Online Concentrates / Testing New Equipment

[Zaroc]

Hello All,

I've been building a new Highbanker this summer, and I ready for testing (I got a little carried away and built a cleanup sluice too)!!! I was wondering if you can point me in the right direction? I want to find a decent volume of paydirt to process in the machine to test its performance. I live in an area where there may be a small amount of flour gold, but I want to be sure this beast is catching EVERYTHING! I don't usually order dirt online, so I'm not sure who is the most reliable. Is there a trusted company to order from? How much would you suggest to break this thing in? Are there specific test I should perform besides just turning the water on? And other than just running dirt, do you recommend I do anything else to test it or "season" it before our first adventure into the unknown?

I appreciate your feedback!

Z

 

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[Vance in AK]

You know you built a beautiful machine when you get to keep it in the living room as furniture :-)

 

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[Zaroc]

I think the box is a bit on the small side, but considering where this thing is going to be used it will likely only collect #20 mesh or smaller. I made the grizzly bars from an unused grill grate and added “slick plates” between the bars to make it so only 1/4” material runs the chute. I’m hoping that works. The pump I’m using I found online. I may add a dredge line at some point too.

 

[Vance in AK]

Is there an oversize discharge somewhere that I'm just not seeing in the pictures?

 

[Zaroc]

Yes Vance, in the back I have a 3” opening.

 

[Zaroc]

Question: if I add gold hog Matts to the top 18” of the box, which combination. Would be best

 

[goldhog]

Question: if I add gold hog Matts to the top 18” of the box, which combination. Would be best

Kind of a tough one.... and here's why.
Our mats like water flowing over them and usually at a pretty good speed.
It looks like the water FALLS... down in your sluice.... so the top may have a lower water speed / exchange if that makes sense.
(NOTE: in our units, the water SHOOTS into the top of the sluice rather than falling DOWN.)
Having said all that...
You could use Talon Mat which would help add some DEPTH and crevices under the headerbox where the water falls down.
We actually use a "reverse ramp riffle" at the top of ours to create a water pool / fluid bed / settling area... and it also calms down
the water SHOOTING in. You can really do that on boxes where it FALLS... because you'll have a big pile of junk.

Hoping I described that clear enough.

Doc

 

[Zaroc]

Thanks Doc, you sure did! I also have a small cleanup sluice that I’ll be using to run black sand and concentrates through. So I’ll pick up some mats anyway and give’em a test run.

If you have any suggestion for converting the box from a top down sprayer to something that would accommodate these mats, I’d be all ears.

Z