What Is a Gold Dredge?

When it comes to preserving machinery the size of a gold dredge, technical problems can be enormous. Despite their complex appearance, the basic concept is surprisingly simple. The buckets scoop up gravel and dump it into sluice boxes inside the dredge, where water is pumped in to separate the gold from the gravel. The worthless gravel is then dumped out the back, leaving only the precious metal behind.

The technology used in these massive machines changed little over the 80 years they were in use, with many changes and additions made to make them suitable for working frozen ground. However, their impact on gold mining was significant. Bucket-line dredges, invented in New Zealand, revolutionized the industry by allowing enormous amounts of material to be processed quickly and efficiently.

With buckets that could gouge out several cubic yards of gravel on each pass, these massive machines made it possible to process even poor-quality ground profitably. Although relatively little gold was recovered using this method initially, it wasn't until the arrival of huge dredges that gold production soared.

Interestingly, the early stages of mining in some areas, such as the Klondike, often relied on more basic methods like gold pans and sluice boxes. It wasn't until larger-scale operations became feasible that gold mining in the Yukon and Alaska began to take off.

As Murray Lundberg from Arctic & Northern Mining notes, these massive machines played a significant role in shaping the course of gold mining history.

What is a gold dredge