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For you bench gravel recirculating highbankers using a 12vdc 65 pound AGM deep cycle battery for a couple of 12vdc recirculating pumps. The price for Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries and portable solar panels are dropping. Pair a 20 pound 50 amp hour LiFePo battery with a folding 100 watt solar panel equipped with a built in charge controller and run your 12 vdc pumps and solar charge your LiFePo battery at the same time at half the weight. Take a look at Renogy Solar, Battle Born, etc.. You need AC & DC take look at Jackery, Bluetti, etc., Need a light weight highbanker with matts take a look at Gold Hog.

Summer in the USA, the fields are planted, the ground is turning to concrete, the rivers and beaches are either off limits or full of people and boats. Some boats are on the beach too. 😁 Heck you have to mow or bush hog your own spots to detect! I've been refining the amount of stuff I carry, trying to make it as light and simple as possible. For the Summer I have it down to this: Calces365 bag with the mesh on the keeper pocket and the trash pocket, it drains out the sand/water from your finds. On the belt is the Carrot, and a Doc's deep bag for my composite trowel, a brass wire brush, and a Kong rubber Frisbee for dogs that rolls up for putting the dirt in. Makes it easy to clean up, and isn't too big. When rolled in the bag the trowel fits right in. One knee pad, and the best warm weather nitrile gloves I could find, they are 5 bucks at Lowes. I can use my cell phone while wearing them, sorta. They will save you from cuts and poison ivy. The only other thing I might add to this rig is a 9mm MOLLE mag pouch with a spray bottle for the silvers but I don't find so many of them. 😀 If Doc ever reads this, the trowel bag could use some mesh on the bottom to drain water and sand, may modify it soon but I'm not good at sewing. Got some spare OD Kevlar though... 🤔 Edit: Please don't think that I'm pushing minimalism in any way. That's just my preference, the whole point of this thread is to show what ya carry, and tell why in some cases so others can get ideas for possible substitutions. The bigger the better. Lots of people browse this forum for ideas. Gear is a big part of what we do. I've seen some pretty big rigs, and totally understand them. Remember I just walk out my front door to detect and use a modified off road golf cart! 😀 I can bring a lot of stuff if I want.

Looking to add a high banker to my arsenal of prospecting gear. It will dump into a settling pool or be recirculated in large tubs. (Can't release the water back into the river, here in Ca) Any recommendations on brands or models would be appreciated. I like to get input from available resources before I cut the check. Advice and input much appreciated.

From https://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/metal-detector/gold-prospecting/ THE GOLD SLUICE VS1: DYNAMIC SELF-CLEANING VORTEXES! 40 vortexes work together to capture gold via an innovative dynamic process that avoids aggregate saturation. Large Riffles Top zone designed for initial gold grain capture Allows a quick visual check of the potential of your gold field. Flow Control System & Collaborating Vortex 3 vertical blades coupled with lateral constrictions Stabilise and accelerate water flow, improving dynamic vortex performances. Ultra Light: 560 g. only Compact design: Molded with precision in France No mats, no screws : Saves time and efficiency in the field XP BACKPACK 280 hook Blue color : optimal contrast with the gold color Take your gold hunting to the next level!

The new XP Gold Sluice. Chuck

This may be the wrong form but here goes. I know Bill stopped making these but does anyone know where I could get the hand crank handle assembly?

Hi forum, hopefully yaal are keeping safe.Im looking for the following mat.Its been discontinued but im gonna try anyways.I need 2 pieces and hopefully some great gold prospector out there can help me out. Mat dimensions are 8" wide 20,5" long Im looking for exactly this mat and not the blue 10" version,we dont want to cut it down. Can anyone help Many thanks Highlandhowler

I know it still comes down to getting the old pan out but I was wondering if any of you ever used the above Trommel? I know it’s been around a long time and I’ve seen videos but I want to hear from someone not selling. I was thinking maybe of running the material out of my drywasher. Any and all opinions appreciated. Chuck

I can't figure out a reliable way to re-mount this pick handle. This is a small pick (USA quarter on left, Australia 1943 penny on right, for scale). You can see what I tried -- wooden wedge in the long direction and steel wedge in the short direction. This didn't hold worth a nickel. Given that this design has been in use for well over a century there must be a solution. I can't be the first person to have this issue. (I looked online without success.) Any advice is appreciated.

