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Gold Prospecting
Alluvial Gold Prospecting
Surfacing: new chum asks
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<blockquote data-quote="grubstake" data-source="post: 672403" data-attributes="member: 4012"><p>You're conflating two different mining methods:</p><p></p><p><strong>Surfacing</strong> involves removal by pick and shovel of relatively shallow gold-bearing dirt for treatment elsewhere in a washing plant (typically a puddler), to recover any gold in the dirt. Most surfacing stops at red clay, rather than actual bedrock, except in what was naturally very shallow ground. Surfacing was used where water was scarce (eg. the Victorian Golden Triangle).</p><p></p><p><strong>Hydraulic sluicing</strong> is the process of using high pressure water jets to flush all dirt and gravel above bedrock, downhill though sluices set up at the lowest point of the mined area. Hydraulic sluicing needs a lot of water, which would need a pretty big dam. It was mostly reserved for goldfields with deep alluvial ground and plenty of running water (eg. NZ, California). </p><p></p><p></p><p>The only accurate way to know what the mounded ground represents is to test it by panning. It may be just the dirt that was excavated for the dam.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="grubstake, post: 672403, member: 4012"] You're conflating two different mining methods: [B]Surfacing[/B] involves removal by pick and shovel of relatively shallow gold-bearing dirt for treatment elsewhere in a washing plant (typically a puddler), to recover any gold in the dirt. Most surfacing stops at red clay, rather than actual bedrock, except in what was naturally very shallow ground. Surfacing was used where water was scarce (eg. the Victorian Golden Triangle). [B]Hydraulic sluicing[/B] is the process of using high pressure water jets to flush all dirt and gravel above bedrock, downhill though sluices set up at the lowest point of the mined area. Hydraulic sluicing needs a lot of water, which would need a pretty big dam. It was mostly reserved for goldfields with deep alluvial ground and plenty of running water (eg. NZ, California). The only accurate way to know what the mounded ground represents is to test it by panning. It may be just the dirt that was excavated for the dam. [/QUOTE]
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Gold Prospecting
Alluvial Gold Prospecting
Surfacing: new chum asks
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