Sluice or highbanker mats / matting

[Goldtarget]

Before heading of to work today I was up at Clark rubber looking for something suitable to test on my highbanker, following some research into gold recovery matting and profiles, I'm always up for better refinery rates, so after an hour of fruitless searching though options I headed home. Dropping into the local shopping centre I went into my local reject shop. I looked and saw a rubber backed mat used for a doormat that had the perfect Sqiggle type weave I'd searched high and low for 6 months ago and at the bargain price of $6! Smiling I grabbed the pink mat went home and initial testing seems supersuper positive, but the part that really mattered was being able to extract every little piece of the fines. So I thought of share. At $6 what have you got to lose? GT.

 

[HeadsUp]

yeah i saw those in my local $2 shop too

1/10 th the price of bunnings ultimat

 

[Beagleboy]

I saw these at Costco. Seemed reasonable price for the size.

 

[Goldtarget]

Ok so I've had some time to really size and play with it, no use heading down to my local shop, i bought them all. The taper on the profile is a great combination of not too thick and suits comfortably (good static adhesion) on the metal surface. No fines underneath, and after running some sands right up to half inch pre classifieds, well I'm hooked. The advantage i can see here over previous matting of similar pattern (think bunnings) is the weave is broader, allowing better access to gold bearing fines even the hard to move pieces only required a short blast from the spray nozzle on the hose. I remember starting out with marine carpet (what was i thinking) and spending countless hours trying to remove three fines. Hands down this mat is the best for cleaning and capture I've ever used, and it appears the more material i run the better the result, not least the bright colour contrast, very helpful to not only see how well its working, but how clean its is in washup. Maybe black is the cheapest and meant to provide the best contrast but when the material your using is ironstone wash I'll take the fluro i think.

 

[shannon]

dammit u discovered my secret what i did is spent a hour or two cutting the matting of the solid backing and its really good to clean. lose barely any gold

 

[Ben78]

Goldtarget, are you just running the mat with nothing on top and nothing holding it down? Was it the Reject shop or a similar store?

Ben

 

[Goldtarget]

Reject shop....i noticed today they have more in. I secure my mats. What i meant was from the side no water creeps in, as i pre classify some of the fines will occasionally make their way to the bottom of the mat because of the downward pressure by flowing water, but it has like a bathmat base that "sticks" to the metal (stainless). Is kind of difficult to explain, but if you were looking from the top and the source of the flow is upstream and the direction of the flow is downstream then the fines can sometimes be forced underneath the edge of the mat running parallel to the flow, not the upstream or down stream end of the mat. If i could work out for life of me how to post i pic it would be much easier to explain.

 

[crazyk]

Found these coming out at Aldi....think I'm gonna get me some!!

https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-...au_product_newsletter&pk_kwd=2014-02-11_15-48

 

[Danielkrupski]

I think from memory the bunnings mat is cheaper at 12 bucks something

 

[Colmaca]

I think this is the bunnings one

http://www.bunnings.com.au/bayliss-40-x-67cm-ultimat-small-synthetic-mat_p4490669

 

[crazyk]

Aldi are a bit bigger. Cut em in half and perfect 30cm wide!

 

[Colmaca]

Aldi 2000 km away will I same money :lol:

 

[Goldtarget]

Reject shop in Vic had them, possibly still do for $6. I bought 6 at the time. Same size as the aldi ones, open loop.

 

[calala]

I don't think they are the coarse mat Wal likes to use.

 

[Colmaca]

I don't think they are the coarse mat Wal likes to use.

I seen one in a crazy Clarks type shop think it was $ and cents. there were very thin only 5 mm

 

[YellowFever]

Reject shop in Vic had them, possibly still do for $6. I bought 6 at the time. Same size as the aldi ones, open loop.

Noooo my secret is out so your the bugger who bought out all the mats at my local store?!

 

[crazyk]

Went to have a look at the Aldi mats today. They are loop pile like miners moss but have a solid rubber back.

Would they be any good? How hard would they be to clean concentrate from?

 

[G0lddigg@]

reject shop mats work fine they are firmer than the bunnings style mat and cheaper. I still prefer 3m miners moss backed by black rib rubber.

 

[WalnLiz]

Went to have a look at the Aldi mats today. They are loop pile like miners moss but have a solid rubber back.

Would they be any good? How hard would they be to clean concentrate from?

Haven't seen the ones from Aldi yet but will go and have a look tomorrow morning.

Backed mats if they're wide woven like miners moss clean out in a couple of seconds flat. Roll them in reverse in a bucket of water with a moderate shake and every bit of gold will drop out of them immediately.

Cheers Wal.

 

[crazyk]

Ok I'll have a look at the reject shop too.

That'd be great if you can look at the aldi ones and let me know