Dream Mat

i just bought a 3 in one for one of my highbankers from carolina prospectors, it starts with the tiny ones at top, then the medium ones, then to the full size ones at the bottom. each section is a 12 x12 section. im gonna be using it next weekend at out gold club outing. im undecided if i want to add 2 strips of the goldhog motherload mat before of after the dream mat
If the water and material dump directly onto the mat, the motherlode mad might work good up front... other then that, the more different types of riffles the better usually. If you have room, add it in, but the dream mat by itself is impressive.
 

If the water and material dump directly onto the mat, the motherlode mad might work good up front... other then that, the more different types of riffles the better usually. If you have room, add it in, but the dream mat by itself is impressive.
my dream mat is only 36" long, my sluice is 48, thats why i was saying about putting the motherlode mat in to take up the space
 

i was out in my shop last night and found a VDR mat for the cube ive never tried, wonder if i should try that at the end of the dream mat, any thoughts reed?
 

I don't think the VDR mat for the Cube will handle the flow / volume from dredge or the unclassified material .. I my opinion you'll end up blowing fine gold out the tail end of your dredge. SORRY
 

Late to the party here, but I use Dream Mat (mainly the mini cell version) in my small river sluice and mini 6" highbanker. Also the micro and mini for clean up.

Provided one classifies down to 1/4" or less for the mini profile (and 1/8" or less for the micro profile), the mat does a great job hanging on to the tiniest specks while minimizing concentrate volume. My experience, at least.

The gold I run into here in Indiana is generally of the flour/fly poop persuasion, and many times I grab buckets of raw material from the creeks to process at home. That practice allows me to re-process my tailings completely, and I typically only find a few micro specks in the tailings after the initial run. (Note, this result is an outcome of 5-10 gallons of unclassified samples.)

I've also been experimenting with the Cap V + mini cell Dream Mats in the Gold Cube running at 2000GPH and have not been disappointed. It's a new experiment, however, and I haven't run enough material yet to make a final judgement.
 

Last edited:
on my trip to contrary this year, i wasnt getting as many cons in my keene mat highbanker as i thought i should be so i took the header box off my dream mat box and ran it as a secondary "catch" box (14 inch into the 12 inch). i made a couple brackets and 2 rubber flaps to keep the water in the 12 inch box.

out of the 3 days i ran it that way, all i found in it was a some pieces of fly poop, sub 100 gold (11 pieces total for 3 days)
last pic is what i got for 4 hours down in that area, not that good but enough to bring a smile
 

Attachments

  • 20220926_133124.webp
    20220926_133124.webp
    1.9 MB · Views: 73
  • 20220926_132316.webp
    20220926_132316.webp
    2.2 MB · Views: 69
  • 20220926_133110.webp
    20220926_133110.webp
    2.3 MB · Views: 65
  • 20220926_133215.webp
    20220926_133215.webp
    2.7 MB · Views: 68
  • 20220926_213549.webp
    20220926_213549.webp
    240 KB · Views: 67
on my trip to contrary this year, i wasnt getting as many cons in my keene mat highbanker as i thought i should be so i took the header box off my dream mat box and ran it as a secondary "catch" box (14 inch into the 12 inch). i made a couple brackets and 2 rubber flaps to keep the water in the 12 inch box.

out of the 3 days i ran it that way, all i found in it was a some pieces of fly poop, sub 100 gold (11 pieces total for 3 days)
last pic is what i got for 4 hours down in that area, not that good but enough to bring a smile
Liking the long tom set up!

I do the same on my 6" mini highbanker. It has an extension, plus I can drop another box on the end after the extension and experiment with various mat combos. One thing I've been trying is keeping one of the top boxes mat-free to act as a slick plate to enhance preliminary separation before the material even contacts the mats.
 

Last edited:
Running a slick plate before the riffles really works great, I highly recommend it.
 

on my trip to contrary this year, i wasnt getting as many cons in my keene mat highbanker as i thought i should be so i took the header box off my dream mat box and ran it as a secondary "catch" box (14 inch into the 12 inch). i made a couple brackets and 2 rubber flaps to keep the water in the 12 inch box.

out of the 3 days i ran it that way, all i found in it was a some pieces of fly poop, sub 100 gold (11 pieces total for 3 days)
last pic is what i got for 4 hours down in that area, not that good but enough to bring a smile
Run some material trapped under boulders You might like it :)
007.webp
010.webp
002.webp
Pix. taken at Contrary
 

Last edited:
i have heard of a few good ones coming from north side but theres some good stuff from the downstream side of the bridge. ill look for some of the other nugget pics.

ETA: the nugget next to the vial cap is from 2019. the 1st pan pic is from 2020, the clump of mud with the 2 pieces of gold and the pan pic in pic 4 is from 2021, the last pic is from this year
 

Attachments

  • 20210923_185856.webp
    20210923_185856.webp
    495.8 KB · Views: 51
  • 20200913_082057.webp
    20200913_082057.webp
    3 MB · Views: 51
  • 20200928_150129.webp
    20200928_150129.webp
    424.7 KB · Views: 50
  • 20210924_202255.webp
    20210924_202255.webp
    580.5 KB · Views: 54
  • 20210926_085745.webp
    20210926_085745.webp
    326.9 KB · Views: 48
Last edited:
i have heard of a few good ones coming from north side but theres some good stuff from the downstream side of the bridge.

Is this PA where you folks are prospecting? (Just guessing from the posters' locations.) If so, I haven't heard much about gold coming from that state...very interesting. And regardless it sure looks good compared to the glacial stuff I'm finding in Indiana!
 

no those pics are from Contrary creek VA . its a good creek and only 6 hours from me, but where i go in western north carolina is better
 

when i put vaseline at bottom of box to test dream mat, little tiny -100mesh or smaller is there, sometimes what i call a "pringle" -flat round 30mesh gets through.
does anyone get garnets dancing in the wells?Hooks?Curves? whatever they call them. from alaska gravels.
 

Last edited:
when i put vaseline at bottom of box to test dream mat, little tiny -100mesh or smaller is there, sometimes what i call a "pringle" -flat round 30mesh gets through.
does anyone get garnets dancing in the wells?Hooks?Curves? whatever they call them. from alaska gravels.
Hi Zombieknot, i get lots of little Garnet's in my DM, when i pan my heavies i see quite a few little round one's.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom