Grey River Gold and Hansen (american co) were partners and built this in the late eighties. No one could foresee the gigantic totara and other native timber logs buried in the river shingles especially at the working depth and these were always causing huge problems and delays and sometimes the dredge was out of action more than it was digging. Bear in mind these logs and trees in the river bed are probably between 1000s and 100s of 1000s of years old. They would not break and just played havoc with the bucket chain despite its huge size. From memory, both companies went tits up due to the lack of production capability.
there are solutions to everything. They could have welded tungsten tip adaptors on the front of every 5th bucket and if they hit a tree , fit tungsten picks , cut through the tree , remove the picks and keep dredging again
@@heartobefelt yeah well you clearly have no idea about ancient NZ forest trees. These hardwood monsters are centuries old, massive in diameter, and practically indestructable. The dredge was not robust enough to touch them, you can see by the damage caused to the buckets and chain to see that considerable horsepower was moving these buckets and they crumple as if made of tin plate. This huge shock load is transferred through the chain to the gears and transmission components with devastating effect. Rest assured the operators of the dredge didnt give up easily, but theres only so much the dredge could endure before the maintenance costs quickly out paced the income. These guys were deadly serious about getting the gold out, they just didnt realize what a formidable thing these centuries old buried behemoths would be. The Grey river is one of the biggest west coast rivers in the south island and its massive flow over 1000s possibly millions of years, would wash huge areas of the mountains down to the sea, with all the materials being carried through giant gorges and then deposited in what are now vast river flats. This is where the gold is, but so is every thing else, trees included, that was in the water. The best dredge mining experts in the western world would all have been consulted prior to the inevitable closure of the operation. Sad, but thats the way things go when you think youve got the jizz on everything, and quickly find you didnt. Cheers
@@andygreen685 We use Tungsten picks to cut concrete , shale , and Australian hardwood when set up correctly. I doubt your Totara or Kauri would be worse than Australian trees , why do you think they are called Ironbark ? Its possible people will come back to it one day with a different approach. For a start , replacing electric drives with hydraulic drives would allow tuning of relief bypass valves to allow slippage when they hit timber and prevent damage to the buckets
@@heartobefelt You are right about the tree hardness (using the Janka hardness rating table - the higher the harder): Ironbark (depending on specific species): 14 - 16 Karri: 9 Totara 2.3 (I think it is actually classed as a sofwood based on its grain structure) However if they are Northern / Southern Rata, then they are similar to Ironbark: 14 - 16 And whilst tungsten is hard and durable, it is also very brittle and would probably chip off under the force - but I do like your thinking. Also what would make it hard to chew / cut through would be the trees being highly waterlogged - timber just sort-of splinters and goes to mash instead of cutting neatly and I can see that also being an issue clogging up the trommel. While I also like the idea with the hydraulics, you would have to be so careful that no hydraulic fluid would get into the water ways if (or more realistically when) a leak occurred from a split line, leaking connector or a popped seal.
Wonder if any nuggets larges ones makes it through to the tailings? I understand the need for restoration to pre dredge condition but when you think of the tailings are halfway being washed and graded for the aggregate used in construction.
Gotta have ALOT of ground planned out to haul one of those things in. Gotta have hundreds if not thousands of acres of sheer gold bearing ground. You cannot just move that thing from claim to claim. All the claims must be connected and gold bearing.
Tony Beets Crazy dredge thus size has a full workshop welding and machine manufacturing.. You might as well put in an apartment sleeping quarters kitchen etc.. Full time House Boat and Gold recovery Room
Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2, "Montagues and Capulets", Op. 64B (Sergei Prokofiev). This passage usually starts about one and a half minutes into the song.
That dredge is just too big. If it's literally sitting on a thousand acres of tested gold bearing ground, it's probably worthwhile. It's just too big though.
great to see inside ive often seen this dredge on the river and always wondered what its plant looked like and how it works ,bloody amazing
PS thanks for posting this. its a beautiful and colourful piece of west coast history. A truly wonderful part of NZ.
Grey River Gold and Hansen (american co) were partners and built this in the late eighties. No one could foresee the gigantic totara and other native timber logs buried in the river shingles especially at the working depth and these were always causing huge problems and delays and sometimes the dredge was out of action more than it was digging. Bear in mind these logs and trees in the river bed are probably between 1000s and 100s of 1000s of years old. They would not break and just played havoc with the bucket chain despite its huge size. From memory, both companies went tits up due to the lack of production capability.
there are solutions to everything.
