Gravity Separation & Concentration Methods

Gravity Separation & Concentration Methods

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Trommel Water Usage (5 replies)

R
Wattle01
8 years ago
Wattle01 8 years ago

Hi I'm currently working Placer gold a Quarts Conglomerate, I'm washing in a Trommel, 100 x 15 liter buckets ( soaked over night) in a day 5 days a month.... I have a limited amount of water.

I'm wondering if I made a bigger Trommel to wash the 500 buckets in one day will I use more water for the same process, Is there a water usage calculator I can use . Thank you

David
8 years ago
David 8 years ago

Hi, a friend tells me this:

How big is the trommel you are presently using?

What does "quarts conglomerate" have to do with the question?

Limited water? Water is always limited. Twenty gallons, 2000 gallons per hour, per week?

A bigger trommel? Longer trommel? Larger diameter? CLARIFY PLEASE

You are running 400 gallons of (soaked over night) solids? ... That's two cubic yards. 

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R
Wattle01
8 years ago
Wattle01 8 years ago

Currently I'm using a hand cranked trommel 16 inch diameter by 36 inch long with a 9 inch across by 48 inch long, 2 inch high sluice. The *quarts conglomerate" is the ore Im putting through the trommel.  I can put through 100 buckets in a day with it 5 days a month, that's 500 a month.. 

So the question is if I make a larger trommel say 4 or 5 times larger?  would it wash 500 buckets in a day and use the same amount of water in a day as the other trommel in 5 days. Any help would be appriciated

David
8 years ago
David 8 years ago
1 like by Wattle01

The same volume of material will require the same amount of water.

Two cubic yards (400 gallons) of material will require 2670 gallons of water to produce a 15 percent slurry in the sluice box.

Except you will need it all at once rather than over 5 days

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Craig Lockhart
8 years ago
Craig Lockhart 8 years ago
1 like by David

I assume the soaking is required to soften/loosen the matrix of your quartz conglomerate - does soaking longer make the matrix softer, i.e. would soaking it for 4 days work better than overnight?  

In addition to washing, does the energy of the trommel rotation break up the conglomerate to release the gold particles?  If so, i suggest increasing the diameter rather than length and perhaps add a few lifter paddles inside to pick up the chunks and drop them - double diameter is quadruple the surface area.  Construction would need to be beefed up.  

Additional rotation speed might also help your processing rate considerably - consider upgrading the drive system to foot pedals (bicycle chain?) or even a small motor (e.g. chainsaw).  This could also free up hands to handle more buckets?

Are you recovering your "used" water?  A small settling pond on your sluice discharge - shovel out accumulated solids to make room for more?  Recycled water should be every bit as effective for soaking or rinsing the ore.

D
dk
8 years ago
dk 8 years ago

You may use the same existing  system  if required with lower rpm and necessary lifter bars for scrubbing and increase the retention time. The processed water may be taken to 2/3 compartment tanks for settelment and recovery of process water for reuse. If you find the settled material need 2nd/3rd stage scrubbing , you may do with the recovered process water with 10-15% make up water. You may make a plant trial and see the results before taking any decesion to change the system

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