sluice help

[Haydos]

Hi guys,
hope you all had an awesome Christmas and are enjoying the time off with family/gold.

I picked up a 10' sluice with dream mat and a header box on a pre built stand and im not convinced its set up right and im just after some tips/criticisms that anyone can offer me, sorry in advance for the picture heavy post :/

this is at the very bottom of the mat, no movement whatsoever in the cells which in my mind would say not enough flow? or the angle of the sluice?

these are the bottom cells close up clogged up with sand/rocks

again bottom of the run, i have classified the pay down these are just some sneaky ones that have made it through

heres where im getting confused, this is the very start of the run, absolutely nothing in the first maybe 3 lots of cells which in my mind says too much flow or too steep angle and its blasting everything out of the cells

close up of the flow rate, not exactly how it looks on youtube lol

and the overall system minus the header unit,

i have 2 bilge pumps, 1 a 2600ltr and the other a 2000ltr unit going into a Y piece up to the head unit running off a little genie, all up the total length of pipe is maybe 1.5-2 meters, overall im not happy with the set up, to much lugging around and a little fiddly, im hoping to upgrade to a little petrol pump in the future, at a rough glance the angle of the sluice is maybe 20* (how does one check the angle?)

all up so far ive gotten maybe 20-30 specks out of ground that i know has gold in it from panning and i was hoping for a little more, that said the creek is dry so i havent had the sluice set up any other way than what i have now so maybe clear water instead of the silty crap im forced to run might help? i dunno haha

thank you all sorry again for the novel
Happy New Years :Y: :Y: :Y:
Haydos

 

[juan]

My 2 cents worth -

first up water quality. "silty crap"? In my experience water quality is always the least of you problems. The old saying: the most common reason for poor gold recovery is there is not much gold in what you are washing......

second, from the photos (I have never used this Dream Mat), i am understanding the last photos are of your setup in full flow? If that is the case I personally believe that is a seriously low volume of water.

third, regarding the first few rows of cells being empty, that would not alarm me - it probably speaks more of the nature of the very initial inflow rather than any inherent flaw in angle/total water flow.

fourth, the photo (number three?) has what could possibly be a large piece of quartz with some gold in it? If this is the case, and is your focus, forget that. Sluices trap free gold, or particles where the amount of gold in a particle is enough to make it much "heavier" than other particles in the flow.

 

[mudgee hunter]

Tip... its best not to ever start/stop to often when running, or play with the flow to much. Sudden drops of flow rates can affect the vortexes, thus you increase your chance of loss.
Concentrates total in the cells can also depend on the material your using. Real light sandy material will blow through easily. With my banker being different style. I can back the flow rate right down, or flatten out. But I always find that in real sandy spots... the gold is always real fine. Therefore you only need enough flow and angle to rid the sand.
The 1.5hp honda like andy from adventure gold uses would be the go.
but hunt through this site mate.
Many people have had the same teething problems, and had good reply answers.
the dream mat cells being called "blocked".... they wont just hold gold only. If the material being caught is loose and not packed/caked hard, things should be ok. Any gold entering a soft filled cell should be able to muscle its way in, pushing the lighter material out to make way.
Test pan for a comparison of the area and against your results.

 

[AussieChris]

I have one of those Stanley FatMax digital levels. I don't advise you go pay $90 for one, I just had one for work. You can grab digital levels off aliexpress for under $20 if that would help you find the right gradient to run the sluice on, I find somewhere around 7-11 works for me, so if you are closer to the 20 you suggest, that could be a problem (I would capture the tailings in a tub and pan it out). They can be handy until you can just eye it in with experience, water will then tell you if your sluice is level.

The water turbidity seems fine from the pics, you can't always expect to sluice with crystal clear alpine water, it would have to contain far more silt to start clogging the cells, I think your main issue is water flow, it looks a little jumpy from the last 2 pics, you really are looking for a good 2" flow over those cells, the water will flow much smoother across the top of the sluice once you get that flow right, you will see the cells working heavies (if the water is clearer). You can expect to find quartz, ironstone, gems maybe and of course black sands in the cells, so don't worry about that if they are there, the cells are working, and the gold will be there with them. You would expect far less (hopefully zero) of those blonde sands, as that is what packs up a cell, that light stuff should be easy blasted out if the cell is working optimally.

I have the 12" Gold Rat with dream mat (also the baby 6") and my first run with it was when the river was very slow and low, I was a bit confused with how much water it seemed to need, it took some time to get it right, and it certainly requires far more than v-mat/moss with expanded combo but its worth it when you end up with a much smaller amount of cons to process and a high capture rate. I have salted 2 grams of gold into a few buckets of classified material and run it through the sluice into a low profile tub and found almost zero loss, a few micro dots around that 200 even 300 mesh size. It was mostly to see what was coming out the arse end, not to weigh it as the material I mixed it in contained gold as well.

And like Hunter said, keep test panning. I found myself on my last trip out finding decent test pans to then find buckets of classified material run from the same spot holding a disproportionate amount of gold. Keep looking for the line, you will know when you are on it. I used to just run the most material in a day that I could, and yes I would find gold, but now I try to run the best material in a day that I can.

Good Luck, keep posting results

 

[aussiefarmer]

From the last 2 photos you need more water maybe twice as much , i dont think you need any faster water just more depth.
The water shoild be close to an inch in depth above the cells .

 

[Graybeard]

did you know that you can get an app on your mobile phone so that it will act as a digital level

 

[Anolphart]

I just bought an 8 Gold Rat with the dream mat and used it for the first time before Christmas. I used Chriss advice and set it angled at about 8 which wasnt easy because the creek only had a shallow drop. I had to build a dam to get the correct drop and adjusted the flow height at about 1 at the flair. I had to be careful not to drop the tail of the sluice below the water line as that would stall the flow at the exit.

That set up seemed OK and I did get some very fine colour, despite the fact that the location wasnt in a popular well known gold bearing area. I used an inclinometer as shown below and found that 8 was a lot steeper than I originally envisaged it to be, so the inclinometer at less than $10.00 delivered from fleabay was very useful. I deliberately avoided anything electronic because of the wet environment (which was difficult because I love electronic gadgets)

 

[Haydos]

Thanks for the tips guys, 1-2 over the cells, holy crap haha im getting probably 10mm haha so thats probably the issue, the guy I bought it off said that it worked fine for him but I need to redesign the stand/water delivery system as I really hate it :N:

Im really not a fan of the recirculating system but unfortunately I have no streams or creeks with flow at the moment so I dont have a whole lot of options to test the unit out, and Im to impatient to wait till winter haha

As for test panning I got 2 and a bit buckets of unclassified pay and ran it through and got 20ish bits of colour which is pretty similar to what I would get panning but I get what you guys are saying, thank you all for your tips

Unrelated question but I think I found a sapphire in the sluice when I ran it last time, its a translucent dark blue gem about 8-10 mm long, is it possible that its a sapphire as I have no idea, Ill post a pic tommorow,
Thanks again all
Haydos

 

[Occasional_panner]

I tried my 10inch banker with a 3700gal hr bilge and it was hopelessly underpowered. Then ran it with 24v and a speed controller @80% that ran ok for about a year till it finally burned out.
The small petrol pumps like here http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-5-Inch...234115?hash=item3f437d7143:g:qI4AAOSw2XFUln5z are hopeless too.
You need a big sucker like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-2-In...717810?hash=item3f75a576f2:g:z7MAAOSwxGRZfxJm
Yes all getting heavy you are thinking...... yep.

Dream mat is great but it needs a hell of a lot more water than std cross riffles, prob double.

Running it in a banker is different to running it in a sluice, you won't get 2 inches of water over it.

 

[Occasional_panner]

Look at this video at 18.00 min mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5eeiPv3ucc
You can see the white water lines running down the bed, that's the start point for enough flow, unless you get that it won't work (running dream mat in a banker).

Different if running as a sluice, very different.

If you look at gold rats web site here https://highbanker.com.au/collections/pumps/products/2-5hp-highbanker-pump-only
he states the 12,000 lh pump is suited to the 8inch banker

 

[Rusty22]

Mate i really feel for you for it's a real frustrating situation for i have only just worked my 10" out thanks to the guys on hear and it took me 4 months I'm a bit slow with some things.
But this is what I've learnt, with a 10" mat you will need 12000lph min if you can lay your finger on the mat and your finger has warter over it you have volume. 2nd is warter speed and angle first start off at 9 degrees the recommended if it's still clogs up I drop it by 1 degree at a time until the cells start to unclog I find it 12 and a half to 13 degrees works well with 12000lph still some clog ups in the bottom cells but overall catching very fine gold. I down loaded a protractor it works a treat. Good luck

 

[Digginholes]

With out getting all technical from your pics the vortex is too powerful and possible displacement of the gold is happening, a little less angle will help. As above mentioned I have found using a lev on my phone that the best angle is between 11-13 degrees

 

[Graybeard]

I've just looked at other ways of sluicing and there is another way it's called "under flow technology" for those of you who may be interested. The only problem is that you have to classify your material first. (use a sieve). This method gets 99% of your gold, and you no longer have to pan your concentrations. And you don't have to use moss mats or wondermats etc. If it ever comes to Australia I'll buy one. I'm sick of finding gold in my tailings. In fact it's so good you can forget about using mercury.
I might have a chat with the manager who sells prospecting equipment at Wendouree to see if he can import some of them from the states.

