Highbankers set up advice

[Goldrocs]

The amount of homemade highbankers i've seen in the last few months around the goldfields
is stagging,and a lot of them don't work,guys if you are going to make one keep it simple
The bottom box should either have riffles and some matting or matting and expanded mesh
the last one i looked at was at tuena on the weekend it had ribbed matting square riffles
miners moss and plastic bread tray in the bottom box,all well and good for catching
sappires but at tuena the ironstone build up in this bread tray the gold will blow over
the top of the build up.
Guys you don't have to spend heaps of your cash on building a big highbanker go into any
minersden and look at the simple highbanker setup take a photo and build it yourself,
My highbanker is one of these with a few simple mods and i have been using it for many
years and getting good gold....
REMEMBER KEEP IT SIMPLE...
Thanks GR...

 

[Ramjet]

Great advice Goldrocs.
Thank you

Rod

 

[farmeroz]

Do you have any photos goldroc?

Not able to get out to the den for a while, but was about to start making one very soon...

 

[Ramjet]

Do you have any photos goldroc?

Not able to get out to the den for a while, but was about to start making one very soon...

Hi farmeroz.
If you haven't seen them already, have a look at Wal's video on building a highbanker.
Wal has years of experience and explains why he builds them the way he does.


https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=426

And this thread has the dimensions...

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1115

Best of luck with it

Rod

 

[Goldrocs]

Sorry to say but no photos but if you go to minersden website and look up sluices click on two tier sluice
cost to buy is $480.00 to much cost to make 150 t0 200..
gr..

 

[farmeroz]

Thanks ramjet, I had watched the vids of wals, just thought goldrocs had some simpler ideas that still work.
Ill check all options out before I start bending and drilling

 

[Ramjet]

Lots of ideas out there.
Just depends if they work or not.
A thousand variations on YouTube.

Rod

 

[DrDuck]

Good to see you posting Dave, have you been getting out to Tuena in these cold frosty days? I'm hoping to head back to give those crevices some more attention shortly.

 

[Goldrocs]

Hey duck yes me and skip where at a new spot drop in to tuena on the way back for a few days
Very Very cold

 

[Mudguts]

The riffles are all well n good but as a Newby I have found if you start with something similar to gold hog UR Matt
Not much gets past it
Teuna may be different to the 2 days at Oallen and 1 day at grabben I have under my belt
My advise is research and try different matts, mesh ect
Find what suits your area and your style
The old timers used what they could lay there hands on
And if you see some ones set up you think won't work
Say nuffin and run their tailings once they have left
Easy work I have even ran my own mistakes lol
Just remember we are only doing it for fun

 

[Goldrocs]

Hey Farmeroz found some old photos of my highbanker hope they will do..

 

[farmeroz]

Thanks goldrocs. All the pics and info I can get all helps

The photo in the river looks like a good spot.. much luck from there?

 

[Ag Man]

Most common simple sluices & highbankers have carpet & riffles. It works well.

It's what my HB that I am building will have.

This is a picture I found of a river sluice, but the bottom sluice of a miners den sluice is the similar to this.

 

[WalnLiz]

The amount of homemade highbankers i've seen in the last few months around the goldfields
is stagging,and a lot of them don't work,guys if you are going to make one keep it simple
The bottom box should either have riffles and some matting or matting and expanded mesh
the last one i looked at was at tuena on the weekend it had ribbed matting square riffles
miners moss and plastic bread tray in the bottom box,all well and good for catching
sappires but at tuena the ironstone build up in this bread tray the gold will blow over
the top of the build up.
Guys you don't have to spend heaps of your cash on building a big highbanker go into any
minersden and look at the simple highbanker setup take a photo and build it yourself,
My highbanker is one of these with a few simple mods and i have been using it for many
years and getting good gold....
REMEMBER KEEP IT SIMPLE...
Thanks GR...

Totally agree with you GR. Since the Tuena outing I have noticed about 20 different sluice combinations which will never work. High ironstone areas like Tuena need a sloped expanded mesh on Woven matting. Bread Crates "Work" but only if cut out in the right config.,and if cut correctly work extremely well as was shown during the Tuena Forum outing. (Remember the bigger the Banker the bigger the water flow needs to be.)