So we did end up pulling that old 8" out of the bush from an old mining camp (previous post). We're going to go through the whole thing and get it back up and running. Main question I have is about sluice box design. I've read "The Clarkson Study" a few times over the years and just re-read it. Did a bunch of googling, youtubing and searching forums, but its hard to come up with great information about sluice box design for a larger dredge like this. I like Keene's sump system for fine gold but I wont be building that. For the most part I'm going to use this on our claims that are on a larger creek. We do have fine gold but not a ton of it. What we do have is potential larger gold (1-5oz nuggets). Most of the gold ranges from 30 mesh to 4 mesh. Looking for links to good information and/or input on ideas on how to put a box together. Sadly when the old AMDS forum shut down I stopped keeping up with any other forums with new information after bouncing around a while. I can build/fab just about anything needed. Also curious to what you guys think about some new types of matting in a large dredge. I have all winter for the build. Box is 9'x34". 1st 3 feet follow the flair angle till it meets the max width of the box. The old riffle set up leaves a lot to be desired. Had been thinking I wanted to do some smaller woven screen at the last few feet of the box for smaller gold and then talked to Mark Keene. He said they have been testing 1/4" woven mesh (1/8" thick) over expanded metal and it was really doing well. Dropped the water flow to 1/2 the rate when the screen was 1-1 1/2" above the expanded. Was thinking 1/2-3/4 woven mesh for the first 2-3 feet over a combination of Hungarian riffles and expanded metal ( separately, not on top of each other). Then 2-3 feet of just hungarian riffles. Last 2-3 foot maybe run a section of 1/2" woven mesh and then 1/4" woven mesh over a combination of smaller riffles and expanded metal. I would like to make 2 sections in there for some hog mat maybe. Also curious what you guys think of just carpet and moss over carpet in some of these different sections, what size riffles and expanded for the different sections also. What do you think about this equalizing power jet design and hose attachment to the powerjet/flair. Dredge came with four 18hp Vangaurd motors and two powerjet/flairs. Any opinion on any part of this or links to information is appreciated! Thanks

Have you ever wished for a smaller classifier that fits your small pan for remote, hiking and sampling purposes? Here’s something that may work at least until any manufacturer decides that small pans deserve matching classifiers, too. 1. Select a pan that nests inside the one you want to use. 2. Download and print a steel perforating template. 3. Use some water soluble glue to affix the template to the bottom of your extra pan. 4. Once the glue is dry, drill small pilot holes through the center of each circle on the template. I used a 3/32 inch for the pilot hole. 5. Next, use a larger drill bit to match the size of the holes on your template. I used 5/16 inch holes. Advance the bit carefully so as to not bite to quickly and crack your pan (like I did). 6. Afterwards, soak and rinse off the template and glue. The picture below is a 10” black pan nested inside a 10” blue pan.

Hi All. Im totally new to all this fun and looking for a little advice....I hope you'll bear with me! I recently decided to build a little sluice for fun in and around the waterways of the UK. having researched it seems the vortex dream mat gets a lot of good press but the price and availability for me in the uk (for what might be only a passing fad - at the moment ) is too steep. I am lucky to have access to 3d modelling software and mould making erquipment and thought Id give making one a go. Im reaching out to see If anyone has one on this forum and if they could confirm a few dimensions? Fingers crossed and thanks in advance....

Click on the button below and discover the features and innovation! XP Metal Detectors are launching a brand-new range of Gold Prospecting products.Take your Gold hunting to another level with our new range of XP Pans / Classifiers / Batea / Accessories. The XP Gold prospecting kit will be the perfect addition to your XP ORX high frequency metal detector – The ORX has proven to be one of the most efficient Gold detectors available on today’s market, offering performance and value for money. The XP Gold Pans, Classifiers, Batea and accessories offer the same outstanding quality found in all XP products. To get the BEST results you need to use the BEST kit ! XP Metal Detectors have worked alongside some of the industries most respected gold prospecting professionals, they have helped design and develop our Gold Panning kits, to ensure you have the very best equipment in your hands. Includes the first 21st century batea!

Since we cannot get out into the field to prospect properly right now, figured we'd share with you a piece of equipment we use for testing in our garage and also in the field for hard to get to places. Its great for hiking in, testing several locations and then coming back with larger equipment!!Hope everyone is well, stay safe!

Along with working on the house this winter, I finally got around to drawing-up, and building a new driver for my shaker table. I really like Wilfley's designs, and wanted my driver to have the same adjustments as his. Working about 4 hours/day, it took me about 2 months to get it drawn and built, along with a few modifications that arose during the build. Finally finished yesterday, and made a video. I'm still polishing up the plans, and will probably have to disassemble it to take pics for the build instructions etc. I'll be selling the plans and, instructions at some point this spring, for the DIY clan. Jim

