SLUICES lean bedrock by donkey engisie and etoel stoneboat. Ta 1023, one such pit, ‘wide, ILft deep, yielded 28 323 cu yd in 44 20-br days; cout of labor only, 31% pet operating coet was 51¢ per eu yd. 124. SLUICES Construction. Sluices are in sections, umually 12 ft long; each section is called a suurce nox, Fig 823 shows typical box for shoveling-in and other matt WORK (Art 121). Sides and bottom are 1-in by 12, 14 or 16-in boards, rough or planed on one side; the bottom is 2 in narrower at one end that at the other, so that adjoining boxes will telescope ‘8 few inches into each other. Sluices may rest on bedrock, or be set in ditches, or be elovated. They nre braced laterally by struts B. On the side opposite each shoveler is 1 board &, against which the gravel is thrown, instead of being shoveled carefully into the sluice; this increases the duty of labor and prevents spilling. A collar placed at the s 2 . : Oh 3 ere AROVELING BOAAD Fig 824. 14-in Te clescoping turrons or sits auvets io Bairbanh ia ‘Fig 823, Small Sluicen Bo Feicbant a a junction of each 2 boxes (Fig 824) eliminates braces C, Fig 823, which obstruct top of sluice and interfere slightly with clesning-up. Small siuices may be made with flush jointa, like a flume (Sec 38); some operators say this reduces clogs, but the telescoping, box is most used bocauso it is easily erected and moved (414). These sluices have a short life but are cbeap and well suited to small work. Worn-out boxes should be burned and the ‘ashes rocked or sluieed to recover gold from cracks and joints. Fig 825 shows tanom suorces for hydraulick- ing; detaile vary widely (Table 118); 4 by 4in aills suffice for sluices up to 4 ft wide: 4 by Gin sille and 4 by 4 or 4 by 6 posta for wider ones, Bills are 3-4 ft apart; ayery rd or 4th post. is supported by angle braces. Posts are dapped into sills, or fastened with clests, ot toe-nailed (Fig 825). Lum- ber need not be surfaced, but for sides and bottom t ale (rifle an ade ining -—«*Flg UE. ‘Tightener for Botiom Boards (alter Fes Sl ed) ae Purington} . should be free from knots, To prevent loss of Hg and amalgam, bottom joints are made tight with tongue and groove lumber, splines, or outside battens; close fitting alone is often relied upon. Fig 826 shows a useful device for tightening bottom boards10-562 ‘PLACER MINING METHODS before spiking (300). Sille must have solid foundation to prevent settlement. As'bottom of a now sluice may rise by water collecting under it, ends of sills should be weighted down (391, 408). Followihg data, referring to Table 118, while old, give elements of cost, which can be adjusted to present costs of labor and supplies. ‘Table 118, Details of Sluices for Hydraulicking mensions of Example | width, in | Depth, in Ne sill Poste 1 Py “xe xe 1s ey 2 M x2 x 20 us 3 2 Kerxe kaya 1s Vo 4 “e KOK e xorxe zo 20 5 n xOxe xerxyr| 20 re ‘6 a xerxr [exe xyr) Us us 7 a 32 XOX? xa xyes us 8 34 54 xe" xa us us 9 oo 54 ‘See note below "5 5 10 32 mie ae us us Ex Nol. Doulder Cr, Atlin, B.C (390). Heavy gravel, 400 miner's in of water: duty, 1 0a yd per inday. Block rifles ‘used at head of sluice, followed by rails. Sawed lumber, $40 per Mz ‘SiBcult to obtain locally boards wider than Bin. Sluice 1400 ft long; oowt, 86 000. Wages, 83 pet YOdbr shift and board. Ex No 2. “White Channel” bench gravels, Klondike (390). 250 miner's in of water washed 1.000'eu yd per 24 hr. 12 to 14 aluice boxes usually ccustitute w atring. Spruce block rifles, Sin high and 0 in aq are usod; cost 25¢ each and last 1 seuson, ExNo3. MeKee Cr, Atlin, BC (800). Zeluices, 000 and 700 ftlong. Top rail 1.6 by Bin by. 1214; post atrapa, 125 by 2 by 14 in: side lining burda, 1.5 Ly Kin by 12 ft, Blocks 8 by & by 12 ‘in are used for rifles; rile tripe, 1 by 3 by 23 in; bracen, 1 by 4am by 1{t. "Fach box, with rifles, tte, contains about 840 bd ft of lumber and costs about $25; aluice luinber, $45 per Mrille blockey 156 per bor-length. Ex Nod. Silver Bow Basin, Alaska (00). Sluice inin a 9 by 10-ft tunnel, 3 300 ft long; 2 500 miner's in wash § 000 cu yd gravel per 24 he.” All surfaced lumber. Rifles are 12 by 12 by 12-in spruce blocks, separated by 17/e by Zan rifle strips. Lining. bonds, t-in native lumber; bia T'by fin, Each box contains about 1 100 bd ft of lumber aud 25 Tb of nail: total cart per boa, 830, of which $10 isfor labor. Annual maintenance cost, including renewal of rifle blocks (life 2 yr) and lining boards, #1 000. Ex NoS. North Bloomfeld tunnel sluice, Cal (301). 30d naila used for the bottoms, 20d nails for the sides. Side lining was of worn blocks, 3 in thick und 18 to 20 in deep, Tiracen, 2 by 4 in by 2't.." Block riffs, 20.5 in oq and 13 in deep, rifle strips, 1.25 by 3 in by 5 fU11.5 in long: aver of 19 blocks per 12-(¢ box. A flurae for seepage water (H, Fig 825), 19 in wide, 14 in deep, of 1-5-in plank, ‘waa bult along one side of sluice. "Ex No 6. Bedrock Claim, Cal (901). Toxeo, 14 ft long. Top rails, 2 by 7in by 14 ft. Uy 0.5-in tongues were set in yronve between bottom pluuks. Side lining compored of Llocks 3 in thiok by 20 in oq. Braces, 1.5 by 4 in by 2 ft. 27 blocks, 17 inna by 19 in deen, wed aa nil 1 box; rifle strips, 1.25 by'3 in by 5 {t Cost per box, #3086, as follows: 630 bd ft lumber and side ining @ $20 per M, 813; 704 bd ft blocks @ 814 per M, 40.86; 20 1b naile @ 5¢, 81; labor, #2 to #3 La Grange mine, Cul; sluice used in 1880 (301). Roxen, 16 ft long, with 4 by 6 in 155 by 8 in by 16 ft: bravon, 1 by G iu by 8 ft; 86 blocks, 14 by 14 by 8 ing File strips, 1.75 by 2in by 4 ft. ude uning, LS by &in plank, 16 -loug. 420 bd fe fof lumber required per 10-fi box, exclusive of rifles. "15 lb of naila used per box. Cost per box, {$28.84, aa follown: 420 ft lumber @ $30 per M, $12.60; 36 blocks @ 35¢ each, $12.60; 18 Tb nails @ 41/44, $0 64; labor @ $1 to $2.50, $2.50. ExNo 8 Lorens mune, Trinity Co, Cal (415). 600 to 700 miner's in wash 500 eu yd in 10 hr, ls, and braces ure bolted together sills are mounted on skids running full length of box and ‘each end. Boxer are moved over bedrock to vew ponitions by teams. lock rifles ate Tin or 18 in aq by 10 in deep; cite atrips, 2 by Zin. Cost per box, alvout $20, ExNo9.. Union Hill mine, Trunty Co, Cal (415). Sluiee ia laid in an & by ®t tunnel, 1 360 ft long. | Frames are of 1.5 by @in, 1.5 by din, and 4 by San pieses. _Riffle blocka,12 in deep and 11 by ILin to 18 by IB in ag. "Side liners of 2 by 10 and 2 by Gvin plank last about 3 yr. Rifle sticks 2by Zin by 518.500 bd ft of lumber used per box for frames, bottoms and sides; 625 bd ft for block, ‘Cont per box: lumber, 816; blocks, $9, construction, $10, TEENo 10. River Hend mine, Sosiyou Co, Cal (18). Sluice is at head of an hydraulic elevator. Fraines ure 4ft.e-e, 12 inaq blocka used for rifles, also rails and tranaverse angle-iron rifles, the bead of bydraulio elevators (Art 128). They are ti have low frictional resistance and are easily bolted together; thelr cost is prohibitive in most diatricta (Gail lusces tor dredges (Art 127) are an exception).SLUICES 10-563 “Carver should be avoided if possible: they increaso friction and wear, reduce velocity of the water, and if sharp cause aplashing. Sluices are curved by making amall deflections ‘at micoeasive joints. Brigham (408) says a 5-in “swing” ia the max permissiblo for & 12-4¢ box; for e sharper turn, use’ ‘a4in swing on 6-ft box, or 3.5-in on a 4ft box. Curves should be eased at both ends, and outer edge ‘of boxes elevated 1/¢ to Ya in per {tof sluice width. Grado of sluice should be steepened at curves; ant inorease of 15% is decirable on short turns. Bowie (391) gives data on curvee, relative to turn-in and turn-out siuices. ‘These work ‘well on stoep grades, but require careful design on flat grades at connections with main sluice, otherwise gravel collects above or below the junction. Fig 827 shows TORN-IN SLUICE, carrying 1 000— 1400 miner's in, adopted after many experiments. Radius of curvature, height of drop, width of ‘opening ai the junetion, and grades fas shown, were all at the limit on which the 2 sluices would run uni- Fig 827, Turmin Sluice at Head of Tunnel, Delaney formly without depositing gravel. Claitn, Patriekavile, Cal (after Bow ‘Tunn-ovr surexs, gonerally used ; for “fanning out” a dump, are harder to operate on light grades than turn-in sluices, A-4ft turnout wan weed at La Grange at a point where and grades were caly-2.75-4 in por 16-(t box. Origusally, t 14 fe wide, with a 1.b-in drop between main and turn-out sluices, and the latter was swung 4 in per Worked satisfactorily. On increasing the ewing to ® in, the boxes adjacent to the june- ton choked, and the discharge had to be widened to 24 ft. It fon 0.2% grade, tho greatest powible swing per 10-{¢ box wan 8 in for n 4-ft aluice; but the curve eoul be increased in proportion to the grade. At the tura-in and turn-out » board must be placed diagonally acroas main sluice, fo concantrate discharge and prevent formation of bars. ‘aro sometimes installed to avoid delays; one is cleaned-up while the ig; both urually empty into one tail sluice. In sluicing tin-bearing gravels, there may be enough concentrate to fill tho riflles in a short time and require frequent clean-ups; in such cases, duplicate aluices allow continuous operation. Bulkheads. Head end of a sluice for hydraulicking is usually flared out by building diverging bulkheads (wing dams) on each side; these ad in collecting gravel and water fas they flow back from the face, and assist piping in fallen gravel. H., L. Mend, in 1913, stated that the sluice mouth at La. Grange, Cs henry balked of daa belgie bul out irom both ides. ‘The eanta generally worl in pairs ent out ‘ung down the bank and then awinging, following th fallen gravel toward the sluice and adding water to ‘very heavy material may thus be washed into the eluice, ‘The high bulkhead and high sides of sluice near ita head allow gravel to build up and increase the grade; this, trith the above method ‘of washing, starts material down the aluice with a high veloc and increnses ita eapae G09). ‘Mud box (Fig 628) has been used on small sluices in Alaska as a puddling or dump box; usually set at the sluice head; in late yeara it has become lew com- mon. In it, sticky clay and mud are broken up and larg stones forked out; it-may be installed for the latter purpose alone in\shoveling-in, if aluice ig too arrow to wie a sluice fork effectively. Mud boxes hhave an apron 8 or 10 ft square at one side of the box, Fig 828, Mud Box or Dump Bor on a slope of 35 to 60°; gravel from cableway or derrick (alter Purington) Bucketa, or from skipe and power scrapers (Art 122), ta dumped on the apron and slides into the box. Mud bbonas areset on steeper grades (10 to 12 in per 12 ft) than aluices; they are paved with pole, block,10-564 PLACER MINING METHODS fr ral rifles, and collest much of the coarse gold. For aluices 12 to 16 ia wide they vary in length from 16 to 24 ft and in width from 30 to 48 in. Grade of sluices is usually expressed in terms of the fall in inches per box; if length of bor is not given, it in understood to be 12 ft. Thus, a 5-in grade moans a slope of 5 in per 12 ft, Grades should be uniform; fiat sections control the capac of the whole sluice; riffles and linings in steep parta wear faster than others and the flow must be stopped for replacing them. For aver conditions 6 to 7-in grades are satisfactory. If natural fll i not steep, grades aa flat as 2.5 or 3 in per 12-ft box have been used for light gravel and earth. Flat grades reduce the duty of water (Art 123), limit max size of stones that can besent through the aluice, and hence inereaso lubor cost for handling boulders. Lack of grade may be compensated by increasing the amount of water. Grades over 13-14 in per 12 ft are rare, as higher veloc of flow carries away all but very coarte gold. At Forest Hill, Cal, some sluioes worked on grades of 10 to 241in per 12 ft. Water wan soarce and See Tuble 112. Where the fall g unlimited, aluice grades "in general, grades may be flatter, and a larger de and Vol of water, when sluicing # mixture of large and small tones stir up fines and keep them in suspension. Length of sluices should be sufficient to disintegrate the gravel and freo the gold. For loose gravel this is accomplished in 100-300 ft. Crude shoveling-in operations in Alaska often use only 3-6 boxes; lengths 36-72 ft (390). No attempt is made to save very fino gold. Duos (vertical falls) may be installed (where topography allows) to break up cemented gravels and lessen sluice length. General practice is to lengthen a sluice #0 long as tho yield from lower boxes exceods cost of installing and operating them. Veloe of fiow largely determines the minimum sizo of colors caught by rifles; hence, a greater Jength than needed to disintegrate the gravel is useless. Short sluices with dropa and undercurrents (Art 125) are often moro effic gold-savers than long sluices without them. Very long sluices may be needed to transport gravel to dumps; their lower parts are called rarauutces. For examples see Tables 116, 117, 118 (notes), and under Cost and oper- ating data, Art 123. Cross-section of sluices is proportioned to amounts of water and gravel and to veloc of flow, which in turn depends on grade. For minimum first cost and wetted perimeter (hence for minimum frictional resistance and mux discharge for a given erow-soc) the eluice idth should be about twice the depth of stream, as in fumes (See 38, Art 15); it may be impossible to retain this ratio in large sluices. Depth of water should euffice to eubmergo the largest stones. Width of sluice is adjusted to depth and grade, for the required capac. Fine gravel containing fino gold should have very shallow, wide sluices, on stoep grades (eee Undercurrents, Art 125), ‘The tendency for riffles to pack incroasos with depth of stream, which is usually 6-12 in. A. Newman (618) gives accompanying datn on aver ————} Calif practice in medium gravol that could be washed at Width, ia | rate of 3 cu yd per miner's in per day; grade, 6-7 in per 12 ft: widths are inside of side boards, bofore inserting liners, "To reduco first coet, and facilitate cleaning out and replacing rifles, the height of sides of a sluice hould not exceed 1.3 to 1.5 times the depth of stream. For sluices in deep cuts in firm ground, sides may be lewer than for those on or above the surface. If surface slcicos clog and overflow, much of the gravel in them above point of overflow must be shoveled out (400). Water required. Data given under Duty of water in hydraulicking, Art 123, aro unsatisfactory, aa the cutting capac of giant water may be gceater or lees than ita sluiving ‘capac, depending on character of gravel, grade and riffing of sluice, ete. Data in Tables 116, 116, 117 refer to duty of total water entering a hydraulic-mino sluie a inches ‘of water for shovelingin (Fig 822) is known an a “sluice-head,” irreapece '30 10.60 (oceustonully an much aa 100) miner’ in for sluices 10 to ‘on grades of 6-8 in ver L2-ft box. Iu Hritiah eolovies this term meane a flow of 1 eu ft of water per sce (304). Catclation of luce grades, roman, yoo of flow, ee an not be made ncurately, because the complex relationshi ‘edu o determine the necemary erpinel consanie, Moat sutheriea vuagest some modiSentla (of Chasy's formula, Sec 38, aa a basis. For examples see Bib (304, 284, 417),RIFFLES, UNDERCURRENTS, GOLD-SAVING DEVICES 10-565 ‘The author's calculations of @ in Kutter’ formula (Geo 98, fora fow slices where all neces 5 say data are available, show values (rom GOH? to |, ( 35 | Beging to wear ayay fine cay Sok MCatelationn should” be checked cage: | © g [30 | Jot ite Soe sand ol aesirmedg ginger, tne | £4) 2 | Grmoteede cee tnt 3 Esto | Moves piles of in diam 1a | Te eae ae “wan, Pieener| Po tet Wid, ie | H Van Wagenen (417) states that & in" | aide i veloe of 200 pe ain necemsry to Teoit | co $ 0 nove pebbles the nso ofan egg, 320 bev] & | oo @ for etooee of tom dame ta" | “Se | eter | 200003 500 boulders of 6 tot in da a 83 to 1500 “ 208 38 60 to 000 Er 0 to | 600 Bib ao). a doa to 1200 ° 1000 to 2500 n 2000 0 #000 Es 3000 to $ ono 0 4000 ta 7 ovo (@) Depth of flow, 6 to 7 in. (@) Depth of flow, 10 in. _(¢) Height of side, in this and following ‘examples, a 0.5 to 0.75 width of sluice: depth of flow, 0.33 to 0.5 of cleur inside depth of aluice. Duty of water (Art 123) must be known or assuined in denguing aaluice fora given amount of gravel. Conversion factors for sluice calculations: Inches of fall per 12-ft box X 0.694 = % grade; inches per 16-(t box X 0.521 = % grade; fall in ft per mile X 0.027 = fall por 12-ft box, in; miner's in of water X 0.025 = vu ft per seo; ou yd of gravel por 24 hr X 0.000312 = cu ft of gravel per see. 1f D = duty of 1 miner's in, in ou yd of gravel washed per 24 hr, and the flow of water and gravel is uniform, then 80 + D = ratio between cu ft of water per sec and ou ft of gravel per see. 125. RIFFLES, UNDERCURRENTS, AND OTHER GOLD-SAVING DEVICES Rifles have 3 chief functions: (a) to retard material moving over them and give it a chance to settle; (b) to form pockets to retain gold which settles into them; (c) to form eddies which roughly classify the material in the riffio spaces. ‘Their exact operation is not well