Gateway for washing gold. Do-it-yourself gold mining equipment

Gold is by far the most expensive metal. The relevance of its extraction over the past 100 years has not changed, only the methods have changed. Previously, it was enthusiastic gold diggers with a tray in hand. Now they have been replaced by a dredge for gold mining - special industrial equipment.

What is a dredge

The dredge is a mechanism for separating gold from the ground. Nowadays, it occupies a leading position among both individual and industrial gold miners as a means for washing the precious metal. The reason for this lies in the simplicity of the design and at the same time the high performance of the dredge.

Dredge features

Not every deposit is suitable for gold mining by dredge. Gold miners should consider the following features:

• Recovery of gold is possible only in reservoirs: rivers, seas, and so on. The dredge device is to blame (which we will consider in more detail below). The fact is that in water, rock particles weigh several times lower than in air. Accordingly, much less energy is required to lift them from the depths of the rivers. When mining in open areas, it is necessary to significantly increase the power of the pump and electric motor, which is not advisable due to a significant increase in the size and weight of the dredge.
• The need to conduct a study by geological surveys of the area for the presence of gold ore. The dredge itself does not have sensors and mechanisms for finding gold. Its function is only the separation of metal from the ground. It is worth noting that today the deposit is considered financially profitable if there are 3 grams of gold per 1 ton of rock.
• Not all soil types are suitable for gold mining by dredge. Here, the size of the rock particles is more implied, rather than their chemical composition. The reason for this is the limitation of the size of the suction hoses through which the soil is pulled from the bottom of the reservoirs.

Dredge device

As mentioned earlier, the design of the dredge is nothing complicated.

A minimum of electrics, a maximum of parts from an ordinary technical store. So, the following components of the dredge are distinguished:

1. Suction tip. It looks like a tapering cone. It is made from thin sheet steel with a thickness of not more than 2 mm. The edges of the tip are fastened by manual arc welding. Different diameters of the bases of the cone are necessary to increase the suction area on the one hand, on the other hand, for faster transport of soil to the surface of the water.
2. Supply hose. As a rule, it is represented by a high-pressure hose with a diameter of at least 12 centimeters. This size is associated with the limitation of the dredge by weight. To increase the rigidity and strength of the hose, a metal frame is interspersed in its base.
3. pressure hose. The same sleeve, but with a diameter of 50 millimeters. The main purpose of this unit is to supply clean water for washing and transporting gold with soil.
4. Pump. Provides direct pressure for flushing water. Not every pump is suitable for this. Here, the most important parameter is the preservation of performance when large soil particles enter the working cavity. Diaphragm, vane and gear pumps have proven themselves in the best way.
5. Electric motor. Needed to transmit torque to the pump. Usually, asynchronous three-phase motors are used, as the most convenient in operation. Their power depends on the performance of the installation. For a small-sized dredge, 2 hp is enough.
6. Flushing sluice. It is a curved container. The lock serves as a place for screening out gold particles from rocks. It is made of thin-sheet materials: steel and aluminum, in the case of a lightweight design.
7. Gutter. A vessel where the deposited gold is directly collected.
8. Source of electricity. Required to supply electric current to the motor. It can be either a battery or a gasoline generator. In the case of large industrial scale production, a power line is connected to the dredge.
9. floating platform. Serves as a frame for the installation of all the above equipment. Another function of the platform is to keep the dredge buoyant on the surface of the reservoir. Stability afloat is maintained by large tanks filled with air. The platform is made from structural materials. Most often it is aluminum.

Principle of operation

Gold ore particles are cleaned from rock in several stages:

• The electric motor turns on and the pump directs water into the pressure hose, thereby discharging the space between the river water and the suction nozzle.
• Due to the created vacuum, the soil is drawn in by the suction nozzle and moves through the supply hose to the flushing sluice.
• Once there, the soil with water passes through a certain system of drops. The goal here is to separate the denser gold from the less heavy rock particles.
• Further, after a certain time, the gold settles in the gutter, and the remaining soil is removed into the river along with the washing water.

Before the direct start of the washing process, the dredge is adjusted for the accuracy of capturing the precious metal. This is done by adjusting the overflow differential, flow rate and pressure of the pump.

For greater reliability of the correct operation of the dredge, a preliminary check is carried out, which consists in passing pieces of lead marked with paint through it. If colored metal is observed in the chute after passing through the dam, then the dredge is working properly. If not, it is sent back for revision.

Drag classification

There are many types of gold mining dredges. They are divided according to the following parameters:

1. Power. This refers to the depth from which the dredge can take the soil. Usually, this value ranges from 5-50 meters.

2. Portability. There are stationary and floating dredges.

2.1. Stationary dredges are powerful industrial dredges weighing up to 1,500 kg. In terms of their dimensions, they are comparable to 4-storey modern houses. They have more electronics and more control over the gold mining process. The management staff of such dredges consists of at least 10 people.

2.2. Floating - more mobile drag models. They are significantly smaller in weight (40-150 kg) and power. This drag can be handled by 1 person.

3. Screening performance. Depending on the type of pump, the diameter of the hoses and the type of flushing sluice, it can vary from 100 to 1000 kg of soil per hour.

Other mining methods

The extraction of gold from rocks is not only done by dredge. It is also worth noting such methods as:

• Manual. A gold miner extracts gold using a conventional tray, washing the soil in it with water. This method was simple, but had very low performance.
• Ore. Production is carried out in deposits on land, using special high-tech equipment: excavators, drills, etc.
• Hydraulic. It also includes the dredge mining method we are considering. Getting gold is carried out by washing out rocks.

The process of gold mining today is practically no different from the first methods of finding the precious metal. As before, ingots are sought in mines or along river banks. But modern technology has made the process much simpler and easier.

There is no longer a need for mine leaders to hire large numbers of people to work. With the help of special equipment, several people can cope with the task.

A dredge is a gold panning machine. The complex device of the unit consists of several components, each of which performs certain functions:

• Digging the earth and scooping it up. A powerful bucket is daily able to overpower at least a ton of earth per day. This replaces 12,000 workers, which significantly saves not only human resources, but also time.
• The land is enriched in the process of work. This is of great importance from an environmental point of view.
• The machine independently selects pieces of gold from the soil, and the land itself, after processing, is sent to its original place. It is no longer necessary to manually filter or control this step.

Due to the large weight and high cost, only large entrepreneurs can purchase a dredge.

Before buying, it is very important to analyze the amount of precious metal in those places for which the dredge is bought. Since there can be relatively little gold in the soil, the purchase of a dredge will simply turn out to be unprofitable.

The area where the dredge will operate must necessarily be with soil of high humidity. Therefore, the optimal areas for installing the unit are the coastal zones of rivers or lakes.

Installation of the dredge is a very time-consuming process due to the large weight of the machine. As a rule, two types of products are most widely used:

1. which moves along the water along the coast. It looks like a sailing ship.
2. Continental drag. Its acquisition and installation is very costly, since the basis for such a machine is a pontoon.

The principle of operation of the dredge for gold mining technology is similar to that of a vacuum cleaner: the sucked-in soil is processed, filtered and enriched. Thanks to high-quality filters, the dredge can trap even the smallest gold particles.

The dredge is filled with diesel fuel. Some types of machines are powered by electricity or steam. The scoop reaches a depth of 50 meters, which allows you to explore the soil with the highest quality for the presence of precious metal in it.

The main advantage of the dredge is that production is greatly simplified with it. After all, one machine can replace hundreds and even thousands of people.

It was in connection with this that the prospectors were puzzled by a new urgent question, how to make mini-dredges for gold mining with their own hands.

It is important to remember that gold should be mined only on the basis of an appropriate permit and a special license to perform such work. Otherwise, the violator faces not only administrative, but also criminal liability.

A self-made gold prospecting and mining machine is a simplified technology and is called a mini dredge. Its design is simple, and the main materials are plastic or aluminum.

To improve the buoyancy of the dredge, tires from the car are attached to it. Plastic barrels can become an analogue. In addition, the components of the device include:

Checking a homemade car is carried out using labeled lead. If he returned to the owner in full, then the car can be used for gold mining.

It is very important to understand that you can use your unit only in a legal way. Everything must be legislated.

The desire to get easy money has never gone unpunished. Due to the proven effectiveness of mini-dredges, more and more people are trying to make such a machine on their own.

This article was born in connection with the increased interest in gold mining. I am often asked questions, how to extract gold from streams and rivers? How to make a gateway for gold mining with your own hands? Where and what to buy a gateway? How to make a passerby with your own hands?