OK, so this time around, I have made things a LOT easier to work with, and expandability is key here. Sure, it's not huge, but for a portable system, this should work great. The key thing here is that I wanted a system that could be printed with little to no waste material, and yet have the structure and strength to hold up for a long time. This is what I have come up with so far. This will likely be my last design for this version. I'm only tweaking a few dimensions here, as well as making new modules that can be added to it. Features: Modules are 276mm long by 104mm wide, max height of 106mm (virtually) unlimited stackability Use modules in any order you want Use whatever sluice mat you want (to a point) Best used with a 5 gallon bucket (self-recirculating water system) Current Modules: Feed hopper Mat tray Bottom Support Key note here is that those modules, even with the tilt, print FLAT on a printer, and unless something drastic changes, will require NO supports. That means nothing to clean up after the print is done. Pull it off the printer, and use it right away! The cutaway view shows you how it currently operates. I did away with the "G-Force" drop whatever that the Gold Cube has. I wanted better flow, and didn't think that part was completely necessary. Some of those angles might change by the time the final version rolls around. I am still waiting on my four 200GPH water pumps so I can physically test flow rates. I know this is still very small compared to a lot of the others that you can shovel hundreds of pounds a day into, but this is meant more for fine cleanup or to run pre-classified material through, although this should be able to do a bit of classifying on it's own. Also, as I design more modules, I might include a couple modules that will spray wash and classify before sending down the smaller material to be run over the mats. I would also like to design a sort of trommel as one of the modules. Would have to be geared to run off of some water pressure, so I don't have to include a motor and all the electronics and extra building parts that come with it. This is one part that would have to be made from metal, as anything printed would get destroyed very quickly, so I'm still contemplating this one. Remember, this system isn't meant to drop boulders into. I'd say you can safely feed in no larger than 8-mesh material. Depending on water flow, you might get away with 4-mesh, but I wouldn't count on it. More info coming as I get more work done, and get a chance to print some physical models.

Hey Guys, One day I didn;t have my pan so I used my shovel to pan, and it worked quite good. Check out the video and subscribe if you want more gold videos:

I was just curious about the history of gold mining contraptions? How long have gold pans been in use?Who invented them? What did the Romans and other ancient people use to get gold? -Tom

This has a different type coil, weight is no problem. I need one.pdf

I figured this forum is busy and a great place to throw this out. It sells for $99.00, and the science behind it sounds reasonable. Screening your material and controlling the water flow should allow the user to tweak it up to a functional level. It's been out for about 5 years, yet has few videos, many good comments, but some not so good ones. I only have lots of flour gold where I live, and am looking for an affordable' simple tool to reduce my concentrates at the end of my season, to then run them through a second time, then through my miller table. Below is a link to the product: Any comments would greatly be appreciated. John-Edmonton

The brand name on this is " His Way Corporation" it has a belt that rotates tords the water outlet, its a self contained unit.. Have any of you old timers seen or used one of these and maybe shed some light on how it works...

Well....not exactly new, but new to me. My wife was thrift shopping yesterday and picked me up an old used Estwing 12" steel gold pan as a surprise gift. I was happy that she recognized it and bought it for me and I think its pretty a cool pan. I normally use a green plastic pan but I think it will be cool to swirl a metal pan. She wants to see it in action. She "suggested" I go pour some gold into some yard dirt and pan it out and see how I liked it. I "suggested" that we go out Sunday morning to a local spot and see how it works on fresh gold. She then suggested we wait and do a road trip and make it a long weekend thing......oooh......better and better.... I have no idea how it will turn out but I'll let you know. HH Mike

Last night I read a very interesting (IMO) article by Chris Ralph in the June, 2019 issue of the ICMJ (https://www.icmj.com/) titled "How Long Does It Take to Find and Recover an Ounce of Gold". There are a lot of caveats Chris lists, which makes it dangerous for me to summarize what was written. Further, there is a fine line between showing results from a magazine/journal which needs money to stay afloat and requiring interested parties to simply pay for a subscription. IMO, anyone halfway serious about searching for native gold (and there's more there than just gold) should be a subscriber. Most importantly, his estimates certainly depend upon the ground you are covering -- this should be obvious to everyone and I hope simply mentioning it will squelch any attempt to quibble at his results. Basically there is a lot of uncertainty around Chris's numbers, which he is well aware of, but it's still interesting to hear from an expert who has used all of these methods countless times. I was surprised at some of his estimates. In order longest (least efficient) to shortest: Panning: 42 hrs, Metal Detecting: 40 hrs, Sluicing/Highbanking: 30 hrs, Dry Washing: 30 hrs, Dredging: 20 hrs, Hard Rock Mining: 8 hrs. I think it's worth emphasizing that this is a time efficiency, not a cost efficiency. Panning is clearly the least expensive with hard rock mining by far the most. Chris also points out that the leadup time/research/preparation & cost are vastly different -- hard rock mining being the obvious extreme.

Does anybody know if its possible to use a solar cell panel to run a small electric bilge pump for a small highbanker? Will it have to be in direct sunlight ? Mine is a Johnson 2200 gph bilge pump that pulls 8 amps at 12 volts What size panel will I need and what do they cost? Can I run the output straight to the water pump or do I need a controller thing? Or can I use a panel to recharge my 12 volt ,15 amp gel cell and how long will it take? Thanks. -Tom V.