Dry Blowing

With the introduction of metal detectors it seems that not to many W.A people are dry blowing these days ?
Every now and then i will see dry blowing heaps but i feel that these were done many many years ago because of the extreme weathering of the heap piles.

So my question to the members is how many do or have done dry blowing ?
Was it worth the time and effort processing the dirt ?

It's something I'm interested in trying out, just seeking other people experiences i suppose :)

Cheers.

It's interesting that you raise the question. I've never tried it but I do know an area where a modern dry blower would probably do well. All small stuff and probably wouldn't have to dig more than 12".
Be interesting to hear from everyone on this topic.

Have made a living from dryblowing and my old dryblower is still going strong plus a couple more will get going again when it dries out a bit.







This one was the first attempt. Absolute piece of crap but I did get a better one. Will post some pics if I can find them.

Found one of the good machine.

Now that's what you call a dry blower

sweet set up pilbara
i have also thought of dryblowing but i think if i have limited time i would hit the area with a metal detector but if i didn't have limited time or ran my own show i definitley would attempted dryblowing

Dyblowing? At todays prices it's probably well worth it. But there are downsides:

To move dirt you must have your own lease(s). = DOLLARS

After that, there's a lot of paperwork required to move said dirt. = TIME AND MORE DOLLARS

You need good rich dirt and a lot of it - HARD TO FIND

You need a loader or a traxcavator to load the dryblower. - BIG DOLLARS!

You need a dryblower ( I almost forgot!) - MORE BIG DOLLARS

The dirt has to be really, really, really dry - not just feel dry but dry for the last two years! - GETTING WETTER EVERY YEAR IN WA GOLDFEILDS

Any rain or even just damp whatsoever and your out of business. - DOLLARS ALL GONE

Total cost? I reckon "no change" out of say $80,000.00 (minimum) for a good set up with good ground and reliable machinery.

Dryblowing is best done in the real hot months so you get more electrostatic effect - hot, dirty, sweaty and gritty. Stay home, it's easier on the temper.

Detecting needs none of the above and suffers few of the other faults. Which is why one doesn't see many people dryblowing these days. A GP 5000 can almost find what a dryblower did 50 years ago!

Stick with detecting. But If you really want to go dryblowing you can buy mine - 5 tonnes an hour, twin trays twin blowers, 5 HP engine (which is stuffed from all the grit that gets past the air cleaner!)

Good luck - but I wouldn't bother

Cheers for your input Caterpilla,
Whilst you mainly describe a big scale venture, I was talking more hobby scale, small end dry blowers today typically cost $1000 - $2000 . are light weight and very portable
Though I suspect coming across decent fine material as you describe is "Rare" though still I think it would be a fun thing to try out, I have heard people pulling good fine gold in certain areas in W.A., though these claims could be an over exaggeration.

Cheers

$400 puffer.

Nice show Chris for a puffer mate.

Cat:
As ya said mate, lotsa costs and ya didnt even get to the farkin bond and fuel etc,.

Small scale blowin can be done with a 151 or a 140 or even a 12v puffer as chris uses, its more
about a day off from the wand in WA, but dont let it scare ya off, many a good blowin show has
been opened up from fuckin around with a small unit on the piss.

Let me ask you this!...... how much fine gold have ya left on your patches
The amount of blokes who even wash a dish from a nugget hole would be less than 1%
and that would be a dandy guess.
Most of the good rich shows have been found from a good loam, there is a bloke who
followed up a 3 speck per dish prospect out Coolgardie way for many miles to finally hit a
top notch leader of 3ozt, and he ended up a rich prick.

In the eastern states panning or as we Aussies call it "Dishing" is a massive thing, yet here in WA
its treated like its a beginners game, something that you do to f##k around if ya cant afford a Tecta

And while i'm at it, how many can hold their hand up and even say " I can turn a dish with the best" ??
Very few!...and thats akin to a "chippy not bein able to use sandpaper"..

One thing i've learned in all my prospectin in every state sept NT and Tassy is - gold is there!
If you limit your skills and methods your leavin more than you found...

Pete

The biggest hurdle for any form of ground disturbance, even small disturbance such as dryblowing, is getting the ground to work in the first instance. A metal detector is not thought of as "ground disturbance" and is therefore viewed differently than even a small dryblower. If you're sprung in WA "disturbing the ground" (AKA earthmoving) I think the max penalty is $150,000.00 fine or 7 years in jail. Now you'd have to be raping the place with a D11 to get that but nevertheless you'd be prosecuted if you didn't own the ground or have the Govt permits etc, etc. Believe me, in WA Goldfeilds today, there's always someone looking to dob you in. So it's a case of "do it right" or "don't do it".