understood. Strength und thapo of eddies (the “‘boil’” of the riffle) is affected by shape and spacing of rifflos, their position with respect to direetion of flow, and the veloc of current. The boil must be strong enough to prevent riffies from filing with heavy sand (packing), and not too strong to prevent lodgment of gold. Features of design of rifles, expecially for large-scale hydraulicking, are stated by Bouery (420) as follows: (a) They should oppose miniwnum resistunice to flow, in order to get high duty from the "They should resist wear, to reduce cost of replacing and maintaining them, and to preserve. their gold-saving capacity.” Eifect of went on gold-aaving should be connidered in design and choice of material. (@) They should be sufficient in number to save all the gold commercially recoverable. ‘The ultimaie economy of & high-cost material, aa manganese or nickel steel, compared with cheaper structural atecl, may be determined thus: Let and X represent'maker’s cost of 2 materials @ and b ‘and B the cost of transport for either. Assume that the life of the cheaper material (a) is 1 year, that fof the high-priced material () ia N years, For equal costa at the end of N yours, Xt = N (A+ By orX = N (A+B) —B. I thie equality exita, or if X in greater than NW (4'+ B) ~ , there is no ‘economy in purchasing high-grade material. If ¥ ulean than N (A + B) — B, the economy of high= tqrade material increases approx with N. Good material saves indirectly also, by reducing unit cost Of labor and interruptions due to replacing worn rftea (420). Riffles for small sluices. Fig 820 shows forms commonly used for shoveling-in (Art 121). The polo rife (a) is a favorite in Alaska for coarse gold; (b) ia the same form made of sawed lumber; (c) trausverse (or “Hungarian”) riffe offers greater frictional resistance, clogs more ensily, and costa more than (a), but is a better saver of fine gold. In a string of boxes, both types are commonly used. "Small rifflos are fastened by naile driven into them through sides of aluice; as the nails are not driven home, they are easily10-566 PLACER MINING METHODS ‘pulled when rifles are removed for elean-ups. Wedges may be used inatead of nails, but are troublesome. Rifles for hydraulicking are of many kinds; their importance demands description in stall. In recent practice, the usual types are steel-shod Hungarian and longit rifle. Cobble or rock riffles (Fig 880) are choup and resist woar well if of hard rock; their Iife averages about 5 times that of wood blocks (406). As the surface is rough, they require steopor grades than other rifles. They aro well adapted to tail aluices which are leaned up infrequently, as thoy are difficult to take up and relay. Block rifles (Fig 831), where timber is cheap, are often the most economioal form for the upper parts of sluices, as they are quickly taken up and replaced. ‘They make aoe wa kbemenw ‘ChOSESEC a” | dl S44 (cP wanaman rece (au) WSC Fig 829. Rifles for Small Sluices Fig 830.~ Cobble Riles Fig 831, Block Rifle a emooth pavement on which stones may roll or slide, end work well. ‘The blocks are 8-12 in deep, set in transvorse rows separated hy “riffle strips,” and are square so that when worn they may be turned to give the smoothest eurface; side of the square is an even divisor of sluice width. It is usual to set hlocks in adjacent rows to break joints, because longit cracks enlarge quickly and force earlier renewals. At a fow mines, better gold recovery is claimed for « pavement in which joints are broken as above, but longit ‘spaces are also loft between the blocks of each row (390). ‘Blocks are held in place by the side lining and rifle stripa, Fach strip is nailed to a row of blocks with headleas wire nals, which are not driven home but project from 0,5t00.75 1m." The adjacent Blocks are driven against these nails until they reat solidly against the rifle stnp. For dimenaone, 00 examples following Table 118. ‘The objection to block rffen is their rapid wenr under heavy eervice; their life depends on quality of wood, sluice grade, character and quantity of gravel, and amount of water. Long-grained wood, ‘which “brome up,”" is best: hard wood is not desirable, Cn a given grade, the Iniger the ratio of ‘water to gravel, the les the i Width of |Grade, in| Depth of | Life of blocks, | Near (04). Blocks worn tom Locality ae, fay in ‘rater | thicknoes of 4 or Gin are dis- aluice, ft | per 12 ft | blocks, in| in-daya of ‘hikes of rn re die North Bloomfield | 6 13 | 175 000-200 000 | the sides of sluices. Bowie Manzanita mine.| 5 13 | 100.000-150 000 | gives accompanying data Ta Grange 4 | 100.000-110 000 | from early California inex 01). ‘French Corral mine where similar figures wero obtained, poorer North Bloosafield, P. Bouery, in 1913 (420), states that in Ot the life of 13-in blocks was 45 daya to 3 mor those in the higher boxes lasted. rater 40%, the lif of blocks decreaved 60%, #0 that a clean-up. ‘was necersary every 17 dave. Consequent delay and expense, and limited supply of pine blocks, led ‘10 use of manganeen-etee!r:fie (Fig 836). ‘Longitudinal rail rifttes (Fig 832) are of 20 to 40-Ib RR rail, in lengths to 20 ft, usually set upside down and spaced 3 to 5 in or more apart by wooden or C-I spacers. On a given, grado, rails will run as much f..e8 and more boulders than blocks (406); they are largely ‘used in the upper boxes of stuices, as they wear fairly well and are oasily taken up. ‘Transverse rail rifles. Bouery's csperimenta at La Grange, Cal (seo under Block riffles), published in 1913 (420), give valuable data on riffles for large hydraulic sluices: ‘La Grange aluice is 6 ft wide, on a grade of 7 to 8 in per 12 ft; depth of water, 12 to 28 in.RIFFLES, UNDERCURRENTS, GOLD-SAVING DEVICES 10-567 Experiment showed that transverse were superior to longit riffs. A rock ors sand article may remain in contact with and wear the web, flange or head of a longit rail ‘throughout its entire length, but wears only the top of a transverse rail. Longit rails 8 in ‘apart wore faster than those spaced 5 in. 40-Ib longit rails, spaced 5 in, were discarded ‘after passing 9600000 miner's in-days of water; 40-Ib transverse rails, spaced 5 in, passed 14 400 000 miner's in. 6-in spacing (c to c) proved best; different spacing might 3 SS Fra meas = ala | =e 582, Longtudind Rall Ritls Gator Fig 653g $24. Traneere Rl re ‘Siitaton) « ule; L2'Setnge' cal bo advantageous for other grades or depths of water, but Bouery puts the economic interval between 4 and 6 in; spacing less than 4 in increases fist cost; pacing greater than interferes with free passage of boulders. 45-Ib rail was selected for the first experiment; 16 und 25-Ib rail were considered too light; 55-Ib rail had too large a web and flange in ‘proportion to its head; 40-th rail was finally found to be the most economical. Rails wore set on a series of 2 by G-in wooden riffles, separated by blocks (Fig 833); rails alone do ot form sufficiently deep pockets, and they allow eddies which. wear tho sluice bottom. ‘This system proved much more efficient for eatching gold than the previous block rifles, and tho gravel never parked hard between the rails. 7 spacing blocks had to be ect hetween each pair of rails (Fig 834). Wear is greater in center than at sides of sluice, and raila bend before wearing out, unless rigidly supported. By using 7 spacing blocks, rails could bbe usod until they were 62.5% worn. instead of 37.59, aa was the case with 3 or 4 spacers. Ends of worn rails, utilized fo protect the sidos of sluices (Fig 835), were held in place by nails bent over the flange of top rail, and by a 2 by G-in plank. Side rails did not increase the duty of water muterially, but decreased cost of replaring the blocks formerly used: they lust 5-7 years; duty, about $0 million cu yd of gravel. Further experiments, with cast and alloy ateels, showed man Torme of ile were developed, aimingtolenathen their i meee-tel rifle connidered by Bouety to have all the requisite qualiti pat, alow wear, good setting, indity, and security aguinat thet of wad. or {nedays of water and from 12-15 million ey yd of gravel before 9 A® Am (een RR IL | Fig835, Rail SideLining, La Gr Fig 836. , Bouery Manganeseatee! Rife Wooden Hungarian ciftes, shod with iron strap, sar to Fig 829, ¢, but made of 2 by orlargersensthogn may be used whereraile are nov avadable. ‘They resemble rail ills ia repect of fold-eaving, Dut have shorter lie and are lees tonvenient ‘Angleton ries (sbe Bara rifle) aro of the Hungarian type. | They bave been ured chiefly in hydraulic elevator slulee (Art 120), on tablen apd til sluts of Gredgen CArt 137) and sometimes for tinall opea-cut work (Table 118) and hydraulicking. Sue of angles varies from 1.5 by 1.5 by i 1a for small-sized mat l, up to 2.5 by 25 by 3g in. Fig 837 shows one method of holding angles ‘ith the vera lg on the upaream ede cer apace batween thems 0:38 a Gove 0 ives a weak eddy and the “dead water” apace ib ™ sigood fne-gl tenumig that the current veloiy allows auch gold to sete on the 1 mn may be instead of anges ‘Cl grate rifle (Fig 828) las worked well in emallsluices on Seward Ponineule, Alaska, Tt ia Aight, catty handled, and onn be act s0 that the long dimeusion of alow in either trancverse or longi ‘he latar setting ie thought bert (9). in place, "They are a a10-568 PLACER MINING METHODS Bigh-carbon steel plates have effected important economies at several large mines, where used ss ries and as linings for tailaluioes. ‘They reduce friction, compared with wood block or other 7. Rie Castings for 2, by Din Ai I Rigle (after Fig 57. Rig Cor eimtuacg” 7 APO Fe Sag a pavements andare especially well oninited grade, Th tn contain 08-12% earn: insome Rene found the toe cule an ct the patos more rotaon te nen ahaa teinnea, He ‘are commony 08 in ticks af tae wth as ace nnd of vost Iesetbe. Fla 800 shows aden soppoting pate 13 fone ok Einapice nd nO oie dani lat seed of eat tata bets Tare to Bin la, 12 1 ot, med Mat oh ae nad Sete from 2 ia'at unger end tte detnston aa Wd down by 3 by ton ning bar Incrated id at wap sbeat ab 20 fog toi econ at inns mh et ie Caer aan (ld at Walle Oreaen pitat 80 by 30 one ee Fie $00, Supper ex Sled ine: the aaa were ie ees fo any naan Tas . The Quencale Cur B.C, wed pate Soin ay a a Ok lea topes t Hydraulic Mines of Western US in 1938 (17) Table 120. Rife 4 : EL toca Type of Rishe width, a | Weavers, Gal..] Wood, ero 7 ¢ 7 2 2] wwoee stot a a a 5 Homann 2 4 aN i Wud Hck a ' 5 Wed Bock 7 : é Wood block. iw | 4 fr 5 Taira : Bua | ave a Hungarian i ta | aia $ | Gontervile, Idaho: ."| Ange ron: 2 2 ¢ 10 | Simigraats Mont 2.| Ante iron mn 3 ta | oan 11 | Virwnin City, Bont | Hungarian, 10-4f0 seo 00000:) 2 4 a Veal, 12fe lengths tye | dye | 5 Polen; 4 €ftlengtherss sooccc] 4 5 12| Gold cr, Mont......| Cmbinou burned felong. soo) im | 3 13 | Gold Ge Mooe.2222-] ** me 3 mA | 3 14 | Sheridns, Moni. s..| 40ub, 304 rai Wm | ph | bw 15 | Super on 6 3 5 bis 0 3 me | ae 4 4 4 " ms 3 im | 4 ‘tt plan 0 ents 222 ‘ ‘ 5 Hlougara, lat 100 t tm | 3 ” _| Woods routs. 2 ‘ 2, 2 2] Wand Hoc a ‘ : Aras iron ‘ Ste 4bRIFFLES, UNDERCURRENTS, GOLD-SAVING DEVICES 10-569 Tength of eros For further date on riffs for fine material, eee Undercurrenta below, and Dredging (Art 127). Side linings are required to protect the sides of large sluices; also they often furnish a means of holding riffles in place, Plank liners are common (Fig 831), 1-in for smaller ‘luices, 2 to 3-in for wido sluicos with a high head of water. Where block riffies are used, ‘worn blocks are placed on the sides; they serve for tail sluices, but are inconvenient where frequont clean-ups are necessary. See Fig 835 for rail linings. Height of side linings need not be more than 2 or 3 in above normal level of the stream of water and gravel. Disirtbatine bor for cleaning. Plan Fig #40, North Bloomfield Undercurrent (after Bot ‘Undercurrents are intended to save fine gold which will not settle in the sluice. Fig 840 shows the North Bloomfield undercurrent, fairly typical for large Calif sluices; it ia = ‘wide sluice, eet on a heavy grado at one side of and below main aluice. ‘Bowic gives following details: Across the main sluice, at some point where a drop can ‘bo made, is placed a griasly, over which coarse material afd some water passes; the under- size falls into a spill box and runs thence through a distributing sluice (grade 2~3°;) to the undercurrent proper. The latter is a shallow box, 20 to 60 ft wide and 40-50 {¢ long, divided into sections by vert partitions for convenience in placing riffles and cleaning-up, and to allow better control of the distribution of material. Undercurrents are paved with small wooden blocks, cobbles, or pole rifflos shod with iron; grades required for these riffles are 14, 16 and 12 in per 12 ft, respectively. Depending on location of the under- current, its tailing and water aro discharged directly or led back to the main sluice, which extends below the drop at which undercurrent is erected. Width of undercurrent, 8 to 10 X width of main sluice. A wide undercurrent costs slightly more to clean up than narrow one, but is often more effic; at French Corral, with a O-ft sluice, yield of firet undereurrent (20 ft wide) was 20% of yield of all; 10 ft added width increased yield to 27%, of total (391).10-570 PLACER MINING METHODS Modern undercurrents of this general type vary widely in detail. Grizalies in sluices 20-36 in wide ere made of 8 to 12-Ib rail, 0.78-in round or octagonal steel, or steel flata; spaces between members, 0.25-1 in. In large sluices, grizalios are usually of V-shaped steel bars, either stationary or so supported that they will rock under the impact of boulders; rails are also used; openings vary in width to 2 in. Space ocoupied by grisly ig full width of sluice bottom; ite length in direction of flow ranges from a few to 18 in, usually found by trial. Grissly bars tranverse to sluice remove sand with lees loss of water than longit bars. Grisalies are placed on grades which may be flatter or steoper than the sluice grade. Any devico that will slow up the current just sesd of a grisaly in desirable, as it gives sand and gravel a chance to settle and paas to the undercurrent. Hungarian riffle of emall angle iron, or of wood shod with iron, are alao used for undercurrenta. For saving very fine gold, earpet tufted with chicken wire, eooon matting with expanded metal, and Durlap tables, are employed at different mines. . The ideal location for the form of undercurrent in ig £40 is near the dump, ao that large material need not be tin fall of ubout 5 ft ia roquired where the undercurrent water return to the sluice; the eluice grade ‘an therefore be ateepened from the grisly to the point at which undercurrent water reentere. | FOr further detail, see Bib (300, 391, 408, 304, 423, 424). ‘Though the above undercurrenta remove large uantition of water from main aluice, some aand and xold pase over the grizsly with oversize, In ‘small aluices, these dificultien aie partly overcome by « diferent type of undercurrent. Fig 841 Pee te" reset vin" eet "pte HOW Mt UNDERCURRENT GRiewen ne — onal cern mrttee et =a > Fig 841. Undercurrent (after Fig 842, Caribou Undercurrent (after Par Elis) ington) shows an undercurrent introduced at Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1014. Tt greatly increased the sa ‘of fine gold, as compared with the old type, but it wan necessary to clean up the boxes every 2 days since ita ofc decreased greatly thereafter.” Two boxes of w atring (prasing n max of 150 ou yd of {travel per day) were Sted with thia device; one waa cleaned up each day, the blanket or cocoa mat- {ing being washed ina tub. On claim where much fine gold wan present, this undercurrent recovered 20% of the entire clean-up, and changed an operating los into a profit (414). Fig B42 le a modified Caribou rifle or undereurrent regarding which Purington axye (300): Hungarian rifles of wood or iron, cerpeta, plush or blankets, are placed ia the sluice bottom under the vereen, depending on cher= ‘acter of the fino gold. Thia device affords cheapness, flexibility, and simplicity, but will not give ‘good resulta with unpuddled clayey gravel. Experiments with punched plates in New Zealand owed that holes less than 2/grin diam give ton small s discharge and are apt to choke; 7/14 ‘holes poased too much water and material. ‘These reaulta were obtained in treating marine gravel ‘containing fine ahingle (425). Proper suze of holes in any locality is a matter of experiment. Snake River, Idaho, a diferent form of Caribou rife heaviest concentrates are drawn off continuously through holes in slul collection of black sand containing valuable minerals other than gold which require further treat~ mot (426). ‘Bulowat Syndicate, New Guinea (458) in 1038 waa working an alluvial deposit 12-30 ft deep, resting on clay and having 2/s of ite gold close thereto. Gold particles are lat, and 9/4 of output is of inchead rise. Deposit is ground-aluiced with 30 ou ft per sec (1 200 miner's in) of bank water at ‘300-700 eu yd per day, by 90 natives on 2 ahifta. Sluice, 48 in wide, grade 0.0 in per ft, han 30 ft of ‘angloriron cross rifts spaced 3 in, and 60 ft of emall rffica 0.73 in apart. Next 10 ft of sluice has 3fgrin slote from