BGT Highbanker kit: still waiting........

[Dain8404]

Been almost 2 years since being announced. Anyone know anything about the progress?

 

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[KevinInColorado]

I gave up and made my own. Bazooka Sniper on a stand. 2000 gph bilge pump and a few dollars worth of 1/2 inch PVC did the job and it works!

There's a thread about it here somewhere...

 

[Dain8404]

I was hoping to get one for the prospector. But I have the mini so if you wouldn't mind could you post a pic of it? I made one once for the mini but i felt that I had the manifold for the under tubes wrong and one side had much more pressure on one side. And I figured having it come straight down middle would cause same issue because it would concentrate the pressure in the straightest path for least resistance.

 

[Dain8404]

Nvm Kevin, found your post from May 19 2015. Looks good!

 

[Goldwasher]

It's still in the works..Water volume is an issue in making it a true hibanker in regards to volume of production. I still use a regular hibanker as the pump required for a prospector to run shovel at a time is 150 gpm that is a large pump and not all that portable. We have mocked up several and are not satisfied..A sniper will run and clear the grizzly with a 70 gpm pump but not at an idle. When you are trying to be productive low flow on a bazooka is frustrating. Like Kevin has stated before you have to clear the grizzly by hand but it's faster than classifying.Which is ok I guess but, We want a hibanker that will make the prospector run like it does in the creek. Trying to make a kit that doesn't require drilling and will seal properly and available as an aftermarket kit is not easy considering bazookas have slight varieties in tolerance. A small leak affects the water over the top deck by a lot...ands well as letting water get everywhere. That's a pain depending on where your running. Todd/we haven't given up its just hasn't been created in a way that puts it at the same level as the box itself and therefore can't be released. I Have yet to see one made by anyone that can truly be called a highbanker.
One thing I have to pint out that if you are doing a home build and water is not over the top grizzly deck you are not getting the affected t of the diverted baffle and recovery could be affected though the lack of volume and speed may counter that a little.

 

[KevinInColorado]

That last comment about the diverter baffle not working if there's not enough water over the top deck is key. On my home built system I was losing fine gold when I ran with a 1100 gph pump, going to 2x1100gph seems to have solved the loss of gold problem (yay!) and I'm guessing it's because I now have enough water on the top deck to make the diverter do its job :-D

Sometimes more water means BETTER gold recovery. Good to keep in mind for in-stream use too!

 

[Dain8404]

Thanks gold washer. I understand and hope all the best. I will be waiting!

Kevin. Indeed.! My issue just using one pump was just that. Trying to increase flow in one place reduced flow to other. Was thinking more along of a plug for the bottom for equal pressure and a 2nd pump for the top flow to increase volume of water. May run the 1100 below and 2000 above. Will have to see

 

[Hamfist]

I ran my Sniper highbanker with 1000 GPH to clean up drywasher concentrates, and found pickers in the tailings tub. These things need lots of water volume. The Prospector is MUCH larger than the Sniper. Bare bones minimum for the Sniper is 2000+ GPH. The Prospector might work best with a pump powered by diesel!

 

[KevinInColorado]

I ran my Sniper highbanker with 1000 GPH to clean up drywasher concentrates, and found pickers in the tailings tub. These things need lots of water volume. The Prospector is MUCH larger than the Sniper. Bare bones minimum for the Sniper is 2000+ GPH. The Prospector might work best with a pump powered by diesel!

Finding pickers...well that's one problem I don't have!

 

[Dain8404]

I ran my Sniper highbanker with 1000 GPH to clean up drywasher concentrates, and found pickers in the tailings tub. These things need lots of water volume. The Prospector is MUCH larger than the Sniper. Bare bones minimum for the Sniper is 2000+ GPH. The Prospector might work best with a pump powered by diesel!

I had my mini set up as a Highbanker as explained to Kevin. I wasn't 100% happy with the function but I used it once after crushing some Quartz I had found here in Kansas. I found 8-10 very small pieces of gold with it. In the area I live in Kansas, that is almost unheard of. I would say the pieces were in the 100 region. You don't want your tubes blowing material out. If you can see inside the camber when you have a bit of material in there I would say if you see a slight "bubbling" action under the material, then you have movement enough. Chamber shouldn't be blown out clean.

I had to learn this doing trial and error when I was working on my HB setup for the mini. But you are right. The prospector will take a lot of water.

 

[Goldwasher]

You definetly don't want to under pressurize the trap. 1000 GPM is not gonna be enough to run a sniper trap properly. It sounds like it was not fluidized.

 

[Hamfist]

Finding pickers...well that's one problem I don't have!

It was just one picker, actually, but one is enough!