River / Stream Sluices - advice, information and questions

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Hi guys

Thanks heaps I think dustins stuff is the way to go.

Quick question regardind classifying.

Using as just the 8 inch gold rat river sluice in the field typically what do you have to classify down to (roughly) or can you just tip in raw dirt and rocks?

And with running concentrates when a recirculating setup with the 8 inch, what would you classify down to for concentrates? (My concentrates will typically be from dryblowing)

Thanks heaps waz
 
Gday waz, use the search function to squiz lots of topics on the classifying question you posed, a few recent ones included. With the dream mat you dont need to classify but you may choose to do so depending on factors such as water flow, sluice angle and dirt make up ie clay v sand. With some experiment you will find what works best for your set up:)
 
Hi guys
Grabbed an 8 inch gold rat with header yesterday wjat a great bit of gear. Now the challenge to make it recirculate ?.

Couldn't find a thread to answer my questions below so go easy on me?

Looking to put some indicator deep v matting between the reverse riffle and the dream mat. can someone suggest a cheap type i could use from say bunnings etc for this purpose? I dont need much.

I also noticed on dustins you tube video that he had some angled miners mat on the end of the pvc hose which sticks in the header. Presumably to calm the water flow. I see he is using cam fittings now...would i need to have an angled bit of mat or would you not bother?

Ok and last one..with a 3000 gph pump what volumr of water would i need in the bilge pump bucket/tub at end of sluice you think?

Appreciate the help guys

Cheers waz
 
I am interested in how this works for cleaning up dry blowing concentrates, because am currently looking for a solution for this too. What type of dry blower do you run and are your concentrates course or fine?
 
Hi falcon. My dryblow concentrates are coarse but i do classify through a mesh (not sure maybe 5mm) and then maybe 1mm haven't measured to be honest so end up with 2 types fine dirt and also tiny rocks if that makes sense.

Once i get the gold rat working ill let u know how it goes on these concentrates.

V mat i found at bunnings.

Im probably at a try and see stage right now but from all reports the dream mat is A1

Waz
 
Hi wazza I have just recently purchased a gold rat sluice as well. According to his video on the 6 clean up setup he was running I believe he said he classifys to a #8 mesh I think. I tried mine over the weekend classifying to the smaller of my 2 sieves (Im guessing#8) and it seemed to work quite well. Ive still got a couple of kinks to work out on my recirc setup but I bought the biggest tub I could find from Bunnings, then using the recommendation of placing the end of the sluice in a 20ltr bucket inside the big tub to catch the tailings, bilge pump sits in main tub recirculating water through. Ill try and post a pic of my setup but not sure I can yet.
 
Oh yeah part two and a query to everyone when Im using a recirc setup at home Ive heard and noticed some people use either liquid soap or I think rinse aid in the water. Is this effective? And what is the better product to use if at all?
Thanks in advance people
 
I also just purchased the 6" dream mat and am currently putting together a recirculating sluice too. They mention the angle of 9-9.5deg but I have no idea how much water flow is required from the pump?
 
1968falconxt said:
I also just purchased the 6" dream mat and am currently putting together a recirculating sluice too. They mention the angle of 9-9.5deg but I have no idea how much water flow is required from the pump?
Click to expand...

I think in the video they mention about an inch over the top of the mat. However Ive yet to achieve that with my setup. I have pretty good flow and you can see the action in the holes its just a bit trial and error I guess.
 
BCF has a 800gph pump that's cheap. I'll give it a try. They do mention that the 6" mat works much better with lower flow rate than the 8" and I will also need to classify.
 
Skip75 said:
1968falconxt said:
I also just purchased the 6" dream mat and am currently putting together a recirculating sluice too. They mention the angle of 9-9.5deg but I have no idea how much water flow is required from the pump?
Click to expand...

I think in the video they mention about an inch over the top of the mat. However Ive yet to achieve that with my setup. I have pretty good flow and you can see the action in the holes its just a bit trial and error I guess.
Click to expand...

I have the Dream Mat in the Highbanker and if your seeing that the cells are active, then you have an exchange which is critical for capturing Gold and expelling lights. But as you pointed out, an inch or so of flow over the Dream Mat is good if you can achieve that, as that added depth increases separation of particle layers etcetera etcetera.
 
1968falconxt said:
BCF has a 800gph pump that's cheap. I'll give it a try. They do mention that the 6" mat works much better with lower flow rate than the 8" and I will also need to classify.
Click to expand...

I bought an 1100 gph pump from eBay $20 free postage. (Took only couple days for delivery) Just extended my cables slightly and picked up a set of clamps from jay car. Works a treat.
 
Hi skip

great suggestions mate, will definitely put the bucket inside the larger tub.

I have been told rinse aid is best to stop fine gold floating away, perhaps half a small bottle per sluice run.

With the 8 inch recirculating sluice, dustin sells the 3000 GPH pump, but I ended up getting a 3700 gph pump which I imagine will be okay? can always put a valve in I suppose.

On the video dustin has put a small piece of PVC with holes just inside the header hole, covered by miners matt, to help smooth water flow. is this necessary do you think? There is also the reverse riffle further down to help smooth out the flow.

I have been advised sluice angle for dream mat should be 7.5 to 9.5 with 8.5 the general angle most times.

Any info regards setup much appreciated
Cheers WAZ
 
I finished off my sluice today with the 6" dream mat. It catches very fine gold but I am disappointed with how much gravel it leaves left to be panned afterwards. Am I doing something wrong or is this just how they should look?

I am running flat out with 800gph and have tried 9deg and adjusted up to 12deg with little difference. The gold all sits in the very top.

I used the recommended classifier too

1524384840_screenshot_20180422-133617.png

1524384840_screenshot_20180422-180411.jpg

1524384841_screenshot_20180422-180346.jpg
 
It doesn't look like you have much water depth on top of the cells, from memory i think they recommend 1 inch on top of the mat as the suitable water depth for the dream mat. possibly need a bigger GPH pump?

8) love that clean up sluice, nicely built! :Y:
 
Thanks, hopefully I can get it to work!

I contacted Gold rat prospecting equipment today and they recommended a larger pump (1100 gph) so I will get one of those this week. I don't know if it is possible to achieve 1" of water above the mat but I do believe I need a lot more water flow. They were very helpful and have a few tips. One was adding a reverse riffle at the start of the sluice to alter the water flow, as my flow is very fast and low coming out of the header box

1524461131_capture.jpg
 

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