side to side, spaced 3 in, followed by 20 ft of 4/gin plate drilled with 0.75in holes on Tp centers. These apertarer drop about half the water to undercurrents, which are in duplicate, ‘one on each side, Each is 30 ft wide by 16 t long, composed of 16 tables 2 ft wide, sloping 0.126 in ‘per ft. Rifles are wood, 1 by 1 in, set ‘in apart. Flow over the undercurrent is 4 ft per eee, oom ‘pared with 9 ft per neoin the sluice. "lee of underourrent adds 25-30% to recovery of gold under the (exiting conditions. Operators disagree as to the use and value of undercurrents. Where the gold ia fine the weight of evidence isin their favor, if they are properly designed and cleaned up often enough to do effic work, At La Grange, Cal, after rifles like those in Fig 836 had beenRIFFLES, UNDERCURRENTS, GOLD-SAVING DEVICES 10-571 installed, undercurrents were discarded, as they clogged and the gold recovered did not pay cost of cleaning up (420). Of 30 placer mines in western U 8 described in (17) aa ‘operating in 1932, only 10 had undercurrents, and some were of doubtful advantage. Use of mercury in riffles and undercurrents is quite general; amalgam ia casier to handle clesn-ups than fine gold; some gold, otherwise lost, is always saved by amalgama- tion, Where much coarse gold occurs, mercury is omitted in a few boxes ut the head of the luce, to avoid the trouble and cost of retorting coarse gold amalgam. ‘When Hg is used, sluicing begina with stopped. The water is then abut of snd rifles in upper purt of sluice ‘with Hg. More is added from time to time, an needed to Keep a clean wurface of Tg exposed. Amounts of Hg vary; common initial charge for large sluices in 2 to S Hanks (76.6 Ib each); for large undercurrents, 80 to 160 Ib. Mercury must be clean and in charging all aplasbing or spatter: ing should be avoided: otherwise minute globules re formed which float away. Lona of Hg is ions, averaging between clean-ups is made as long as possible, to reduce the dolay they cause; often the lower parts of a sluice are cleaned up only once in a season. Clean-ups are required when ‘worn riffles must be replaced, and when much gold has collected, us in tho frst few boxes of # sluice handling rich gravel; danger of theft often influences frequency of clean-ups. Cleuning-up begins at the sluice head, by removing few riffes and turning in a small flow of water. ‘The concentrates aro worked over with shovola or sevops; as they wash. slowly down the sluice bottom, the gold and amalgam Ings behind the black sand, etc, and is scooped up into pans or buckets. The process is repeated in next lower section. See Bib (17, 414, 291, 308). Distribution of gold in sluices. Most gold is caught near the sluice head. Bowie estimates that an aver of 80% of total yreld of large sluices is recovered in first 200 ft of Iongth, according to results at several carly Calif mines (391). In Alaskan shoveling-in or small open-cut work, the dump box and first 3 or 4 boxes below i( retain most of the gold. Distribution depends upon nature of gravel, shape and size of gold, and amount of clay. ‘Table 121 shows results of experiments by Bouery, at Tat Grange, Ci Aistribution of gold of different an |, in 1010, to determine the the testa lasted 15 days (420). Value of the amalgam, $13.20 Table 121. Distribution of Gold in Sivice Boxes, La Grange, Cal Sizing teat on gold recovered in different boxea Total gold Box ont uae | ‘Mesh, per cent +10 | —10+50 | —50+100 | — 1004150] — 1504200 5 100 68 307 4 03 Sto 160) | 8310) | 17.0 78 09 03 22 26.2, 5 76. 26 0.9 a 415 32 3 8 O65] 28 V2 40 138 om} oo 29 r6 (@) 80, 69, 88, 68, 75, 108, 101, 100, 68, 44, 43 os in these boxes. per ob in the head bores to 86in box 138. Head boxes did not ahow the highest anving, an they were Often blocked by boulders and sand (Bulkheads, Art 124). Such experimente permit acc determination of the point beyond which the gold recovered doey not repay construction and main- ‘Yenance of added sluice length. Lous of gold in sluices can not be accurately determined. The gold content of gravel treated is . t known exactly, and there is no way to sample it or the sluice tailing during operation. In large low-grade placers, as at Oroville, Cal, araple opportunity is afforded to compare aver values computed from churn-Y Jo LONeAMIA ops “LH ML xt me 200 Kah 7 CHAIN-BUCKET OR BUCKET-LADDER DREDGES 10-579PLACER MINING METHODS (00 3 8QMA) HIRE, I peddmbs o¥poic PIPD 1 No-t Jo WoHNACTT opi “A¥E ML “sun $12 Sion Tapa 1g 9 dA wooed "RY I, ett =.92 184 79 BUCHAIN-BUCKET OR BUCKET-LADDER DREDGES 10-581 ‘and on itp canter line, to provide space for the digging ladder. Depth and aise of hull depend om ‘weight of mschinery and material it has to carry: amount of fresboard, which lo uaually 2-3 ft, "qn length of hull and change of fore and ait trim oacasioned by raising or lowering tbe dig ting ladder. - Widtb ia unuslly 0.6 to 1/p the length, according to area and arrangement. of waah- ‘Tho trusees are strengthened with additional members where concentrated losda occur, and are nide- braced at 8 or 4 pointa in their length. Hulla are fobricated or assembled in 4 ways: (1) standard steal; (2) postoon; (3) bolted watertight compartments; (4) wood. Standard riveted stoo! hulls, of steel shapes and plates, are fabricated into convenient shipping sections, set up for inspection in the shop, then dismantled, and finally assembled fon the dredging property. This is the commonest, type. Pontoon hull consists of rectangular welded steel boxos, 6 by 6 to 8 by’ 8 ft in section, 30 ft long, corresponding to width of hull; when assembled crosswise of the ull ted together, the structure is practically unsinkable. When properly made, such 4 hull is as strong as the standard type. The pontoon hull, widely adopted since 1934, hhas permitted operation of many small properties where tho standard dredge would be ‘uneconomical, since this hull can be quickly dismantled and moved to another short-ife property; one such dredge was moved to its third placer within youre. ‘The pontoon is the only hull that ean be assembled in the water, saving expense for foundations and launching; bolt holes below water line are temporarily plugged. ‘There is also a saving in erection time. "A standard hull requires 6-8 wecks for erection; the pontoon can be ‘sembled in 4-6 days, and requires no trained mechanics, The same saving occurs in dimmantling snd ro-erection. For example, the time for dumantling 6-cu ft pontoon ‘was 19 days; for re-erection, 38 days. A standard dredko of same size would take 30 days to dismantle and 100 days to reassemble. Cost of dismantling the pontoon was $4,000, and of re-erection, $10.000; a standard dredge of this size would cost. about '$5.000 to dismantle, and $40 000 to ro~rect. ‘The main diencivantage of the pontoon is the bulky naturo of its components, of especial interest when ocean transport is involved. Bolted water-tight compartment type is designed to be put together in the field. "When amembled, the bull consists of numerous compartments (not pontoons) the max sise boing adjusted to shipping conditions. As many pieces as possible are combined in the shop into a shipping unit, usually by welding, and all Geld connections are then bolted. ‘This is economical for field erection and for ocean or other shipment. ‘The hull is as strong ‘ tho etandard type and practically unsinkable. ‘Wooden bulls wore exclusively used until about 1912, when the fret stoel hulla were built, but ‘are now rare except in eold northern countries, where wooden hulls deteriorate slowly. In Calif, ‘2 wooden hull Insta 10-12 yr, Wooden hulle with steal superstructure have given exotilent service in Calif, Ore, and Alaska, Gantries. At least 3 are required. Marx-parve carr is centrally located and sup- ports the upper tumbler, the main-drive gearing, the upper end of digging ladder, the main hopper, the save-all, and upper end of the revolving screen, Additional truss legs and heavy top chords with rigid braces are required here to carry both live and dead loads ‘which must be distributed into the entire truss and bull structure. Dead load includes the main-drive gearing and half the wt of the ladder and buckets; live load is that. to thrust of the buckets while digging, and the side movement of the dredge when swinging ‘back and forth across the pond. Bow Gantry, at forward end of the hull, serves as a cross truss to atiffen the pontoons on each aide of the well, and to support the suspension tackle attached to lower end of the ladder. Back guys of cable or steel tension members extend from its top to upper chords of the main truss. STERN GANTRY supports the spuds and the suspension for the stacker. Its lower end is usually pin-connected to top chords cof main truss. Large deop-digging dredges usually havo 2 stern gantries, a short one for tho spuds 8 higher one for the stacker suspension. Digging end of a Calif dredge comprises an endless chain of close-connected buckets passing around tumblers at top and bottom of a ladder, which is pivoted at its top and has rollers to support the chain on the ascending side; the chain is driven by the upper tumbler. The ladder is raised or lowered by tackle hung from the bow gantry. Digging ladder consists of 2 parallel steel-plate girders with heavy top and bottom flanges, generally of dot.ble angles and cover plates, connected by closely spaced plate diaphragms; upper edges of the Jatter are below the top fianges and covered by a plate, ‘hus forming a trough to estch spillage from the buckets. Ladders are 60-225 ft long ‘and weigh 300-3 000 Ib per ft. Rollers, closely spaced along the top of ladder to support ‘the bucket chain, are of high-carbon chrome steel, press-fitted onto forged nickel-steel10-582 PLACER MINING METHODS shafte, Bearings are usually cast steel with replaceable C-I bushings. Different types of seals keep out abrasive substances. ‘Buckets are in 2 parts, a manganese-stoel base and a lip. The 2 front eyes of base are not generully bushed, since the pin is stationary at those points, but the back eye has a manganete-stee) replaceable bushing to resist wear at that joint. Manganeso-steel lips are either riveted or rivetlosa, latter now being more common. A riveted lip is fastened ‘with 10-20 large rivets, which frequently loosen and involve loss of time and expense. ‘The rivetless lip (Fig 849) is held in place generally by only 2 bolts, engaging lugs on bucket ‘and lip on both sides of the center. A rivetless lip weighs considerably less than the riveted, thus saving waste of metal when discarded. Bucket pins ‘are forged from high-carbon, chrome, or molybdenum steel, heat-treated for strength and hardness; the L’” head, to prevont rotation, ie almost univergal. ‘Upper tumblers are generally of high-carbon ‘cast steel, body and shaft cast integral. ‘The 6 sides of the tumbler are protected against wear by heavy linore of forged nickel-chrome steel or cast manga- neve steel, and bolted in place. A 2-piece tumbler, with cast-steel body shrunk and keyed to # forged- gen ft books 1 shaft, is often used, especially when transport 40, Manganresicel Bucket 8 problem. Fie 0. aap Lower tumbler, made circular, has a high flange fon each wide to guide the buckets around lower end of ladder. ‘The body, in a single piece or 2 halves, is of cast manganese steel or high- carbon chrome cast steel, with replaceable mangancse-steel wearing plates. The press- fitted shaft is a nickel-steel forging. Bearings aro of CI, with rubber seals or other means for exoluding abrasive matter. Idlers. Ladders digging deoper than 75 ft often have the Perry idler (Fig 853). ‘This ia suspended in heavy borings from lower side of ladder at about 1/s its length from lower ond; it reduces the drag of the buckets on the bottom, due to catenary, when tho in at approx 45°, and diminishes the catenary load on'tumblere and pins, thereby reducing woar on bucket bushings, pins, and lower tumbler bearings. Dredges digging over 40 ft deep usually have an idier at'the sft end of the well on lower deck of dredge, and so located as to engage the chain when the ladder is inclined at 35° or more below boris. By thus keeping the upper part of the descending chain at a fixed inclination, the clearance between save-all grisly bars and the buckets may be reduced, affording a more ‘ffic save-all arrangement. Main drive. Small dredges drive the upper tumbler by a single set of reduction gears fat one end of tumbler shaft; larger dredges have 2 ects of reduction gears, both ends of the shaft being driven. All gears, pinions, and bearings are of cast steel; shafting, forged. nickel ateel. A brake wheel on one end of the pulley shaft provides for emergency and for repairs to the bucket line. Recent improvements in drive mechanism: (a) single motor, cloe-coupled by V-belts to pulley shaft; (b) 2 motors, each driving a pulley sbaft by V-belta, have proved advantageous on large dredges requiring a total of 200-600 bp for main drive, Motors are a-c or d-c: advantage claimed for latter is better control of bucket-line speed under variable load, but entailing added expense for motor-generator. ‘Dredges working in easy ground have been speeded up to 40-45 buckets per min, but 24-28 buckets per min for dredges up to 7.5-cu ft capac, and 20-23 buckets per min for Inrger dredges, is usual practice. ‘Main hopper receives material dumped from buckets as they pass over upper tumbler; itis of atee! plates and angles and has a lining of wear-resistant metal. A short balf-round ebute directs the material into the screen; lined with alloy-stec! bara 2-3 in thick. ‘When large boulders are numerous, the hopper back may have a coarse grizzly hinged at ‘one end; on appearance of a boulder, the grissly is lowered, mechanically or pneumatically, into position to intercept it and then raised to discharge it overboars ria chute or conveys Spill from buckets is caught on a fixed grizsly surmounting @ riffied eluice, the “save-all.’ Screens. Reller-mounted trommels have diaplaced all other types of screen, chiefiy because of their vigorous disintegration of clay-hound or partly cemented gravel; disintegration ia hastened by adiding lifters or other tumbling clev.coe inside the arreen, Abuudant water at prea of 20-40 Ib per ‘qin fs supplied through nossles or spray pipes to aid diacharge of fines. Screens are from 4.5 it diam ‘by 24 fe length for a mall, 2S-cu ft, dredge, ts 9 by 52 t for an 18 or 20-cu ft dredge. "Ends cf screen ‘are blank plates with replaceable liner; tread rings fastened outside of each plate. Rub bare (6-2-in heavy angler, bars, of channels) connect the end plates and provide longit support. The perforated plates are in seciions 2.5-6t long and wide enough to span the gap between outaide ribCHAIN-BUCKET OR BUCKET-LADDER DREDGES 10-583 bars; ovctions arb small enough for eary handling on replacement; countersunk belts with apring~ lock weahars are ured for fastening. ‘Material for perforated plates is high-carbon or other abrasion- ‘esiatant rolled ateel, of cast manganese steel. ‘Thickness is 8/g in for small to 1g in for the largest ‘ecreens, Diam snd spacing of holee depend entirely upon character of material to be washed. To ‘counteract excessive discharge at head of trommel, perforations at this end are often emalier and farther spart than elaewhere. A common size of hole is 8/46 in on the inside, ealarged 10 46 oF 7/6 in on the outside; tapered holes have leas tendency to blind. ‘The bridge between holee is from 0.5 1.5 in, diminishing towards discharge end of trommel. Where coarse nuggets occur, the plats st ower end of screen are usually slotted, 6/6 by 4 in to'l by 11/4 in. ‘The tread vings on whieh the tromtmel rotates are high-carbon or chromesteel machined castings. ‘The upper ring le carried on 2 Adler rollers, the lower on either « central drive roller or on 2 roller, one of which in driven. Ae the ‘screen in inclined at 1-1.75 in per fe, thrust rollere are required; these engage & tapered machined face on lower edge of lower ring. ‘The drive roller is actuated by reduction geare direct~ or belt~ ‘connected to a motor: fiat belta have been common at this point, but gear reducers and V-belt drives fare now more frequent, occupying leas space and giving higher eff. - Peripheral npeed of trommels, {a 120-200 ft per min (0-14 rpm), depending on diam of screen and kind of material being washed. ‘Stacker hopper. Oversize from the acreen fallo into a stecl-plate hopper, lined, at pinta of reatest wear, with heavy plates or bare; it delivers to stacker bat through a chute, the discharge ‘end of which is fitted with a mild-stoel casting and manganese-teal liner shaped to change the direc tion and veloc of the stream to correerond with that of the belt, saving weer on the latter, The hopper often has a gate which diverta the material into a sluice discharging over the stern of the dredge; this provides « good footing behind the spud and saves power, aince the stacker may be abut down meanwhile. ‘Stacker, Tho frame carrying the conveyer belt compriace 2 parallel stractural-steel trusses, tied top and bottom and at each panel point with croge-braces, Ite lower end is hinged on « shalt permitting the stacker to be raised or lowered” When a ewinging stacker is required, sn additional ‘ert awivel allows movement of approx 15° to either side of the center line. Joclination of stacker in limited to 20°; in moat cuses, 15°18" ia nutisfactory. Stacker is suspended from the stern gantry ep by 1 or 2 wire-rope tackles fastened at 2 or sometimes 3 pointe. It ia raised or lowered by a line from the swing winch, or preferably from a separate small winch having a self-locking aafety device (qvorm goar or automatic friction) which will necoasitate lowering as well ax hoisting by power, and thus prevent cureleas dropping of the stacker. The steal head pulley is lagged with rubber. Length sof stacker depends chiety on dixsna depth and nature of material." Knowing the evall (ually ‘about 33%), the digging depth, and allowing clearance for outer end of stacker inclined at 18" Segura nash can be tomipateds Dus to the etieme length of bell of ange deep-dlaging dredge, ‘the lower end of the nereen in wo far inboard from the atern that a short susiiary stacker (Fig 863) may be placed between the screen and min stacker Anchorage. For maneuvering dredge by spuds and lines, see ‘Digging procedure, below. If there are 2 spuds, they are usually placed in line with the main fore and al trusses; single spud (as found on many modern dredges) may be near the center line of dredge or in line with the starboard (right-hand) truss. lea, or of wide-fanged beam sections with heavy cover plates. Bot- tom of spud has & massive cast-atee! point, and its upper end carries sheaves for the hoisting tackle, ‘which ia auepended from the stern gantry cap. Lower spud keeper, acting an cushion betwoen spud And bull, is of steel with a velf-adjusting rocker element to accommodate changes in position and ‘maintain a brond bearing ugainst the spud. Resintance to twisting is afforded by heavy brackets fitted with replaceable liners. In the upper keeper, tendency of the spud to move away from the dredge ia counteracted by an outaide erooe-beam connected to the upper truse members by heavy rods end compression springs. A uxaDLINe, sometimes replacing a spud in very easy digging, ia wire rope about 1.t-in diam, fastened to « deadman 500-1 000 ft uhead, and held taut by « winch fon the dredge. Where the dredge ia making a wide cut, « number of "pennant” lines are spaced ‘crows the full width, and the headline is attached to these in mont convenient positions. SrDEmE, fone at each corner of dredge, are anchored ashore, and control iateral movement by winches on the ing winch, including 2 drums for bow lines, 2 for stern ines, 1 or 2 for spud holata, joist drum. Gearing is no arranged that each may be operated indi- vidually, and each drum haa expanding-type friction and a band brake. On Lance Dxrogzs, the Sin winc include ll drumo eset forthe Inder bent” the bow or rn tins, spud and linea may be operated as a unit. Inatead of combining all drums in one winch, some dredges ve independent bow- and steraine drums; spud and spare drama are then in another toi, ue requiring 8 motors (anually a-c). Several dredeee have had d-e motors for the bow-line winches, ‘with automatio elec control to maintain constant pull on bow lines, Lappem nore, on the larger Gredges, is a separate unit actuated from the main-drive motor, through pulleys and clutches, or from an individual motor through V-belts or a gear reducer. ‘The drum is divided by « central flange, and 2 ropes lead off to the suspension; on smaller dredges, only 1 rope is required. For DEEr-DiGaINo DeDars, with vary heavy Indders and long bucket lines, the ladder winch has 2 separate drums, driven by 400-500hp motor, direct-oonnected to gear reducer, coupled to an Tan10-584 PLACER MINING METHODS Intermediate shaft by herringbone gears. A herringbone pinion drives the fit drum, the gear of ‘which engages «pinion on an idler abafe driving the second drum. The motor hes an lee brake: Heavy wheel with band brake on the idler shaft may be pneumatically controlled from the winch room, “An automatic control electrically connected with the motor eontrol is wed on many modarn dredges, to limit the high and low positions of the digsing ladder and the max epeed at which the ladder may be lowered. Pumping equipment usually includes » high-press, a low-press, and « small auxiliary pump, all centrifugals. ‘The high-press pump discharges at 00 to 80-{t head into the sereen at both ends, or from a pipe with adjustable noasles, extending through full length, of the screen. The low-press pump discharges at 30 to 40-ft bead opposite the head of each cross sluice. “Pump sizes depend upon amount and kind of material washed; rati of water on the tables should be 8-12 times the solids. Auxiliary pump, 2.5 to 4-in diam, ‘at 60 to 80-ft head, is used for washing deck, fire outlets, and priming the larger pumps. In dredging clay or other sticky material, 120-ft head for nossles directed against the buckets as they dump into main hopper. ‘Pumps should have liners, as the pond water may contain abrasive matter. Pumps are direct-connected by ficxible couplings to motor on same bage, each having a suction check, valve above water line Combination ucp xp wowrron pour in used on dredges digging 80-125 feet deep and with ludge teuda to flow out along the bottom of the pond to the bucket I ‘the dincharge pipe _ B53). ‘When serving « monitor, suction comes from the etrainer box and the discharge #u dredge tow: ‘his washes down a bank which doea not eave by itself, to avoid a caver in which might bury the digging ladder. ‘Strainers protert suction inleta against floating debris or waterlogged material. A frame covered with galvanised wire cloth with 3/s ‘usually adequate, but removable per- forated platen may save some labor. "A self-cleaning, uction box ia etisfactory. Tt con- fst of & wheel, 10-14 ft diam by 8-4 ft wide, f iron and covered with wire cloth, Buckets around the ioside periphery are filled from « small nosale for turning the wheel. Debris ‘outside the acreon may be scraped or blows off aa the wheel revolves, Power for elec motors reaches the dredge, from shore, by rubber-covered or steel~ armored cable, supported on floats. Voltage, 6 900-2 200; 3-phase, 60-cycle current is, usual. Operating voltage on the dredge is 440, delivered by 3 single-phase transformers. Starters are unually distributed among 3 board, 1 in winch room for the main drive and wing ‘Winch, 1 on main deck for the pumps, and 1 nt stern for the acreen, stacker, and sand elevators, Pump motora are constant-apeed: theee for main drive, winches, aereen, and atacker, of variable: peed, revernible type. Control in by a breaker and a warter for euch motor, the variable-speed ‘motors have C-I resistance grids. Main-drive hus s magnetio reversing eontrolier, with line proteo- tive, primary, end seoondary panels. Motor controla include a thermal overload protection device ‘With & push button for resetting. In isolated places without elec power, dredger have 440-volt Diesel-clee generators. Motor equipment aa above, Digging procedure. Digging starts at top of the ground ahead of dredge. Forward ‘end of ladder is swung slowly from side to eide of intended eut by the side lines. At end of a swing, the ladder is lowered for a deeper cut on the return trip; bedrock, when reached, in scraped if its nature permits. On raising the ladder, the dredge is moved ahead for the next cut. To make the forward movement, and maintain potion while digging, the dredge may have (a) 2 spuds, (b) 1 spud, (¢) headline; side lines are always necessary. For “ntepping ahead” with ‘Two secvs, the dredge swings to right of the cut, turning on the “digging” spud as a pivot; the port (“stopping”) spud is then lowered and the other raised; after swinging to left, the digsing spud is lowered, stepping spud raised, and dredging proceeds. ‘With a srxaux apvp, the stern lines are anchored well ahead of the dredge: by pulling on them, ‘after raising the apud, the dredge is moved. This method is quicker than with 2 spud, due to fewer ‘operations, but not always applicable. Hrapuine stepping (and digging) 1s practicable only under ‘esy digging conditions, ern Malayan and other tin fields (Art 182); rarely on gold dredges. When ‘operating from a headline, ainging ax usual by the aide lines, hard ground offers dificultie in keep- ing the bucketa eficiently at work. Gold-saving equipment, treat’ag undersize from the screen, includes: (a) distributer; @ riffied tables; (c) roughing jigs, preceding or following the tables; (@) clean-up box or Jig; © mercury trap or other form of malgamator; (/) retort and molting furnaces; (@) sand wheels or elevators sometimes nid disposal of tailings. Fig 850, 861 show alter- native flowsheets, with and without jigs.CHAIN-BUCKET OR BUCKET-LADDER DREDGES 10-585. Distributer is a steel housing enclosing the trommel. Ita sloping bottom is partitioned Into pockets corresponding in number to the tables; partitions have adjustable gates to equalize distribution; when wide open, the gatos facilitate oleaning-down the bottom of distributer. If gold is coarse, rifles. i i flow into an outside longit distributing sluico; this has the advantage of spreading the fow more thinly over more tables than could be grouped close to the screen distributer (Fig 850-B). In the usual type of distributer, sand discharges from ita bottom, on both sides, bby water applied at 15-1b press through 1.6-in nosales in headers fed by low-press pump; Fig820, Flowaheets of Gold Dredge equipped with Tables. A+ Conve "Arrangement 18 short sluice opposite each nossle leads to adjoining table or roughing jig; uniform dis- tribution aids effic of recovery. . ‘Tables aro rectangular steel sluices, 21-32 in wide, placed crosswise of the hull and sloping 1.25-1.5 in per ft outwardly toward both sides. In Fig 850, 851, the alternative arrangements aro only for illustration; = given dredge will be equipped symmetrically. ‘Total table area, in absence of jigs, depends upon size and character of gold, fine gold requiring more area; recent dredges have 200-500 oq ft per cu ft of bucket capac. Enlarged tablo ares, for large dredges, may be secured without proportionate increase of bull area, in 3 ways: (@) Doubl-bank tables, having an upper deck permanently fized 6 ft above the Tower, requiring corresponding increases in height of upper tumbler and length of digging ladder and Ducket line, entailing added wt. (0) Double-deck riffs; luice has {alae bottom of 1O-eage plate, ‘supported from the aides about 5 in above true bottom and similarly rifled. (¢) Telescoping of nesting slues; upper slulce Ste betwoen aides of the lower; it is hinged at one and and can be ‘aleed by tackle, the 2 decks being similarly rifled; this allows faster clean-up than the false-bottom10-586 PLACER MINING METHODS fluice, Outer ends of all tables discharge into longit slutoes carrying tailings to stern of hull and ‘raping them 18-20 fk overbonrd bottom of talline ios are often rifled to entsh eoaping gold oF amalgam. ‘Wooden Hungarian riffies (Art 125) are almost universal. Common size, 1.25 by 1.25 in, apaced 1.25 in; tope protected by steel or rubber stripe #/: in thick by 1.5 in be Bile oa iy ewes old bar ahead of tables bles." Arrangement of cleaning jh is annie im either cand. Fig 851. Flowsheets of (ambi ‘B—Roughing hes forowing wide, the 0.25-in overhang heing on the downstream side, Riffle bare, unually 6, are made into frames about 13.5 in wide; length corresponding to width of table. The frames are held to bottom by 1.5-in ay battens, w.dged under angle-iron brackets riveted along sides of table. Mercury trap riffies are usually’ placed ut intervals along a table. Sige are especially useful on gold dredges (common also on tin dredges, Art 132), when gold resists amalgamation or is largely in scales or very fine particles. Jigs are designedGOLD DREDGING 10-587 for large capac in small space (Fig £46, 847), made possible by the extremely amall ratio of concentrate to feed, 88 compared with ore-concentrating jigs (403). Fig 851 shows alternative positions of roughing jigs with respect to tables, In either oase, the ‘huteh product, and concentrate from riled tables, is re-treated on 2 cleaner igs, the seoond re-treat- ing the hutch from the first, both discharging tailings. Final product may pase through « azall ball- ‘mill amalgamator; final recovery of gold is usually on amalgamated platen, Black-eand eoncea- ‘rate containing metals of platinum group, resisting amalgamation, in treated separataly. Clean-up of sluices. After stopping the flow over a table, the rifflos are removed, ‘washing any adhering material into the sluice, With a small stroam of water the material is washed to the lower end, which is fitted with a wooden stop about 3 in high; here most of the light sand is scraped or washed off; the rest, mostly black sand and amalgam, is shoveled out and transferred to the “clean-up bor,” a steel or wooden receptable of about 1-cu yd ‘capac, which collects concentrate for further treatment. From an orifice in lower end of this bor, the concentrate is washed, a little at a time, over a sloping plate, to extract heavy foreign matter, and thence into mercury trap. Excess of free Hg collecting here is tapped off and re-used, the heavier amalgam being removed by hand for subsequent treatment (Geo 33). Sands overflowing the Hg trap then pass through a Long Tom (Art 119), 12-15 ft long, riffled on cocoa matting; discharged sands return to the initial tables, or may be further trested in a ball-mill, or by amelting. levator, of ether chain or bls type, occupies lew apace and permits a bigher lft when necematy. American dredge manufacturers: Bucyrus-Erie Co, So Milwaukee, Wie; Marion Steam Shovel Co, Marion, Ohio; New York Engineering Co, New York; Yube Mig Coy ‘Franciaco. 128, GOLD DREDGING Introductory. Gold dredging is a subject of great detail; for a yeneral discussion, nee (385, 403, 400, 437, 438, 614, 627). In the US, gold dredging began about 1808; by 1027, with price of gold at $20.07 per of, the known areas sulted to dredging were largely worked out, thereby forcing a earch ‘by American companies for dredging ground in foreign countries, such aa for tin placers in the Malay States (Art 182) and gold placers in Colombia, Central America, New Zealand, and elsewhere. The Inerenae in price of gold to #35 per ox in 1033 stimulated activity in gold dredging in the U8. In recent years, the relatively inexpensive dragline dredge (Art 120) hea been widely applied to amall fand shallow deposits, but the chain-bucket dredge (Art 127) is best for large operations in low- ‘srade gravel. Recent improvements in design have also permitted the chain-bucket dredge to work Eravels at much greater depths than were formerly considered accessible. Requirements and limitations. Deposits suited to dredging are extensive river-bar and gravel-plain placers (Art 117), occurring chiefly in geologically old districts. Require menta as to bedrock, character and size of gravel, effect of boulders, cemented gravel and ‘buried or standing timber, ordinary limits of dredging dopth, water for dredge ponda, ete, are summarised in Art 118 and Sec 25, Art 7. Other considerations affecting choice of method and operation and design of dredge are: Cuatacren or coup. Very fine flaky gold, like that on Snake River, Idaho, requires addition of special equipment (usually jiga)’ to the other gold-saving devices. Coarse gold sometimes modifies the form of ‘apparatus required. “Rusty” gold may entail spocial methods of recovery. GRaprexTs. Dredging is inherently applicable to large fiat deposits, where lack of grade prevents hhydraulicking; small topographic irregularitios and flat surface or bedrock gradients affect only the height of bank carried above water level. Some dredging has been done on grades as steep as 6%, requiring dams to maintain a pond (431). FRouEN GRAVEL ‘must be thawed before it can be dredged (Art 131). Fioops. Dredging in beda of tor- ential streams is precarious, due to dangor of being wrecked. Cummare determines Jength of working season and hence the ennual output and return on investment for a dredge of a given capa. Min gold content of workable gravel is higher where the season is short than where operation is continuous. Cold clizuate increases costs, because the dredge must be heated and its equipment protected from accumulations of ice. See Bib (4U8, 432, 409) for description of successful winter work. ‘TRANAPORT FACILITIES are wire important than for other forms of placer mining, Weight of the machinery ia large,10-588 PLACER MINING METHODS ‘even for emall dredges; attempts to sectionalise & dredge for mulebeck transport have not been successful, but sectionalising into unita capable of transport by trucks and ‘aeroplanes (sec Bulolo) has been accomplished. High first cost where good roads are Jacking militates against construction of large boats in remote Tegions (385, 438). Lanox. ‘A small crew can handle a large yardage; all but » few roustabouts are skilled men. Cheep rowes is essential. Torat. ranoaon must be sufficient to amortize the initial investment and yiold desired profit. A choice often exists between use of ane dredge, or several of different sizes, with corresponding alternatives in first cost, rate of return, and life of property (Sec 25, Art 14). Closer