Gold Hog DownDraft Mat

[Nugget]

I'm after a little feedback regarding Gold Hog mats and in particular the new DownDraft type (if it's been made available). Are the Gold Hog mats good enough to completely deck out a highbanker with using no other trapping system, i.e mesh, minors moss etc? and is anyone here using them?

 

[ChrisM]

Hi Nugget.
On my first build h/banker I use a combination of Scrubber and UR mats along the majority of its length. No other trapping devices. Just a clamp-down bar to hold it all in place

 

[Guest]

I was going to get them for my banker until i ran a 12 hour test with the bread crate with Eldorado flour gold and caught all my tailing in a bucket and after all that time i only lost 5 tiny specks so i am sticking with the free bread crate over the $200+ to deck out the banker. They look good though and cleanups a breeze BUT the crete only gives me a pan of cons anyway and once classified bugger all. I even toyed with the idea of putting them before the crete but after eldorado i dont see the point. Has anyone blown out gold using the crate?

 

[Tige]

Hi nugget I use goldhog matting in my hi banker , I do have a small section of expanded mesh at the end just to catch a possible nugget , not 100% sure matting would catch round nuggets... have not come across them to find out I hav found quite a few shotgun pellets in expanded mesh section which tells me that the matting did not catch it all although there is no gold with it.. hope that helps. .

 

[Mudguts]

Down draft is not available yet in oz
But I love the UR for Oallen
And the other mats for Adelong
I have ordered the down draft in advance
I love this product can't fault it but in saying that play with your water flow or you will do a Hoffman
Myself and Cactus may not be old timers at this but with every trip with this gear we are getting more and more and proud to report we have recently got PICKERS woo hoo
Still no bigger than a grain of rice but lots of it

Do yes I love hog mat

 

[HeadsUp]

goldhog mats require around double the water flow of other styles

they also need to be very long to have high efficiency ( like 2 metres length )

 

[joe]

Use UR and scrubber, initial setup was 1.9 m long after a year later cut down to 1.5 Very happy with the results. Flower gold not an issue. I use 5.5hp pump on idle. Only do one clean up for the entire day.

 

[HeadsUp]

Use UR and scrubber, initial setup was 1.9 m long after a year later cut down to 1.5 Very happy with the results. Flower gold not an issue. I use 5.5hp pump on idle. Only do one clean up for the entire day.

what width is the sluice Joe ?

(keeping in mind that people have to match width to their pump)

 

[Mudguts]

I run a 300mm wide sluice and 2.4 or 4.7 m long
A 5.5hp pump also but pushing 60-80 m of hose up 5-8 m head
At half revs
Giving 15-20mm of water over the UR
any more it's Hoffman time for me at 8deg of pitch
On the 4.7 m set up after a full day running there is very little black sand at the bottom
Because we clean the top 2 set every 30 mins
Gotta love removable trays lol

 

[joe]

Width 25 cm I think, I do have an old youtube before I cut it down.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l2JOUxPvdPg&feature=c4-feed-u

 

[Keen Ken]

If you watch the Gold Hog "water flow rates". they compare the different flow rates for a 10" wide sluice with Gold Hog mats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DW7cXSAbz8

They recommend a flow rate of 5000 gph and the angle of the drop is quite steep.
I would think this would be good for fine gold.

Am I right in thinking nuggets will just bounce out the end?

 

[Twapster]

At this point I also have to say that while the hog mats may be sexy, the bread crate works really well. I can see someone taking a lead and having rubber bread crate designs made. I believe this would become the market leader in high-banker supplies.

 

[elrodeo]

Buy it, set it up right and you'll never look back.
Sorry but the need for longer sluice of 2 metres is a pack of nonsense.
I have the Gold Hog Excavator and in standard form is 36 inches long and dialed in properly I never find gold in lower part of the sluice.
I also have the extended sluice and use that and have found bugger all gold in that sluice and only when getting the unit correctly dialed in, more for security and the odd gemstone.
I've tested and tested my tailings and nothing.
Catch from the finest fines to nice pickers. Just got under 1/4 oz of the finest crystaline flour gold from recent trip a couple of weeks ago.
Know how to set them up right and you'll never go wrong. Have it set up wrong and yes you'll either find gold lower in the sluice or in your tailings but this can be said for any sluice/highbanker.
I have mat combo of UR , Scrubber and River hog (not in that order) and run a punch plate directly under the hopper on small section of hog moss and zero issues with losses.

End of the day each to his own and whatever works for you.

