High-Banking Simply Stated

[Guest]

Relevant lines of post that fit this topic.

Separating Gold From Black Sands
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15145

Old River Beds
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=13699

Road Cutting
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14728

Pans
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14320

Pumps
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14796

Saving that ultra fine gold
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15225

 

[cecc]

Thanks so much Jembaicumbene, for this great information, and for your valued input, learning is always good, and there is always something to learn.

Cheers

Len

 

[G0lddigg@]

All Gold Caon thanks for reminding me about this one. one of the first stories i printed off a few years back when i was reffered to me. i think i read it three times dreaming of loaming up my own patch

 

[Guest]

Yes indeed some very good pointers in them yarns. cheers Jembaicumbene

 

[Guest]

Bolder rolling.

I could have said rock & roll LOL.

Now here is a yarn that does not get talked about very much but is worthy of a mention. Along with your pick, long handle shovel you will need in your kit, a short handle crowbar, ratchet puller but not the cheap wire kind but one with a webbing pulling strap. Some slings and a good bit of rope. Why not the wire rope ratchet well you can use them if you wish but keep in mind they are very dangerous and great care must be taken when using them. Not only that the wire rope after time gets burs in it, no fun there when you pull the rope out and grab a hand full of them, it can bring tears to your eyes. I make my own slings out of 12mm hemp rope which should also be the size rope you use. You can roll most rocks with this size rope, the nylon type rope has too much stretch in it and is not recommended to use. Hemp is the way to go!

How to roll a rock.

First off dont get to carried away in your selection of rock you want to roll. With this type of setup you can roll approximately a meter round rock depending on its location. What you have to do is get the rope under it by working your bar in the material below the rock there may be a bit of work involved in doing this but it can be worth it. Once you make a nice round hole a little larger than the bar work your rope through the hole with a long stick or likes. Once the end comes through pass the rope back over the top of the rock and tie it off on itself. Then you poke the free end of the rope back through the hole again. Do this few times making sure the rope comes over the top of the rock. Hook the rope onto your extended puller and start winching the rope will roll the rock and unwind at the same time if all goes well. But you must make sure your winching point is strong enough to take the load. And that you have the sling right at the anchor point.

How to drag a rock.

These are the most used methods never try and lift a rock using this type of gear. Rock dragging is simple to do. Pick a strong anchor point set the ratchet puller up run out the ratchet strap and set your sling around the rock to be moved. Always try to centre the sling on the rock less chance of the sling pulling off under load.

Keep your gear clean. Always dry a hemp rope before storage.

My ratchet puller.

JB 2015

 

[Goldtarget]

The Do Not In a Banker.

Do not bring oil or grease anywhere near you banker at any stage in its life. Clean unit regular.

While working your banker do not overload the bottom hopper/sluice. Find a steady pace to work at.

Do not run your Banker at the wrong angle you will lose gold. For me to find the right angle I put a small stone about the size of a marble at the head of the sluice, if it goes through the sluice with little trouble than the angle and water pressure is just right.

Do not clean your banker out under operating water pressure. Idle you motor back for this. I can only state this point on my clean-ups. I just place the garret super sluice pan at the end of my unit. Undo two wing nuts and lift the riffle section up. Remove the matting rinse the matting off in the pan. Sweep the bottom of the sluice with a paint brush and replace the matting. Swing the riffle section back down and lock down with the wing nuts. Quick and easy.

Never and I mean Neave put your finger or hands in the working sluice section. This will disturb the water flow within the sluice and more than likely blow your gold out of the unit.

If anyone can add to the list please do so. Cheers Jembaicumbene https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/6236/1450132128_1476364148.gif

Never leave small inquisitive children near the banker!

Examine the exiting water flow before shoveling to see if the material the banker legs sits on is not being washed away or soaked allowing the legs to sink.

Check fuel levels before pumping.

I've made all these mistakes at one point.

 

[Guest]

Good points mate thanks.

 

[Hoffs gold]

You know a lot has been posted about building Bankers and such but not much has been posted on how to work them. I think this can be a good topic and can be a great help to people just starting out. It has struck me that there are a lot of experienced people on site each and every one of us has a few tricks that makes the game a little bit easier.

High-Banking simply stated.

To know how much dirt you have moved. Measure the length of the your dig. For example, the trench may measure 2 meters long. Measure the width of the trench. The same trench may be 1 meter wide. Measure the depth, of the trench . In this example the depth will be 1 meter deep. Multiply the length (L) times the width (W) times the height (H). The formula looks like this: LxWxH to calculate the volume of the trench the formula would be 2 x 1 x 1 = 2 cubic meters
.
1= Dont buy cheap buy quality which turns out cheaper in the long run
.
2= Work in your own style and pace. In this way you will enjoy the experience and be able to work longer.

3= Know how to pan more so how to finish off. Learn the back wash when finishing of a pan.

4= Never put overburden on top of un-worked ground put it behind you on ground that has been worked..

5=Be aware of heavy mineralisation which can and will clog your system and shoot the gold out the end of your unit. Clean out often in this situation.

6= Test pan the area you are working as you work. No point putting ground through if it has no gold in it.

