An apparatus for mining and separating placer gold, comprising:
- a lifting pipe for conveying a sand mixture including placer gold and water, said lifting pipe having a bottom end, a top end, and an elbow at said top end;
- a transport pipe for conveying the sand mixture, and having an inlet end coupled to said elbow of said lifting pipe;
- an accelerator component arranged at said elbow to supply a jet stream in a flow direction of the sand mixture so as to accelerating a flow rate of the sand mixture conveyed through said transport pipe and so as to reduce a pressure at said top end of said lifting pipe;
- a plurality of separator boxes arranged in series in said transport pipe, each of said separator boxes having a greater cross-sectional area than said transport pipe so that a flow rate of the sand mixture through said transport pipe is varied, whereby an intermediate mixture including placer gold and having a greater specific gravity than a remainder of the sand mixture settles out in each of said separator boxes during periods of slow flow rate due to the greater specific gravity, each of said plurality of separator boxes having a funnel for collecting the intermediate mixture that settles out, said funnel of each of said separator boxes having an outlet port and a cover mounted on said outlet port for allowing said funnel to be opened and closed;
- a mixing component for mixing the intermediate mixture collected from said funnel of each of said separator boxes with water so as to form a second intermediate mixture;
- a magnetic separator including a cylindrical container and a plurality of electromagnetic coils arranged on an exterior of said cylindrical container, each of said electromagnetic coils being individually controlled and producing a magnetic field of a different magnitude, said electromagnetic coils being sequentially arranged along said cylindrical container such that an electromagnetic coil producing a magnetic field of a lowest magnitude is positioned at an inlet end of said cylindrical container and an electromagnetic coil producing a magnetic field of a highest magnitude is positioned at an outlet end of said cylindrical container;
- and
- a delivery mechanism for delivering the second intermediate mixture to said magnetic separator, whereat a placer gold material is separated from the second intermediate mixture due to the magnetic field of said electromagnetic coils holding the placer gold material to an inner wall of said cylindrical container.