 

[HeadsUp]

I am running 12 inch mat and a 240 litres / min Honda WX 15 pump is just enough flow , ( I wouldnt want less)

I found after 2 days use that 9 degrees worked okay in an area with a moderate amount of black sands , it left very little cons in the cells

If doing Other areas with different heavies I might start off with the same or more water flow but begin at 7.5 degrees and work down until the vortex is active , not blocking up but not losing gold either .

If the vortex trap is blocking up with gravels then its not going to catch gold.

When testing , if you can see the trap is 30-50% full of gravels that are suspended and dancing around in that vortex then it will catch gold too.

Disclaimer ; I am still learning with it too and currently also running expanded mesh over moss in the bottom half of the sluice until I get this fully sorted

As others already said you need to triple the water flow in yours to have in my opinion at least 20 mm deep water flow

 

[MikeB05]

I have been watching this thread with great interest as I have recently purchased an 8 inch dream mat river sluice.

I am a bit confused by members who say you don't have to classify...when the instructions say classify down to 1/4 inch.

I have already made a wider flare to capture more water when used as a sluice but due to work commitments and low water levels I haven't tried it yet.... and I also purchased a header box for this sluice and will run a 3hp, inch and a half lay flat into it. If it still needs more water.... then I will have to reconsider its use.

Mates who own these sluices swear by them as do the users of dream mat in their highbankers. I hope to join that group.

In my arsenal of gear one of the best items is a McKirk Alaskan....it needs just enough water to exchange the drop riffles and it catches very fine gold. Easy to set up and clean out and tough as anything. Plastic...so no rust or corrosion. Am considering making a header box for the McKirk.

Anyway I will continue to follow this topic with great interest.

 

[XIV]

very simple, more water ( a lot more) less angel, then slowly drop it till you get right, or what works for you in that area.

 

[Brother]

I was given a small 6inch dream mat to try out, by my local Jeweller/gold smith.
Will have to make something to put it in? Will do a vid with it when I get it going next week ish.

 

[Graybeard]

I have been watching this thread with great interest as I have recently purchased an 8 inch dream mat river sluice.

I am a bit confused by members who say you don't have to classify...when the instructions say classify down to 1/4 inch.

I have already made a wider flare to capture more water when used as a sluice but due to work commitments and low water levels I haven't tried it yet.... and I also purchased a header box for this sluice and will run a 3hp, inch and a half lay flat into it. If it still needs more water.... then I will have to reconsider its use.

Mates who own these sluices swear by them as do the users of dream mat in their highbankers. I hope to join that group.

In my arsenal of gear one of the best items is a McKirk Alaskan....it needs just enough water to exchange the drop riffles and it catches very fine gold. Easy to set up and clean out and tough as anything. Plastic...so no rust or corrosion. Am considering making a header box for the McKirk.

Anyway I will continue to follow this topic with great interest.

YOU have to classify because the highbankers have a built in classifier YOU haven't. Your river sluice will simply clog up and your gold goes bye bye.

 

[Goldfreak]

I have been watching this thread with great interest as I have recently purchased an 8 inch dream mat river sluice.

I am a bit confused by members who say you don't have to classify...when the instructions say classify down to 1/4 inch.

I have already made a wider flare to capture more water when used as a sluice but due to work commitments and low water levels I haven't tried it yet.... and I also purchased a header box for this sluice and will run a 3hp, inch and a half lay flat into it. If it still needs more water.... then I will have to reconsider its use.

Mates who own these sluices swear by them as do the users of dream mat in their highbankers. I hope to join that group.

In my arsenal of gear one of the best items is a McKirk Alaskan....it needs just enough water to exchange the drop riffles and it catches very fine gold. Easy to set up and clean out and tough as anything. Plastic...so no rust or corrosion. Am considering making a header box for the McKirk.

Anyway I will continue to follow this topic with great interest.

YOU have to classify because the highbankers have a built in classifier YOU haven't. Your river sluice will simply clog up and your gold goes bye bye.

I didnt always classify when running my sluice but it wasn't a dream mat and the stuff I was running only had the occasional big rock which I would pick out by hand.

 

[Haydos]

Hey all,

Just a little update I finally got my pump, 2 inch 8hp little banger that took me a bit to work out why it was surging and cutting out on me but once I learned to drive it it worked great!

I went to slaty creek on Saturday to check out the ground and get a feel for the area and I picked up a grocery bag full of pay(word of wisdom dont come unprepared with no buckets) and managed 8 specks and a little picker so Im stoked!

Thank you all so much for your help and tips for getting me up and running very much appreciated :Y: :Y:
Haydos