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Blue Bowl Concentrator
MD369  
Posted : Tuesday, 3 August 2010 8:19:18 AM(UTC)
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I am keen for any info people may have on Blue Bowls (or other similar concentrators) - are they available in NZ? Any info would be choice. Cheers. Craig.
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gavin  
Posted : Tuesday, 3 August 2010 12:25:26 PM(UTC)
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I'm sure I've seen a few for sale on TradeMe a fair while back - can't for the life of me remember who was selling them though - sorry. Hopefully someone else here will remember?
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gingerbreadman  
Posted : Tuesday, 3 August 2010 3:32:54 PM(UTC)
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Hi yea ther was a guy selling them on t,m a wile back and they were a lot cheaper than getting them from oz i think it was about 300 or mayb 350 i payed for1 but im not to fussed on it really a lot of gold was going out with the black sand but haveing said that i wasnt screening it down that great so ther was always wee iron stone in ther and to try and get that out youv gota crank the water up thus the fine stuff go,s with it i tried it a few times and just stuck to a small finshing sluice in the end but mite get some decent sive,s and give it another go this season.
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kiwisouth  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 10:40:06 AM(UTC)
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I'm having a go at making my own one. Got a microwave cake dish, the one that has the bit sticking up in the middle. Hole in the side of the dish for a small hose then play with the middle bit to get the right height and opening size. I'll let you know how I get on
Nulli Illigitimi Carborundum
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MD369  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 12:11:06 PM(UTC)
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Cheers kiwisouth. I have thought about making one too. I have heard that the slope on the centre piece is fairly critical. Keen to hear how you get on. Good luck!
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gingerbreadman  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 12:54:02 PM(UTC)
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What about those wee finshing sluices that fella in nelson is selling for $70 has any1 try,d those out ?....the 1 that you just sit on your bucket.
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MD369  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 3:50:08 PM(UTC)
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Check out "bucket sluice concentrator" on youtube to see videos of those small finishing sluices.
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mygrain  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 4:28:58 PM(UTC)
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I have used the blue bowl for quite some time.It is slow but does a very good job,there are a few tricks to using them, which can be found in the web site below. Just go to their search and type in blue bowl.
Now for the bucket sluice,I have been using one daily for the last couple of months. They work very well,I use it to test ground ahead of the screen and for gold loss from the screen. The gold we get is very fine, 98% of it will go through a 100 mesh sieve.
It also works very well for alluvial gold, most of the gold will be in the first couple of riffles.
The drop riffle system seams to work very well.
cheers Russell

http://www.gpex.ca/smf/index.php
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MD369  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 5:03:02 PM(UTC)
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Hey thanks for the info Russel. Interesting that you have used both blue bowl & bucket sluice - just the comparison I am looking for.

From what you are saying it seems that they both work well, but the bucket sluice is quicker and easier. Would that be a fair assessment? Any other method worth a look?

Thanks again, Craig
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mygrain  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 5:41:16 PM(UTC)
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Craig
The bucket sluice is way quicker than the blue bowl,very easy to set up.
I have been mining for a long time and if there is one thing that I have learnt that is to keep things simple,which the bucket sluice does.
Over the years I have tried many different systems,none are as easy as the bucket sluice.
cheers Russell
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MD369  
Posted : Wednesday, 4 August 2010 6:00:12 PM(UTC)
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Sweet - cheers Russel. I am keen on keeping it simple for sure! I am totally green, but have talked to a number of experienced guys and have read quite a bit on the net. Just starting to get myself geared up for a bit of low tech mucking around up the creek (not sure which creek yet, but have a few ideas - amazing how some jokers just can't wait to tell you their secret spots)!

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kiwisouth  
Posted : Thursday, 5 August 2010 7:36:14 AM(UTC)
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Yes, but there are "secret" spots then there are "SECRET" spots
Nulli Illigitimi Carborundum
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gavin  
Posted : Thursday, 5 August 2010 8:48:27 AM(UTC)
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Hi Craig,

Is a "blue bowl concentrator" similar to this red coloured bowl device for sale on Sella?
http://www.sella.co.nz/general/sports/camping-outdoors/other-camping-outdoors/689hwb/

Gav :)
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MD369  
Posted : Thursday, 5 August 2010 10:07:35 AM(UTC)
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Cheers Gav. Yes, I have just had a look on Sella & it looks similar. I have pretty much decided to go with a bucket sluice instead (see above comments).

I'd be a bit wary about the guy selling the "red" bowl on Sella as his feedback aint too flash!
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gavin  
Posted : Thursday, 5 August 2010 10:22:47 AM(UTC)
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Hi Craig,

I've got a bucket sluice myself - not tried it out yet though. Once it warms up enough to go playing in the streams again I'll give it a go.

Exchanged it for some ad space at the top of paydirt which links to the guys site - http://www.goldminingnz.com/

Cheers,
Gavin
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gingerbreadman  
Posted : Thursday, 5 August 2010 3:57:03 PM(UTC)
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all this talk of blue bowls got me thinkn id try it out again so i went to the beach today and got a bucket full of black sand screend it through the whitebait net then ran that through the bowl but yep gave up half way...well more like 1/4 of the way....i reckon ther crap.
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kiwijw  
Posted : Saturday, 7 August 2010 5:12:17 PM(UTC)
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No NO NO.....Blue bowls are great. They are way faster & less back braking & less mentaly fatiguing than panning bulk lots of iron sands. The secret to there success is to pre screen the material to the same classification & process each size of classification seperatly. Once the bowl is operating it is just a matter of keeping an eye on it & making sure that that water pressure going into it is not too great or increasing in flow. This tends to happen as the mayterial being processed gets les & less. You need then to back off the water pressure so you arent blowing out the fine gold along with the waste sands. Pretty simple once you get the hang of it & very thorough. It will save very fine gold.
http://www.iowagold.com/...w_to_run_a_blue_bowl.htm

Happy hunting

JW :)
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gingerbreadman  
Posted : Saturday, 7 August 2010 6:42:38 PM(UTC)
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Hi jw no dought the blue bowl is easer than paning and by the looks of it you get better results than i have got i have a finishing sluice witch works pretty good and i dont have to screen the con,s so much as i have different size matting all the way down the sluice the finest sive i use is about the same size holes as whitebait netting .so what size sive do you use for the blue bowl?
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gingerbreadman  
Posted : Saturday, 7 August 2010 6:48:16 PM(UTC)
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Thanks for the link jw i just checked it out...i dont even think i got those instructions when i got it!...30 mesh...il give it another go.
cheers.
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roman holiday  
Posted : Monday, 9 August 2010 3:47:36 PM(UTC)
roman holiday

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How's this for an idea?

http://www.youtube.com/w...f-ak&feature=related

You could mechanize the process with some power tool [orbital sander?] and an electric fan.

Why not use air instead of water?

Edited by user Monday, 9 August 2010 3:48:26 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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