debris.
• Butara - acts as a flushing mechanism.

All these elements work harmoniously, that is, together. Most often they are installed on a floating gold mining platform that operates on water. They are rarely used in quarries.

Operating principle of the dredge

Dredge equipment, regardless of whether it is a pump or a bucket, is designed for one purpose - the extraction of ore containing valuable minerals and its transportation to the destination, that is, to the place where the mined material is either processed or immediately washed (as in the case with gold).

For example, a bucket dredge most often simply dumps the mined conglomerate into a heap, but a floating pumping station immediately washes and collects pure gold, throwing unnecessary debris to the bottom. But the principle is the same - extract, transport and sift.

Spare parts for dredger ZGM-2M

The ZGM-2M horizontal single-stage centrifugal cantilever type dredge pump, with a one-way entry impeller, is designed for pumping and transporting abrasive pulp, eroded rock to industrial devices during the development of various deposits, during the construction of coal mines, and special pits. The design of the dredger allows it to be used for pumping liquefied soil with a solid to liquid content by weight in a ratio of 1:6, with solid inclusions not exceeding 180 mm in diameter.

Classification

The global specification distinguishes two main types of machines.

• 1st class (quarry dredges) - work in artificially created reservoirs on floating platforms.
• Class 2 (water dredges) - designed for the extraction of bulk rocks from the bottom of seas, lakes, etc.

In addition, dredge installations can be divided depending on their design features and capabilities.

1. By type of energy used.
2. According to the method of movement.
3. Depth of extraction.
4. Depending on the type of bucket.
5. According to the size of the scoop.
6. Method of operation of the bucket chain.

There are quite a few different classifications of installations, but the main one is considered to be the world one, that is, 1st and 2nd classes.

Mini dredge

Another variety is a compact unit that resembles a full-fledged pumping dredge platform. At its core, this is the same installation, only in a smaller version and, accordingly, with limited productivity. It is used mainly by hired miners engaged in legal gold mining.

How to check the flushing unit?

Before mining gold, the equipment should be thoroughly checked. The bottom line is to test the gateway for performance, namely, the capture of small particles of gold from the ore. To do this, take some dense metal, for example, lead, and paint it in a bright color. After this, it is poured into a portion of soil and washed.

Thus, the dredge will catch brightly colored metal no worse than gold. If only 2-3 pieces are lost in the process, then the unit can be considered quite serviceable, and in practice it will perform well.

Wash tray - base

The second item required at the first level of gold mining (Level 1/Tier 1) (Fig. 2).

It can be purchased from a warehouse in the city, or delivery to the site can be ordered via a tablet (Fig. 3). Please note that there is a delivery fee.

It is connected to the washer, from which the rock is supplied for subsequent washing. Compatible with both types of washers. On the other side, the flushing tray is connected - extension. 2 mats for the washer are placed in the tray itself, collecting gold from the rock (Fig. 5).

The washing tray has 8 fastenings for mats (Fig. 6). They are used by an employee with the “Washing tray” specialization. At the first level, the worker automatically removes the filled mats into the holders. If you first install empty mats in the mounts, the worker will swap them. With each worker level, 2 more slots are unlocked.

Indication

Above the installed tray there are icons (Fig. 4) informing about fullness:

1. Filling of the Washer with rock;
2. Filling of mats in PL-base with gold;
3. Filling of mats in PL-expansion with gold.

Operating principle

Is it possible to make a dredge with your own hands?

Based on what was written above, it is theoretically possible to make a mini dredge, but you will have to buy some additional parts. In any case, it will be much cheaper than purchasing a new device (about 3 times). However, it is not a fact that a device assembled by yourself will work well. When designing, you need to take into account many nuances.

Required tools, materials and components

Self-production only involves assembling all the mechanisms into one whole, since it is almost impossible to construct them with your own hands. The list of what you will have to buy consists of the following units.

• Motor - it will turn the main elements.
• Pump - a centrifugal water pump is suitable.
• Compressor - needed to produce air for breathing underwater.
• Pipes are a readily available material.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the pump and compressor must be attached to the motor and use its energy to function. Therefore, when purchasing, you need to ensure that their installation is as simple as possible.

You can also buy a gateway, but it’s quite possible to make it yourself. To do this, you will need aluminum profiles, galvanization and metal of various shapes.

General form

Conventionally, mini dredges are divided into portable and stationary (more productive). The latter are considered more cost-effective because they can operate in deeper bodies of water and are equipped with a compressor to generate air so that the miner can remain under water for a long time. General diagrams and drawings of such installations are presented below.

In addition to these, there are also so-called hand dredges, which are convenient to work with in shallow water or in streams. The principle of operation is the same, only all the equipment is attached very compactly, which allows you to carry it in your hands. The unit itself is somewhat reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner for gold.

Work progress

So, you need to start building a dredge for gold mining with a frame for which metal profiles are suitable. It can be of any shape, but it is advisable to make it so that it is easy to install attachments later.

After collection, floating elements (tanks, barrels, hollow pipes) are installed on the created base, which will allow the entire installation to move freely on the surface of the water.

When the main part is ready, you can attach the motor to the frame, and then the pump and compressor to it. Then, accordingly, install pipes - one for collecting water, the second for supplying it under pressure, the third, the most massive, for collecting ore, sand, etc.

The last thing to install is a gateway, which is connected to the main hose, after which the homemade mini dredge is checked. To better understand exactly how it works, you can watch the video.

Soil pump GRU 800/40

The GrU soil pump is designed for pumping gravel, sand-gravel, slag, gold-slag and other abrasive hydraulic mixtures.

Pump specifications:

How to pan or mine gold yourself using a mini dredge?

Before engaging in such a business, you need to know that the mining of precious metals is considered illegal and is punishable in accordance with current legislation. However, this does not stop gold miners, which results in the widespread spread of this fishery in the eastern part of Russia.

You can work with such a device both on land and in reservoirs, but in both cases a water supply is required. In the first, the ore will enter the gateway under the influence of injection, and in the second, it will be done manually, that is, you will have to work with a shovel. There is no particular difference between these methods, and they are both applicable.

Advantages and disadvantages

The industrial device has its own characteristics compared to other gold mining systems, such as dredges, a metal detector or a tray. Here are a number of advantages and disadvantages that I want to mention.

Advantages:

1. Mechanization of cleaning with the possibility of crushing hard rocks, inside of which it is possible to mine precious nuggets.
2. A flexible system of adjustments, water supply, and drum speed, which allows you to adjust the industrial device to the type of rock from various deposits.
3. There are mobile units with an additional water tank that operate away from bodies of water.

The disadvantage of the equipment is that it weighs from 30 to 120 kg; it can only be transported by car. A dredge has an advantage over an industrial device only on reservoirs.