Working A Face

WORKING A FACE.

Working a face is one of the most important parts of sluicing and unless you get it right you will have to pay a price in time and effort. So, let’s look at that planning involved in properly working a face.

A face is the area in front of your equipment, and the direction into which you are shovelling. The idea is to move your equipment into the active face as it grows in size and direction, backfilling your hole behind as you work along. The depth and direction of the face depends on the gold you are following and that will also decide how deep you need to dig. Simple test panning, as you work, will show you in which direction to work, what material is the richest and how deep to dig to get it all. Why move wash that has only a few specks of gold in it when you could be moving better wash, loaded with gold, with the same effort and time?

Testing the area before you make your initial set up is very important. That testing will show you not only your best starting point, but also where to temporarily place your unwanted overburden and in which direction you must work.
I have seen many times where someone places their overburden over an unrecognized rich area and then began working the poor ground just beside that. In time they find they have to remove the newly placed overburden to get to the good gold below it. Had they but taken the time to test the entire area first they would have found this out well beforehand, saving the extra work. It may take me two or three trips before I start working an area in earnest, but I then have a work plan I am confident in, based on the gold in the ground.
You must, if possible, try to keep the working area in front of your unit clear of loose rocks, brush etc, as this will help your footing while shovelling. At times this is impossible and so you can only do the best you can by watching your footing.

Working deep Crevices

Once again, before you start, and as you progress, you must test to see if any gold exists within any crevices. If it does, and you are going to work that crevice, you must give a lot of consideration as to which way the water will flow from your unit. You must keep the area you are working (the face) dry, if at all possible. Work in the same manner as above, backfilling your hole behind yourself as you go.

I also detect the exposed area that I have just worked before any move is made. The detector I use is one that I know inside out, a VLF Tesoro Diablo 2 fitted with a 7 inch coil. I am not interested in depth, but rather in sensitivity. It is true that it is an old detector now, but I have used it for many years, and I understand its subtleties. This detector over the years has found so much hidden gold that it makes one laugh. You can confidently sweep the bottom of a crevice clean, thinking afterward, “How good was that?”

The important points to remember is this.

TEST, TEST, TEST and TEST again.

Keep all your rocks and discharge material behind your work area, do not throw it on either side of your work area. By doing so will help when it is time to back fill the hole you only need to drag it back into the hole, it is a fast and simple way of backfilling.

Your water discharge must not enter any water way dirty were possible. Steps such as filtering over sand and sediment holes must be used.

Work in such a position where you feel at ease think of your back twisting while turning is not a good idea. Try not to take any more than two steps while loading the top hopper of your unit.

Find the right pace to work at do not rush take your time you have all day.

The shovel you use must have a rounded tip, a flat nose shovel will give much more resistance when driven into wash than a rounded tip shovel will. Hence the need to exert much more energy.

If entering privet land seek permission to do so. Even though it is a water way.

JB 2011
I withhold permission for this article to be cut and pasted or duplicated onto any other web site. ( without my express permission !)

James 101

Hi James101,
great info and tips here, thanks.
can you tell me what type of sluice you use and does it pick up the fine gold with it?
Thanks,
Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob, mate I use what is known as a Banjo which looks very simular to a High banker but works in a slightly different manner in regards to material classification, feed rate, and the amount of concentrate you have to clean up at days end. And yes the unit will retain all the fine gold as the photo below shows.
Cheers James 101

Where can I get one like yours James101?
Thanks,
Uncle Bob.

Bob mate you cant get a unit like mine the only way is to build one. I have placed basic plans for a banjo here on this site under the heading How to build a banjo. They are not hard to make and using good quality materials will only cost $100 to $120. You can make them to suite if you wish a big one that is fine if you wish a small one that is fine also. A good size is around 70cm long and 23 cm wide {bottom hopper}. Top hopper 50cm long and 21cm wide. If you decide to build one give me a yell I will help with guidance and advice.
Cheers James 101

they really catch the fine stuff Bob

Hey fellas, looks like I will have to get the local engineer around here to build me one - is it OK if I use your plans here James101?
Thanks, UB

Sure is mate anything posted here on this site by me is open to the general members to use. The only objection I have is the information been copied without consent and been cut and pasted into other web sites.

