Gold Hog Washer mats and Gold Cube

[GoldpannerDave]

I put Gold Hog Washer mats in my A52 but never could get them to concentrate my sluice cons (mostly from Bazooka sluices) like I saw in the videos. I used between 11 and 15 degrees slope and a bit more than 1100 gph but I just could not get it dialed in properly. I classified to 1/4" and varied the slope and the water but never could get it to do what I thought it should. And my tailings had a considerable bit of gold in them compared to what was being caught.

Since it was in an A52, it was 10" wide, had about 12 inches of slick plate, then the A52 rubber mat, then the Washer Mats; cut, glued and taped as the videos said I should. That left about 10 inches of bare aluminum, so I put vortex matting there. Since I tended to get as much gold in that 10" of vortex as the 18" of Washer Mat, I knew something was wrong, but never could get it fixed. All the gold is fine, Colorado gold, none larger than 1 mm and usually much smaller. Doc's videos said most of the gold was caught in the first two mats, that would be 12 inches, so I felt I should be catching it in my 18" of Washer mat and very little in the vortex matting....

So I was going to ask here, ask on other forums and ask Gold Hog what was wrong. But before I got the question posted, a friend who is giving up prospecting due to health reasons asked me if I wanted to buy his Gold Cube. So now the question is--after I run my cons through the Gold Cube, classified to 1/12", what can I do to further concentrate it to gold? I have a Miller Table (3 in fact), but I am thinking of trying to use the Washer mats to get my cons to mostly gold, like the Gold Hog videos do.

So what do you all think? The material is now black sand and gold (mostly black sands), less than 12 mesh...shouldn't the Washer mats concentrate it even more so that I have a lot less to run on my Miller table?

I think the Washer mats should do that, from what I have read and seen; and since it is more classified now, shouldn't it work even better? (Of course, as you could read above, I really never got it working very well).

Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

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[goldog]

Sounds like you've got a lot of tools. But I didn't hear you mention the most important thing. A pan.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Sounds like you've got a lot of tools. But I didn't hear you mention the most important thing. A pan.

Equipment? Yes, my wife says I have way too much equipment. I am going to start selling all the sluices but my Bazookas, Le Trap, and most of the equipment except the small dredge, Gold Cube and one Miller table (they are different surfaces, etc.). I have 14 dozen pans of all types and shapes; need to sell some of them, too. That was how I tested the tailings for the Washer Mats. I have over six 5 gal buckets of 20 mesh black sands and gold. I am NOT panning all that. Hence the post.

Thanks, goldog, I should have specifically said I panned the tailings.

 

[johnedoe]

All the gold is fine, Colorado gold, none larger than 1 mm and usually much smaller. So now the question is--after I run my cons through the Gold Cube, classified to 1/12", what can I do to further concentrate it to gold?
So what do you all think? The material is now black sand and gold (mostly black sands), less than 12 mesh
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

WOW.... You are working way too hard at this.

OK after re-reading your post I think running what you have through the gold cube will bring you to the point that you are just going to have to get to panning....
The cons left from the GC should only be a couple of cups +/- and then you need to watch these videos in this post (click link art of gold panning) to getrdone.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html

 

[WesternMassGold]

Sounds to me you are spending an awful lot of money on equipment and you want the mats to do all the work and leave you with nothing but bare gold.
When i run my goldhog mats in the river, i only classify to 1/2 an inch and run pretty fast water. i use only razorback and UR and after 6 hrs off sluicing end up with about 1 cup of Cons.
Then i go home and pan it the old fashion way with jetdry and warm water. I think its just silly to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to extract a few pennies worth of gold from your black sand.
Just my 2 cents , but if you have the money to spend, go for it.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Sounds to me you are spending an awful lot of money on equipment and you want the mats to do all the work and leave you with nothing but bare gold.
When i run my goldhog mats in the river, i only classify to 1/2 an inch and run pretty fast water. i use only razorback and UR and after 6 hrs off sluicing end up with about 1 cup of Cons.
Then i go home and pan it the old fashion way with jetdry and warm water. I think its just silly to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to extract a few pennies worth of gold from your black sand.
Just my 2 cents , but if you have the money to spend, go for it.

Sounds to me you are spending an awful lot of money on equipment and

This equipment has been accumulated over about 30 years of time; us old guys have lots more equipment than we need.

you want the mats to do all the work and leave you with nothing but bare gold.

Sort of; Washer Mat is supposed to leave super cons, mostly gold. I am trying to get it to do just that.

When i run my goldhog mats in the river, i only classify to 1/2 an inch and run pretty fast water. i use only razorback and UR and after 6 hrs off sluicing end up with about 1 cup of Cons.

I run a Bazooka at the creek; not Washer mats; they are not made for that. These are not regular Gold Hog in the creek or dredge mats. They are special concentrating mats for recirculating set ups.