estimates of this kind are possible on well ‘explored dredging ground than on any other form of mining property. An sttempt is ‘usually made to adjust the rate of working, and hence life of property, to the urn oF paspor. This is practically the life of the hull, as the machinery is repaired or renewed as necessary. ‘The machinery is often dismantled, after working out an ares, and installed elsewhere at moderate cost on a new hull. Constant running st max capac is essential to low working costs; hence construction and operation of a dredge must be planned to ‘minimize delays. Following examples illustrate dredge work under various conditions. Central Calif. Data in Table 124, relating to 10 dredges in the Folsom and Oroville Gistrieta, were supplied originally by R. G. Smith, Mgr of the Gold Dredging Dept of the Natomas Co, in 1917. Table 124 has been condensed, by F. M. Blanchard, from 4 tables ‘on pp 938-941 in 2d edn of this book (revised only ‘as to history) Mr Smith submite following comments in Feb, 1940, concluding that present aver operating costs per cu yd are slightly lower than in 1917, in spite of increased prices for labor and materials. WacEs per hr on Calif dredges, 1940: winchmen, 82.54; oilers, 67.54; laborers, 55-604; com- pared with 1917, those wages represent increases of 83% for winchmen, 83% for oilers, 84% for Inborers. Total labor charges have increased by 85%, about equal to increase in hourly rates. Marentata. Comparison of unit prices is not practicable, but total costs for materials have incrensod 30% over 1917. PowsR nares to large consumers, equipped to take service at high voltage, have been reduced about 20% since 1017; but total power charges bave increased about 23% with longer hours and larger yardage. ‘Waren cuancts have risen 175% since 1917. Grnenat xPENsEs show apparent increase of about 90% in total, possibly explained in part by changes in accounting methods, ‘some general expenses having formerly beon charged to operation. TOTAL OFxRATING ccosms have increased by more than 50% since 1917. ANNUAL YARDAGE. Dredges of nearly all sizes have greatly enlarged their yearly output since 1917, through increased speed, Jonger running times, and improved mechanical effic; increase in yardage, though widely ‘variable, has averaged about 70%. Coer ren cu vp. Balancing the above items indicates 8 slight decrease in operating cost since 1917. Taxes and INSURANCE have increased about 70%, and amonrizaTroN allowance should be 90% greater. Finally, Federal 1ncou, ‘Tax is an item much more oppressive now than in 1917 (sce Sec 24). Oroville, Calif. Data from C. M, Romanowits in 1940, Dredging conditions in this field are considered unusually favorable. One 9-cu ft dredge (a frequently adopted size) uring a period of 1 363 days averaged 290 000 cu yd per mo from depth of £0 ft. Others ‘of same size, under favorable conditions, have handled 3 600 000 cu yd in a year. Calif ** deep-digging” dredges. Data from C. M. Romanowits in 1940. Two notable examples of 18-cu ft dredges operate in the Yubs River field, at Hammonton; Yuba No 17 began July 17, 1934, and No 20 on Apl 24, 1939. No 17 has dug 112 ft below water, with bank of 56 ft; No 20 digs at 124 ft below water, with same height of bank aa No 17. During a 1 363-day period, No 17 averaged 310 000 eu’yd per mo, from aver depth of 110 ft. Usual max depth dug by other dredges in same field is about 80 ft; fone such dredge, of 18-cu ft capac and digging in casy gravel at aver depth of 68 ft, handled 416 000 cu yd per mo during a period of 1 287 days. Another, of same size, Eut with more modern digging favilitios, during 704 days averaged 450 000 cu yd per mo from Pt depth in tougher gravel, Below 00 ft, the formation at Hammonton is tighter and harder (though not cemented) than at shallower depth. ‘These deep-digaing dredges require special design and equipment, Fig 852 and 853 are respectively plan and side eley of an 18-cu ft dredge designed to dig 124 ft below water. The Perry bucket idler ‘and the Yuba mud-pump system (Art 127) give good results. While these dredges are ffic, they can not mine # large yardages, in proportion to their bucket capec, a6 those working at shallower depths, chiefly because the operator can not ‘get the feel” of the ‘work as well as on smaller dredges. ‘The longer time the buckets take in traveling to the surface makes it impossible to determine promptly whether they are digging to full capac. ‘The unit operating costs of these deop-digging dredges are higher than those of shallower Gredges, due to smaller yardage and higher cost of replacements. F. C. van Deine, ‘V-Pree of Yuba Consol Gold Fields, states that costa for operating the deep-digging dredges ‘are 1.334 more per cu yd than for shallower dredges in the same fields.‘Table 194. Operating Data and Costs on 10 Dredges, Folsom and Oroville Dists, Calif, 1912-18(0 Mr wana) ee Fane NPP PD AEM UNO oH A oa = "Bo0| 908 HP 401.8 WOO vy $1202 Peo parm : (patra) “095 UH perso UNUI sou Py — (tiara ™- “wry 08 19M 44 008" ry ens ~L “Sop 4 tig - xeewa enone ~~ amas pep nop sayquim fou poe fem PLACER MINING METHODS fy f 10-59010-591 GOLD DREDGING {E59 Mig oon mopoyieds woop TPPE 204 “(OO MAY 8GAA) MIGEL HI Paddimds “sspaic PID AUANPdoo Wy AEET 0 RONMAEE APH ECs ML10-592 PLACER MINING METHODS Northern Calif, Data in Table 125, from C. V. Averill (410), relate to 4 of the 7 chaln- ‘buoket dredges working in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties in 1936-37. I. Junction City Mining Co, on Trinity River. II. Roaring River Gold Dredging Co, 15 miles W of Cottonwood. Ii. Yreka Gold Dredging Co, just N of Yreka, IV. Yuba Consol Gold Fields, on Scott River, near Callahan, ‘Table 125. Chain-bucket Dredges Operating in Nor Calif, 1936-87 (410) 1 nr 1v i 3/8, 2, 8/8! 8a, * Ss, Me eat] ep vie =| vial | analy s yo v8 3 oe | ald ‘ 2 + oy | wat a | nae Ney hall some ged macho, de. er, a oi Nena com ea cae FL BPASEEE en Greta eta, Oy tae is mechan Sane tna 2 Sets nt i raat sft ny fase Hy tales llr with ar Bit at Sa Sarena power, ordinary taxes, and Centerville, Idaho. Data from O. H. Metsger in 1838 (428). Gravel, 20-25 ft deep; deposit, 800-1 000 ft wide; 80-85% of material in finer than 0.5.in; largest boulders Rin. Gold is mostly concentrated in 3-5 ft of of Dredging at gravel on granite hedrock; bout 1 ft of bedrock Centerville, Idaho, 1936 is excavated where possible, but in places it is so hard that only a few inches can be taken, Dredging is carried full width of placer bed upstream. Dredge is all-steel with 2 spuds. Bucket line has 79 6-cu ft buckets, dumping at 22 per min; rated capac, 6000 cu yd per 24 hr. Dredge takes a 6-ft cut’ and makes a sweep uf about 100 ft. Trommel undersize goes to Pan- American jigs, where moet gold is recovered; jig ‘tailings are riffled. Payroll for the threo 8-hr shifts (1937): 1 dredgemaster (salary); 3 winch- men @ $6.25; 6 oilers @ $5.00; 1 mechanic @ $6.50; 2 extras @ $6.00. A manager and an electrician sre the only employes besides the regular dredge crews. Table 126 shows costs for dredging 1 596 000 cu yd in 1936, Fairbanks, Alaska. Data from H.W. Rice, V-Pres U 88m, Ref & Min Co, referring to operations in'1931, and quoted by Gardner and Johnson (18). Co was then operatingGOLD DREDGING 10-593 3 dredges on Goldstream Cr and 2 on Cleary Cr, respectively 14 and 26 miles from Fair banks, where the company’s steam-driven, alec plant of 8 125 kva capac was situated, Power distributed to dredging areas at 33,000 volts. All the gravels were permanently Troan, and covered with frozen muck to 120 ft depth, “Mose, tundra and as much muck ‘2 would thaw naturally were stripped hydraulically with water brought ditch, siphons, and a 4 000-ft tunnel; capac of water system was 5 000 miner's in (deliver- {ing at press of €0-100 1b), practically all of which was used in stripping. Gravel thawed by cold water (Art 131), between about May 10 and Sept 20. Gravel 35 ft or leea in depth was thawed by driven points at 16-ft c-, requiring about half a season; in deeper aravels, points were net in churn-drilled holes $2 ft o-, and thawing might not be com- ploted in a whole season. Normally, enough gravel was thawed ahead of each dredge to provide a full season's work, usually about 210 days; re-freezing during winter penetrated ‘only 7-8 ft, which depth thawed naturally early in summer. In season of 1931, stripping amounted to 7.011 000 cu yd, or 52000 eu yd per day; thawing, 8 133.000 ‘eu yd, or 64.000 eu yd per day; the 8 dredges dug 6 910 000 cu yd of material, oF 30 800 cu yd per working day. Gravel contained few boulders over 12 in, and little clay. Gold was mainly clogs to bedrock, aud might penetrrte 5 ft into it, if of blocky achist. Table 127 gives construction and operating data on tue dredges. Following additional features were com= mon to all: hulls al-steel, asserabled in the field; housings, stacker, and ladder all hosted; ‘exch hull had 2 spuds in'the stern; bucket-chaing, close-connceted; trommels, pitching 15/g in per ft, had successively 8/g-,2/2-, and 8/g-in holes 1m upper 3 segments, followed by 2 sogments with 1/p by 11/zin and 13/y by 1#/4-in slots; nearly all of gold was Sner than 8-mesh, with a few nuggets up to 1 os; transverse tables sloped 1.25 in, and longit tables 11/s in per ft; Hungarian riffles were 1-1.25 in doep, 1 in wide, 2.25 in e-. Table 127. Data, Fairbanks Dredges, in 1931 Dredge No 2 3 5 6 s + [Gotdstrenm! Cleary | Cleary | |Goldstream|Goldatream 2] 46.5] 33.5] 223 128) ua 108) 108) o oo o 0 ye | wu | ei | os By EL": By) Ri 3 ‘Trommel, length... AW Ta" | 4¥ OVy" | 49 O12" rela Saab bY aul? | ad napa a Bae) ae ng Eye Sy adh | ad | 1d] vant So] ih | oa | og) Bre al | a | ah | a a) am | ig sl) oat a B) Bl] 3 | 8] 3 a) ).3 pee 3) 8] 8 Beer SSS) BY Bg Sanne 3| $1"3 Fos acai ros Ee | 48 | 8 = BP | BBs | lle | oh | 8th ee a | a | 3 Bes ose | ie | ok it Rca | a | a Operating days (3-shift)...... 204 24 226 “3 Aver cu yd per day. 5 800. 8770 5.990 504010-594 PLACER MINING METHODS Platinum dredging tn Alaka. Data in Table 128, contributed by C. J. Johnston, Treas and Mgr of Goodnews Bay Mining Co, relate to a Yuba Scu ft dredge with steel pontoon hull, operating 7" , Goda fon Salmon River and its trib- Table 128, Platinum Dreding, Goodnews Bay Co on Salmon Ri 938 1931 dist, |__| _179?_| "Yukon Consol Gold Corp, Ltd. Material dredged, ou 7d. 1164098 | 973614 | Data from W. H. 8. McFarland, 199] 184 | Gen Mer (434) and G. R. FL ‘Troop, Direo and Sec'y-Treaa (435) in 1939. Accompanying statistical and’ cost tables were contributed personally by Mr. ‘MeFarland in 1940. General. Co, with headquar- ters at Dawson, Y T, controle ‘about 1.000 8q ‘miles ‘of placer claims andleaseadistributedalong Klondike River and tributaries, and along several north tributaries of Indian River, south of the Klondike. Of 92-000 000 cu yd of gravel (containing gold worth $41 000 000) proved and in reserve at end of 1938, all except 8 000 000 cu yd of bill and bench gravels (to be hydraulicked or draglined) lies in creck valleys adapted for dredging. About two-thirds of the tested area was worked previously by drift or hydraulic mining; of 10 dredges operating in 1930, six were re- working such gravel. Only 2 dredgee, those farthest downstream on the Kiondike River and Bonanza Cr, worked in naturally thawed gravel; elsewhere, the gravel was almost completely frozen. Gravela in Dawson dist rarely exceed 10-ft depth, except in Klondike valley where max depth is 45 ft (aver, 30 ft). Gold, free and relatively coarse, is mainly im bottom of gravel and upper 4 ft of bedrock; if latter is blocky or slabby, as much as 10 ft of it is sometimes dug. Overburden of frozen, totally barren muck is 10-65 ft deep, ‘usually covered by moss, eod, and brush. Working season is ahort. Preparatory work con dredges begin about Apl 1; frat dredges (usually the larger, or those in richer ground) start towards end of Apl, followed by othera as rapidly ae mcreasing water supply develops necessary power at the central hydro-generating plant, until all ure operating by md-May. After Nov 1, diminishing water supply for power, with increasing freezing, lend to suspen tion, firat of the smaller, and later, of the larger dredgcs: in the exceptionally favorable 1038 eeason, 2 dredgen worked until Dee 24. During the summer, Co employs 600-675 men, of whom only 90 are retained through the winter. Min wages for common labor, 80¢ ‘ber hr, plus keep, totaling $7.28 for 10-br Table 129. Data on Stripping by Yoken Consol Gold Corp, Ltd day, Cont of supplies (Prom W. HS, 3, Gon Mar, in 1940) includes freight charges of -—————— $55 (for machinery) to | preg coy er ton from Van- we | Year Me Tee fouver to Dawson, sw | _¥° fisemetio se o | Skagway and Whitchorse, [a + | W936 | s3s90 | azn | plus local. transport by tear | 0213 | 19320 truck and tractor, until | 5 | tose | goog70 | a0 eer recently costing about 60¢ tos | 18303 | 74216 per ton-mile, 1938 | 751927 | 74396 cippiay 1939 | s9ease | 77331 enrine chivas | 6 | tse | savour | 61223 snuck is done as in hydrau- 38 | ea4og7 | 1223 lic mining (Art 123), with i 7 | 1936 | tanz00 | 23 503 ‘water supplied under pres We | tezzeg | 23 303 from ditches, or by pump~ toa | 3004s | 24380 ing. from local ntreames 1939 | 306991 | 26 467 fuitable prees, 0-120" | a | i937 | 435ea | 35335, 1938 | 631500 | 53213 1939 | 954068 64.236 1938 | 244820 38 104 40303751257 pereqin, After providing channels for run-off into nearest natural outlet, row of Sor 10 No 2 giants jy 1938 | 245511 38129 ith ain noses rae | deena 51729 arranged that consecutive . For depth of musket thor stes where thing wat portions of the ares can be gee Fable Ldir ) Linsey = tibeu fe per min for 24 he weg a Btripped in rotation, with or inay: a) TRemined ont fot some taampie ae i Table 3GOLD DREDGING 10-595 ‘Table 130. Cost of Stripping by Yukon Contol Gold Corp, Lid litle moving ofthe giants = (or tec thawed ‘mu (From W. H.8, McFesland, Gen Mer; fortecricl dat, ane Table 19) When the thawed, mack 3 7 To | 11] oneportion, the next giant is put into action, leaving 1938 | 1958 | 1938 | 1938 | 1938 | 1938 | tho frat aren to thaw nat- ually, By the time the 2.10] 2.06| 2.58] 2.55 | 4.61| 4.9 | SUES te wore, the urea O95 | 290 | 1214] 15 | 2°05 it . 13] 112] 0:05 | 0:11 | 0:05 adjacent to the first, will TA) cat | °-27 | 210) 898 | 826 | ave “thawed, enough to 20| 336] it] i30] hte allow removal of another oo ta] 50] "197 layer. "Distance, inf, worked from a giant i 14] a9] 32] a9] .46] 75} roughly 1.8 times the wa- [St] 192] 36) | oe bre im Ib per oa in 2 ‘Tailings piles, often com- TEES) plicating the procedure, are removed'by special set-up of a giant before attacking the muck. Pours for stripping are 10-in centrifugals, Tated at 3000 US gal per min at 150-ft head, auitable for a 3.5-in nozsle; each is driven by 150bp 2300-volt, synchronous motor.” “Each unit, with starting equipment, ‘Table 181. Data on 6 Dredges of Yukon Consol Gold Corp, Ltd (Prom W. H.S, McFarland, Gen Mar, in 1940) Drala No 2 3 fat. oir Toi Make Marion Marion Hall ‘Wood Wood Bucket of 16 16 & g 3 % May 4) May 6) Ape29| Ase 26 6 "ms | 22s) "09, s221| 9066] 99.43) 99.57 1864471 2721 044 [2045 672 | 091 208 092 200 2.036 60 {2-44 60 [2147000 @ | oo! om} 10] anf 10 05} 02] 064] 0.0] 0m] 0.45 an} oan] 433] 29] 5.00] 5.0 29! 116|_tn|_o7|_620|_190 valve! 70l 6.5! 46) 175 6 7 1936 0) Buryrat Buyrus Wood Wood 7 5 78 32) wet] o26i| 92.55) 9 642 i24 | 579 70" | 708 768| 488.225 | 508 107 | 389936 1620 400 | 831 200 | 054 500| 96100 | 773300 | 40800 Cota ¢ per cu 9a o ‘Shutdown eon Diet Q).....| 3.39 | os] 202) 12] 056 Indinet @) | 2.18| 3.36] 0.07] tat] 105) 0.94 ‘Working seanos Diret @).....) 571) 8.31 as] ra] 6.17 Indirect) :.'| 978 | 9:75 656|_7.84|_ 1035 Total 3106 | a 14-76 | 18 co | 19-02 (q) Habuil GF Direct obarge indlude: Wass Me and camp exporae; Repair ft hint wl Cacao gaan ne” tee Sundry." @) Teousived in dotal a epeanes nen exes10-596 PLACER MINING METHODS housed in a portable building, 18 by 10 ft, mounted on skids Active stripping ie feasible only between mid-May and end of Sep; preparatory work begins about a month ‘earlier, Tablo 129 gives operating data, and Table 130 itemizes costa of such stripping ‘at 7 of the Co's dredge sites. ‘Thawing is applied to the frozen gravel exposed (as completely as practicable) by removing the muck; the cold-water method is employed. For details and costs, sce Art 131, Dredging. At end of 1930, Co was operating 10 dredges (No 2-11, incl; No 1 was dismantled in 1938 after 33 yr service on 3 sites). All have wooden hulls, and are eleo ‘operated. ‘Table 131 gives data and costs for 3 yr on 6 dredges, No 2-7. No 8, a 7-ft ‘Yuba dredge, handled 455 453 cu yd in ita 161-day season of 1038, at total oost of 21.724 per yd. No9 isa 5-ft Bucyrus, re-built in 1938; No 10 and 11 are both 7-ft Yubas, built 1039. A new 7-ft dredge in the Klondike costs about $350 000, exclusive of camp buildings, power-line connections, Table 132, Itemized Costs at 2 Yukon Consol Dredges, 1998 Pods, and stripping and (Grom WHS cuaog Oe Mp- Yor pening da Bawagaauipeent to send es saatiy asc analaon would require about 10- Drie nos | Draesiog ro about REI | RUEAGE | Woo ata om ban Conta, ¢ per eu xd [Shut [Oper ‘Shut-| Oper- werves) or a life of 15 yr. S| | roma S| SBE | rout | HEE Be ees etd aro cnt "Ler |e] Tet | ale, 19, ee tenia selected torepreent: (No ) a large-scale operation 1s) | tSer | rea | im naturally thawed sroundon Klondike River; and (No 6) » smaller oper- ation in ground which bad to be both stripped and thawed. ‘The 9 dredges working in 1938 dug a to- tal of about 8 500 000 eu yd_and produced gold ‘worth, $2 131000. (25.1¢ per yd); 2of these dredges ‘were working in unproved ground. These 9 dredges, With accessory thawing a6 and stripping equipment, 039 ott power plant, camps, build- 714 | E048 [0.935 [11.356 [T2291 | ings, and ditches, repre- 6.040 [7.188 1.498 [17.522 [19.020] sent an investment, at cost, of $6 750 000. 