Great post on working a face James...I'll use a lot of that info very informative keep it up mate...
Dave

skysite wrote:Great post on working a face James...I'll use a lot of that info very informative keep it up mate...
Dave

my sentiments as well skysite -- wet prospectors watch this forum because there is so much more info to come .It will be information overload in some cases but download it and refer back to it at any stage and remember if you don't understand something PLEASE say so and we will try to make it easier to understand

Murachu wrote:

skysite wrote:Great post on working a face James...I'll use a lot of that info very informative keep it up mate...
Dave

my sentiments as well skysite -- wet prospectors watch this forum because there is so much more info to come .It will be information overload in some cases but download it and refer back to it at any stage and remember if you don't understand something PLEASE say so and we will try to make it easier to understand

Murachu you and james101 have been great with information for us new to sluicing and panning the little 1% problems that I don't think of when I'm in the field get covered love your work guys.....
Dave and paula

that is our aim simply and purely to disseminate our knowledge to everyone for free ! Im glad that you can see through the other distractions for what they are.

Yes Marachu and James101,
Very imformative posts and like Skysite has said it's terrific for us newbies to panning and sluicing.
I am still yet to get my sluice[banjo]
All the best Guys,
Uncle Bob.

Murachu wrote:that is our aim simply and purely to disseminate our knowledge to everyone for free !

That's it in a nut shell.
James 101

UNCLE BOB wrote:Yes Marachu and James101,Very imformative posts and like Skysite has said it's terrific for us newbies to panning and sluicing. I am still yet to get my sluice[banjo] All the best Guys,Uncle Bob.

U/B mate glade we can be of help.

Another tip i use is to have a large plastic square bucket at the end of my sluice. I regularly carry this up the banks well away from where i am working and dump and level it neatly. This saves silting up the holes downstream where others may be working.
I have seen guys with 30 years experience, silt up the water hole they are trying to pump from, throw overburden in the areas that hold better gold, ad it has to be handled twice then to get under it.
I have seen then pump water from one puddle to the next, to get it closer to where they are working, and have it run off after a day or so, and be left with no water..
You have to think about what your doing, conserve the water in the dryer creeks, and do minimal damage.
Dont bust out natural dams/ rock faces that help keep your water where u need it. plug them up with clay if you have to.
Remember when your gone, animals may be depending on that permanant water hole, even if its only a few hundred litres.
Set up your sluice upstream from where your digging, so the water soaks back to where you pumped it from.
Another tip i have found usefull is , I run shade cloth over gutter guard on my pump foot valve. It saves it clogging up, and you just wipe the shade cloth when its blocked.

Thats my 2 cents worth...

The best tip i have found thru experience in areas with heaps of leaf litter, or small floating debris is a stick across the puddle i am pumping from. It stops the floating matter and keeps it in the main pond and away from the pump.
I dig a sump hole in one corner for the pump, and lay a flat stick across the puddle at the water height. Make sure your pumps running when you do this as the water level will drop a little when you fire up the pump.
Works a treat for me, I can recycle 60 or 80 litres and run all day like this, even in slity very dirty water..
I am looking at a floating boom ( they use them for oil clean up, and are very light and sold by the metre)
If your really struggling buy a few metres of silt mesh and a few pegs and run your water thru that. You will see it on every construction site ( if that doesnt keep u and every greenie happy ) nothing will)
Water goes thru it, but no silt will....

G'day Maka,

We work on different ends of the world (Alaska for me) ---but ---

A typical recirculating system for me (and others here) has the undersized material and it's discharge water dropping into a Primary Settling Pond. From there, the overflow (as far from the input area as possible) discharges into the Middle Pond. Again, from the far discharge of the Middle Pond, the water enters the Return Intake Pond. All 3 ponds form a half circle, bringing the furthest end of the last pond nearest to the operation. There is no need to haul direct discharge material anywhere.

The dimensions of the recirculating system vary as to the size of the operation. A big operation means a larger system, a small, hand shovel operation (like mine), means a very small system. I just pull the larger sediments from the ponds as they fill up and that's that.

Haul buckets of discharged material, by hand, to pile / flatten them somewhere else? No, that's not how I work.

I thoroughly do NOT want to say your system is harder to maintain than what I am used to seeing. What I want to say is that we're different in our aproaches to a final solution.

Thanks for the tip,, I will hand dig a few holes if possible and try your idea. i know it works on a large scale, and i will give it a shot for sure with the pick and shovel..
Some areas are already on bedrock so it wont work, but i do have a great spot to try this technique out. I have been racking my brain trying to work it out. i think you just solved my problem.. Its clay material and wash dirt with lots of light floating roots, leaves, etc, So it should work a treat...Give yourself a pat on the back from me...

KAEOJ wrote:G'day Maka,

We work on different ends of the world (Alaska for me) ---but ---

A typical recirculating system for me (and others here) has the undersized material and it's discharge water dropping into a Primary Settling Pond. From there, the overflow (as far from the input area as possible) discharges into the Middle Pond. Again, from the far discharge of the Middle Pond, the water enters the Return Intake Pond. All 3 ponds form a half circle, bringing the furthest end of the last pond nearest to the operation. There is no need to haul direct discharge material anywhere.