(quoted from Gold Hog website)

 

[GoldpannerDave]

WOW.... You are working way too hard at this.

OK after re-reading your post I think running what you have through the gold cube will bring you to the point that you are just going to have to get to panning....
The cons left from the GC should only be a couple of cups +/- and then you need to watch these videos in this post (click link art of gold panning) to getrdone.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/panning-gold/459664-art-gold-panning.html

Like I said, it is not just some cons, but well over 5, maybe 6 filled 5-gal buckets of material, almost completely black sand and some gold. After running some through the Gold Cube, there is still lots of black sand left. Therefore I would like to use the Washer Mats to concentrate it to more gold, less black sand. Since I already have the Washer Mats, and they are supposed to do just that, it seems reasonable.

Maybe not.

 

[johnedoe]

Like I said, it is not just some cons, but well over 5, maybe 6 filled 5-gal buckets of material, almost completely black sand and some gold. After running some through the Gold Cube, there is still lots of black sand left. Therefore I would like to use the Washer Mats to concentrate it to more gold, less black sand. Since I already have the Washer Mats, and they are supposed to do just that, it seems reasonable.

Maybe not.

Wish I lived closer, I would bring my cleangold system by and show you how to run that stuff through the system.
5 or 6, 5 gal buckets we could finish in a about an hour with no stress. you would then have about 4 tablespoons of cons to finish pan.

I beach mine and that black sand with -100 mesh gold is all I deal with....

 

[KevinInColorado]

Like I said, it is not just some cons, but well over 5, maybe 6 filled 5-gal buckets of material, almost completely black sand and some gold. After running some through the Gold Cube, there is still lots of black sand left. Therefore I would like to use the Washer Mats to concentrate it to more gold, less black sand. Since I already have the Washer Mats, and they are supposed to do just that, it seems reasonable.

Maybe not.

I suggest taking an hour or two to run ALL that black sand and Gold thru the gold cube. It'll reduce 30 gallons to ~1.5 cups. Then to the miller table or pan and you'll have the whole job done!

Just be sure you know how to prep the mats before you run these loaded cons. Jet dry and a brush will chase the bubbles out of the mats. Looking forward to hearing how much gold you pull out of those sands!

 

[Rik601]

You need ribbed rubber matting covered by miners moss toped off with expanded metal that is what I did with mine and it does not lose any gold at almost any angle I find gold so small it is almost invisible to the naked eye ! Hog matts are a gimmick miners moss works better than anything else it will capture any gold run across it watch any mining show all of the pros are running miners moss under expanded metal on there dredge or wash plant it works the best and I have not seen a system yet that works as well including your vortex units !!!

 

[Timberdoodle]

Here's a good video of a washer mat configured into a 6"x40" cleanup sluice with a feeder.
I would take the 18" of mat out of the A52 and make it into 36" into a 5" wide cleanup sluice which will be much easier to tune. I am wondering if somehow there was too much turbulence created before the washer mat with the slickplate running into the vmat which kept the gold in suspension and allowed it to ride to high in the water column and pass over the limited length of the washer mat. Just a thought. From what I have seen, the mat works extremely well when dialed in.

 

[DizzyDigger]

<snip> Hog matts are a gimmick miners moss works better than anything else it will capture any gold run across ....

Ever run properly configured Hog Mats?

With all due respect, if you had you wouldn't be making that statement.

 

[Goldwasher]

You need ribbed rubber matting covered by miners moss toped off with expanded metal that is what I did with mine and it does not lose any gold at almost any angle I find gold so small it is almost invisible to the naked eye ! Hog matts are a gimmick miners moss works better than anything else it will capture any gold run across it watch any mining show all of the pros are running miners moss under expanded metal on there dredge or wash plant it works the best and I have not seen a system yet that works as well including your vortex units !!!

Your set up holds the wrong type of material when you don't want it....Gold hog is most certainly not a gimmick...that's a pretty bold statement. Gold cube can be set up for production but is more of a concentrator. Vortex and that flow....will run sooooo much more material than moss over matt for clean up and concentration. Miners will do their own thing....the pros swear by all kinds of stuff....including Gold hog... I know first hand a large wash plant that runs them because they were sick of all the useless material held by....moss and expanded....not to mention what happens when you turn off your flow with moss full of cons and need to restart again... The exchange with vortex and G.H. is magnificent...and the reason it is better than pretty much any set up. Doc has done literally weeks of testing on every matt he has released his test videos are quite enlightening.

I also have to say that Gold Hog is a supporting vendor of this site...you have 14 posts...its not all that cool for you to claim that he is pretty much lying to people for money!!

