Fine gold recovery: where to buy
Every pan, sluice, drywasher and dredge ends with the same problem: a cup of heavy concentrate where the gold sits mixed with black sand. Black sand is mostly magnetite, ilmenite and other heavy minerals that travel with gold, and the finer the gold, the harder it is to pan it clean. The shops below sell tools for that last step.
A strong magnet, kept inside a plastic bag or cup so the sand drops off easily, pulls out the magnetite; only part of black sand is magnetic, and the magnet can drag fine gold along with it, so work slowly and keep what it pulls for a second look. A spiral wheel panner is a tilted wheel with spiral riffles that turns slowly under a spray of water: the light sand washes down over the lower lip, while the gold settles into the spirals and is carried up to a hole at the center, where it drops into a catch cup. A blue bowl is a leveled bowl fed with water at its center: the water swirls in a gentle vortex that carries the lighter sand up and over a center cone, while the gold sinks into grooves at the bottom. It works only with a low, steady flow, and a drop of soap in the water stops fine gold from floating. Small cleanup sluices with very fine riffles or mats handle bigger batches, and a snuffer bottle (a squeeze bottle with a thin tube) and tweezers pick up the flakes at the end.
Screening the concentrate into a few sizes before you clean it makes every one of these work better. Several small shops build their own cleanup gear and can tell you which method suits the size of your gold.
7 shops across the US that sell fine gold recovery, 3 of them building their own. Each one links to its own website, so you can compare them one by one.
Camel Mining Products
Builder · Online or by order · Quartzsite, Arizona · Ships nationwide
Makes: Desert Fox and Pro-Camel 18/24 automatic spiral gold panners; Mountain Goat and American Buffalo reverse-helix trommels
Builds the Desert Fox spiral panner, made in the USA since 1969
Quartzsite maker of fine-gold recovery equipment since 1969: the Desert Fox automatic spiral gold panner, the larger Pro-Camel 18 and 24, and the Mountain Goat and American Buffalo reverse-helix trommels. Made in the USA.
Also sells: Trommels
Dry Mining Equipment
Builder · Online or by order · Congress, Arizona · Ships nationwide
Makes: Snorkel 12V drywasher, Mag-Zip dry magnetic separator, Vibra Bucket screener, Tilt-a-Bucket handle
12V drywasher with a 6-ft clean-air snorkel, built by a retired chemist
Small Arizona maker of desert gold gear invented by a retired chemistry professor: a 12-volt drywasher with a clean-air snorkel and a dry magnetic separator for black sand. Ships nationwide.
Also sells: Drywashers
Falcon Metal Detectors
Builder · Online or by order · Mesa, Arizona
Makes: Falcon MD20 Gold Tracker gold probe
Builds the MD20, a 300 kHz probe for gold in cracks and concentrates
Mesa maker of the Falcon MD20 Gold Tracker, a small handheld probe for finding gold in rock, crevices and concentrates. It is sold directly and through Arizona prospecting stores such as A & B Prospecting.
A & B Prospecting Supplies (Mesa)
Dealer · Storefront · Mesa, Arizona · Ships nationwide
Prospecting store since 1979: Minelab, Garrett, Fisher, Keene, Falcon
Prospecting supply store in Mesa and one of the best known in Arizona, listed by ICMJ as a trusted vendor. It sells Minelab, Garrett, Fisher and Falcon metal detectors; drywashers, sluices, highbankers and recirculating units; dredges, pumps and parts; pans, classifiers and fine-gold concentrators; hand tools, rock crushers, books and beginner kits; and assay and refining supplies such as furnaces, chemicals and labware. A second store is in Prescott Valley.
Also sells: Metal detectors · Gold pans & classifiers · Sluice boxes · Highbankers & power sluices · Dredges & parts · Drywashers · Picks, shovels & hand tools · Assay & refining supplies
A & B Prospecting Supplies (Prescott Valley)
Dealer · Storefront · Prescott Valley, Arizona · Ships nationwide
A&B's second store, a short drive from Lynx Creek
Second store of A & B Prospecting Supplies, in Prescott Valley in the gold country of central Arizona, with the same range as the Mesa store: metal detectors, drywashers, sluices, highbankers, dredge parts, pans and classifiers, fine-gold concentrators, hand tools and assay supplies.
Also sells: Metal detectors · Gold pans & classifiers · Sluice boxes · Highbankers & power sluices · Dredges & parts · Drywashers · Picks, shovels & hand tools · Assay & refining supplies
Miners Depot
Dealer · Storefront · Quartzsite, Arizona
Quartzsite dealer: Minelab, Camel, Falcon, Keene, Gold Cube; seasonal
Prospecting store in Quartzsite and full-line dealer for Minelab, Camel Mining Products, Falcon, Keene and Gold Cube: metal detectors, drywashers, dredges, sluices, highbankers, rock crushers, fine-gold concentrators, hand tools, books and paydirt.
Also sells: Metal detectors · Gold pans & classifiers · Sluice boxes · Highbankers & power sluices · Dredges & parts · Drywashers · Picks, shovels & hand tools · Paydirt
Other gear
Metal detectors · Gold pans & classifiers · Sluice boxes · Highbankers & power sluices · Dredges & parts · Drywashers · Sniping & crevice tools · Rocker boxes · Trommels · Picks, shovels & hand tools · Assay & refining supplies · Paydirt · Mineral specimens · Rough & slabs · Lapidary equipment · Fossils · Meteorites · Petrified wood · Classes & training
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