In this article I will tell you how to make a passerby, 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 the purchased American aluminum sluice, the cost of which in Russia reaches 17,000 rubles. in the common people called a passerby. That is how it is called by the prospectors of Siberia and the Urals, the name that has come down to us from our grandfathers and great-grandfathers is a walker.

A passage (gateway) is a box knocked together from three boards, at the bottom of which a rug is laid and a stencil (rifle) is placed. A wooden walk-through is not only simpler and cheaper than aluminum, but most importantly, in which case it’s not a pity to throw it away. If you use dry and not thick wood, then the weight will be no more than that of the aluminum counterpart, and with a skillful approach, even less. In addition, wooden boards in your car or backpack will not raise questions from outsiders, someone will not ask what kind of boards they are and ask unnecessary questions. You never know for what purposes in the forest you need these boards.

To make a gate (lock) for gold mining, the main thing is to follow the basic simple rules when making it, and you will be a more successful gold miner than other prospectors with short purchased locks.

The longer the pass, the more gold you will catch. Foreign locks made of aluminum have a maximum length of 1.5 meters, which is not enough to capture fine gold and disintegrate poorly washed sands or loams. The length of foreign locks of 1.5 meters is due to legislation that limits the length of the lock so that amateur tourists do not wash all the gold in the stream and leave it to others. For example, in America, Australia, 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 fed; for bucket feeding, a width of 20-25 cm is quite enough.

To make a passageway long and easy to carry, use a cascade of gateways, for example, install two gateways of 1.5 meters in series, for a total of 3 meters. This is enough to trap fine gold and disintegrate the rock. If the soil is clayey and does not have time to be washed on the tunnel, you need to use other equipment called butara. I will talk about it in the following articles or videos on my channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/RudolfKavchik

Installation of corrugations or as they are also called a stencil.

The stencil is the most important part of the pass. Behind them there is a swirl of the water flow and its rarefaction. This creates conditions for the accumulation of a heavy fraction behind the corrugation plates and the demolition of light waste material. The angle of inclination of the corrugation plates depends on the amount of water supplied to the passageway 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 lock, the greater the angle of inclination of the corrugations. The distance between the corrugations is 5-7 cm. The shape of the corrugations can be straight or with slightly curved edges in the direction of the flow.

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

Gold trap mat.

A gold catching mat can be made from any natural fabric, such as burlap, tarpaulin, and even a regular waffle towel that housewives use in the kitchen will do. The main purpose of the mat is to ensure that the corrugations fit to the bottom of the sluice so that the accumulated material is not washed away by the leaked flow under the corrugations.

At industrial enterprises, cellular gold-catching mats are used. This is due to the technological process of gold mining. The rock is transported to the industrial device by Belaz trucks of many tons, washing thousands of cubic meters of gold-bearing rock per day. Each body of Belaz contains a dozen grams of gold, which is brought in for washing every few minutes. It is not profitable for the enterprise to stop the washing process to unload the industrial device, for this it will be necessary to stop production for 2-3 hours, and time is gold, in the literal sense of the word. Prompribor is unloaded once a day. Due to the large amount of washed rock, there was a need for high-profile cellular mats that accumulate heavy metal and do not allow it to be carried out by a stream of water, which increases the time of efficient operation of the industrial device.

At its core, a cellular mat works like a stencil / corrugation. In the depths of the cells, vortex flows are created that carry out light particles of sand, leaving heavy metal at the bottom: gold, platinum. In the passageway, a cellular mat can be omitted, since the rock is not supplied for washing by dump trucks, and gold can be easily removed at any time by the accumulation of heavy material. In addition, it is not easy to get a cellular miner's mat, and its cost of several thousand rubles is not at all justified when used on mini devices.

An analogue of a honeycomb rug can be made independently from a regular household honeycomb rug, which many have on the porch and are sold in every hardware store under the name "anti-slip coating". The mesh size of the anti-slip coating is approximately 5 mm. See photo.

An anti-slip coating is laid on top of a rag rug. Reefers are installed on top. Such a system will work no worse than an industrial rug, it’s easier to buy, and its cost is much lower, and in which case it’s not a pity to quit.

To be continued…

Gold has been mined since ancient times. For the entire period while this activity is carried out in the world, the scale of production of this noble metal is equal, approximately 170 tons. Half of the mined gold goes to the production of jewelry, which has a fairly high cost. According to the calculations of scientists, if all the mined gold is collected in one place, then it is possible to form a solid cube with a height of a 9-story building with a 20-meter edge.

