Rotapans

[Hoggtyed]

I would like to hear some input on the Rotapan. I have searched a ton of forums and read lots of stuff. It leans both ways. Most of what I could find was at best 2004 back to 2001. I would like to hear something more recent. I know this section of the forums is not very active this time of year but I have come to trust the opinions here. That is why I asked here and not somewhere else. Thanx in advance Hogg

 

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[mdart]

Hogg,
Just happened to run across this today. I have a rotapan and have used it more than a few times. It does work, and work well. Its greatest strength is in comparison with panning where it will allow you to do about 5 times as much as you could do panning. If you're limited to a pan or a rotapan, I think that the rotapan is great. Remember that you have to use a pan to work the concentrates that the rotapan makes. If you really want to work a volume, I think a sluice is the way to go. Just my opinion.
Mdart

 

[Hoser John]

Sluice , 1/4" screen,pan,and a shovel and your in biz to go!!1/4 the cost and 100 times the production.I always go for production,the more ya move ,the more ya make,ALWAYS. If ya know what your doing that is.Tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Willy]

Unless you live in Canada where running a sluice is verboten (might scare the fish) or where running water is limited. ..Willy.

 

[Hoggtyed]

John what kind of sluice is best ? I live in North Carolina. Most of what I will run across is gonna be fine gold. I was also considering the DFS sluice box. Any opinions on it?

 

[Hoser John]

Keene or proline if ya want to keep ANY nuggets at all!!Any model of either manufacturer will work just fine.Tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Harry_Morant]

I just bought one (still on its way). I've been panning at a river not too far away and get between 20 - 50 specs per pan working the highbanks. What I really need is to increase the volume of gravel that I process in a day and I don't have room in my MINI to carry a sluice, pump and the rest of the gear so rotapan it is. I'll be heading down in about a week and will see how it goes.

About a month ago I was there with some guys who were using banjo's and they were getting about a gram an hour of fine gold.

 

[Harry_Morant]

Well I went to try the rota-pan and stayed at the river for about five hours. Seeing as it was 100 degrees (F) with no shade I packed it in before I got heat stroke. I definately was able to move at least ten times more material. I didn't however retrieve ten times more gold. What I found was that although it was great for the larger flecks I lost alot of the very fine stff. Some of this is most likely due to technique when adding water to the pan.

I took a tub and placed that below the 20 litre bucket to catch the water that spilled over as the bucket filled with washed dirt. What I should have done is to keep the wash to re-pan at my leisure with a cold beer at home. Next time I'll be putting a circle of carpet on the base of the concentrating pan to catch the finer flecks.

 

[Willy]

If you have to use a pan (or rotapan), due to legislation or waterflow, get a number of classifier screens. Actually, a 1/2" would be a good general purpose size and a 1/4" one. Preclassify a whole load of buckets and then pan them. The tails from classifying can be thrown into a pile and detected later for nuggets. Saves a lot of time and makes the panning soooo much easier & productive. ...Willy.