068 028 2039) Table 133. Yukon Consol Gold Corp; Power Plant Costs (Date from W. H. 8. McFarland, Gen Mer, in 1940) Hydro-elec power plant, 1937 of 15 000-bp, is situated os |__| Blopdike iver about 28 21447 6 miles above Dawson. Ita three 5.000-hp turbines. at 220-Tt head, drive one 4 600- keys, and two 3 000-kva pen- ceratore, delivering at 33.000 volte.” First. water supply ‘carne from the North fork of the river, through « 6mile diteh; added supply of 10 000 miner's in from the South fork was obtained by a 10 36 [9 73 | 8s ‘ects of operating and rasior Disttion, 1955—Laber, 0426; emp and rem, 0.000; supply SStsng See powes pant, 0.037; ahope, 0.088; transport, 0.090; engineering and supervising, 0.034; total, 0.438.GOLD DREDGING 10-597 Bulolo, New Guinea, Contributed by C. A. Banks, Mag Dir, in 1040; for earlier and more detsiled data, ee Bib (438). Operations are notewortiny beouuse entire eauipmont af 8 steal dredges and 2 hydrovelee plants deivering 8 000 by was trenaported by sero- Plane, “Beginning in 1981, 30 000 ahort tone of machinery and mupplice wore fowo up to {040 without fatal or disabling personal accdeot, or lose of any eouipanent. Airline die. tance from aerodrome at Port Lae to 2 landing felde 6 miles apart on property is only 35-40 milen, ut an intervening § 000-¢ range with lowest paas at 4 O00 fo and dificult jungle conditions, made land travel by 1i0-mile roed slow aud votlyy_ ait transport i estimated to havo anved 2 youre time, Flight from Lae to Bulolo takes about 40 min, snd the round-trip, ine loading and unloading, about 2 hr. Elev at property ia 2200 fe Taansrowe eavirwen includes 3 Junker G-81 aeroplanes, cach with, three, S80-hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines. Cargo compartment ie 24 {¢ long, 77 in wide, 00 ia high except over the hatch, whore height ia 82 in: hatch opening, 00 by 141.5 in, Planca ‘wore designed for pay-load of 7 000 Ib, but 8 000 Tb have been catried safely luade aver ‘Shout 5 000 Ib. Heaviest single pieces (upper-tumbler sbafte) weighed 6880 Ib each for the frst 4 dredges, and 7 580 Ib for No 5. ‘Total capital outlay for air tranaport wae col sidoraly lew than would Bese en nceaned he Table 134. Cost of Air Transport at Bulolo construction “of mutabl oud and purchase of vehi- Clee. Unrr cost OF aim raassront” has declined vrith increasing tonnage tnd introduction ‘of cer- fain economies. During EA race pric 10 1037, coot for 14 941 short tone was $40.04 per ton plus amor: Eation then eotimated st $1188 per tom, During 3 3r to en of 1939, ross on basis of 420 tons monthly were asin Table 134. Gasolene cost About 32.54 por tmp eal W27-1¢ per US gal). Now that the property i fully equipped for Table 138. Costs of Dredging at Bulolo, New Guinea 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | Gyr aver '9 920 700) 10.915 500] 11 197 000] 11°222 000] 14 688 000] 64 617 500 39.938 | 44.054 | az.so¢ | s8.t0¢ | 41.706 6 674 300) 0.39 on os | 0.22 | 0.26 iz 0.03 fa 7 Lo 164 Ne | iar | oss ie 3 m8 n6 ers 2a 2.00 am | 3.78 7 134 0 4 7 ery 45 ie : 5 a7 3 : 19 1 a 16 ar 2 12 a a 50 50 ars 39 to iw 3 ‘50 st 4 ie 16 ir10-598 ‘2 life estimated at 16 yr, future transport will be limited to a reduced tonnage of supplies and replacements. Extra cost for design and erection of the dredges, incurred by neces sity for sectionalizing, was estimated as 10% for the hulle and 5% for the machinery. Darporxo started in Mch, 1932, with 1 dredge, which was followed by 2 othere within ‘the next 2 yr; No 4 began dredging in Aug, 1934. Two more were added at intervals, putting 6 dredges at work by mid-1938. Firat 4 dredges all had 10.5-cu ft buckets, and dug rospectively 20, 35, 52, 59 {t below water; to May 31, 1936, they had handled 32 600 000 cu yd. Costs for 6 fiscal yrs, and aver costs for period, are in Table 135, in US conte per cu yd. Goup-savine aviruext on all dredges (as of 1937) includes double-deck tables 21 in wide, 12 ft long, with Hg in wells at top and on riffles. Table tailings go to jigs. Hutch product, 100-150 tons per day, or about 1% of gravel treated, passes through rubber-lined tube-mill 11.76 ft long, 50 diam, loaded with about PLACER MINING METHODS 1.5 tona of 1.5.in steel balls, and then over amalgamated plates. A flotation cell was installed on 1 dredge, with good saving, but was later found unnecessary when jigging was adopted. C. A. Banks, Managing Director Pato Consol Gold Dredging, Ltd, cone 2n operations of the 3 largest and most, typical of Co's § dredges, working a property which extends 16 miles along the Nechi River, Zaragosa dist. Equipment includes 2 bydro-elec plants, totaling about 12.000 hp. Table 136 gives costs, in US ¢ per cu yd, for fiscal yr ended Api30, 1939. Each dredge has 13.5-cu ft buckets, and was designed to dig (at Table 136. Cost of Dredging at Pato, Colombia (U8 ¢ per euya: year ended Apr 30, 1930) American pulsator cleaner jigs, treating overflow from riffled tables. Final j ‘trate pasees over amalgamated plates, iailngs going to scavenger 2 by 4-ft ball mill and returned to the cleaner cells. ia. H. 3. EMord, m 1935, gives mechanical details and of which is ground in a 2 Bright, Victoris Aus Dreier | oto [HEY terns | Toute | Farce is inh erie | 2° | sew | 50 0-4 on om ad Spline | Vom vel Thaw TaTaa | mle: om St ‘Yields per cu wa We @ Boyacé dredge, 65-67 fton a via | inane aoe | ane | Bova dion 6-67 000 |Working conta: xe others. Job Wages... 133 0.99 0,87 1,06 has been operating partly Repairs, replacements| on ground covered with 40, ‘and supplies. . 1.36 7 a1 107 {tof barren clay and partly Power. .... 0.43 30 ” 7 on a bench where a high Clean-up - 7 9 08 8 bank was unavoidable Drilling & testing... 7 12 13 '4_| San Francisco dredge (dur ‘Total working. 273) ing yr stated) worked Bullion realisation... 26 | mostiy in tailings, with Office, management, eh wi ‘camp, insur, ete 1a some patches of virgin Latha) come patches of isn wane o_ | EO ae os Total product'n cost 4.75_| relatively ensy. Boyack ial ela reer ee ean pi | ee ree ah eck oat | pean daa Income taxes... 35 moderately easy. All Total cost. ow dredges are equipped with Placer rougher and Pan if, hutch produet operating costs of a steam-driven, flume-type dredge working in gravel averaging about 24 ft deep (439). Buckets are of 7.5-cu ft capac. wt, 35 tons, Dredge diga 35 ft (max) below water line. in 111 ft long, 38 ft 0 in wide and 7 ft deep; draft, 5 ft motion shaft through vight 1.75-in manila ropes. given a speed of 4 rpm, delivering 18 buckets per min, Ladder has overall length of 78 ft 9 i Hull, of in. ‘Bucket drive is from a com- pound, condensing, 125 bp Marshall engine, runuing at 110 rpm and driving the firs By reduction gears, top tumbler ie ted steel plate, Steam at 160-Ib pres ia from a wood-fired, multi-tubular boiler, burning 200 cords of eucalyptus per mo; delivered cost of woe, 13 ah par cord. Mal ‘agine. Dredge buckets delicer into a chute feedi er ft, and making 70 8 Tivin strokes per min: hol ‘wineh is iven by a 12-hp, twin-cylinder "a duplex shaking sereen, art at slope of 7.26 in ‘upper section are /e- and V/ein; in lower weo- tion, ii/yg-in.” Ovarsise material w delivered by "stove chute” 25 ft bebind the boat, This chuteGOLD DREDGING 10-599 has semi-eiroular section, 3.5 ft diam, and is lined with 4 hy 0.7S:in steel wearing plates. Tt is oue- panded by wire ropes from an 8 by Cin channel 3 ft above bottom of the chute, Screen undersise Passes to gold-saving sluices, lined ‘with coconut matting under ex- Table 187. Costs of Operating Flumo-type Dredge, Danded metal. “Most of the gold is Bright, Victoria, Caught in the frat ft of sluices, the Victoria, in 2088 wpper 12 fof which is covered with Four weeks ending Jan 19 Feb 16 Moh 16 si ateel plate locked in place to pro- 8 0 85 u mi 49 55600 67500 65 650 9.5 124 186.0 L219 1164 1.205 0.034 0.047 0.040 0.928 0.693 0.593 0.458 0.463, 0.032 0.027 0.006 01019 0013, 0.019, 0.007 0.005 0° 002 20322407 2,533 ‘out of the matting in a launder and ‘collected behind temporary then tranaferred to an amalgamator. ‘Aver eapac of dredge is about 16 000 ‘ou yd weekly, from 0.42 acre. Table 187 gives working costs for three 4= ‘weak periods in 1035. Lakekakamu, Papua. Data from J. W. Hinks in 1937 (440). Operation of Tiveri Gold Dredging Go, Ltd, is noteworthy for diminutive size of dredge. Bucket line has 34 buckets of 1.25-cu ft capac, and gross wt of entire plant is only 59 tons; wt of individual arta was limited to permit transport by native carriers; heaviest single part, 725 Ib. Bucket Indder can dig 15 ft below water level. Dredge has « ateel hull, 60 {t long, 20 ft ‘wide, and 3 ft deep, divided into 6 water-tight compartments. Power supplied by two 40-60-hp Industrial Marine engines, with lutches permitting either or ‘both to be used. Fuel is producer gas, but engines will operate, without alteration, on bansene oF Kerosene. Working for 2 yr on producer gx, {uel consumption was 40 Ib charcoal per hr; chareoa! is from kiln-buraing the jungle timber First recovery isin naluice 36 ft long by 3 ft wide, with angle- iron rifles and elotted plate over coir matting. Discharge from sluice paanes over x gritaly from ‘which the fines return over sand tables covered with expanded metal over coir matting. | Oversise Gischareen behind dredge through » Gume. Resuite for 2 yr ending June 80: In 1936, 154 824 cu yd ‘and in 1087, 158 185 eu yd, cout 8 pence per cu yd. Rosoiling. In normal operation, a dredge destroys the value of land for agriculture, but sometimes, where all conditions were favorable (see below), resoiling has been success ful, though at added cost. In most cases, some manual or mechanical work has been needed to complete reconditioning the surface. A dredge operating with headline (Art 127) ‘spreads its tailings more evenly than a spudded dredge, but will still bury the topsoil ‘unless special methods are adopted. A resoiling dredge, with spuds, was developed by the Natomas Co for service in Calif, but proved uneconomical under existing conditions. ‘A similar dredge, by Yuba Mfg Co in 1918, operated satisfactorily in valuable rice lands of Korea, abundant cheap labor being available for final leveling; such land is said to be ready for a crop 6 mos after dredging. C. M. Romanowits enumerates following condi- tions for successful resoiling: (a) bedrock fairly smooth and level: (b) bedrock at nearly uniform depth below surface, within area to be dredged: (c) gravel fairly shallow, and ‘water level in pond only slightly below ground surface; (d) deep topsoil: (e) cheap Inbor, or effic mechanical methods for final leveling; (J) land, or gravel, must be worth enough to justify added cost (above normal dredging) of nt least?l¢ per cu yd. ‘Newstead, Victoria (441). An area of 381 acres on Loddon River, estimated to con- tain 15.000 000 cu yd of gravel averaging 3.64 grains gold (26.6¢ with Au @ $35 per o) per cu yd, to aver depth of 24.5 ft, was to be dredged (beginning early 1938) in much man- her as to vestore aurface for farming while avoiding discharge of silt into river. Gravel ia ‘covered by 12-13 ft of loam and sandy clay. In ita digging, screening, and gold-saving features, the dredge design is conventional. A close-connected chain of 9.5-cu ft buckets in carried on a ladder 72 ft long betwoen centers of tumblers; at 45° inclination, digging depth below water is 27.5 ft; by raising the ladder until bottom tumbler is out of water, ‘a bank 16 ft above water can be dug separately. At 21 buckets per min, output of dredge is 175.000 cu yd per mo. For full details of construction, see Bib (441). Special features required for resoiling (Fig 854): (a) Receiving end of stacker beit, 42 n wide, in moved forward to & point in front of the high end of the trommel: pausing under the later, the belt Toes from the stern at 1N° and discharges 25 ft above and 104 ft behind the deck; total length of tstucker-conveyer, 160 ft. () Chute from bucket-discharee hopper to tronimel has a removable bottom eeement, under whieh ie another chute which delivers the entire bucket-discharge to the10-600 PLACER MINING METHODS tailings stacker, by-passing the screen; this is done while ladder is working in dry soil above gravel. © Chute delivering screen oversise to stacker belt also has a removable bottom segment, through ‘which the coarse tailings ean be dropped (via another chute) into the pond 15 ft bablnd the stern. @ Longit sluice boxes terminate in 4 tail chutes discharging sande 25 ft behind the stern. Thess ‘modifications reverve the uraal order of depositing tailings, the coarse now being on bottom, sands in middle, and soil on top. Avoroaca or siuixa. Tract was prepared in advance by building levees 361% wide nt base, 4 ft wide at top, and averaging 0 ft high, or 2 [t above highest recorded water tacking overbardea, inte removed when “TS Fig 854. Dredge Equipped for Reaoiling, Newatead, Victoria, level of river. A settling dam wan provided at elev above highest flood water. To this, dirty water fom dredging pond was to be pumped, clarifed water returning to pond, makeup water bang 129. DRAGLINE DREDGING ‘By Cuantes Wurte Merri, U8 Bur Mines, San Francisco General. The washing plants are mounted on acows or pontoons to which gravel is delivered. by dragline excavators standing on dry land; for analogous methods employing stationaty or mov- ble washers on land see Art 122. The exca Dui in Siberia by Amerioan engineers in 1010: after 2 seusons' operation, the washer wap com intoa bucketladder dredge. Precent practice began in 1093, when 2 plants were built almost simul- taneously near Oroville, Calif, aud Helena, Mont. Table 138 shows the great expansion of the ‘mothod in Calif since 1933; many planta ure now at work also in Alaska, Ida, Mont, Ore, Colo, Aris, ‘Nev, and the Philippines. | Recent changes in the method and ita expanding production have made ‘much of ita literature obsolete ‘The rapid advance of the industry reaulted in part from the need for a new method, but the coincident rise in price of gold was a major factor in ita widespread acceptance. The special field of the dragline dredge is in working deposita too small to warrant inatallation of bucket-ladder dredges (Art 127, 12% Table 138. Dragline Dredging in Calif, 1988-1938. (Minerals Yearbook. 1939, p 235) mamas Pocus we | MOG | Gadrwowmet [aver vane oafent Ya |__| __Cetderveed [are vag i ‘iow [Bente [ Geen Howse [vane Po so ld wel 2] 2 | was] aha Bt] wet | [masa | mies [aes | ce |e Requirements for successful operation. (a) Easy-digging gravel, with few boulders (@ragline lacks the digging power of a shovel or a bucket-line). (8) Max depth below ‘water, about 30 ft; general aver has been 10-12 ft; ideal digging. 16 ft (working depth of gravels bas increased steadily). (c) Fairly smooth, soft, unfissured bedrock; dragline digging under water is I. effective in recovering bedrock gold. (d) Gravel of sufficient righness (including in the average such barren gravel as must unavoidably be handled) to pay expenses about 50% higher per cu yd than those of a bucket-ladder dredge. Direct working costs of dragline dredces in the US in 1937 were 6-154 per cu yd (105); aver gold recovery in Calif in 1925 was 16.8¢ per cu yd. _(e) Sufficient yardage of provitable gravel to cover amortization of equipment (cost of plants is from $40 000 to $200 000); ‘the whole yardage need not be contiguous, since the plant is readily moved from one deposit to another; provision for moving expenses (Tuble 139) must be included in costDRAGLINE DREDGING 10-601 estimates. (f) Topography not much rougher than for bucket-lndder dredges: if the gravel will hold water, by using bulldoser and dragline on ditches and levees, ponds can, be made that enable s washing plant to climb slopes as steep as 5%, but they gonerally work on much lower gradients, ‘Table 189. Cost of Moving Dragline Dredges, 1938-39. (Dats from U. B. Gilroy) ‘Lard & Babop Secramento Dredging Co | Table Mt Dredging Co + $5 tol Sd dain. $5 tn ‘Move No! | More No2 | Move No3 | Move No Butte Co | Gmyx Fiat | Nor Calif | Foliom | Valley Sore Calaveras Co] Hedding | CentralCal | Coloma | Shingle Roe 0 10. 