Need some honest opinion from you dredgers

[lotsa luck]

I know a person that is trying to use this machine (

) to test for a commercial operation of a very coarse, nugget gold claim. They have a backhoe to feed it with and I think they are not very happy with what results they are seeing. Looking at the design of this "high banker" I see many many flaws and in my opinion there is no way on earth this thing can run 8 yards an hour let alone catch any coarse gold except for the last few shovels fed into it. What do you seasoned pro's think, am I nuts? What would happen to a 1 dwt nugget on this carpet under that water pressure, let alone an ouncer? With shipping this gizmo is almost $2K without a pump or hoses. That's pretty much just the sluice.

[sawmill]

It is a wonder that the nuggets aren't skipping across the creek with all that pressure.

I agree,way too much water,and too much angle for the sluice size. It might run 8 yards,

if you don't care about saving any gold.

Actually I was thinking about casting a spinner just below that big stump on the other

side of the creek.

[JasonG]

I gutted my box and ran the UR gold hog mat for a summer. I was underwhelmed but that may just be my experience. I can say that it's incredibly expensive and held together by duct tape and superglue and after about 2 weeks of solid dredging you will be constantly making repairs thereafter.

I haven't tried the kind with the more conventional riffles molded in.

That said, I know a few people who love the stuff. If they cut the price in at least half and made single rolls so you don't have to literally assemble it with duct tape and superglue then I might experiment more.

[adam]

May I detect the tailings ?

[chrisski]

This matting is talked about on the GPAA forum very well. I have not used it, but all who post speak well about it. The creator, doc Watson, posts test on that website often. He also answers any question put on the board directly. So, if you ask him about the 8 yards an hour, he will answer over the bulletin board. Nearly a full dump truck per hour is a bit much and I think he would honestly answer that if asked. He's sometimes recommended others products. He posts his results of his test findings from Georgia on the GPAA site.

Many people have posted their own reviews about it and they find little if any gold in the tailings

[Hoser John]

NOT a dredge. Just another poorly designed goldfarb to empty pockets. 1000% easier to blow out gold when firm matted bottom as each and every bigger rock takes gold with it. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much water in that thang,foaming like a mad dog and GPAA forum is always a hoot as all things new are embrassed---until someone pans the tailings and finds more gold there than in the goldfarb. Keene,Proline.Nugget and home made MUCH less and better recovery-John

[homefire]

I bet there was 10 time more gold in the Grit then they recovered.

[El Dorado]

It might work with Hungarian riffles and carpet/miners moss. Thst mat looks like it's only going to work for finer gold at a slower water feed

[devilishjim]

I would like to watch two people shovel 8 yds in an hr. I can almost guarantee they wouldn't stick around for the 2nd hr. My puter was to slow to run the video, Dang it

But if that 8 yds has the amount of black sand that I am working in, there is no way that they wouldn't have to stop at 2 ton and clean the mats of course I guess if you run water fast enough there would be no black sand to clean

They could idle the pump motor down or install a T in the line to bypass some water back to the creek

I would like to run the backhoe feeding that thing/// put a lil hopper on there and just shake the backhoe bucket to let it sift in there, with a front end loader keeping me a stockpile.

What I would really like is one of those Northern Tools backhoes that you can tow behind a quad, And then just set up a grizzly to run my material across. Then one guy to run beeper across the tailings and a few more running drywashers under the grizzly or hauling the cons out for a rainy day project with a highbanker

[klunker]

It's cute and nice and shinny but it would be low on my list of equipment to use for nuggety material at 8 yards per hr. The tailings should be sampled enough that you can't stand to look at them.

[Haderly]

Might be a nice weekend highbanker but 8 yards an hour….no way! It is to short and narrow for that amount of material. At that speed a nugget would probably go skipping across the bottom.

[The Found Dutchman]

These manufacturers claims are based on ideal sized paydirt, ideal feed rates, ideal weather conditions, no downtime or breakdowns, etc. In short, conditions which are almost never attainable in the field. I'm not just talking about this particular piece of equipment either. Just about all mining equipment is subject to variables... I think the only way you might be able to run 8 yards an hour and still get a decent recovery with a backhoe is...... if it were sand. imho

I agree with Haderly, it would be nice for a weekender, not a serious miner.

[frank c]

IMHO, a trommel would be better. When you want to run a lot of material.

[jcazgoldchaser]

I wish when someone says they are testing something, they would actually test it.

With a sluice, you either test by knowing the input and show it's captured...

OR you have to test the output.

So in the first case you would run material with no gold and seed it. Catch and verify. You could also show none is in the tailings.

In the second case you don't care about the input, it's an unknown so you HAVE to test the captured material and ALL tailings.

It's not that hard to figure out.

What are those tiny rocks coming off his grizzly?

Edited September 26, 2013 by jcazgoldchaser

[SLNugget]

While I agree the 8 yds/hr is BS, eespecially by hand, I like the Gold Hog products and I am in no way connected with the company nor received any free product or discount. Doc seems to be a pretty straight shooter and has done extensive quantitative testing of his products as stated on his website and supported by videos. The GoldHog mats are very different from the traditional products most prospectors/miners are used to seeing. That alone does not mean they do not work or the manufacturer is running a scam on his customers. It's hard to understand the criticism of any product when all you have to go on is one video. Every manufacturer is not out to screw the public. BTW, I do not like the glue and tape deal on the mat either. Other than that I think Gold Hog may be on to something with their products.

[devilishjim]

Is it possible that 8 yds per day was meant instead of per hr ? That would seem a lot more realistic.

By the way the Rock crawlers are going to be playing here at Arrowhead Bar ( Congress )or actually setting up base camp here, Any of you going to come watch them tear up these Super Deluxe Modified Jeeps ?

I think entry is $15 and $25 for a wknd pass... I personally have better ideas for my $$ So will just look them over in the parking lot.

[FlakMagnet]

I am with Hoser John.

That system does not look like it is built tough enough to handle the constant material it says it can handle

especially if anything like a backhoe is feeding it. That just sounds like a complete mismatch.

The sluice needs riffles, real hungarian riffles not just rubber.

Rubber, if it is used, would be best under the riffle bars and below the riffles.

For the amount of water being forced through it, the sluice is too short and the angle,

as others have pointed out, is too steep.

I also think the header box is too small; the flow of water and material

is being thrown around much too violently for the anything other than the real heavy material to have a chance to settle out.

Maybe if the sluice was flared it would help, but something needs to be done to slow (and smooth out), the water flow.

Opinion only of course....

Flak