Ben,
I'm trying my Blue Bowl on my beach sand cons from the Gold Cube. Not started yet. I've only panned about a couple of tablespoons to test what's there and found the gold is super fine.

This black sand cons are so fine you can only pan a tablespoon at a time. Probably mostly -100.

So, I'm going to run the Bowl at a lower water level than recommended for -100 material, at least initially.

Not familiar with Black Magic, may be the same thing.
Have you seen or tried the large flat surface 10" x 10" area tables ?
Uses a small amount of water on a flat surface. Has a small vial attached to move the specs across and into
Sorry not sure how to describe this cleaning device, pretty slow process but doable
Good friend uses one

Low and slow with the Blue Bowl @ -100

Bill

James,

I am no beginner but after watching a youtube video of the Blue Bowl is exactly what I am looking for. I have no problem panning but most of the gold we find is trapped in black sands and so fine it is impossible to separate.

Thank you for the recommendation, myself and my partner will certainly buy one to process our fines.

Benjamin,

I was so impressed with the Blue Bowl, I decided to screen all my left overs thru a 150. The Blue Bowl separated it! The black sands left in the gold were also gold. Was it worth it? No. It was just to satisfy my curiosity. I panned for years then went to a miller table/black magic and was amazed at how much I lost panning. After the past year with the Blue Bowl, I'll never use anything else for -30 or smaller.

 

I classified down to -20 about 2 gallons worth of dirt and I am shocked at the amount of visible gold I can see with the naked eye, so I am certain there is a great deal more I can't see. I am going to run it through the Black Magic and then run it through a blue bowl to see what is left.

Luckily my partner has a Blue Bowl but has never used it and doesn't have a instruction manual. How much water do I want to run through it? I have a 12v sump pump that has a pretty good flow rate or do I need to go larger with higher pressure from something like a garden hose? All will be done in a kiddie swimming pool so if I screw it up I can run it again.

Also, I noticed that I have a layer of blonds that wont clear off the black sands so I normally pitch them, after putting some under a 50x microscope I realized it's all gold and not blond sand like I thought, something you might want to consider when processing in the future.

I appreciate the help from all of you, thank you, and have a happy Easter.

Benjamin Crain
President of the Western Colorado Chapter of Gold Prospectors Association of America
214-733-6096

Ben,
My Blue Bowl came with a 750 gph Johnson electric pump. You have to regulate the water to certain levels with a valve in the pump line.

For 30-, you can run to the top of the rim.
For 50- run to 1/4 inch down from the top.
For 100-, run to 1/2 inch down.

These levels are with material in the bowl. Note that water level will rise as there gets to be less material in the blue bowl.

That all said, I like to run slower at first to about an inch down from the top. Then work the water up to 1/2 inch down.

I'm thinking that if you're getting 100- or finer gold, don't go above 1/2 inch down from the top.

Coarser material can have more material put in the bowl. 100-, only about a rounded tablespoon full.

Hope this all helps. Google the blue bowl and you'll probably find a vendor with the full instructions online.

Wayne,

Those levels look comparable to the levels I run. Ben will find thru trial and error what it takes to clear the sands and leave the gold. A turkey baster to occasionally gently blow the line of gold from around the center to help clear the cons. Ben, one of the most important rules of the Blue Bowl is to make sure it is level. They sell a leg leveling kit online.

my go to is a miller table classify down to 30 mesh and I can get 100+ mesh gold

Miller Table for sure!

Luckily my partner had a blue bowl and we tried to use it, what a worthless Piece of SH!t, I went back to my Black Magic that catches more platinum then gold, but it does catch both. I am not going to disclose how much fine gold we recovered but it was a lot. I have over 100lbs of material to still go through so I am going to say it was a good day on the river and the Black Magic does the trick. Make sure you put a pan below the end in the tube so it will catch the large chunks.

PS. Make sure you carry a large caliber hand gun with you when on the river, besides bears and mountain lions, you have the two legged indigenous crack heads to deal with on occasion.

Benjamin,

Amazing that we have differing opinions of the Blue Bowl and the Black Magic. After running my cons twice on a Black Magic, I recovered a great amount of fine gold with the Blue Bowl from the already ran cons of the Black Magic. I guess I'll keep both and run cons thru both consecutively.

One comment I might add.

Someone who deals with black sand told me: put your black sand cons in the oven and heat them up. The heat changes the molecular structure and makes it easier to pan and separate the gold.

Something to try?

I ran about 2 gallons of fines from our dredge today, pulled a butt load of gold out, but was really surprised at the amount of mercury in the drop pan. I guess the old miners used a lot, now I am going to have to send it to a refiner to use, process, or sell it.