Highbanker feedback please....

[newman]

Our handbuilt highbanker in full effect. It's a short vid...



I'd like to get some feedback about our water flow, rate of feed (wet material), and general assembly. My brother fab'd it up based on other popular models (riffles are modeled after Keene), we have 12" of v-mat up top, covered by 6" of miners moss. The moss is 3' total, and the last 6" is over sluice carpet, which runs the remainder of the sluice. Expanded metal runs the length of the riffles (welded to them, makes clean up a snap!). We were going experimental, seeing which set up seems to catch the most. So far, it's the moss over the matting. We are considering running moss/v-mat all the way down the sluice. The carpet doesn't seem to be catching any color, but that may be because it's at the last 3' of the box.

Over all dimensions - 12" wide by 6' long. We are using a semi-trash pump, 2" output, 150gpm (9000gph), but running at just about half throttle.

Thanks in advance!

 

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[Timberdoodle]

The vid is a little rough to see well, but it looks like there is too much turbulence in the riffles and the water is jumping off the riffles with a lot of air underneath. If this is happening, it breaks the riffle vortex's energy source (the water coming off the riffle top) and the riffles wont concentrate properly and gold will sail down the sluice. This can be caused by not enough water depth over the riffles or running too steep (which can result in not enough water over the riffles). I would try and tune the water flow depth and sluice angle before working on different recovery methods - mats, moss, etc..

 

[Rik601]

Just run ribbed rubber matting covered in miners moss and expanded metal and get rid of the riffles just run the expanded metal I have been doing that for years now the riffles can actually cause you to lose gold , I have built a number of high bankers and a 4 inch dredge and took all of the riffles out, it recovers a lot more gold with out the riffles .

 

[Rik601]

I have built a number of highbankers and a 4 inch dredge , I removed all of my riffles and just went with ribbed rubber matting topped with miners moss and covered with expanded metal , it seems simple but works a lot better than any keene riffle design , you can set it at almost any angle and not lose gold ,I have some very small gold where I mine at and have experimented with this for years , I keep a recovery tub at the bottom of my sluice and test it and have not found any gold in it since I switched to this system a few years back no matter what angle my sluice is at , the expanded metal and miners moss catches everything and the ribbed rubber matting holds it in the sluice !!!

 

[Goldwasher]

Way too much turbulence. you can actually see how the water will scour out material between riffles. You need a damper and less angle If you have clays and gravel you do need riffles...and flakes for that matter. Round gold and flakes will migrate down a box...especially if it only has expanded
You want your riffles to be the size of the biggest material through your box...1/2 inch riffles = 1/2 classification...you can run bigger material but, you'll want different recovery aspects in your box and good flow. that's why Gold Hog matts work so well. they are like super drop riffles. You have to have areas with good vortex to exchange and concentrate. You do need a place for big gold to drop...unless your in like Indiana or some other glacial area or beach. Otherwise you do need drops and or riffles. You do want nice smooth bubble and turbulence free flow. Its ok if you see humps in the water you just don't want those rooster tails and scouring areas.

 

[Rik601]

You do not need riffles they cause more problems than they solve HOG MATTS ARE GARBAGE !!!!, I have been mining for about 40 years now and unlike you I have a Degree in Industrial Technology and I was having the same problems , gold WILL NOT MIGRATE DOWN the box if it has miners moss under the expanded metal you obviously have not done much mining ! I have tested this over and over again , on different gold bearing rivers and in the shop , look at all of the commercial operations they use expanded metal over miners moss and ribbed rubber matting BECAUSE IT WORKS , just as an experiment give it a try you will not lose any gold and your recovery rate will skyrocket , and when I do a clean up of my matts the gold is not easy to separate from the miners moss !!!! I gold mine almost everyday

 

[Goldwasher]

how would you know what I do and have done.....I'm talking about the gold that doesn't go into miners moss.....I don't need to experiment...it's what I used to do and changed to that increased recovery....and it's the exact opposite of what you suggest. Gold Hog Is not garbage.... There is no way to look at ALL the Comercial ops... the ones I have been to and numerous in other countries as proven by docs sales and distribution to numerous foreign countries absolutely proves that the technology works....And numerous ops are switching so they don't have to deal with stupid miners moss any more...and I guarantee no plants that run yards upon yards a day run exclusively ...matt/carpet...moss expanded.. except in a stage that's already classified slurry. There are hungarian riffles, riffles ala Clarkson...hydraulic riffles...new Zealand riffles etc...plus nugget traps...scour boxes ,jigs and sumps with return circuits. because that's hoew you catch as much gold as you ...NOTHING CATCHES ALL THE GOLD

 

[Aufisher]

Gold hog makes an excellent mat no doubt!