The biggest mistake most people make is not allowing enough skid area before the riffles start, thus slowing all the heavies down, and this will always block the catch zone. Square Rubber matting which i have seen on about 6 occasions now are a total waste of time. If "Banker" builders keep to either expanded sloped for gold, expanded straight for gemstones, or the Clarkson Modified Riffle, you can't go far wrong. ( proportions are there for a good reason)

I would run Moss or Woven rubber mat, instead of carpet any day of the week.( but that's my own opinion)

It's because of the many unconventional builds I've seen, which don't work, that I'll be offering my banker for sale, (but only to forum members). Like GR has stated...If you build your own, copy one that has already been proven and stick exactly to those specifications. Experimenting can be costly and time consuming till you get it right.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Mudguts]

Hey Wal,
When you say square rubber are you referring to gold hog style matting
Like the UR patten I have seen on this site ?
Cheers Mud Guts

 

[WalnLiz]

No MG, Gold Hog style matting works very well. I'm referring to the Black diamond rubber door mats and the rubber honeycomb versions available at "Bunnings". Many guys experiment with these and they will never work. :|

Cheers Wal.

 

[Mudguts]

Thanks Wal I know the stuff you are talking about now
Cheers

 

[shivan]

I have seen on a few other forums people swearing by the diamond door mats, they seem to think it works....... But on the other hand they seem to readily bag out any other setup without even trying it. All these people that swear by the diamond door mat though use a catch tray at the head of their sluice and claim that catches all the gold anyway then laughed at me when i said i find 90% of the gold in my sluice at the head of the sluice
Some things i think people need to remember is that there are alot of different highbankers out there, some work and some not so well. Many different people swear by many different types of setups, are they all right or wrong?
We started out with carpet and riffles, have used miners moss, ribbed matting and gold hog mat. Have also tryed different riffles and expanded metal. Start simple work to your budget and find out what works for you, i love the gold hog mats but do not recommend them to people starting out due to the price
If you are starting out, I would think sticking with the basics would be the smart place to start.

 

[AlluvialRic]

This is is a great topic with many passionate opinions on what works best and hopefully it will continue.

On the topic of the rubber door mats, mainly the honeycomb pattern as its being referred to, it is the closest you will find to what the old timers used in their sluices.

Those who have read "Prospecting for Gold" by Ion Idriess, which is considered by many to be the bible of prospecting and many other texts written from the 1930's on such as "Gold Prospectors handbook" by C.Barclay Smith and even the Dept of Mines prospecting guides all show Timber boards with almost exactly the same size and configuration of drilled holes being used to trap the gold & heavies.

There are of course lots of methods which work but this one comes up again and again all through the years. The old timers were pretty cluey and really did not miss much considering what they had to work with.

I have known the fellow referred to above who uses this matting for almost Ten years and although we no longer associate with each other, I am happy to show credit where it is due. He has been using this mat since before I met him and I've seen the gold he gets. He grew up in a family of prospectors and knows what he's doing and I'll leave it at that.

It has to be the mat with the flat bottom. If you use the stuff with the little bumps on the bottom you have to trim them all off so the mat sit flat and smooth on the sluice floor.

Prospectors/Fossickers are an inventive lot and every one has their own ideas on what might work. It is the continual experimenting that narrows things down. Some like Hungarian riffles, some angle iron, others use expanded mesh or V ribbed mats, hexagonal holed door mats, diamond mats, miners moss, hessian and more. They all work. Its getting the combination right for the area and wash you are working. No one combo does it all. The KISS principle also applies as does portability.

As Wal said too, the slick tray is very important in stratifying the wash. Its purpose and how it works are often not understood.
Run some water down your sluice without anyything in it, just the bare aluminium floor ( a slick tray) and place small handfulls of classified mixed wash into the water flow then watch how it sweeps the lighter material away but separates out the heavies spreading them along the slick tray depending on their weight.

Cheers Ric

 

[WalnLiz]

The problem with the hexagonal rubber door mats in a hi-banker arrangement is they only work in areas where there is very little ironstone, and you have to classify extremely small. The mats have a side wall of around 1cm and the holes are only about 2cm wide. The average hi-banker classifies to around 1cm. To successfully clear a 1cm ironstone you need close to a 1:4 ratio for the vortex to lift and move the ironstone, and that's with optimum water speed.

You can use many configs of riffles but the 1:4 separation of the riffles is paramount in areas such as "Tuena" where ironstone will "Definitely" block the likes of the hexagonal rubber door mats. If you use these door mats at places like Oallen Forde or areas where the heavies comprise mainly "Black Sand" then you can get away with them on a low volume sluice arrangement,where you clean out very regularly.

My suggestion is take one to Tuena and give it a go.....Love to hear how you went, :/

Cheers Wal.