New Highbanker In Action.

[BumbleB]

Well here's the new baby in action yesterday. There is certainly some fine tuning to be done- note the 'rooster-tails' in the run- I'm using a couple pieces of the River Hog matting in the run & the tall riffle is just a bit too tall I think & is causing the water to launch/jump in the air. I will trim them down to half size & hopefully that should be perfect.
The new Rato pump worked a absolute gem guy- perfect, I have no issue recommending them now. Anyone in the Market for a new pump at a very very good price really need to consider one of these.
Didn't find any Gold- got some cons there to pan out, but a quick look didn't find anything too obvious. Anyway here's the pic's. Any feedback, or comments would be appreciated.

 

[slowflow]

Sure you'll score next time out with that one. Neat build.

 

[axeman]

Nice, what a weapon!!!, looks like it'll have a good feed rate when the bugs are sorted out. I like a high banker with a good feed rate, the only problem is that I have to work my ring off to keep feeding it.
Mick

 

[BumbleB]

Yeah Mick its hard to keep up with it, especially when I was classifying the gravel down before feeding it- tends to slow everything down somewhat. Look out Yarraman! Can't wait mate!

 

[V_8]

Hey BB, Nice setup - looks like it goes a treat, how's that GH matting treating you?

 

[HeadsUp]

what sequence do you have the mats in ?

some people put 2 - 3 sections of UR to let the material stratify , then one or two scrubber , another UR or two , then razorback or riverhog and UR for one or two at the end

what you have there might be long enough , but i have seen these 2 metres long

looks like you were having fun , now you just got to get into places where the gold is at

 

[BumbleB]

what sequence do you have the mats in ?

some people put 2 - 3 sections of UR to let the material stratify , then one or two scrubber , another UR or two , then razorback or riverhog and UR for one or two at the end

what you have there might be long enough , but i have seen these 2 metres long

looks like you were having fun , now you just got to get into places where the gold is at

Giday HeadsUp, mate I'm running- from the top down; 3x UR, 3x Scrubber, 2x Riverhog, 1x Razorback, 1x Riverhog, & 1x Razorback. As you can see from the photo's, the Riverhog with the full riffle causes the water to launch into a rooster-tail & actually causing alot of the slurry to miss the next mat. I have trimmed the riffle down by about half now so that should settle that aspect down. I was also testing a section of 9mm perforated plate, under the header box, raised up over the UR mat- it worked well to move the stones out of the way of the UR mats, but I don't know if its really necessary.
No Gold pulled out though this time- we had never worked this area before so apart from testing the new gear, it was always going to be a toss-up. Its on a private property up new North Arm- its in the right area, but maybe wrong spot. We are off to 7 Mile digging/Yarraman Creek this weekend with Axeman & his mate, so there will be no excuse for no Gold being 'rescued' this time.
Overall, I'm very happy with the setup- pump is awesome- only had to run it at 1/4 to 1/3 throttle for the flow you can see in the pic's.

 

[HeadsUp]

beautiful

what size pump and what is the flow rate you're giving the sluice ?

what is the angle you are running the sluice at ? i think from memory GH recommend 9 degrees which is alot flatter than most other styles , but they boost the cleaning action by having high water flow to keep the traps clean enough to catch the gold

dont give up too fast on the spot you were in , just test different parts of the river to see if you can find traps where the gold might have concentrated for a few hundred / thousand years . being private property is a plus

good luck

 

[BumbleB]

Thanks HeadsUp.
No giving up here mate- it's just the beginning.
Pump is a Rato 7HP Trash Pump & is rated to 1100ltr/min- big baby!
I didn't take an angle reading, I just adjusted it until I felt I had the flow over the mats at the right rate. I was watching to see that all the gravel was exchanging well at each mat. This will be an ongoing fine tuning I guess.

 

[G0lddigg@]

shes come up good mate, looks like you can throw a bit of material through her.
Its hard to tell from the pics but i reckon you could throw more water through and definitely trim those ramps a little but more water less angle will possible smooth it out as well, like you said it takes some time to dial them in and them you move spots and it changes with the soil again :0 hope you get some colour out of those cons.

 

[WalnLiz]

Looking great there BB,

Love to see a pic of the sluice without water in it mate (riffle arrangement), seems a tad aggressive with that flow on the finer gold but could be just the sluice angle.

Cheers Wal.

 

[BumbleB]

Yeah the top half of the run was looking good. That first Riverhog riffle really stirred everything up- it was actually launching the slurry over the next mat, & then having another 2 of the Riverhog's further down it was just too aggressive I think. They are really a dredge mat designed for the USA setups so I guess I shouldn't be surprised- I love the rest of smaller riffles on the Riverhog though, great catching areas. Now that I have trimmed them down by half I'm hoping that should settle the run down a bit.
You could be right Golddigg@ about more water & less angle- I think with the riffles cut down it is really going to mean having to readjust the whole flow velocity etc.
Here are the pic's Wal.

 

[G0lddigg@]

at the end of the day exposing your material to more variations is ehat its all about and youve certainly done that

 

[BumbleB]

Yeah GD that was my plan.

 

[Beagleboy]

Nice set up there BB. Does the GH matt just sit in the sluice or is it somehow secured?

 

[WalnLiz]

Looks great by those pics BB. Cutting down your vertical riffles will make a huge difference, as the flow will then get the mats to work more efficiently with only the need for flow adjustment. A high vertical riffle with those mats will cause the mat behind them, and the riffle itself, from working properly.

The mats forward sloping edges will prevent the gold sucking back in the vortex of the higher riffles thus creating a dead zone.

The set up in the above pics with the lower riffles should work extremely well. Hope the gold fills those riffles for you on the next trip mate.

Cheers Wal.

 

[BumbleB]

Thanks Wal for the feedback- fingers crossed for this weekend.

 

[WalnLiz]

Take some pics mate, I'm sure it will purr like a Rolls Royce this trip.

Cheers Wal.

 

[BumbleB]

Nice set up there BB. Does the GH matt just sit in the sluice or is it somehow secured?

Thanx Beagleboy. No mate the mats just sits there. I followed the installation instructions on the Gold Hog website, which uses that Gorilla tape to run down the edges (underneath) & folded over on itself & that's it- they are nice & snug against the sides & stay put.....so far anyway. I should mention that all the mats are glued together with super glue aswell, as per Gold Hog instructions, so altogether it has a bit of weight to it which I guess helps hold them firm.

 

[Beagleboy]

Nice set up there BB. Does the GH matt just sit in the sluice or is it somehow secured?

Thanx Beagleboy. No mate the mats just sits there. I followed the installation instructions on the Gold Hog website, which uses that Gorilla tape to run down the edges (underneath) & folded over on itself & that's it- they are nice & snug against the sides & stay put.....so far anyway. I should mention that all the mats are glued together with super glue aswell, as per Gold Hog instructions, so altogether it has a bit of weight to it which I guess helps hold them firm.

Thanks for your reply BB. I did notice in the picture there is something in between the wall of the sluice and the matt. Is it easy to clean up if it all comes out in one piece?