World gold mining

Nowadays, gold mining is not an exciting adventure that ruins some people and makes others rich. Now, this activity has become an actively developing type of income.

Enterprises that are engaged in industrial gold mining, keep accounting records, calculate economic feasibility, conduct geological exploration using modern technologies. That is, it is the provision of a workplace for many people with different professions.

World gold mining is made up of dozens of countries, and the Russian Federation is no exception. Gold nuggets are rarely found here on the surface of the earth, however, at some depth underground, there are so many gold deposits that it has allowed the Russian Federation to take the fourth place in obtaining this noble metal in the world. Today, Russia holds 7% of the world's gold reserves.

The absolute leader in gold mining since the early eighties is the Republic of South Africa, which provides about 70% of all gold production. Although, in the early nineties, South Africa's income fell by 35% due to a decrease in exploration of new gold deposits. And some states, such as Australia, on the contrary, began to develop underground and surface gold placers located on its territory more.

Methods of gold mining in Russia

Over time, gold mining methods have been constantly improved and changed. Initially, manual gold mining by sifting sand in water was widely used.

Then people mastered the extraction of noble metal from ore. These days, manual gold mining is a rarity. Basically, this process is automated, but this does not make it easier. After all, in order to find a profitable field, you need to spend a lot of effort and money. A payback deposit is one in which 1 ton of soil accounts for 3 grams of pure gold.

More recently, in the gold mining industry, a method such as amalgamation has been popular. Its peculiarity lies in the use for, placed at the bottom of the container. The barrel was filled with gold-bearing ore and shaken. As a result, the gold particles remained in the mercury at the bottom of the barrel. The main negative quality of this method is the high toxicity of mercury.

Today, gold is separated from the ore using sodium cyanide. Thanks to the emergence of this method, it became possible to extract gold from previously abandoned deposits, which returns their profitability.

Gold is also mined with the help of dredges - floating mining machines equipped with everything necessary to extract metal from the ground. The dredge works only on terrain with a certain soil. This should be a watery area, so often such special vehicles are installed near river banks or other bodies of water.

What is a drag?

A dredge is a device that is directly related to gold mining. The weight of this device reaches several hundred tons. This is a mechanized unit equipped with buckets operating on the principle of a chain excavator. On board the floating platform there is everything you need to wash the rock and sand. A large dredge can be controlled by a crew of up to 10 people, while a small special vehicle needs only one manager.

At the cost of a dredge for gold mining, it is available only to large enterprises. Before installing this machine, you need to remember that this idea may not be profitable when the content of the precious metal in the soil is low.

Therefore, before using this special machine, it is necessary to carry out a number of reconnaissance activities, including geological research and chemical analysis of the composition of the soil to determine the concentration of the noble metal in it. Only in this case, the profitability of industrial gold mining will be justified. In addition, it takes a lot of effort and time to install a dredge, since the machine is quite heavy and overall.

Drag classification

Dredges are grouped:

• by the type of energy required for the operation of the apparatus: electricity, energy from the combustion of gasoline or diesel fuel vapors;
• by the depth of work with rocks below the water level: shallow, deep water;
• by bucket capacity: small, medium, large-capacity;
• according to the method of maneuvering: rope-pile, rope-anchor.

As a rule, two types of special vehicles are used for gold mining:

• marine;
• continental.

These types of drags differ in that the marine special vehicle is similar to a ship that can be moved along the coast, while the continental one requires more resources, as it is mounted on a pontoon.

Smaller special vehicles called mini-dredges are ideal for individual gold miners or prospectors. You can either buy them in specialty stores or make your own. The mini-dredge has been significantly reduced in size. Its weight characteristic ranges from 25 to 100 kg.

A positive feature of the use of mini-dredges is to reduce labor costs and speed up the process of gold mining. Therefore, the interest of miners in the construction of the unit with their own hands at home is justified.

The principle of operation of the dredge

Externally, the mini-dredge looks like a vacuum cleaner that sucks up sand with gold dust in order to separate one from the other. All possible models of these special vehicles differ in size and materials from which they are assembled, but their structural elements are similar:

• a system that provides buoyancy of the device;
• a drive responsible for the operation of a centrifugal pump;
• injector;
• washing trough for separating precious metal from slag;
• air supply system for breathing under water.

