Highbanker information and questions

[BumbleB]

Hi Guys
Apart from Wal's creation, can anyone give me some advice on the best highbanker out there? Ideally under $1000.
There are so many on the market it is difficult to know which one to go for.
I have never used one before so really feel that I wouldn't know what I might need.
Advice would be greatly appreciated.

BumbleB

 

[aushunter]

gudday BB,
There is someone selling a Excavator highbanker on the "Queensland prospecting club" forum. the whole kit brand new for about the $900 dollar figure.
If Shivan reads this he prolly could inform if this is a good price or not.
Cheers
Brad

PS I heard they are the ducks nuts in Highbankers too...but not as good as Wals

This is what the owner has too say,............

Good Day All,

I have a Gold Hog Excavator on the way from the states (should be here in a week), that I will no longer be needing.

I also have a brand new (has been run for 15mins for a test) 2.5hp 52gpm pump to suit (4 stroke Chonda)

Paid $780 for the Excavator and $270 for the pump.

Purchased to go into the camper, however plans have changed and don't really need it.
Location, Sunshine Coast.

Highbanker $680 Pump $190.

Any info required let me know.

email tadge at me.com

Tadge

 

[shivan]

The excavator is a great "mini" highbaker, it will handle a lot of material but unfortunately rocks over fist size can slow you down a little. But it is a great light weight unit. The price he is asking is reasonable for a pump and highbanker if unused like stated. If interested pop over to the gold hog web site Doc has a lot of videos up about their mats which are different from most conventional mats.

 

[BumbleB]

Thanx Aushunter & Shivan
Yeah I have seen those Gold Hog on U-tube etc.
But I'm wondering if they are everything that they are supposed to be. Better than a longer/straight unit??
They are priced right up there & I'm wondering if they are 'that' much better than a $500 straight unit.
According to the guy behind this design, it is the matting that makes this work so well.....so I'm wondering if I just get some of that matting & cut it to size into a straight/conventional unit.......... This would save several hundred $$.
Having said that, I think that having such a compact unit would be a great advantage- I just get skeptical about new products with so much hype.
Apart from the Gold Hog....any other unit that you might recomend?

 

[shivan]

Nothing wrong with being sceptical, I admit I was until I saw the mats in action myself. I would not say the mats work better or worse than conventional riffles and matting. The thing that attracted us was that the mats have gold retention comparable to most other units I have seen with a considerable amount less consentrates at the end of the day, but they are not everyones cup of tea.
Appart from matting/riffles you will find most highbankers (regardless of maker) are similar with the only real differences seen are in classiflcation and water delivery, As most highbankers will have a top hopper and sluice on legs.

Most of the highbankers I have seen for sale in the Aussie prospecting shops have seemed decent but have not seen any in action yet.

The only other commercial highbankers I have seen in action are:
Miners den two tiered power sluice: Not bad and does work but I did not like the manifold water delivery so we put spray bars on, also did not like the carpet it used as matting(hard to clean).
Keen highbanker(unsure model): Also seemed to work well, again not keen on the carpet used as matting.
boilerbox(unsure model): Worked really well, my only problem from memory was it was a bit short for me.

 

[BumbleB]

Good stuff Shivan! Thanx again.
I will check those others out aswell.
Personally (with my zero experience) I like the ideal of a longer straight unit- don't know why??
I guess in the end it is 'whatever works best' that really matters.

 

[shivan]

Ahh I think I know what you are talking about by straight unit, were you talking about the gold hog stackable highbanker? This and the gold cube are the only two I can think of off hand that are not straight.
The gold hog excavator is a straight sluice 4ft long and there is an extension available to extend it to about 8 ft.

This is the excavator and extension.


Here is the excavator and modified miners den highbanker side by side.(similar to link DD gave)

 

[BumbleB]

No mate my mistake. I thought that we were talking about the cube setup, but it is the straight Excavator that is for sale.
Damn that looks tiny in the photo's- very narrow. Woks good though does it?
What do you know about the Eldorado that Diggerdude recommended? It seems to be much wider.

 

[Diggerdude]

The excavator is a good highbanker but your right about tiny, you struggle to fit your shovel in the hopper, and any rocks over a couple inches must be picked out by hand. I have seen shivans in action and it work well for him, too small for me though.