 

[WalnLiz]

If we have a PA outing at a flour gold region such as Oalen Forde we can do some testing with the Hog Mats and the crate side by side, shoveling equal volumes.

Been there done that, and will prove (reputation on line here) that if you run the Hog Mat full length on its own you "will" lose flour out the end......(especially if you run a grizzly) that allows flat stones the size of 10 cent pieces or bigger to enter the sluice. We'll catch "ALL" the tailings on a tarp and re-run them. If you're going to run the "Mats", classify through a punch plate to keep all "flat" stones out of the sluice.

I'll demonstrate using a flat stone while the banker is running clear water and the gold is visible. I'll "drag" that gold down the box in front of your very eyes. Gold Hog is great matting for low to moderate input, and regular clean out, but not for high input and is very "water speed" sensitive.

I "personally" wouldn't run it full length on its "own". If it was "that" good I'd certainly be using it myself at a cost of only a couple hundred bucks, as i don't like loosing gold. of course this is my opinion only.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Tige]

Totally agree elrodeo mine is the same, I find 8* degrees pitch works very well

 

[WalnLiz]

Hi nugget I use goldhog matting in my hi banker , I do have a small section of expanded mesh at the end just to catch a possible nugget , not 100% sure matting would catch round nuggets... have not come across them to find out I hav found quite a few shotgun pellets in expanded mesh section which tells me that the matting did not catch it all although there is no gold with it.. hope that helps. .

Hint ....if you're catching shot gun pellets at the end of your sluice you're in big trouble. I'd put the expanded at the top of the sluice in the boiler section. Just my opinion.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Tige]

Hi wal, will try that thanks, it did hav me concerned s bit , I use ur razorback mostly, no real nugget trap in in those type of matting, I will put some mesh in where the material falls down through classifier. I'm still learnin. cheers

 

[Mudguts]

Buy it, set it up right and you'll never look back.
Sorry but the need for longer sluice of 2 metres is a pack of nonsense.
I have the Gold Hog Excavator and in standard form is 36 inches long and dialed in properly I never find gold in lower part of the sluice.
I also have the extended sluice and use that and have found bugger all gold in that sluice and only when getting the unit correctly dialed in, more for security and the odd gemstone.
I've tested and tested my tailings and nothing.
Catch from the finest fines to nice pickers. Just got under 1/4 oz of the finest crystaline flour gold from recent trip a couple of weeks ago.
Know how to set them up right and you'll never go wrong. Have it set up wrong and yes you'll either find gold lower in the sluice or in your tailings but this can be said for any sluice/highbanker.
I have mat combo of UR , Scrubber and River hog (not in that order) and run a punch plate directly under the hopper on small section of hog moss and zero issues with losses.

End of the day each to his own and whatever works for you.

We only run those lenghts because both sections I bent up myself out of a standard sheet
And have it overlap them 100mm so we don't lose anything
We are not trying to be Hero's with that LENGHT but more to the point have not much experience and are trying to give the gold the most area to get caught
We clean the top trays a lot so we can see if we are actually catching anything at all

Just saying

 

[WalnLiz]

Hi wal, will try that thanks, it did hav me concerned s bit , I use ur razorback mostly, no real nugget trap in in those type of matting, I will put some mesh in where the material falls down through classifier. I'm still learnin. cheers

Don't put it there mate. Put it at the end of the slick plate and before the Mat. The area under the classifier needs to be kept clear to get separation happening for the slick plate.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Yellowbrickroad]

Hi all, first post here after months of reading all your informative posts..... love it!

Weekend just gone I did a series of testing using the Gold Hog Mini Excavator / extension with a set up much the same as Elrodeo's by the sound of it. Running a 3/4 full bucket of gravel and about 1/2 gram of gold (every spec to my name) I have found over the past year or so. This consisted of 2-3mm flat flakes, very small course and pieces you would struggle to see in a pan.
First run: 14 degree slope (3":1') & 210 lt/min - found about 30% of the gold in the botom matt..... NOT HAPPY!
Second run: 9 degree slope (2":1") & 210 lt/min - Bottom matt produced one piece probably -100 and nothing in the tailings. 50% was caught in the miners moss (or still working it's way through) and the other 50% was caught in the top matt.

Did another 2 runs using lower water flow at the same angle. Was able to drop the flow down to about 150 lt/min without loosing gold to the lower matt but cleared no where near as well.

Completley agree with WalnLiz about classifying with these units. I'd almost call it an oversized cleanup sluice... lol - but I love it all the same!

I have also made a small mod to the hopper box as I didn't like how it dropped the water so far down the matt rather than on the punch plate... see pic