The extraction of metal by a mini-dredge is divided into 3 stages:

• injection under high pressure of water into the injector chamber;
• then water with sand and earth is sent to the washing trough to separate the precious metal from the slag;
• the drive starts the pump to weed out the gold in the chute.

The performance indicator for all devices is different, but on average it stays in the range from 100 to 1000 kilograms of processed rock per hour. Before you start working with a mini-dredge, you need to clear the bottom of the reservoir from stones, because they can clog the unit.

The miniature gold mining dredge is an efficient and popular gold mining machine. It has been modernized over time and is becoming more and more popular among miners. At first, you need to seriously invest in the purchase or assembly of the device, but then this investment will bring considerable profit.

Before collecting homemade mini-dredges, you need to know that gold mining is not prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation. Along with this, artisanal mining of this noble metal is close to crime.

Video: Gold mining on a dredge

From this metal mankind goes crazy

Before you start designing or purchasing equipment for gold mining, you need to consider that as of November 2014, individuals and individual entrepreneurs do not have the right to officially search for and mine precious metals.

Although a law allowing such actions was considered back in 2011, it has not yet been adopted. Despite the prohibitions, such activities are carried out extensively in the North of Russia and in Eastern Siberia, where people in the taiga extract gold from depleted mines. The illegal production volume is about 10 tons, which is a tenth of the all-Russian annual production.

You need more than just mining equipment

Gold mining can be carried out today by enterprises that have drawn up the appropriate package of documents and received all permits, primarily a license for the right to use subsoil. In addition, the gold mining enterprise must hire workers, provide development projects for the deposit, mining and land allotment and equipment, among which the dredge occupies the main place.

This mechanism is a mining machine, which includes dredging, concentrating and other elements that allow you to remove waste rocks, leaving precious metals. The dredges work mainly in watered deposits, with the exception of viscous clays, hard rocks and boulder soils. For the dredge to work, a large amount of technical water is required, so periodically the gold mining seasons in one or another part of the globe are disrupted due to drought.

Machine for mining precious and other metals can be marine or continental class. Marine options are built on the basis of keel ships that can move independently or in tow. They are engaged in development in deep lakes, in the oceans, in the coastal zone. Continental ones are used on the continents and are formed on the basis of a pontoon, a flat-bottomed vessel.

Dredges can run on electric power, a combination of electricity and diesel, diesel, and even steam. They can take soil from depths from 6 to 50 meters below the waterline, scoop soil both with one bucket and with a whole bucket chain. By the size of the buckets, combines are divided into small (up to 100 liters) and large-capacity - about 250 liters. If the dredge works on the high seas, then it moves on an anchor-cable device. Such equipment is extremely bulky and costs a lot of money.

Flushing device for do-it-yourself mining

This is what the device looks like

Therefore, among amateur techies, discussions do not cease about whether a mini-dredge can be made by hand. Masters believe that theoretically it can. For its manufacture, a frame is made of lightweight materials (often aluminum sheets from a landfill), to which tires from trucks are attached to ensure the buoyancy of the structure. If there is a desire for a more reliable design, then a plastic pontoon is taken as the basis, including collapsible structures. This option will be more expensive and much harder. In addition, the frame can be mounted on plastic drums with a volume of about 40 liters.

An engine, a water pump, an air compressor, hoses, and a flushing chute are mounted on the frame. The latter is made by some craftsmen in the West on their own, based on their own preferences in gold mining (many countries allow work for private individuals). Many gutters are based on the “Hungarian effect”, when water forms a waterfall after the next threshold and does not foam much (so as not to lose metal elements). They are made of steel, welded together into a lattice and mounted on a specially bent aluminum sheet, which is the gateway. All elements of the gutter must be laid with the so-called prospector's moss, which is a vinyl coating that resembles spaghetti in a pattern. It retains particles of precious metals.

Western prospectors engaged in individual mining call a diameter of about 10-12 cm the preferred size of the hose. It is convenient to operate such a hose alone during washing, while a diameter of 14 cm already gives more than a significant physical load that not everyone can withstand.

The flushing process assumes that the dredge socket will be installed in the head of the lock so that water flows with soil, which is washed, enter it, and the residues are discharged into the water behind the minidredge. Water must enter the pump through the suction valve, without sand, as the presence of grains of sand can lead to damage to the pump. Therefore, an amateur dredge cannot work without a valve. At the end of the hose, an elevator with a suction nozzle is equipped.