7= Always backfill your work and flatten your rock pile. This makes the dig area look respectable.

8= its a good idea not to use a shot handle shovel but go for a long handle rounded blade shovel. Your back will thank you for it. Having a rounded nose on the shovel blade you get a lot less resistance in rocky areas by comparison to a flat blade shovel.

9= To keep gear clean of any type of oils. New gear must be washed with biodegradable detergent.

10= It is easier to take the water to the dirt, than the dirt to the water. This will cut your work load by half. Remember You only get back from what you put through.

11= The angle of the bottom sluice in relation to the size gold you are working. Course gold hard and fast. Fine gold low and slow. That the rule I work too.

12= when pumping distance say up to and over 100 meters start the run at 4x 20 meter lengths of 2 inch lay flat reducing back to one and a half inch lay flat for the rest. This cuts down on water friction within the hose.

13= In your lay flat make sure there are no kinks in the hose between the pump and unit. This will have an effect on operational pressure.

14= The pumps pickup hose (from the pump to water supply} this hose should have a smooth boar on the inside. If it does not the ribbed hose will suck air one day and make your pumps output very poor.

15= respect anothers mans dig try and keep a respectable distance from any one else working the same area.

The above is the style and manner to which I work. There is proudly more that I can add like keeping your feet dry in the winter. But I think the above is a good start for any one kicking off so to speak. For our more experienced guys it would be good if you can add a bit to this.

Great advice, good to be learning from the experienced. Thanks for taking your time to help.

Cheers

This is a great list mate, to the point and informative!! Thanks for posting cheers Hoff.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Hoff.

 

[Guest]

Hi all it will not be long now before I go off line for a bit only a matter of days. But before I do I would like to give people who are considering getting into High-banking some inspiration as to what they can expect in regards to Banking returns. There is some very good information on this site if read and understood can return to you the same type of results as seen below. Remember in working a Banker, it does not matter what type of banker you are running for they all retain the same amount of gold. The secret is in how you work your banker and where you work your Banker now that is the trick.
Please enjoy the few odd photos I have taken over the years. I have posted these to give you inspiration and to show just what you can achieve.

 

[nucopia]

Thanks awe inspiring pics
Perfect motivation to get out and do some banking!

 

[Guest]

Thanks mate.

 

[G0lddigg@]

go bankers!

 

[IND59]

Thanks Jembaicumbene I just built this. With the info supplied in place I am sure you have just made my High-Banking learning curve a hell of a lot smaller, thanks again

The plan is to give it a run 2nd week in Jan16 over at Sofala.

 

[Guest]

Thanks mate I know you will enjoy the experience. As with everything there is a right way to go around a task and there is a wrong way my aim was to guide people towards the right way. There probably is a whole lot more that can be added to this section and perhaps it will over time. But alas not by me, always keep in mind you can have the best bit of gear but unless you work it right, and be in the right area for working then you will be disappointed. Learn these tricks and you will come out on top.
Heres a tip go back through the forum read the relevant post in regards to placer gold, also dont disregard the old books to know what was is to know what is. And this information is priceless! Last but not least get out in the field as much as possible each trip will be a learning curve, in other words learn from your experiences and dont be afraid to try new tricks. Cheers mate I will not wish you luck I know you will not need it armed with a bit of knowledge you are going to make your own. And do very well from it indeed I can feel it.
Jembaicumbene

 

[todd86]

Hopefully this can help me out. Thanks jembaicumbene

 

[Guest]

You'll be right digger. At least now you have a starting point.

 

[cecc]

I get so jealous when I see these pic's everyone with their highbankers going out to all these area's, and that's good. But here in QLD none of that is possible for us. All Tribsa and I have is Deep Creek really. And even then only a few spots that are accessible, dig all day in hard compact material, then classify and deal with clay, then pan.

I still love it, but gee it would be nice to have places like I see here on the Forum in NSW or Vic, nice creeks which are totally accessible, drive in to some nice picnic ground, pull out the highbanker and go and get some good gold,

I'm sharing this to highlight the plight we have here. It gets quite depressing and very, very frustrating. Knowing that not far from me or Tribsa there are some nice creeks, but the powers to be have locked everything up like....'FORT KNOX'.

 

[Guest]

A question much asked is do I need to be learning geology? well the way I see it is when your just kicking off you will be going to proven gold areas, working known gold producing ground. As you do this more and more you will start to get to know what areas are better than others, what the indicators are, and the type of rock that gold is found with. So you see with a bit of experience under the belt, you will start to develop in many ways. But the only way to gain this knowledge is to be out there doing it.
Cheers Jembaicumbene

 

[IND59]

Thanks Jembaicumbene I just built this. With the info supplied in place I am sure you have just made my High-Banking learning curve a hell of a lot smaller, thanks again
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/5925/1451443215_image.jpeg
The plan is to give it a run 2nd week in Jan16 over at Sofala.

Put the learnings into action and very happy with my first outing with the banker

Very hard to take!

First clean up to see if adjustments required and tested the tailings, found gold in tailings. Reduced the flow and the angle of the sluice.

Final clean up, very happy
Thank you All