DD

 

[shivan]

BumbleB, just glad I picked up on what you ment
DD and yourself are right the excavator is small and we brought ours as a second highbanker so we had a more portable option for the harder to get to spots or just as a spare. The biggest problem for me like DD said is the rock size it handles.... one day iam gonna play round with the hopper and see if I can fix that

 

[HeadsUp]

No mate my mistake. I thought that we were talking about the cube setup, but it is the straight Excavator that is for sale.
Damn that looks tiny in the photo's- very narrow. Woks good though does it?
What do you know about the Eldorado that Diggerdude recommended? It seems to be much wider.

like your motto there mate

energy flows where attention goes

( or energy follows thought

doesnt hurt to look for positive things . we find more of them that way

 

[BumbleB]

Yeah, the motto is easier said than done some days- but it a great start point.
As far as the highbanker, I think I need a bigger/wider system. Have to keep looking.
I have seen those ones on ebay by Prospectors Choice (from the US) they look good from the pic's- does anyone know anything about them?
The other one that I have 'short-listed' is the Eldorado (Detect a Den) but am waiting to get the measurements.
At this stage I figure the Gold Hog (Cube) is just too expensive, even if it does do a good job & can be a dredger aswell. The money saved on this can go towards a good pump.
Anyway, thanx again for the help.

 

[hereskip]

bumbleb have at look at the angus mackirk highbankers. I have just loaded up a new dry gulch recirculator into the 4x4 to try out for a couple of weeks have also added a grubsteak at the end to lengthen the run, its really light will run of a new oleo mac wp30 pump can use it with electric bilge pump, its small but can fit a shovel into the hopper and I needed some thing to work in a no water area.
It really depends on what you want to do ie move a lot of dirt, or make it easier or light weight to pack in, you also want to know what size pump you want to run.
I have some homemade jobs that run goldhog mats but have to use a bigger pump 2.4 hp and at around 20kgs I don't lug it that far but I can move a couple of tons of dirt thought it if I was fitter. the new pump is only 6kgs and will run a medium sized highbanker so will match it up accordingly. when I get back will have some pics of it.
just some things to think about.
Cheers
Skip

 

[G0lddigg@]

HI BumbleB,

If your in the vicinity of under $1000 id be getting one made custom based on the work your doing. I've built 4/5 and modified the crap out of each of them if you've got a bit of an idea of how they work and why you should be able to print off some pics from the web walk into a fabricators and say how much to put this together. Shouldn't cost you more than $550 then you just need your plumbing, moss etc. happy to help out if you go down that path.

 

[Ag Man]

If I was in the market for a HB, I'd be jumping on this https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1703

 

[Tommtb7]

Ya not wrong ag man, that's the holy grail right there!

 

[BumbleB]

Sorry guys for the late reply- been off line for a few days.
Thanks for all the tips & links, I will have to digest all of it.
I 'think' I want a bit of an all-rounder...... because I am new to it all & will probably be doing it in a variety of areas,with different soils etc.
I am liking the idea of the dredge option aswell- there are a couple of spots I know already that this might work well in- the 48" RDH-Prospecting Highbanker is looking good I think. Is the 2.5Hp pump enough for this, or is that more for the power sluice application? Might need a bit more power for the dredging?????

 

[joe]

Hi BB, - headsup mate, the dredging part here in AU is illegal. I would do more research before going that way. 2.5 hp should be enough to run the HB.

 

[WalnLiz]

Don't get caught with the venturi for the dredge adaption in OZ or you will loose the banker and a lot of your spare cash at the same time. Dredging is illegal in all states here if you haven't got a registered mining claim, and even within a mining claim they have restrictions.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Aussie Detecting]

The RDH 48" Highbanker is a good unit. More then enough water comes through it with the 2.5. The Power Sluice comes with a 1200GPH pump. I use the 48" Highbanker and it processes heaps of dirt & rocks with ease.

Dredging, you're a game man if you're doing it. Get caught & you loose you gear, your vehicle & your bank account. Not really worth it in my view. Better off sticking with the shovel & highbanker.