The dimensions of the recirculating system vary as to the size of the operation. A big operation means a larger system, a small, hand shovel operation (like mine), means a very small system. I just pull the larger sediments from the ponds as they fill up and that's that.

Haul buckets of discharged material, by hand, to pile / flatten them somewhere else? No, that's not how I work.

I thoroughly do NOT want to say your system is harder to maintain than what I am used to seeing. What I want to say is that we're different in our aproaches to a final solution.

Yep K/J that is the manner in which i work also, fast simple and it works.. cheers mate
James 101

James 101 wrote:

KAEOJ wrote:G'day Maka,

We work on different ends of the world (Alaska for me) ---but ---

A typical recirculating system for me (and others here) has the undersized material and it's discharge water dropping into a Primary Settling Pond. From there, the overflow (as far from the input area as possible) discharges into the Middle Pond. Again, from the far discharge of the Middle Pond, the water enters the Return Intake Pond. All 3 ponds form a half circle, bringing the furthest end of the last pond nearest to the operation. There is no need to haul direct discharge material anywhere.

The dimensions of the recirculating system vary as to the size of the operation. A big operation means a larger system, a small, hand shovel operation (like mine), means a very small system. I just pull the larger sediments from the ponds as they fill up and that's that.

Haul buckets of discharged material, by hand, to pile / flatten them somewhere else? No, that's not how I work.

I thoroughly do NOT want to say your system is harder to maintain than what I am used to seeing. What I want to say is that we're different in our aproaches to a final solution.

Yep K/J that is the manner in which i work also, fast simple and it works.. cheers mate
James 101

me as well -- works no matter what just scale it to your requirements

Guest wrote:WORKING A FACE.

Working a face is one of the most important parts of sluicing and unless you get it right you will have to pay a price in time and effort. So, let’s look at that planning involved in properly working a face.

A face is the area in front of your equipment, and the direction into which you are shovelling. The idea is to move your equipment into the active face as it grows in size and direction, backfilling your hole behind as you work along. The depth and direction of the face depends on the gold you are following and that will also decide how deep you need to dig. Simple test panning, as you work, will show you in which direction to work, what material is the richest and how deep to dig to get it all. Why move wash that has only a few specks of gold in it when you could be moving better wash, loaded with gold, with the same effort and time?

Testing the area before you make your initial set up is very important. That testing will show you not only your best starting point, but also where to temporarily place your unwanted overburden and in which direction you must work.
I have seen many times where someone places their overburden over an unrecognized rich area and then began working the poor ground just beside that. In time they find they have to remove the newly placed overburden to get to the good gold below it. Had they but taken the time to test the entire area first they would have found this out well beforehand, saving the extra work. It may take me two or three trips before I start working an area in earnest, but I then have a work plan I am confident in, based on the gold in the ground.
You must, if possible, try to keep the working area in front of your unit clear of loose rocks, brush etc, as this will help your footing while shovelling. At times this is impossible and so you can only do the best you can by watching your footing.

Working deep Crevices

Once again, before you start, and as you progress, you must test to see if any gold exists within any crevices. If it does, and you are going to work that crevice, you must give a lot of consideration as to which way the water will flow from your unit. You must keep the area you are working (the face) dry, if at all possible. Work in the same manner as above, backfilling your hole behind yourself as you go.

I also detect the exposed area that I have just worked before any move is made. The detector I use is one that I know inside out, a VLF Tesoro Diablo 2 fitted with a 7 inch coil. I am not interested in depth, but rather in sensitivity. It is true that it is an old detector now, but I have used it for many years, and I understand its subtleties. This detector over the years has found so much hidden gold that it makes one laugh. You can confidently sweep the bottom of a crevice clean, thinking afterward, “How good was that?”

The important points to remember is this.

TEST, TEST, TEST and TEST again.

Keep all your rocks and discharge material behind your work area, do not throw it on either side of your work area. By doing so will help when it is time to back fill the hole you only need to drag it back into the hole, it is a fast and simple way of backfilling.

Your water discharge must not enter any water way dirty were possible. Steps such as filtering over sand and sediment holes must be used.

Work in such a position where you feel at ease think of your back twisting while turning is not a good idea. Try not to take any more than two steps while loading the top hopper of your unit.

Find the right pace to work at do not rush take your time you have all day.

The shovel you use must have a rounded tip, a flat nose shovel will give much more resistance when driven into wash than a rounded tip shovel will. Hence the need to exert much more energy.

If entering privet land seek permission to do so. Even though it is a water way.

JB 2011
I withhold permission for this article to be cut and pasted or duplicated onto any other web site. ( without my express permission !)

James 101

Good information there.

Mogo

Great line of post.