Underwater gold mining for a long time has been a very labor intensive and often low yielding process. Divers are often put into freezing cold and often dangerous waters in order to dredge gold rich sands to make their fortunes.
Currently the biggest issues stem from the ability to operate at depths of greater than 25 feet, the dependency on divers and the inefficiency of pumps.
Recently Eddy Pump Corporation out of El Cajon, CA was asked to come out to Nome, Alaska in order to showcase its gold mining solution. Eddy Pump stepped up to the challenge by sending out the Sub-Dredge!
This remote-operated submersible dredge shatters all pre-existing issues and restrictions that currently plague the industry. The dredge can operate at depths exceeding 125 feet while safely being controlled by an operator at the surface.
The utilization of high-powered lights, cameras and acoustical positioning, allows the operator the ability to precisely maneuver and operate the dredge with the utmost accuracy. The core of this technology is the patented Eddy Pump technology that redefines the pumping industry, by being the only pump that utilizes the principles of a tornado to create a synchronized eddy current.
This pump is not a centrifugal, positive displacement or vortex pump, but instead the most highly efficient high solids and high specific gravity pump on the market. This translates to the ability to pump higher percent solids of material and capture the heavy specific gravity gold.
After four weeks of operation under the 5-foot thick ice of Nome, Alaska, the Sub-Dredge can truly be seen as the new wave of the future in underwater gold mining.
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