I know places that maybe worth dryblowing and some of them I actually have the ground. Will I do it? I'm 65 years old, my legs are stuffed, my back is stuffed and driving a Cat and "scrape and detect" is much easier than using a shovel. Also, experience tells me I'll get more gold pushing than I will dryblowing. I'm running out of years but who knows perhaps one day I'll get the dryblower going again. Perhaps when gold is $5000.00 an ounce.

Crazy Pete wrote:Nice show Chris for a puffer mate.

Cat:
As ya said mate, lotsa costs and ya didnt even get to the farkin bond and fuel etc,.

Small scale blowin can be done with a 151 or a 140 or even a 12v puffer as chris uses, its more
about a day off from the wand in WA, but dont let it scare ya off, many a good blowin show has
been opened up from fuckin around with a small unit on the piss.

Let me ask you this!...... how much fine gold have ya left on your patches
The amount of blokes who even wash a dish from a nugget hole would be less than 1%
and that would be a dandy guess.
Most of the good rich shows have been found from a good loam, there is a bloke who
followed up a 3 speck per dish prospect out Coolgardie way for many miles to finally hit a
top notch leader of 3ozt, and he ended up a rich prick.

In the eastern states panning or as we Aussies call it "Dishing" is a massive thing, yet here in WA
its treated like its a beginners game, something that you do to f##k around if ya cant afford a Tecta

And while i'm at it, how many can hold their hand up and even say " I can turn a dish with the best" ??
Very few!...and thats akin to a "chippy not bein able to use sandpaper"..

One thing i've learned in all my prospectin in every state sept NT and Tassy is - gold is there!
If you limit your skills and methods your leavin more than you found...

Pete

Hi All
Pete, right on brother, I carry a small pan in my pack whenever detecting & sample a gully now & then, no good walking around all day if you don't know if there is gold under your feet, I also carry some plastic bags for samples if theres no water, I'm working on being a complete prospector - I have 2 detectors, 1 SD2200, 1 Gold Bug Pro, numerous pans, small sampleing sluice with builge pump, small puffer dryblower, I am currently building a highbanker & after that ready for the dry a 12v puffer dryblower similar to the one Chris showed, just a few toys to keep life interesting, I'm currently tracking a source of some rough course gold.
cheers
Lee

This is one of the reasons I knocked up my Bazooka Highbanker. There's plenty of gullies etc. over here with good, full dams nearby. It doesn't matter if the gold is nuggety or flowery, it's still worth as much.
Nowadays, my wife does the bulk of detecting-she is better than me...or maybe luckier-whilst I buggerise around sluicing.

Robert

GOD, I hope ya listening. I have a big favour to ask, change the face of WA. Give me rivers and billabongs all thru the goldfields full of water all year round. I've had enuff of the pissy little dried up creeks. I wanna sit on my a*se while I get the breeder shovelling dirt into one of them fandangled you beaut machines the East guys use.

GOD, ya not listening ya sod, give me rain and lots of it :rolf:

Me and you in that brother!! Man oh man, the 100s of places I know where all I need is water!! Recycling is OKaaaY! But running water now that would be something else entirely!

If each of the easties comin over this season brought us 20ltrs of water each i bet ya we's be
Like the garden of Eden over here.

Yeah i remember sittin on the banks of a cool clear flowin creek, shoveling wash thru the sluice
watchin Trout swim by and thinkin this is the shit, then i was brought back to earth at cleanup
time and me thoughts where of nothin except gettin over to WA and onto some gold that actually
wont fit up a blowfly's ar*e ....

Crazy Pete wrote:If each of the easties comin over this season brought us 20ltrs of water each i bet ya we's be
Like the garden of Eden over here.

Yeah i remember sittin on the banks of a cool clear flowin creek, shoveling wash thru the sluice
watchin Trout swim by and thinkin this is the shit, then i was brought back to earth at cleanup
time and me thoughts where of nothin except gettin over to WA and onto some gold that actually
wont fit up a blowfly's ar*e ....

Brilliant!!

:rolf:

No probs, Will always swap 20l of water for 20kilo of gold if your interested... Maybe in the very centre of OZ theres both????

Makaw wrote:No probs, Will always swap 20l of water for 20kilo of gold if your interested... Maybe in the very centre of OZ theres both????

The way things are going over your way, just a slight "TILT" of Australia and we'll have all the water we need on this side. But we'll keep the gold here thanks very much. Queensland and NSW looks like a fish tank from here - poor buggers.