They could have welded tungsten tip adaptors on the front of every 5th bucket and if they hit a tree , fit tungsten picks , cut through the tree , remove the picks and keep dredging again
@@heartobefelt yeah well you clearly have no idea about ancient NZ forest trees. These hardwood monsters are centuries old, massive in diameter, and practically indestructable. The dredge was not robust enough to touch them, you can see by the damage caused to the buckets and chain to see that considerable horsepower was moving these buckets and they crumple as if made of tin plate. This huge shock load is transferred through the chain to the gears and transmission components with devastating effect. Rest assured the operators of the dredge didnt give up easily, but theres only so much the dredge could endure before the maintenance costs quickly out paced the income. These guys were deadly serious about getting the gold out, they just didnt realize what a formidable thing these centuries old buried behemoths would be. The Grey river is one of the biggest west coast rivers in the south island and its massive flow over 1000s possibly millions of years, would wash huge areas of the mountains down to the sea, with all the materials being carried through giant gorges and then deposited in what are now vast river flats. This is where the gold is, but so is every thing else, trees included, that was in the water. The best dredge mining experts in the western world would all have been consulted prior to the inevitable closure of the operation. Sad, but thats the way things go when you think youve got the jizz on everything, and quickly find you didnt. Cheers
@@andygreen685 We use Tungsten picks to cut concrete , shale , and Australian hardwood when set up correctly.
I doubt your Totara or Kauri would be worse than Australian trees , why do you think they are called Ironbark ?
Its possible people will come back to it one day with a different approach.
For a start , replacing electric drives with hydraulic drives would allow tuning of relief bypass valves to allow slippage when they hit timber and prevent damage to the buckets
@@heartobefelt
You are right about the tree hardness (using the Janka hardness rating table - the higher the harder):
Ironbark (depending on specific species): 14 - 16
Karri: 9
Totara 2.3 (I think it is actually classed as a sofwood based on its grain structure)
However if they are Northern / Southern Rata, then they are similar to Ironbark: 14 - 16
And whilst tungsten is hard and durable, it is also very brittle and would probably chip off under the force - but I do like your thinking.
Also what would make it hard to chew / cut through would be the trees being highly waterlogged - timber just sort-of splinters and goes to mash instead of cutting neatly and I can see that also being an issue clogging up the trommel.
While I also like the idea with the hydraulics, you would have to be so careful that no hydraulic fluid would get into the water ways if (or more realistically when) a leak occurred from a split line, leaking connector or a popped seal.
A wonderful piece of technology that has been around for decades, and provided their is enough pay dirt can keep going for decades more.
That a pretty good size dredge
Thanks, very interesting.
wow. this dredge is huge.
Wonder if any nuggets larges ones makes it through to the tailings? I understand the need for restoration to pre dredge condition but when you think of the tailings are halfway being washed and graded for the aggregate used in construction.
If you paint those dredge buckets white and red it would look like a Disney ride...just kidding great video
Good to see a woman working on it.
Thus bucket line looks BRAND NEW no rust maybe just polished from daily use... Why don't u guys post weekly videos on few videos in 2 years 😢😢
what is the % of loss on one of these dredges
1000ns and 1000ns of tons of clean gravel if ya had it down here in the states you could make millions with it.
Gotta have ALOT of ground planned out to haul one of those things in. Gotta have hundreds if not thousands of acres of sheer gold bearing ground. You cannot just move that thing from claim to claim. All the claims must be connected and gold bearing.
WOW
'
Tony Beets Crazy dredge thus size has a full workshop welding and machine manufacturing.. You might as well put in an apartment sleeping quarters kitchen etc.. Full time House Boat and Gold recovery Room
would be great
what's the intro song ?? thanks
Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 2, "Montagues and Capulets", Op. 64B (Sergei Prokofiev). This passage usually starts about one and a half minutes into the song.
Great video thanks. How much gold would the dredge produce, after processing ?
Try getting a young bloke to do a 12 hour shift on that these days thanks for sharing I really enjoyed it.
nobody gonna do it for $12/hr i tell ya that. maybe the young folks arent the problem its the lack of opportunity.
I mine from sun up to sun down with a high banker. Only 32.
i think you generalise. all the mines outback are running 12 hr shifts
Interesting
1 Day bet that was exciting for the boys that had to do the hard yards eh ...
I live in ngahere. Its a shame to see that this monster is just rusting away in her final resting place along side the Grey RIver.
lorelei whitcombe Do you know why its not running anymore? Permit problems? No ground to mine? Price of gold is still $1200 or so.
tony beets eat your heart out
@Cristian Douglas
Yep, you are right!!!!!
no-one gives a shit!!!!
Mainly because it is a scam website....
Video shot by John Barry.
size of bucket?
capacity perhour ?
@@addryalffian5871 it said 800cub. meters hour , i think thats about 1046 yards hour .
Council stopped them mining other side of river. So they came back over to this side. It on the market for sale. Mostly scrap price.
is the lease included ?
I wander how much gold it took to pay for it’s self
I worked on it building it in late 1980s I saw the shacker talbe full of gold
It never did. Many millions lost. see my detail above
She on trademe for sale.
That dredge is just too big. If it's literally sitting on a thousand acres of tested gold bearing ground, it's probably worthwhile. It's just too big though.
actually your wrong, it wasnt big enough to cope with the problems encountered. see above
I hear its being recommissioned ..work has started
Is this OSHA approved?
OSHA doesn't have to approve things that are, you know, not in America.
@@misterslats Indeed. Part of the joke.
Thomas
We have dredges this big in Northern California
yep, but no huge native trees buried in the shingle !
Watch ya fingies .
Where,s d Gold ! Gringo
You guys look silly