New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Hey i'm building a hopper for my sluice box, to convert it into a highbanker.

I need to get some lay flat hose. does anyone know where i can buy this from. cheaper the better. i need some 1 inch, and some couplings to connect to high pressure pvc piping.

If any of you guys have some experience with 2000GPH bilge pumps, i need to know how long a length of lay flat hose i need. it is not a high pressure system. at most i might get to a metre elevation from the river. i plan to go into the bank at water level. i don't want to lose too much pressure by having too much hose. so if anyone wants to share what limit they have on hoses on bilge pumps. the bilge pumps do get a bit of flow going. of course it's no match for a petrol pump. i want to try and get set up so i don' need a petrol pump. kinda like the sound of the water more.

i previously got a simple set up with a smaller bilge pump. i was using the clear tubing like people use for beer bongs. it's too rigid esp in the cold.

like some of the commercial jobs i'm going to have a tap. to hose off the boulders under the surface. a lot of the gold is stuck to the rocks. again it's not high pressure but still does the job.

because i'm going in at water level into the bank i always have a shallow depth of water to wash the face as it falls in. this method also gives me a good supply of water if i want to get the highbanker further from the river edge. i just cut in a little platform to keep the head at as little as possible due to the low pressure set up.

while a bit more to set up if you classify right it will work with some fine tuning. not only do i get peace and quiet from engine nose but i don't have to pay for petrol.

after some testing i might look at a petrol powered pump for summer if i find a better paying spot. i'm working on someone's claim so perhaps they will let me work on tribute as they have a hell of a lot of ground. it's not the best paying area but down deeper may be different. worked with the right methods you can improve returns a bit. i did have some luck there in the past. got down into the level of the old miners (a bit of overburden built up since they were there - prob due to the sluicings of high terraces after the initial rush. lots of metal debris - spades forks etc, and in one spot i got down on an old wind dam. was really muddy but a few good chunks among the boulders in the wing dam. i made a couple of rings and got some of these flakes embedded in the rings. (pic attached - the larger gold in the pic is not from that area, only the bits in the rings. the shotover lower down is pretty much flood gold and all pretty small stuff).

Good morning Simon
don't use lay flat hose on bilge pump, it causes to much friction loss. The 2000GPH bilge pump also has 1 and 1/8 inch outlet, odd ball size so get your self some proper bilge pump hose, smooth bore and flexible.
cheers
Russell

ytb8ta7:

mate, that's a hard forum name to remember!


i had these 2 rings made up for our wedding rings. this was from my first gold. hard fought from the shotover river, where you are battling severe weather at any time of year (fn hot at one end full of sandflies and blowflies all over the rocks, thru to the present conditions of a shoreline frozen 1 foot thick in ice from the water, thru to the big floods that raise the river huge amounts.

its all flood gold unless you dig a massive pit, which i did several of. i think i may have been the only person to do that for a long time as i got down on some old wingdams way down.

if you get a solid spot there wasn't too much seepage so if you dug a bit back from the bank you could go quite deep. usually you could bucket it out or bilge pump it out.

the trouble was the flooding would make your hole disappear so upon your return all that showed where you had been was a bare patch of smooth sand among the rocks.

the gold was all flood gold so its on the surface. then its basically a void of previously mined stuff that has bugger all gold. below that if you get old workings you may be in luck. other wise its pretty barren. you just can't tell where to dig from the surface.

i think it took 41 grams of gold for my rings. i got some back. they need more they is used. so i have some blobs of 18k alloy. i think it cost about 1275. i heard someone in alex can make a plain gold ring for 180. sounds a bit too cheap but could be. mine had the little flakes soldiered in channels so that adds a bit of labour cost.

the only reason i got into it was everyone thought i was wasting 200 on a sluicebox at the time.i think everyone thought there was no gold out there left. AND i was going to use the proceeds to buy a dredge. haven't got that yet. you really need to have somewhere to use it before committing.

hi simon you might find the 12volt pump is no good for high banking. i used a 2000gph on my first attempt it just didnt have not enough pressure to wash mud, rocks etc.I used a fully charged medium sized car battery and it only ran for about an hour before loosing power. also had problems with not enough water flowing through the box, as for classifying use those steel shelf's found in the earlier fridges, got mine for the tip down glenda drive or outside smithcity. i got my hose from hose supplies in christchurch i think the 1" hose was about $7 p/metre (green suction flexi). you should come round sometime and have a look at mine, you might get some ideas for yours..

im quiet busy this weekend will be fossicking hard out, have got sambo staying with me at the moment, so wont be able to catch up this weekend maybe in the evenings after we get back, you will have problems with the re-bar as it is not flexible enough i found stones get stuck in between and are harder to get out if the bars are too rigid, if you need mesh go to alpine engineering down Margaret street, see scott, there got all sorts they often manufacture sluice boxs, suction nozzles and dredges etc. i also got my hopper sides bent up by them.

picture with rebar is my first atempt.

the pump is a 2stroke, with a modified muffler off a generator (very quiet), run time is about two and half hours before refueling, this is what you need

Edited by user Friday, 6 July 2012 8:19:04 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified