Anyone One Using The Dream Mat

[Dean Stone]

Has anyone put Dream Mat in there dredge? Is it better than Miners Moss? I see alot of advertizing about it , but can't find any one to tell me if it is better on small gold.  Thanks  Dean

[blackjack]

Hey Dean, just my experience, afters years of trying all sorts of matting, door mat, rubber, carpet etc. the conclusion I came to after lots of testing with a known gold amount was they all catch gold, i.e. most of or all that you put through them. I have no experience with high bankers, so excluding them what I know about are simple stream/ river sluices whether set up with a pump or in stream. What became important for me was portability, so sluices that don't use matting. I've ended up with two Angus MacKirk stream sluices, the AU trap and a smaller back pack model, they are simple drop riffle types, no matting, they catch gold, including small gold. The key is setup, depending on flow and what size material you are processing, the angle needs to be as small as possible, while still moving material through it. Keep it simple, because it is. A said at the start, just my experience. Happy gold hunting.

[Dean Stone]

Thanks Blackjack, I know what you mean by getting things lite, I have went from a 4" dredge, to a 3" highbanker dredge combo, and now to a 2" Keens dredge. Where i prospect has to many big rock to highbank, so a dredge is what i use to get around throse rocks. I do most of my prospecting in OHIO. with small gold. I think i would need to run to fast for the Dream Mat. That is why i ask. I have Gold Hog Mat, and don't like it much, so carpet and miners moss with ripples work good.  Thanks for the reply.  Dean

[blackjack]

Mat hols gold really well

30 minutes ago, Dean Stone said:

Thanks Blackjack, I know what you mean by getting things lite, I have went from a 4" dredge, to a 3" highbanker dredge combo, and now to a 2" Keens dredge. Where i prospect has to many big rock to highbank, so a dredge is what i use to get around throse rocks. I do most of my prospecting in OHIO. with small gold. I think i would need to run to fast for the Dream Mat. That is why i ask. I have Gold Hog Mat, and don't like it much, so carpet and miners moss with ripples work good.  Thanks for the reply.  Dean

Yes mat holds gold really well, probably better than Dream Mat. BUT I've never used Dream Mat, hopefully someone who's used both can give you their thoughts. Obviously the down side of carpet is you don't know how you are going till clean up

[MSC]

The Dream mats are good for very small gold. Greater the speed of water, they have a harder time holding into larger gold. I have been using Gold Hog mats that work for all size of gold but are more expensive and require some assembly, but easy to do. Good luck. 

[John-Edmonton]

I had some years ago. I found that it wasn't all that good for our very flat, thin flour gold that can float on water without using soap to break up the water surface tension. Our flour gold can take off like a piece of tissue paper in the wind with water turbulence in the sluice, so I ended up with unacceptable gold loss. Now, for gold with a little more density, it might work well.

I also did some math. Calculating the volume of those little holes  on the dream mat vs. the volume of my drop riffles. I went with riffles because of the substantial increase of capture surface  area. It allows for more gold to be captured and buried like in the real world, and many more traps to allow the gold to just "drop" as opposed to creating a reverse water flow, trying to get the gold uphill into that condensed round pocket. And, as previously mentioned, our light flour gold can take off like a piece of tissue paper in the wind.

 

 

[Dean Stone]

Thanks all, I can keep this Ohio gold in my 2" dredge ok, but just was watching some videos and was think about the Dream Mat. I don't get to go as much as use to, wife is bad, can't leave her to long. My broken back has gotten worse, but just can give it up yet. Love being in the water. My friends think i am nuts at 73 years and still want to play in the water. Have fun guys, and be safe.  Dean

[glacialgold]

Don't know about dredges, but I run dream mats in my mini highbanker and river sluices. As long as the pitch and flow are harmonized, losses are minimal -- ~5-10% is what I see when panning the tailings, and that's when running two 16" sections of mini mat in a 6" mini highbanker sluice at around 2000GPH.

My main problem is clay. If I can't get the clay broken up and dissolved, losses go up significantly regardless of mat type. It doesn't help that the best deposits I've found in my area consist of glacial deposits mixed with decomposed slate, which is gravel held in a sticky blue grey matrix of clay.

[blackjack]

On 4/29/2024 at 3:10 AM, John-Edmonton said:

I had some years ago. I found that it wasn't all that good for our very flat, thin flour gold that can float on water without using soap to break up the water surface tension. Our flour gold can take off like a piece of tissue paper in the wind with water turbulence in the sluice, so I ended up with unacceptable gold loss. Now, for gold with a little more density, it might work well.

I also did some math. Calculating the volume of those little holes  on the dream mat vs. the volume of my drop riffles. I went with riffles because of the substantial increase of capture surface  area. It allows for more gold to be captured and buried like in the real world, and many more traps to allow the gold to just "drop" as opposed to creating a reverse water flow, trying to get the gold uphill into that condensed round pocket. And, as previously mentioned, our light flour gold can take off like a piece of tissue paper in the wind.

 

 

Yes John, my experience is that most of the gold drops into the first riffle or second one, that tells me the system is working. I'm reminded of a quote from a little 'gem' of an Australian made movie 'The Castle' 'tell him he's dreamin'.  Translation:  a response to an ad in The Trading post for someone that's asking too much money for jousting sticks, Erik Oostra, geof_junk and others may know what I'm talking about.

 

[John-Edmonton]

10 hours ago, Dean Stone said:

Thanks all, I can keep this Ohio gold in my 2" dredge ok, but just was watching some videos and was think about the Dream Mat. I don't get to go as much as use to, wife is bad, can't leave her to long. My broken back has gotten worse, but just can give it up yet. Love being in the water. My friends think i am nuts at 73 years and still want to play in the water. Have fun guys, and be safe.  Dean

Dean, you are an inspiration. Doing what you do with age pathology issues. I bet you would actually be in worse shape if your prospecting hobby ceased. I have been working with pt's with hip/knee replacements, #'d ankles, broken shoulders etc. The worst thing anyone can do later on in life is give up physical work. If we do, the body begins getting ris of calcium from our bones, making them much more brittle and prone to breaking with poor healing results. I say "go for it!" Dean. Anyone with a little common sense realizes the old saying....if you don't use it, you loose it. 👍