Sluice or highbanker mats / matting

[Goldfreak]

Hey guys,
I'm reasonably new to prospecting, and have, been doing lots, and lots of YouTube's, and different websites. Gleaning information from each and everyone of them. As I have, basically, zero, budget at least, for the time being, I am making myself a river sluice (QLD here) out of left over splashback sheeting, and the associated cornering, leftovers from a few years back, reno to our bathroom.

I've read about the pallet angles working well for a few others, and being that I work in transport, managed to pick myself up some of the navy blue angles, that have had their backs broken, and there fore no use for what they were designed for. I will be making the entire sluice length covered with the angles. If I remember, tomorrow, I will get a photo or 2 of the navy blue ones, showing the overhang that should work a real treat in sucking gold into. :koala: :koala: :goldpan:

Good luck. Dont use you mrs hair dryer. They burn out

 

[Broken]

Good luck. Dont use you mrs hair dryer. They burn out

Haha, yeah no, I have a heat gun, it does 950, allegedly, but this stuff doesn't bend, tried before, u add heat, and **** starts popping, and crackling.....and a funny smell comes out, but its still rigid as it is on the shelf, unfortunately for me, it means using the plastic cornering to make it work, I have the progress pics of it so far and will try to upload em shortly, but dunno how it will go, since I have only replied or commented maybe 3 times..... :koala:

 

[Goldfreak]

Good luck. Dont use you mrs hair dryer. They burn out

Haha, yeah no, I have a heat gun, it does 950, allegedly, but this stuff doesn't bend, tried before, u add heat, and ***** starts popping, and crackling.....and a funny smell comes out, but its still rigid as it is on the shelf, unfortunately for me, it means using the plastic cornering to make it work, I have the progress pics of it so far and will try to upload em shortly, but dunno how it will go, since I have only replied or commented maybe 3 times..... :koala:

Yes, I have only been playing with abs and pvc which is very workable. Be very interested to see how you go :Y:

 

[Nightjar]

A couple of layers of shade cloth with baffles holding it in place. Best ever for mustard gold.

 

[Goldfreak]

A couple of layers of shade cloth with baffles holding it in place. Best ever for mustard gold.

Hi Nightjar. Do you have anything under the shade cloth ?

 

[Eldorado]

I found this mat today in a store and was wondering how it would go in a sluice.What do you guys think?

 

[just starting]

Your gold will fall out the bottom of it if you don`t put something under it or seal off the holes at the bottom to catch it and the water running under the mat would push the material out of the holes ,i would suggest. The dream mat has a gateway to let the material in before capturing it ,but this one would have to push the dirt over the rim to let it fall in the hole. Give it a go at home sitting on a flat board and running some dirt through it to see if it will work ,but i have doubts ,Eldorado.

FOZ

 

[Goldfreak]

Would sort of work but only if you could find a way to clean the sediment build up out of the depressions and also stop the gold working it's way around the raised edge of those depressions that will prevent it from falling in in the first place which will be hard to achieve with that type of mat. There are many diy home builds on the forum. Some if which are simple and affordable. You can even build something effective from timber with a drop riffle design.

 

[Eldorado]

I had doubts about the same things you guys have brought up.I might buy one and have a bit of a play with it and see what I can come up with.The mat is only $10 so will be no loss if no good.

 

[RM Outback]

10 bucks for how much at the end of the day you'll be out of pocket with holes in it same as putting money in a pocket with a hole in it, it's only a matter of time before you know it's lost.

 

[just starting]

Only $49 for a dream mat. So cheap , i bought two.

FOZ

 

[Eldorado]

10 bucks for how much at the end of the day you'll be out of pocket with holes in it same as putting money in a pocket with a hole in it, it's only a matter of time before you know it's lost.

Fair enough RM,thanks.Thanks Foz as well,I didn't realise the dream mats were so cheap. :Y:

 

[20x]

Solder iron, melt the cells to your own config lol

 

[Goldfreak]

Keep an eye out for these on the side of the highway, especially the blue ones

 

[beaul]

fancy sluice mats are they really worth the extra cost involved

 

[Lanky]

Can be. While traditional carpet and mesh might catch near all the gold, the dream mat style can catch the same or more and reduce the concentrates significantly which speeds the process up....id say yes if you are getting out often enough. A mix of the two aint a bad idea.

 

[SWright]

Use a fluid bed sluice. No mats at all, no riffles and only a table spoon concentrates. catches all the gold

Araluen

 

[AussieChris]

Use a fluid bed sluice. No mats at all, no riffles and only a table spoon concentrates. catches all the gold

Araluen

Thats a big call all the gold

Hard to beat dream mat on the fine stuff, bread and butter but it adds up over time.

I have a bazooka, grizzly and a snake river and dont believe Im catching everything I possibly could with them. That sub 200/300 stuff can fluff around quite a bit in the fluid bed. If there is limited fine gold in your creeks maybe thats a different story.

I do love fluid bed sluices for practically and convenience however (especially if its a big enough one to handle shoveling direct) and have often piggybacked a dream mat sluice behind them just to make sure. :goldpan:

Pros and Cons with everything though, dream mat does not like slate/shale and bulk jagged quartz

 

[Goldtarget]

Are we talking sluicing or highbanking?

Gravels or clay?

Low flow or high flow?

Coarse or fine gold or both?

And are we comparing mats to mats? Mats to riffles? Mats to carpet? Mats to miners moss? Mats to expanded mesh?

If youre highbanking then try and keep the gold as high in the system as you can.

If your sluicing flow is going to be a big factor, natural vs pumping.

Best low flow non mat sluice Ive seen is grubsteak Mckirk.
Dream mat is excellent value for money in any assisted flow setup, highbanker or sluice. Includes great backup service and options from an Aussie Manufacturer at a very competitive price.

You can catch gold in many different ways though. Its as varied as material and gold types.

 

[mudgee hunter]

I hedge my bets on using both.
I would not even consider another build without using the fluid bed up top as the primary catchment.
And then I half a length of the dream mat following..
It dose seem pricey compared to basic black matting or spaghetti mat etc.
But once you have got it......
That's it. First investment is often the cheapest in the long run.
Divide all the hours you intend to use it, to the price... Not that expensive to do it right the first time.
Why waste trips away on newbi ideas....