Keene RC1 Hard Rock Gold Pilot Mill
I’ve had my Keene RC1 hard rock gold pilot mill for sometime and have really enjoyed using it. If I had to guess I’ve ran about 30 tons through it and have found some very nice gold. Some of the gold has came from old various gold mine tailings other gold from stingers and veins I’ve been sampling.
Now its not an easy until to move, at 80lbs. its awkward and with its small conical base a real pain the butt to rest unless its on a bucket. To carry it in the truck I had to install some of those chrome/steel eyelets on the bed and if you get into rocky 4×4 areas you best have the gold rock crusher tied down good. What I’ve discovered is its easiest to gather samples on my quad and then bring them back to crush and test. I’ve found some nice virgin stringers this way. Tailings can be good but also very fickle, just like with metal detecting for gold nuggets I like virgin scores.
So I’ve heard from so many people, “You’ll dread the day you have to open that up!”. Thanks, but like all advice I take it with a grain of salt. So finally things went wrong and I had to open it up LOL. I was hoping for some special amount of left over gold but nope, just a big stuck rock. The easy way to open this thing up is to loosen the band that goes around the halves of the lower unit, move the band to the upper unit, re-tighten the band and suspend the machine from something to get the conical base off , loosen the 4 bolts holding the lower section and remove it by tapping it gently down. I made easy work of it. I took two ratchet tie downs and lifted it off the ground via the back rack of my quad. One it was suspended I loosened the band, move it up, re-tightened, took the 4 bolts out of the base and tapped it off, easy! Out comes the rock next and then a quick reassembly, the whole operation took 15 minutes tops. Yep I love duct tape, the gas cap broke off on Laszlo and I a while back so we winged it 
So back to crushing virgin stringer I went. The Keene RC1 hard rock gold prospecting pilot mill is a great tool and if you get on something good its even better. Compared to metal detecting for gold nuggets it can get kind of boring but its good shake up gold prospecting now and then. I took a total of 2 pics, was more interested in mining that snapping pics.
As always, good luck and happy hunting!
-
- Keene RC1 Hard Rock Gold Pilot Mill Gas Cap Repair
-
- Keene RC1 Hard Rock Gold Pilot Mill
