Power sluice with dredge attachment

[GoldMember]

We all know Hydraulicking has been illegal for over 100 years, for good reason.

While looking at mining equipment, the power sluice with dredge got me to thinking. It seems to me that this, along with a waterpump, could possibly be used to work a high bank, without shoveling. In other words, continuously pump water into a depression away from the river, and suck the gravel out with the dredge hose. It might work on uncemented bars and benches. This strikes me as complicated way of letting the gravel run into the sluice directly, which is hydraulicking without the nozzle.

I'm curious about the legality of using this type of setup, with a proper settling pond at the outlet of course. Is it hydraulicking if there isn't a pressure nozzle blasting material loose, just a flow of water to keep the suction hose submerged? Does this sound like a viable setup even, to work loose material without shoveling?

Thanks,

-Goldmember

[Guest keninla]

The issue with hydraulic mining is having the slurry run back into the creek/river and thus polluting everything downstream.

When "highbanking" or using a power sluice you are supposed to have one or more settling ponds to catch the tailings slurry so that no material other than clear water goes back into the stream. There are some areas where this is strictly enforced and other areas where enforcement seems to be very lax.

No one wants pollution in our water. (At least I hope that is the case.)

Ken

[BIGFOOT]

Highbankers ARE legal...as stated above,many need discharge/settling/silt ponds set up.Some areas are more strict with regs than others.But HYDRALIC mining is still alive!I wouldnt belive it unless I saw it...and I'm talkin legal/permit mining.Theres 2 claims in Calif. that meet ALL the legal requirements to hydralic mine that I know of .......so I'm sure theres more than that actually active.As long as ya got the money you can do just about anything...even in a green state like California!

BIGFOOT

ak_hydralicing2.bmp

[socalgolddigger]

we wouldnt want to muddy the waterways like when it rains!!!!!!! only nature can do that.

[BIGFOOT]

...............they only wish they could regulate MOM NATURE!..............

[Guest keninla]

Now with the new control of congress I am sure that they will try to not only regulate but TAX mother nature.

Ronald Reagan had it about right when it comes to government and taxes.

"If it moves TAX it. If it quits moving subsidize it."

[whats4supper]

hydraulicking isn't illegal. otherwise, there could be no dredging nor highbanking.

Many streams and rivers can handle small amounts of silt and mud; indeed, it even tends to improve fish habitat to stir up the bottoms.

What they cannot handle is tons of mud and sterile ground flowing down a channel or filling it up, or silting of reservoirs downstream, or even the destruction of farmland when millions of yards of lifeless muck covers farm or orchard lands.

What you would need to do is to inquire about how much soil flush you intend to let flow into a river or stream, and see if you need a permit. I would think that as long as you are working less than 10 yards a day, you'd pass muster without a permit; and that everything else would require a muck dam and pond away from the shore, where the solids could settle out and the relatively clean or filtered water could make it back into the watershed