 

[Timberdoodle]

Seems like all the major manufacturers for gold recovery equipment and most of us have missed something. There appears to be a special combination of miners moss and raised expanded that catches "ALL" the gold and it works in stream sluices, highbankers, dredges, and also perfect on cleanup sluices also to reduce cons. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/477354-gold-hog-washer-mats-gold-cube.html.

Perhaps rik601 could provide the specific combination for us. ribbed mat type, miners moss type (thin or thick) and especially the raised expanded size, gauge, stand thickness etc..

 

[Hoser John]

Just copy a Proline Highbanker design and you'll be a much happier wealthier miner. The extreme turbulence in your box is a killer for recovery. Love my riffles and carpets not so mats or moss as I like to run yardage and not stop constantly to clean out due to overflow or impaction. Consistant fluid style classification rocks-John

 

[principedeleon]

I would lower the sluice box and push the water pump to the highest RPMs .. You would be able to move more yardage and fix the turbulence in the sluice. You going to want to constantly feed the box and shut down as soon as you finish for best results..

 

[principedeleon]

Gold is really heavy and would trap his self on anything you put in your box .. If you have at least 3 riffles working you good..

 

[newman]

Way too much turbulence. you can actually see how the water will scour out material between riffles. You need a damper and less angle If you have clays and gravel you do need riffles...and flakes for that matter. Round gold and flakes will migrate down a box...especially if it only has expanded
You want your riffles to be the size of the biggest material through your box...1/2 inch riffles = 1/2 classification...you can run bigger material but, you'll want different recovery aspects in your box and good flow. .

Thanks for the constructive feedback, Goldwasher. The grizzly we are using is a grill from a propane BBQ, which classifies down to about 3/8". Our riffles are about 3/4" high, so we may need to change those out to a smaller size. Before doing that, though, we will try decreasing the slope of the box. I've been an advocate of the damper, but the engineer (my brother) isn't sold on it. He's watched just about as many youtube vids on different rigs as I have.

Rik601 - thank you for posting your opinion. I'm glad to hear that the setup you've recommended works for you, but it's just not the route we are going. Our model is based on the specs of several popular models, so we are going for something that matches the recovery of proven, commercially available rigs.

Hoser - i like the idea of riffles and carpet (cost effective versus matting/moss), but what about expanded under the riffles?

 

[Adventure_Time]

Needs more water, perhaps less angle as well. What kind of gold are you dealing with?

Vmat / moss all the way down is good. Riffles are fine. Use expanded over moss / mat in a widened extension with a damper and less slope if you feel you are losing lots of fines. Lastly... have your spray bars extend down to the grizzlies too if you can, extra washing never hurt, especially if you end up dealing with clay.

 

[newman]

Thanks Adventure Time. We have found fines (-100) up to flat pickers, and quite a bit of our finds have been small chunkies (-20). The general consensus seems to be lessen the angle of the sluice and more water. We hope to get back up there in the next couple of weeks, so I will report back at that time!

 

[Hoser John]

No expanded should be used under a Hungarian riffles knife like edge as no seal. It works in a sluicebox-low flow situations- because of angled reversed L with a lip on the bottom to seal against the carpet. All miners modify to their own likes BUT 3 rule reigns supreme-slow it all down asap, NO aireation as wreaks havoc in any box, and flat as possible to facilitate dropout of fines asap. Party on have a ball as the 11th deadline looms large and if Brown signs or doesn't sign that insidious anti everything bill it's hands and pans bs....John

 

[goldgit'r]

I would make 1 change at a time, less sluice angle and run it, speed up or slow down pump and run it, if you make a lot of changes at one time you will not know what helped and what didn't! IMHO

Wes

 

[IdahoJake]

It looks like you've put a lot of time into making a quality build. Nice job

Your sluice angle looks real steep. I run mine at ~10 degrees with 90gpm flow. I'd consider Gold Hog mats. I really like UR under the header and at the end. Razorback and talon in between.

I'm not a fan of sprayer bar header boxes. But, just because I don't prefer them, doesn't mean that they aren't effective. Here's a vid of my highbanker build. I may be a little prejudice, but I'm a little fond of this system.

 

[newman]

IdahoJake - thanks for responding. I'm a big fan of your builds and videos! As much as I'd like to use the GH mats, they're a little cost-prohibitive right now (we have to find more shiny first!). We haven't glued in the spray bars, so we can change those out on the fly. I like your design of a crash box style, so we may play with that at some point. Next time we get up to our claim, we will start with reducing the angle of the sluice. Then we will adjust water flow, and see where that takes us.

 

[russau]

On my 4 inch dredge that I sold , I welded the rasied expanded to lay flat with the riffels setup. BOTH lower edges were flat on my weld table when I welded it up.