Building the Mill

[Miner Matt]

Well I started building the mill.The first thing I moved into position was the trommel "GoldClamer".I'm going to use it for sizing my material.I need to drill bigger holes in the barrel and put a 40 mesh screen in it.

I like this trommel becuse it will allow me to reuse my water for the mill and classify my ore for me.

And it might even catch a little gold.

I will be setting the Impact mill soon.I will keep you updated.

[grubstake]

Yeh! Matt. Faze #1 then faze #2 Then faze #3 Then it will be fazed out! Grubstake

[29prospector]

Matt,

Good start. After we talked the other nite, I think the concept that you want to go with will work out great. I've attached a picture of our mill minus the tables and enclosed water system.

OL'29er

[Reno Chris]

Interesting. Will the trommel handle raw material from the dump? Or will it take the makerial coming out of the impact crusher?

Chris

[matt]

Matt,

Looks like there are a lot of relics at your claim from the old timers. Must be pretty fun digging up the past. What type of material will you be running though the trommel? Are you mining underground and bringing it up or is it surface digging? Do you use heavy equipment? Interested in hearing more about your operation.

Take Care,

Matt

[Miner Matt]

Nice mill Bob you ever pull that on the highway.It is so hard to build a mill that you can pull down the road with a pick up.

What is going to happen-Tommarow I'm going to set the Impact mill.It will feed the Trommal and the material that is over sized will be retruned to the impact mill by a bucket conveyer.

And by the way the mill might not be built the same way as I'm planing it.In other words I might change my mind as I go.I have no blue print.

Above the Impact I'm going to put the three Jaw crushers.

I love jaw crushers for bring the ore down to size.Low horse power not much wear as long as you grease the heck out of them and man talk about tonage.The top one is a 9x11 set at 1 inch minus then a 6x9 set at 1/4 minus and a 4x6 set at 1/4 minus.( my mill will never keep up)I need to build another one or two.

I might leave the 4x6 out it might slow things up. Or I might move it to the oversize that is coming out of the trommal and let it crush this material before it is returned to the mill circuit.

In the picture at the top left hand corner is a dump.This material is not waste.It was mined and put there during the summer when there was not enough water to run the 20 stamp mill it is in the bottom right corner of the picture.The mill runs I have done show me that the 20,000ton dump pays 1/4 oz. to the ton.

This picture was taken in 1896.I could only dream of having a mine set up like that now!

[gotgold]

MinerMatt,

This is really getting very interesting...... Bob (ole 29) and I have had some really good phone conversations about his life in mining and if anyone could help to improve the milling circuit your putting together, he's the man....Bob has shared some of his past mining experience with me via photos of their operation prior to the BLM insurgency on many of the miners in his area.

A few observations/questions from me regarding your operation .....if your going to process that dump I'd set up a grizzley first, with a second seperation bank below the first and a third bank just below the second....this process doesn't require water.... Since you shouldn't encounter to much "river rock" from the 'dump' any large tailings from the unclassified grizzley material are next sent to the first jaw crusher.

Depending on the reduction size that this first jaw crusher can handle a second may be needed to introduce the material into the impact mill....most of these older mills can really break down the ore material into a manageable form. (There still will be ore around the the grizzley that needs to be processed which comes into play later.)

At this point the trommel comes into play. Depending on the jaw crusher/impact mills ability to decrease the ore material to a desired "screend mesh", I would suggest that you don't increase the size of the hole diameter in the trommel! The trommel tailings can be reintoduced into the circuit....I suspect that only a small amout of recyclable water would be required to perform final milling from a pre-existing dump, without consequence.

I make an assumption here, ....that the final process would involve a table of sorts?

I hope I didn't let my mouth overload my backside.....just thought I'd throw my own "2 cents" into the mix!

Wishing you well in your endeavors.

Gary

[29prospector]

Nice mill Bob you ever pull that on the highway.It is so hard to build a mill that you can pull down the road with a pick up.

What is going to happen-Tommarow I'm going to set the Impact mill.It will feed the Trommal and the material that is over sized will be retruned to the impact mill by a bucket conveyer.

And by the way the mill might not be built the same way as I'm planing it.In other words I might change my mind as I go.I have no blue print.

Above the Impact I'm going to put the three Jaw crushers.

I love jaw crushers for bring the ore down to size.Low horse power not much wear as long as you grease the heck out of them and man talk about tonage.The top one is a 9x11 set at 1 inch minus then a 6x9 set at 1/4 minus and a 4x6 set at 1/4 minus.( my mill will never keep up)I need to build another one or two.

I might leave the 4x6 out it might slow things up. Or I might move it to the oversize that is coming out of the trommal and let it crush this material before it is returned to the mill circuit.

In the picture at the top left hand corner is a dump.This material is not waste.It was mined and put there during the summer when there was not enough water to run the 20 stamp mill it is in the bottom right corner of the picture.The mill runs I have done show me that the 20,000ton dump pays 1/4 oz. to the ton.

This picture was taken in 1896.I could only dream of having a mine set up like that now!

Matt,

I agree with you on the 4x6 jaw crusher. I would put it in the circuit to crush down the oversized material and set it to the smallest sizing as possible so as not to slow down the process. It's the amount you can run per hour, it's the amount of recovery per hour. Your working with .25 opt. so recovery is going to be the main key for you. You might want to put a recovery table in the system to get the larger stuff and go from there to a bio-enzime or carbon pulp based solution system. Just some thoughts. When building as you go is fun because you can visualize how it will flow. You might want to talk to Reno Chris on the recovery system, he has alot more experience then I do.

As for our mill, yes it was street legal and towable. It was in 3 parts. The main mill, the water system, and the recovery system. We had a neat setup. We could place the mill directly under the bucket shoot, from there to the hooper, grizzly, and so forth. The water system set about 3 feet higher than the mill and the recovery system about 3 feet below the output of the ball mill. Worked great.

Ol'29er

[Miner Matt]

Moved the Impact mill into place today.It is a 2 ton per hour Struteroth with my homemade 4x6 jaw crusher on top.I run it with a 65 hp.Wisconson. The engine is about 40hp. to much. Better to have too much HP than not enough I will also use it to run a feeder for the mill.