Equipment Needed for Mining Gold

Gold Refining From the Ground

• There are several techniques used to extract gold from sediments. Gold panning is the most ancient of these techniques, and is not a highly successful strategy. Gold is very dense, and settles to the bottom of the pan when the miner runs the pan through gold-rich deposits in streams or in loose sediment. Metal detecting is a better strategy, because it is much faster. Sluicing is one final way to get gold out of sediment placements, which is done by running powerful streams of water past gold-rich deposits, either in troughs, large canals or directly on hillsides.

Equipment for Sediment Mining

• These techniques can require a variety of equipment. Panners use flat metal pans, as well as filters, troughs and waterwheels. Sluicing makes use of troughs and running water, filters, and all sediment mining operations need some method of extracting ore--shovels, picks, wheelbarrows or conveyor belts. These are designed to create an efficient gold mining operation, and to constantly mine gold. Stations should focus on one job, and be operated in assembly-line fashion for the most efficient and safe mining operation.

Dredging

• Dredging is an older method, although some dredging is still done on a small scale by small mining corporations. A sluice box is dragged along the bottom of the riverbed or along the soil, and the attached suction hose, controlled by the the miner, sucks out ore deposits. The equipment required for dredging is specific to dredging, and includes dredges, trucks and other machines.

Hard Rock Mining

• When gold is encased in hard rock, rather than as a loose particle in a sediment, mining operations become more intense. Open pit mining is sometimes used, which requires large equipment to dig a huge mine in the side of the mountain or deposit; however, open pit mines destroy the natural formations on which they are placed and are environmentally harmful. Other equipment used to mine in hard rock are tunneling equipment for underground mining. Tunnels or shafts are dug with machines, and ore is extracted. Hard rock mining is very large scale, but produces most of the world's gold.

Cyanaide Processing and Problems

• Extraction of gold from ore remains an environmentally harmful process that is nonetheless the industry standard. The precious metal industry is beginning to shift away from this threat by promoting sustainable gold production methods, such as secondary refining of scrap metal. Cyanide is used to extract gold from rubble that has been broken up from the ground. This rubble is sprayed with the cyanide, which eats away the other metals to expose the gold. These 'tailings' of gold and other precious metals are removed from the cyanide--during this stage, the cyanide harms the environment and is accused of causing worker health problems.