Me Again,
I started with a pan and then the bucket classifier then added the GMT. As the panning was taking a long time I purchased a Keene sluice and that helped improve my yields but cleanups take some time though when the sluice is setup properly cleanups do not need to be done often. I like the Bazooka Gold Trap idea as no classifying is required, cleanups are very simple and the videos show why the BGT's work well namely the trap stays liquefied all the time. I Do Not own a BGT but I am seriously looking at them. I've spoken with Todd at BGT and he is thinking about bringing out a new model, the A-1, which will be a little smaller than the prospector. The A-1 will be a bit narrower, about 30" in length and will be very nice as a back-packable unit that will still handle lots of raw material. The super mini is also a nice size though I would think it would be more for sampling or working small creeks. Again I do not own one of these but I am giving them serious consideration.
My Keene has the ribbed rubber mat just before the riffles start and the mat sure catches fine gold. The riffles are required to hold larger gold. In 2010 I was working a small pay streak of flat nuggets about 1/8" in diameter and noticed one sitting at the mouth of the flare, it was just rocking in the water flow. Before I could decide what to do about getting it a slight shift in the water flow caused it to Zip right over the ribbing and it may not have stopped in the riffles. It was dissapointing to think I may have lossed that nugget. Another reason I like the BGT, anything heavy hitting the grizzly bars should go into the trap and stay there. The keene is aluminum and will not break if dropped or if a heavy rock is dropped on it. Plastic sluices, in my opinion, will not take as much abuse but I'm still thinking about purchasing one. Once you've found some gold you will want to find more, that's just how it works. I've actually added a highbanker attachment to my Keene and was supposed to use it this year but then a full time job came along with a steady paycheck and the highbanker has never seen water. In my mind a highbanker allows one to work dry spots away from a creek or river but close enough to a water source to be able to pump water to the highbanker. Now one carries in the sluice, the highbanker attachment, the gasoline engine, the hoses, the gasoline, the rest of the prospecting supplies and that is a heck of a lot of stuff versus plunking a BGT into the water and bringing the raw materials to it as after all, that long section of the BGT before the grizzly is basically a highbanker its just that the creek or river supplies the washing action.......63bkpkr
Here is a picture of "all" the gold I found in that 2010 adventure, a bit less than a quarter ounce. I moved a huge amount of boulders, rocks, gravel, dirt and general stuff to get this and I did it for the adventure. The first year I used the mesh wastebasket as a classifier I had this nice pile of washed rocks sitting on the gravel bar I looked at it and thought if I found any larger gold it is in that pile. I decided to do a quick pan of the pile which took awhile but it was worth it as I found a nice little nugget in it. That is why I use the detector on the scrap piles, anything large is in there and the detector makes quick work of finding it!