155 00 0 $30 | $900 | $1100 | $100 | $500 | eons 156 on m0 565 ws oo 3120 sisss | siamo | sess | sises | $1656 $8000 At, Redding, 25 tone of parta wore added before rail ahipment, (6) All in Calif except ito, Sonora, ‘Mex. \(c) Curtomary to make convenient repairs during assembly, without soaregating thett cont; above entimtoy include ho such Fepal oval equipment. Dragline excavators commonly have 1.5-2.5-cu yd buckots (max to date, 5 cu yd), 45-65-ft booms, and are driven by 125-150-hp Diesel engines (a few have elec or gasolene drive); buckets, especially whore gravel i tight, are usually 0.25-1.0u yd leas in capac than that for which tho rest of the machine is designed. Usual output is 90-125 cu yd per hr of working time. Wasuns (Fig 855) mounted on steel pontoon or ‘wooden scows 25-40 ft wide, 35-60 ft long, and drawing 30-40 in of water, have gold~ saving equipment practically identical with that on bucket-ladder dredges (Art 127). Dumping from a dragline bucket, however, requires addition of a hopper, 10 or 12 ft ‘aquare at top, and about 15 ft above water. The intermittent feed is equalized as far as possible before reaching the tables by: (a) making the hopper with low-loping rides, on ‘which powerful water jets impinge: () by equipping the firat section of the trommel as ascrubber; (c) by using scroons, retards, lifters, and Archimedean screws in the trommel; 30 in, due to interference with its amooth flow by careening of the acow when & load of gravel in dumped into hopper. Stackers are 40-00 ft long, with belts 24-36 in wido. Diesel enginos ‘of 50 to 100-hp are commonest source of power for driving pumpe, trommel, stacker, and Jigs; usually the power requirement of the dragline excavator slightly exceeds the total needs of the washing plant. Most plants include tractor with bulldozer, one or more trucks, portable pumping unit for fresh water to pond, a blackamith shop, and welding ‘outht (when digging is difficult, the replacing of bucket teeth is a major expense). Strip- ping barren overburden by scarifier, carryall, and bulldozer is often economical. Table 140 ‘ives data on 6 typical dragline dredges operating in Calif in 1937, from Gardner and Alls- man (165). Boulders over 12 in were absent in all casos. Sluices were at grade cf 1.25— 1.8 in per ft; upper ones had iron-topped wooden riffies (cxeept No VI, which used 1.25-in angles); lower sluices ‘in all but No V1) were riffied with expanded metal laid on carpet, matting, or burlap. Cost of dragline dredges. setting up tho outfit is mainly m matter of selecting and amembling large units of ready-built machinery; excavators and buckets, trucks, and bulldosers are always ready-made. Washing plants can be bought ready to assemble or are Aesigned and built at the mine. ‘Table 141 gives prices for 4 tyical outfita built in 1939,PLACER MINING METHODS 10-602 InN “oowpasig w9g “oo Siyy vompoR “Jung Powe eBpetc samPRACL ewooty Jo swomePeeAry Teme 998 MAL in utiDRAGLINE DREDGING 10-603 ‘Table 140, Data on Calif Dragline Dredges Operating in 1987 (165) Working cout per eu yd!” Excavating. Washing General ancl Tota T—Cinco Mineros, Oroville. wood. IV 31, 8 Oloon, Redding. Enterpriee, Milton, (a) Seo text. (Bee Tabte 148. #22500 | $39 600 12 000 16 000 Tenn Yack! Sti ole 0 Drediina Co, Oroville rL#]"@ >"). fw rr mofahe iH ae ‘ y wo Phd Jat fat ay Si, |e 0 “ex 35 S| ae Se wes i % Ys. Ve Ys, Va Ms ‘io | “se a we | ie & @ | 3 a [ids | es a jaes* [o's ns 6 3 3 0 2 eo Ban 320270 | $18 500 22.600 | 16 400 10 600_|_3 600 353-670 | 938 500 Ul—Midland Co, Cotton- ing Cor Redding. VI—Milton (0) Bxel deprec. (Inet ‘depree, Gold Dredging W) Diesel. () leo ‘Table 141, Short Specifications and Prices of Dragline Dredge and Washing Plants (Bodinson Mfg Co, San Francis ‘raglne bucket, ea yd. ‘Nominal capac, eu yd per br. Feed bopper, ‘Fromme, din and length... Rifle ares, appeor ag ft... ‘Stacker, wodth and leah Stacker, drive moto, bp. ‘Aal generator fright and motor, iw ‘Hull, tel pontoon, width, length, depth ‘Approx export eat b ‘Approx pice washing pant, fo b dock, ‘Ban Francisco * ‘Ai for compleie Dees. Approx price of eutable dragine excavator etd Pacife Court... Apteor pice of mitabe bust. '* Price includes rifles and Hactrape, novr, heir control spparati and tranamiasos ond dock botee, or lee ming included: lumber, ower 200378" x9 ‘Cai D4 @o0 0.751 75-100 xs ae x6" " we xa 5 2500 hand 0 Be x3 x ar" ‘8 000 18900 2500 Mae 1351.50 109-125 nx 10 we 70 wx 75 10; 3000 > (Cal D1 000] Murphy, yl 's m0 WX AD 38" | 36 8 3 a | XS ‘00 000 $35 000 3300 32200 2000 0 ¥M, 225 bp 32 000 395.000 (Dima only) 7.0 790010-604 PLACER MINING METHODS General’ procedure. Most gravels worked by dragline dredges are recent stream deposits. If channel is not more than 50-60 ft wide, ite full width generally is taken in 1 out (Fig 856-A), the washer following close behind and discharging tailings behind iteelf, screen oversize by stacker, and sands into the pond. A wider channel may be ‘worked in successive cuts parallel with the stream, but it is better (Fig 856-B) to take miocessive 15 to 20-ft euts back and forth ncross the channel, (Compare with land dredge at Atlantic City, Wyo, Art 122.) One advantage of latter pian is that the bedrock can be scraped (with improved recovery) in more than one direction. By either method, position of the boat is adjusted by 4 wire ropes anchored to deadmen on shore and held taut by ‘winchew on the boat; spuds (Art 127) are usually unnecessary. Following examples illus- trate prartice as of 1036-1038. ‘Wyandotte Cr, Oroville. Data from J. F. Magee (442) in 1936. Graven in in 2 beds; upper, loose and casy to dig; lower, slightly harder; both well rounded and of ‘maodium size (60° on #/s-in). Gold is fine; bright in upper gravel, less s0 in lower. Depth. to falue bedrock (deromponed volcanic ash eusy to scrape), 4-25 ft, aver 12 ft; max depth dredged, 24 ft; usual working depth 9.5 ft, leaving lower bed intact when necessar Parte of erea have up to 2.5 ft of overburden. Duactane, Lima type 601, caterpillar ‘mounted; Dicsel 102-hp engine; 0-ft. boom, 1.25-yd bucket; on uver digging, it delivers 2 hesping buckets per min, or 160 cu yd per br. Waster is on a wooden scow drawing. 25 in of water when fully londed (displacement, 65 tons). Hopper, 10 by 10.5 ft at top, hhas bottom sloping 25°; water jets regulate discharge of gravel. Trommel, 25 ft by 48 i has 4-ft scrubbing section and 5-(¢ blind lower end: middlo 16 ft has 3/-in holes, 1 1/. in e-e throughout; slope, 1.5 in per ft. Cross-sluices, 7 on each side, are 27 in wide and discharge into & 4-ft sluice on each side; all grades, 1.5 in per ft; total sluice area riffled Groa-topped wooden cross-riffes), 480 aq ft; extensions of side sluices deposit sand tailings 12 ft behind rear of scow. Stacker for screen oversize, 45 ft long, with 24-in belt. Wash, ‘water, delivered by centrif pump with 7-in discharge nt 1 200 gal per min, is distributed: 84% to trommel Table 142. Conte at 3 Small Dragline Dredge Operations (442) sprays, 14% to hop- an mca] per chute, 2% to [Wyandotte | Pant A] Plantn | Ber Shute, 2% to ‘ |Apr 5-Dee 31,| Apr 12, 1935-| 41/2 months | the strainer free from Period considered 1935 || Apr 23,1936] in 1936 | flonting trash. Pur- |__—— a ae —-—| chased water, 40min- Bucket size, ox yd. 135 1.35 15 | er'sin. Whole wash- ss1764 | 438.000 820 | Sneplantis dnven nD ee ing plants driven by Ler ay | Orxnarion ie similar to that in Fig 856-A; 1.05 40 | pond is 70 ft wido ‘and about 75 ft long. During first 3 mos of 2 fee tnd bro operation, all delays = alen : . . arnounted to 34.5% fumintenasice. 7 of possible time, larg- General, royalt; = : R ‘est single source of aranee. 0. . 314 | lost ‘time being the srurveying and roving of drain ‘rospert ; . | which was then on ler tind. 3 soles mio pround. "Goes, alice and thon of Wyandotte opern: transportation. : 88 + | tion are compared in mine equipment. |... lee : ‘Table 142 with those Biterates ss of 2 others (localities Total exe depres). [Far | not stated), practi- “ally identical equip ‘ment being employed at al’ 3 places. Digging and washing conditions differ as follows: At Plant A, gravel (9.5 ft rep) is finer (30-40% on 3/y-in), hut harder both to dig and wash; bedrock, of decompued granite, digs easily but is ‘difficult to distinguish from bottom of gravel. At Plant #, gravel (6 ft decp) is loose and sandy, with much coarse (60-75% on 3/p-in) making for eusy washing; bedrock favorable and easily recognised when reached. Milton Gold Dredging Enterprise, Miltn, Calif. For geol, structural, and operating data, see Table 140, col VI; following added information is from Julihn and Horton (67) in 1938. Installation is one of few dragline dredges operated entirely by elec. ‘Trans-DRAGLINE DREDGING Wath of ehandel ‘A 10-605 i renin — Baton a Tibet Gentine Preeiine 13 Jatgeing poattion Advancing Aarancing ‘Wlawn of ehannet pron nicre Fig 856. Two Procedures in Dragline Dredging formers (4 000-440 volts) are mounted on whecled trailer. Ground was carefully prose pected with 7 pits to bedrock per acre, each being groove-sumpled on up-stream and down-atream sides; no factors to cover bedrock or washing losses wero applied. Dredge cuts, surveyed monthly, coincided approx with blocks us used for estimating (Art 11); aver recovery frotn over 1000 000 cu yd was 0.2¢ or a little more than 1% above estimate. Crew for 3-shift work com- prised 12 men and foreman at (weighted) ‘aver wages of $5.75 per day. Water (50 miner's in) cost 11.25 per day-in. (at 1.11664 per kw-be) for a typical month's operation was 20.500 kw-hr on washer, 20.200 kkw-hr on dragline, 900 kw-hr for ‘welding, lights, and shop. During first 2 YF, all time lost (incl several groundings and ‘8 sinking of washer) was 30.8% of elapsed time. Aver total cost, on basis of 1 234 908 eu yd (bank measure) handled in 2 yr end- ing Aug 31, 1937, is itemized in Table 143. Lilly mine, Camanche, Calif. Data from Julihn and Horton’ (67) in 1938, Gravel, 4-18 ft deop, is uncemented, and ‘edrock, voleanie tuff. Gold fine and flaky. Similar gravel {in adjoining tract averaged 16¢ per eu yd in test pits. Drngline, Diesel-powered, has 60-ft boom and 2-yd bucket; normal out put, 100-125 eu yd per hr. Washer is on 50 by 36-ft scow, composed of 5 wooden pontoons drawing 2 ft of water. ‘Trom- rel, 32 by 4.5 ft, hes 8 scrubber, 18 ft ‘Table 143. Cost of Dragline Dredging, Milton, Calif, 1936-87 (67) (Cents per eu y4, bank measure) Ronda, danie, tings Shop... ° ‘Superintendence. ‘Auto transport. Field office : Taxes and insvrance..--. 108 17 2.0110-606 PLACER MINING METHODS of 4/s.in, and 2 ft of O.5-in holes. Wash water, 3 200 gal per min. Stacker, 50 ft long, with 26-in belt, Total (Hungarian) rifled area of 16 cross-aluices and 2 lateral aluices, 1500 oq ft. Clean-upe, every 10 days; mercury supplied during interval, 225 Ib; loss of mercury, 6-7 Ib at each clean-up. Fresh watar for pond i# pumped 2 miles through Sin pipe againat 420 head. Washer equip- ment driven by individual elec motora: 80-hp for trommel, 40-hp for wash-water pump, 7.5 hp for tacker. Crew for Shift work: 3 operators, 3 washer attendants, 3 laborers; 2 blacksmiths on day shift to maintain bucket teeth, wear on which ia very severe. Of 3 elowe neighbors of the Lilly mine, ‘one suspended operations owing to ezpense of saving rusty gold, the other because the gravel proved too hard for a 100-hp gasolene dragline with 1.25-yd bucket. Boise Basin, Idsho, Data from 0. H. Metager (428) on 2 dragline dredges operating in 1937. (A) On Grimes Cr, above Pioncerville. Stream gravels 75-100 ft wide, O-8 ft deep; little overburden (gravel previously worked by hand) but heavy brush, which was cleared by caterpillar tractor. Excavation by Dicscl-drivon 1-yd dragiine, Washing plant, on steel pontoons, Kad 4-ft trommel in 4 sections with 3/g-in holes; tables covered with carpet and expanded metal. In 3 mo, plant advanced 1 mile upstream, treating 75.000-85 000 cu yd of gravel. (B) On a tributary of Fall Cr, west of Granite. Bench gravel about 15 ft deep, more firmly consolidated than stream gravel, with 5 ft of topsoil which was stripped and piled at sides. Excavation hy Diesel 3-yd dragline with 65-f¢ boom, delivering 75 yd (aver) per hr. Washer was on six 8 by 36-ft stec! pontoons assem- bled from 3/is-in plates at the proverty;; it had a 5-ft trommel in 10 3-ft sections (/a-in holos differently spaced), delivering to 10 tables on cach side, covered with Brussels carpot and expanded metal (which proved better than Hungarian rifiles). Individual motors for trommel, 2 centrf pumps (10- and 5-n), stacker, ete, were supplied by 100-kw Diesel- driven generator on boat. Labor, 3-shift: 3 operators, 3 oilers, 2 shoremen, 1 dredgemaster. ‘Mill Gulch, Tenabo, Nev. Data from W. 0. Vanderburg (443) in 1930. Ravine deposit of sand and medium-size boulders, 200-800 {t wide, ia 10-45 ft (aver 30 {0) deep: gold, both tine and coarse, is mostly close to bedrock. Link-Belt dragline has 60-ft boom. and 1.75-yd, heavyluty bucket. A caterpillar tractor-bulldoser in used for grading ‘Washer is on wooden scow, 30 by 40 ft, with 3 additional steel pontoons; draft, 40 im. Extimated @-shift) eapae, 1500 cu yd per day. Trommel, 24 ft by 54 in, is in 2 equal sections: upper, unpunched, has spiral disintegrating flights: lower, 3/rin holes. Six cerose-sluices on each side are 20 in wide by 12 ft long; total (Hungarian) riffled area, 460 a1 ft, A 6-in centrif pump circulates wash water, pumped to the pond from a well through 15 000 ft of 8-in pipe against 500-ft bead. Stacker 1 70 ft long, with 24-in belt. A160-hp, &-cyl Diceel wupplies all power, Crew, 16 men, 3-shift, Clean-ups daily. 130. DRIFT MINING Drift mining in the exploitation of placern by underground methods. Tt wan one of the early. type of mining in Calf reaching ita peak between 1870 and 1880; theresfter it declined and almost cccased (G7). Mince TUS, due to higher price of gold, a revival of drift mining hts oeourred. ‘of une in mining ich puyetrenks of moderate thickness, where open-eut methods are eld aamaller net return. — Large boulders must usually be blasted: i numerorn, rue cont 10-4 point which ix prohibitive Drift mining has been practiced chilly in fed channels m Calif, the butsed beach placers at Nome, Alanka, and the deep leads ‘Alaska creck gravals, where frozen, are often drifted, eepecially by small ‘4 Alunkn mining, many placere were drifted for rich mtre ‘with mall capital, lator the samo depowta were profitably hydraulicked or dredged (385). Drift ‘Ordinary hicknean of gravel mined iy 8 to 8 fe; up to 19 or 13 ft in rare cases, and down to'd or 4 ft which. ‘about munimumn for economic work in flat openings. General plan. ‘Tha methods of orsxve are the same as for other underground mining (Art 14-16), with emphasis on a mode of entry that will drain the workmgs and eliminate equipment and costs for hoisting and pumping. But tunnel or drift entries are limited to bench gravels or other elevated deposits like the old Calif channels. Details of 1aTeRat. pevevorment (Fig 857-79) vary widely with local conditions. In general, a cen'zal haulageway’ is driven from the point of entry close to the long axis of the paystrosk, and on or partly in bedrock; in Calif and Victoria, this opening is sometimes entirely in bedrock and connected Ly chute-raises with the workings in the gravel above. Cross cute are driven from the central drift to the mu of the channel, or limits of the paystreak; auxiliary drifts also are driven in wide deposits. These openings have both « mining fand an exploratory function, latter often predominating in fixing the dimensions of the blocks of ground. Munna is done by a form of longwall-retreating (Art 108), calledDRIFT MINING 10-607 “‘breasting”; advancing longwall has been used in a few cases. Ground is broken with picks where’ possible; by hand drilling and blasting where necessary. Frosen gravel ia usually thawed before it is excavated; for exceptional case, sce Idaho Mining Co, below. ‘The roof of working places is temporarily supported by timber; posta and head boards serve in firm, cemented, or froxen ground; spiling or forepoling may be necessary in loose gravel. Barrows are best for transport in small mines or under low roof; otherwise tracks are laid along the working faces and the grave! shovoled into cars. Tracks are shifted bodily after the fave has advanced 6-8 ft. Equipment for haulage, hoisting, and pump- ing is the eamo as in metal mines of similar arca and output. ‘Fig 857 typifies early work in Calif in wipe deposits (456, 457). Main haulagoways are 6 ft by 6 or 7 ft in the clear, often requiring heavy drift-eets and close lagging. Some Fig 887. Layout of Wide Drift Fig 859. Layout of « Drift ‘tee, Cal von Patron of these mines covered Inrge areas, making the maintenance of haulage openings a serious item. Cronscuts C and auxiliary drifts D are 5 by 6t or 6 by 6{t, timbered and lagged in soft ground, but not in as permanent a manner as the main haulageway. Crosscuta may be driven at an angle to the bedrock slope to secure the desired haulage gradient. Breasting begins at the ends of drifts D, and retreats towards the crosscut from which they” ‘were driven. Successive positions of the working faces are indicated by dotted lines 8- Short breasts (Fig 857) allow purtial control of roof press by regulating apeed of advance ‘and distance apart of working faces. In compact gravel requiring blasting, little care was taken to keep breasts ‘“faced-up" evenly; it was cheaper to break from the corners of blocks. Fig 858 shows breast timbering at the Hidden ‘Treasure (457); it is the usual form for soft gravel. Fig 859 shows a layout for paystrenk also that in NARROW paystreaks in an adit; it usually requires timbering even in frozen ground. Prospecting cross cuta Care driven at intervals; in frozen ground they are generally untimbered. Breasting is carried the full width of the pay, retreating towards the point of entry. Breasts are timbered with sets in heavy ground, with posts and caps in moderately firm’ ground, or left untim- bored in solidly frozen ground: Fig 860 shows an advancing o “i roasting. It has been applied in Alaska Hed PLAN and Calif to narrow, irregular deposits Fig 800. Advancing System (after Elis) where straight haulage drifts, driven ‘ahead of stoping, aro not feasible. A gangway is kopt open through the worked-out farca_ by timbering with light 3-piece sets and tight Ingging (450). ‘Washing gravel. At mince opened by « drift or tunnel, care are dumped at the portal into a bin feeding a sluice. Sluicing is rarely continuour; bin is fushed out periodically by s mall giant working under low head. At shaft mines, gravel is usually hoisted 2 Narrow 75 to 100 ft wide, typifying early work in Alaska; Central drift D may connect with a shaft or10-608 PLACER MINING METHODS hhigh enough above surface to give headroom for sluices and tailings disposal. Gravel may be dumped directly into a box (Fig 828) at head of an elevated sluice, or into a bin for intermittent sluicing. Latter plan is usual at amall mines and where water is scanty or costly. Bins hold a day's output; upper sluice boxes are cleaned up after each run; frequent clean-ups are advisable duo to rolative richness of gravel. In the far North, VERT SEC. Fig 861, Arrangement of Self Dumper (after Kats) luicing is impossible in winter; gravel is stacked on surface and sluiced in spring and summer. In Calif, tough cemented gravel is crushed in atamp mills fitted with coarse ‘soreens, and then sluiced. Gravel containing much sticky clay may be passed through -trommels or puddled, before aluich Surface plaut at Alaskan drift mines is marked by wide use of inclined cableways, the ‘bucket of which descends into the shaft (Fig 861). For winter work, the structure shown aie, abe ate Su vera erting ump by potest Siklisgat dat teiting wit'nxe tw Rea Swed En lc eet ee Fig 862, Methods of Protecting Sluice under Winter Dumps (after Ella) {for supporting the dumpbox is replaced by s sluice, built near the ground, and supported ‘aa in Fig 862. The carrier dumps in a conical pile over the sluice; hence, much of the winter dump oan be fed te the sluice by gravity assisted by nozale water in the spring. Examples of drift mining. California, ranux womx (to 1590). Cost of 6 by 7-ft main haulagoways in hard gravel, requiring blasting, $4-$7 per ft; omaller crosecuts and drifta, $3-$5. In Tees diftcult to drill, and in pioking ground requiring timbering, main tunnels cost $3-$4 per ft; auxiliary openings, $1.75-$3. Table 144 shows effect of local conditions at 4 typical mines (456, 460) iDRIFT MINING 10-609 Table 144. California Drift Mines Operating about 1888 to 1890 (Brown) ‘Aver output per 24 br, ton. aa i = Emppecamacccc:| 2 j Eki) d ies wool A] Bg He cacti | “ie | oof | oe rete ic aif | af | od iyiiiiiwawac: | 38 |e | st re a Tonnes al 3 eee 2) 3 aia Pare meee 8 | ww Kt enti 0 sep |es—| pebetenereth ae jum cemented, Pe = picking and caving, Sling 0) Yacluden waren an Sader nae Lo = looee. He = hard cemented. Db = drilling and blasting, SI'= alu Inbor, but not management. -(o) Ton ton, "(6) Aver cont of labor and suppli Btiggtetive opertion, oy tvererarel rent not inluding lant, nor dead-work during periods of ‘non-production @) "Bay-eravel delivered ataurface. (8) Large stones thrown ‘Vallecito-Western mine, Angsls Camp, Cal. Data from C. E. Julibn and F. W. Horton (57) in 1038. A segment of Central Hill channel, 40-150 ft wide, aver 6 ft (max, 14 ft) doep, is opened by a 153-{t vert shaft and bodrock tunnel extending 4.300 ft upetream. An abrupt rise (of 5 ft occurs in bedrock 300 ft from shaft, beyond which the tunnel, after’ following bedrock grade of .25% for about 2 300 ft, gradually works into and under the bedrock, which thereafter rises at a slightly steeper grade. The downstream portion, within about 1700 ft of Foot fhaft, and while tunnel was atill on evelopment for Rr Sa erie vartiaal tomes REDS Devdoomet i Pepe, Vee Wan parallel drifts, ono on each rim of . channel, connected by crosscuts 100-150-ft apart. Breasting method (Fig 863) was applied to one 240-ft block in 1932; for details, soe Bib (461, 18). Following notes from Bib (87) relate to subsequent work (1983-36) upstream. Where gravel lay above tunnel, it was attacked through raises spaced according to the vol of gravel accessible 10 ‘them; where channel was 100-150 ft wide, spacing might be 30 ft, increasing to 126 ft in narrow parta. Gravel, not comented but requiring blasting, was well rounded and heavy, with many boulders, cme 6-10 ft diam; of ground mined, about 30% conaiated of boulders left underground. Gold was coarse, (00% on 20-mesh, with frequent nuggeta up to 0.5 02) and 75% of it was within » foot of bedrock, of ‘which 1 or 2 ft was usually taken up. Gravel waa mined by bressting acrooa full width of channel. ‘Two rows of 6-{t holes, spaced 4 ft horis, one row 1.5 ft, other 3.5-4 ft, above bedrock, each bole. loaded with 3-4 sticks of 40°% dynamite, broke to height of 5 ft: another row gave added height, if ‘wanted. Ponta 10-12 ft apart, with headboards, ware all the roof aupport uauslly required. Broken ‘gravel loaded into wheelbarrows, dumped down nearest raise, discharged into t-ton oars, hauled in ‘ear trains by storage-battery lovo to tranafer dump 300 ft from shaft, loaded into other care, and (rammed by hand to i.6-ton akip in shaft. Waste, of deep bedrook cuttings and boulders for which10-610 PLACER MINING METHODS storage space was temporarily lacking, amounted to 31% of all material hoisted. Headframe bin ‘discharged directly into 2-ftaluice 12 ft ong, with only enough water to move 4 to G-in stones; larger ‘onee were picked ont by hand; this sluice recovered 50-00% of the gold. Discharge from sluice Passed into'e disintegrator-trommel yielding plus 1.5-in (to dump), 1,5-0.6im, and minus 0.5-in slees; joes 12 in wide, at 4% grade, rifled with fst iron erose-bare, 2 '45° upstream. In Aug, 1936, 25 men on 3 shifta mined and washed 80 tons per day. During 45 mos, ending Aug 31, 1086, hoisting 40 007 tons of gravel and 18 102 tone of waste, direst mining and washing cot was ‘#4 58 per ton of gravel; indirect and marketing, 90.51; total 85.08. Recovered value, 85.68 per ton of gravel. Calaveras Central mine, Angels Camp, Calif. Data from Julihn and Horton (87) in 1938, Company said to control 3.5 miles slong the Tertiary Central Hill channel, and hhas developed 3 roughly parallel Sculls and track patted in paystreaks of different ages (others it growad allowed Known in reserve), lying on alate o ‘echint bedrock and buried to depth of 250-350 ft by alternating beds of gravel and tuffs. Pay gravel is nor- mally linited to 3-4 ft above bed- rock (21 ft in one case) and 1-3 ft of the latter is usually taken up. Gravel is coarse, well rounded, and tightly cemented: boulders numer- ‘ous; gold mainly coarse (over 10- meth), associated with considerable pyrite end s little block sand. One payatreak (mainly worked in 132-83) was 50-70 wide; other 2, 150-200 ft wide, of which only one was actively worked in 1934-38, Aver recovery from 138 750 tons of gravel and bedrock washed in 4.5 yr, $4.94 per ton, incl some low- Development is through 3-compt ‘vert shaft 350 ft deep, and a crose- cut tunnel in bedrock passing under- neath the 2 channels now mainly developed; "another 240-ft shaft affords ventilation. Drifts up and down stream from tunnel follow the 2 principal ebannelsy developed (1936) for a total length of 44000 ft, with about 30.000 ft of work= Haulage drifts, 7 by 7 ft, on 1% are advanced about 6 ft per shift by 2 mony dling with Light iftere, shooting 8-10 holes with of 40% dynamite, and lon ‘ith Eimeo-Finlay loaders.” Use of a Moar derrick” fuclitater movement of cara at face without switches or aide joka. Fig 804 shows one method of ining. Here the haulageway is be- ‘neath the rim of the channel. Parallel headings H, 7 by 7 ft, are advanced lke Bedrock drifta: ‘breakthroughs J divide the long. pillaix into equare bloc Fig 864, Room-and-pilla: Drift Mining, Calaveras nearly all material from these opera ‘Centrs Mine tions is loaded by Eimco-Finlay loader. Most pillars are recovered ‘on retreat. For lonewall work, as at K, the sar.o type of loader in employed by shifting the track close to the wall before blasting, a0 that mrt gravel will be thrown onto the trac it Ioader.” Caterpillarrmounted Nordberg-Butler ahovel bas also boen used with advantage where ‘train of care can be placed near the gravel ple. All gravel in loaded, including boulders (except few of the largest, and thene are not piled) since the cost of piling by hand exceeda that of loading, tramming, and hoisting them. Poulders too large for the loaders are sledged or bulldosed. Enough Dedrock is taken up and treated as gravel to inaure recovery of gold in ita erevioes. Drag serapersDRIFT MINING 10-611 have been wed experimentally, lotding into oars through a hole in a raised platforsn. Under fevor- table conditions (a large area of well drained and previoualy broken or oaved gravel) scrapers were (expected to be advantageous for handling low-grade gravel, provided haulage, hoisting, and washing {facilities were adequata for the enlarged output. Trains of 4-6 2-ton cara are hauled by storage: ‘battery locon to sbalt pocket, loading into balanced 2 S-ton skips which dump into mill bin. Waste from bedrock drifts, 25-80% of all material holated, is handled similarly, but discarded at surface by ‘8 200-t stacker belt. Mine water, 150 000 ual per day, pumped by S0-bp turbine from shaft to ‘tank above the mill, supplies an ample quantity for washing. Cowrs. During 1953-34, gross out ‘ut (gravel 75%, waste 25%) was 83 419 tonn (aver, 114 tons per day) at coot of $1.80 per ton for mining and washing, excl deprec, depletion, and general overhead. Costa per ton varied inversely ‘with monthly output, from #1.40'on 6 507 tone (200 tons per day) to 83.04 on 1 271 tone (41 tons par day). ‘These costs, largely the result of mechanization, compare favorably with thove of earlier years when abundant cheap labor was available. Dakota mine, Rivulet, Mont. Data from E. D. Gardner and C. H. Johnson in 1935 (18), - Deposit was only 6-20 ft wido, under 80-[ cover; 7 {Lof gravel was mined, of which much was boulders. An adit was started in the face of old hydraulic workings and driven 160 ft through previously drifted ground to reach virgin gravel. Thereafter face was advanced full width of deposit, with round-timber sets. 4 ft c-c. Cape, 12-15-in diam, ‘were urually 10-14 ft long, dependirag on width of channel; min width of 10 ft was required to stack boulders; posta, 0-12 in; girta, 6 in. Top lagging, 4.5 {t long, of split poles, was driven ahead as ground was picked out. Ali rock over sizo of man's fist was stacked on sides of opening, except Jarge boulders for which there was no room; boulders too inrge to handle were blockholed. Dry walls, built on each side of 18-in gage track, left only ough room for passage of an 8-cu ft ear, 3 {t wide. Two men worked on each of 2 shitta, mining and washing 30 cu ft (1.7 tons) per man-shift. Labor cost (@ $4 per shift), $52.35 per ton; total cost, inl supplies, about $2.60 per ton of material trammed, ‘Alaska, Wimmlor (188), in 1927, tated that drift mining hod then become practically obsolete at Nome and elsewhere in Alaska, except in the Yukon-Tenana valley and a few other interior dine ‘iets, Formerly, a large drift mine would employ 80-50 of bedrock in a neason; by 1027 there were Ise than a dos fand cleaning 50.000 eq ft; but at numerour places 2-0 men, with old and inefficient equipment ‘working 1 shift, were cleaning 10 000-30 000 wa ft of bedrock per semion. Mont drift muning ‘Bhey are developed through ‘thuveed mul wing, ace Art 131). Aver duty per man picking, shoveling, and wheeling 200-800 ft from working places to shaft, 75-125 barrow loud in 8 hr; equivalent to 20-40 nq ft of bedrock under lying 8-6 ft of gravel; aver, 35.0q ft (5-cu yd). Cont in often stated on basiv of bedrock aren cleaned, During chief activity at Fairbanks, nome costa were 40¢ per aq ft; a few at Nome, only 26¢: usual corte at Fairbanks in 1027 were 604-81 per ay ft; vor about Te. In Tolovat fone epecially favored mine. In Ituby dintt (1922), where channels are other conditions adverne, GO#-81 5 thawing and 356 for euicing, Central Aluaka und the Yukon ure ewentually high-cost regions due to high wages, scanty supply dh pricew of many nupplica (inel large tranep conte), a Working season of 3-5 mos, Most mines py waxes plus beard; general Inb siged from {$6.50 in larger and more necessble diatrieta Lo $12 nt more remote; hourd coat $1-84 por day. Some ‘ines paid a bonus of 50¢ per sift to men who stayed during a whole reason, Old ayatem of lower ‘wages in winter was not in effect in 1026." Underground mines usually worked 2 Shr ahifta, ‘Nome, Alaska; duta by A. Gibeon, 1914 (454, 462). Table 145 shows data for 5 auccceeful ditt mines in frosen gravel. All thawing was done duting night shift; mining, in day ebift only. ‘Water for sluicing was pumped by independent distillate engines; minex No? and 3 were under same management with a common pumping plant, head on puns about twice that at mines No 4 and 5, Other conditions a€ecting costs were as follown. Mine No 1: All mining done in winter; 1.5 ft of bdrone mined ‘As much as pouibe of the winter dun (0 520 cu yd) wan bydralicked into aluices, the rent shoveled in; sluice tailing was removed with hopse ‘the rurface as at No 3. Spring and summer work aa in No. Pay-gravel averaged 2 in above, and 2 ft in, bedrock. Gravel was dumped into © mud-box; eluicing was continuous, hence pumping was continuous on day ‘The bedrock in No 1, 2, 3, and 4 was mica echiat; at No‘, black alate. ‘The waate or overburden a No 1, 2 and 3 wan coarse eand; at No 4, sand and clay; ‘at No 5, ft wide and nearly atraight; mi ‘unfrosen and locas. From shafta 60-140 ft deep, usually 40 ft and never lee than 25 ft outa ‘deeper edge of channel, erosecuta were driven to about center ine of channel, and turned both waye10-612 PLACER MINING METHODS Table 145. Data on Drift Mining, Nome, Alaska, in 1914 (Gibson) Depth of sits, =e) ) a i 2s 25 2s tH] 7a} 3 ? a] ad] ad Z | fe] te | om | a i wo | ia] i f|Comcotmunterernig’ | a | te | ae | Seer ncmber a oka baad pr Gyeenencrenes| ma] ina | 161 "g| Eenath ofmtenm points tt... 7 7 9 Nabecet stn oii “ 2 : : 2 £ haz 0.78 x i ° Bi Sretng tie, dyes 202 { ; Butgeet yee pa pd. | 3.8 ae For thawing ga per day] 18 rm For bowing eal perays2 oc" | gag ‘a | Por cnya Stee ae] 130 o.esit Porcnys nomen ga 20007] ‘base ‘ties A ESSMESS Star eeed | ESE ty E| Dine per day pumving sng Talend eee] ae | ae | ae B| indattper ou 9a aoa, 23 | 3.0 | 437 Ceude oil per bbl at mine... Dintillate per gal at mine, spa fe Py oy i rye | % t t i 5 o |oa | oo 5 ® M ws z 8 | |" SE se ‘Duty of labor (cu yd * per man-day) "Thawing waste and pay-gravel () 51.25 | 5140 | 42.85 | 109.08 Mining waste and pay-gravel (). 10.79 | 13:53 14.87 Mining pay-eravel only (0)... 60] 7:53 716 Sluicing pay-gravel (aluling labor) 76.0 | 95.33 75 ‘Thawing, mining and sluicing (6) ais | 561 eo | 6.06 “Tome gravel not soc meanare- (0) geht of wall dumpigg oablenay ig 60.) Pang sop eg fteteren "eh Foreay stint and ingore» Duy borer Sng S120 2 1 mer sedarenen, Greate Pees MG) Patan engage tnd late Busy sal, aF30 ad 749 oy rvnmcily.” Alnor bat menaew incaed: Ch Orpen See ean ead ett Ning Ta beoged 2h bs pe day ding Ee a pmo ing pe day dng ts Into dsifte 200 ft long; a erosscut both ways from end of each drift then divided the channel into neo tions 600 ft long. Beginning at outer ends of most remote crosacuta, blocks never more than 10 1% tequare wore extracted as in Fig 885, wing § by S-in posta at 3 ft oc, with 3 by 12in headboerds; no headboard wae permitted to reat on 2 posts, Rune of gravel {rom sides were stopped by temporary. Ingsing. - When No I block was finished and floor cleaned, ta 2 gravel faces were clove lagged behind posta with 2 by G-n plank, and all other poste were pulled out; roof usually caved at once, Sling Block solidly. Block No 2 was then worked back towards No 1, the intervening posts and iagging being drawn before pulling posts in No 2. Successive blocks were mined in the order indicated. A second eroasout had meanwhize been driven 20 ft back, and its 10-ft blocks were removed in seme ‘way. This aystem provided 4 working vlaoee at a time, besides crosecut headings, tributary to shaft, keeping holst busy. Loss of timber in one 600-ft section, full width of channel, was only 8 000, be ft; shalt timbere were recovered wiuen walls frose in winter. Paisbanks, Alaska; data fror: J, F. Newsots; see also Bib (400). 80% of produstive deposite are at depths of 40-260; all lie in valley bottoms with fat gradienta; most of them solidly frosen. ‘Tranaport ditioult and water supply meager. Work covered by Table 140 was done prior to 1900,