Typically powered by a gasoline engine driven leaf blower rigged to a five gallon bucket. The device is used to vacuum material off bedrock, especially any holes and crevices where gold may collect. Gold does not collect on smooth bedrock where it is feasible to use a broom, but in all sorts of cracks, crevices and indentations where a broom is useless. A lot of work is required to clean off the overburden and collect the richer pay dirt on the bedrock and it is painful to leave gold for lack of the right tool. These are owned by several club members and used at most outings.
These are made for basically dry conditions and do not seem to be produced as a wet-dry unit like electric powered Shop Vacs. Several different commercial models, including a backpack model, are produced and plans are available for building a gold mining vacuum from hardware store parts.