 

[johnedoe]

You need ribbed rubber matting covered by miners moss toped off with expanded metal that is what I did with mine and it does not lose any gold at almost any angle I find gold so small it is almost invisible to the naked eye ! Hog matts are a gimmick miners moss works better than anything else it will capture any gold run across it watch any mining show all of the pros are running miners moss under expanded metal on there dredge or wash plant it works the best and I have not seen a system yet that works as well including your vortex units !!!

What..... No hungarian riffles to top it all off ?..........
Hmmmm .... lets think about this.......... mining show and professionals..... sounds like an oxymoron to me......

 

[GoldpannerDave]

I suggest taking an hour or two to run ALL that black sand and Gold thru the gold cube. It'll reduce 30 gallons to ~1.5 cups. Then to the miller table or pan and you'll have the whole job done!

Just be sure you know how to prep the mats before you run these loaded cons. Jet dry and a brush will chase the bubbles out of the mats. Looking forward to hearing how much gold you pull out of those sands!

Kevin, contrary to usual results, that is not what is happening. I am getting about half a cup for a single 5-gal bucket.

However, not all the buckets are from the same source, so maybe I won't end up with too many cups after the gold cube treatment. If so, I will just run it on the Miller table.

I did get all the bubbles out of the Gold Cube vortex mats; maybe I need to apply the brush and Jet Dry treatment to the Washer mats also. I don't think they had bubbles on them, but I can check that.

Thanks.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Wish I lived closer, I would bring my cleangold system by and show you how to run that stuff through the system.
5 or 6, 5 gal buckets we could finish in a about an hour with no stress. you would then have about 4 tablespoons of cons to finish pan.

I beach mine and that black sand with -100 mesh gold is all I deal with....

That would be great; I wished you were close enough to do that. I have been curious about the cleangold system. You have mentioned it before with beach sands.

Wow! 4 Tbs--that is what I would love to get, but probably won't get even close. Have you ever posted a picture of the cleangold system loaded with -100 mesh? I would love to see it.

Thanks for the offer, but as you noted, it is really a long way.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Kevin, contrary to usual results, that is not what is happening. I am getting about half a cup for a single 5-gal bucket.

However, not all the buckets are from the same source, so maybe I won't end up with too many cups after the gold cube treatment. If so, I will just run it on the Miller table.

I did get all the bubbles out of the Gold Cube vortex mats; maybe I need to apply the brush and Jet Dry treatment to the Washer mats also. I don't think they had bubbles on them, but I can check that.

Thanks.

1/2 cup sounds right from 5 gallons. The magic is that as you run more buckets the total cons will not climb in a linear fashion. It'll top out at about 1.5 cups. Give it a try!

 

[GoldpannerDave]

1/2 cup sounds right from 5 gallons. The magic is that as you run more buckets the total cons will not climb in a linear fashion. It'll top out at about 1.5 cups. Give it a try!

Well, since I just got the Gold Cube, I have not yet run that much additional material. So far I ran a 5-gal bucket and panned out each section to see what I got. I like that you said the amount of cons won't continue to increase linearly. I can understand that because there should be an active exchange going on. I'll give it a try and we shall see.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Here's a good video of a washer mat configured into a 6"x40" cleanup sluice with a feeder.
I would take the 18" of mat out of the A52 and make it into 36" into a 5" wide cleanup sluice which will be much easier to tune. I am wondering if somehow there was too much turbulence created before the washer mat with the slickplate running into the vmat which kept the gold in suspension and allowed it to ride to high in the water column and pass over the limited length of the washer mat. Just a thought. From what I have seen, the mat works extremely well when dialed in.

That is an idea if I had a 5" sluice to convert, but I don't. And you could be correct about the v-mat disrupting the flow. If the Gold Cube doesn't give me enough of a reduction, I might cut the mats in half to get 36" of Washer mat instead of 18" and see about making a 5" wide trough to run it in.

I really like the video--that shows what I thought the Washer mats would do.

 

[johnedoe]

Kevin, contrary to usual results, that is not what is happening. I am getting about half a cup for a single 5-gal bucket.

After running all of your buckets you will still have about 1/2 to 1 cup of cons...... It's just that the gold will displace the lighter cons and so you should simply have more gold and less cons at the end of the run.

However, not all the buckets are from the same source, so maybe I won't end up with too many cups after the gold cube treatment. If so, I will just run it on the Miller table.
Thanks.

If they are all classified to the same degree, what difference does it make where the stuff is from..... Remember the golden rule. If everything in you cons is the same size..... GOLD RULES.

Also... if your worried about losses, just run everything over a big tub and after you have cleaned out the first run run the tailings again... you will still find some gold but it shouldn't be much if the cube is running correctly.
Bottom line is "NO SYSTEM" will get all the gold, but you should be getting most of it.

Hope this helps a little. now go getrdone.....