Dream Mat Combo Sluice Fail!? Finding Limitations With Placer Gold Lead Test!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ต.ค. 2023
- #prospectingforadventure #goldpanning #adventure
The mat failed to catch certain size gold or lead and excelled at others.
Are you thinking about buying a dream mat product or your first sluice? Check this out before you do. I'm setup on a paystreak with color and I run a lead test. I describe how this mat performs catching gold from micro size all the way up to half an inch in size. I also include some good info on what you should keep in mind while running a sluice box. If you want to see more check out my other Dream Mat videos in this playlist.
• Dream Mat
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My Favorite shops to buy my gear!
Local
Portland/Beaverton Oregon - Prospectors Treasure Trove www.prospectorstreasure.com/
Salem Oregon - Capital Prospecting West
www.captitolprospectingwest.com/
Baker City Oregon - Capital Prospecting
www.capitolprospecting.com/
Grants Pass Oregon - Armadillo Mining
armadillomining.com/
Online
Gold Cube (Gold Cube, Gold Banker, Pick, Golden Rule Calssifier)
goldcube.net/
Gold-N-Sand (Gold-N-Sand hand pump)
gold-n-sand.com/
Dream Mat Products
prospectorsdream.com/ - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
If you want to see more check out my other Dream Mat videos in this playlist.
th-cam.com/play/PLQTZxyzC7xEFO_aeyKpn3L2Odf1CZPByQ.html
Did you like this video? Please thank me by hitting the like button, SUBSCRIBING and leaving a comment. I plan on releasing more videos shortly. Thanks for watching!
A cool and informative test. But don't forget that lead is actually quite light. Gold is around 70% heavier, which is getting on towards double the weight, so will behave differently (hopefully better 🙂)
Yes that's easy to forget when you see the lead sitting next to gold in a pan. I'll do a better job of keeping that in mind. I would think with the slower water flow the big lead would have stayed in there. I'm sure it was the shape that did it.
Yep, actually 80% but your right
I think it was an honest evaluation all together. I'm a big believer in the vortex theory of catching the fine gold also.
Thank you. I like the vortex as well. You know me, though. I like to mix it up. Lol
@@prospectingforadventure yes sir I do know you enough to know that for sure!
Good video Chris. Thats one of the most honest and informative videos I've seen concerning dream mat
Thank you, I appreciate that!
That dream mat is top notch!
Even top-notch stuff limitations. That's why I did this test.
Perfect example of Test, Test, Test.
Thanks for sharing.
🙏❤️🌲
Don't settle for "good enough". That's why I like to test my mats.
Really enjoyed the test, just shows that it's very important to know what size gold you're chasing, I think that it was a fantastic non biases test, great work 🤘
Thank you, I appreciate it!
Wonderful video. Just getting started and good to see what can happen before I buy a sluice box.
These rubber mats aren't a cure all, but they are easier to use than traditional hungarian riffles and carpet. Just remember to learn how to use them and understand the limitations. Good luck!
your spot on bro! you have to have the eye for flat bits and feed it to the situation !!! nice 1 mate!
Thanks, that's basically what my critique was all about. I hate when those pieces flap around and grow wings.
Great video Chris! That was a great way of testing it!
Thanks! Now to figure out how to get TH-cam to like it. Lol
That was a Great Test for the Dream Matting
Thank you!
Great experiment. Dream mat user my self. Definitely need to try that on the box and mats we use. 👍
I have some tungsten for the next test. This wasn't an attack on DM. It's just a cautionary tale to think about the variables while choosing the right mat for what you're doing. Thanks for watching!
I am glad you are doing this test because I have a dream mat small
Keep in mind it's not a perfect test. However, it's difficult to set up a sluice in the perfect situation out on the river. There's definitely some good info to consider before you hit the river.
Hey really liked you test video so cool I’m going to employ that with my improvements I made to my highbanker dredge thanks for the info
Thank you! I acquired some tungsten rounds for my next test. Tungsten has nearly the same specific gravity as gold. It'll make for a more accurate test.
Nice test! T hank you
Appreciate it!
Sorry folks Im a gold hog guy . Just think when your dredging and everything of all sizes is going through your sluice. With much more flow . I've used and have faith in gold hog to just simply gas and go with no clean up dredging . How ever dream mat is my preferred mat for cleaning up cons in a controlled environment with uniform sized material. Great video and very informative thanks for sharing PPO out 😎.
Well, right now I'm running half gold hog and half riffles/moss in my 4" dredge. Until I can test the dredge mat more. Thanks for the input.
I like using the regular vortex mat myself. Bigger cells, and it still catches the fly poop.
A Dream Mat or different brand?
@@prospectingforadventure dream mat original mat
Yeah, I wish this combo mat started with the Cape D mat and went two sizes up. Might need more water flow though. There's always a trade off.
@@prospectingforadventure I’m usually running the mat hot😂
Even after adjusting your flow that was not enough flow. You need much more flow. 99% of all prospectors will never find a piece of gold in their lifetime like the biggest lead you used so this should be of no concern to almost everyone. Also, the specific gravity of gold is almost twice as much as lead (19.32 vs 11.34) so being almost 2 times heavier in water, lead is not a good comparison. Tungsten would be a much better comparison. In my stream sluice, highbanker, 6” dredge, and now 7 YPH trommel, nothing compares to Dream Mat for all gold down to flour gold capture. Even in my 6” dredge with surges and shutdowns between cleanups, over 50% of my gold is 100 to 200 mesh gold. This is a good attempt of a test, but more flow and using real gold or tungsten would be a much better test.
Good test. Would love to see you do the same test with other mats as well, gold hog, riffles over mesh, et cetera...
If gold hog and run properly it won't loose a single one of the test pieces.
I'm sure I will eventually. It's all bout time. Lol
The test you did was good. However, when I am slucing, if I see gold that large, I pick it out of there.
Yes, accept for people who are using that mat in a high banker or muddy water. Those people won't see the gold until they finish. The video was more aimed at people who don't have experience running sluice boxes and people who think Dream Mat is a magical cure all. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Knowing the gold in your district is big for sure.
I've seen larger pieces of gold tumble right out of sluices. It's crazy. I know lead isn't the most accurate test, but it clearly illustrates my point. 👍
Good video bro, if you are not to confident on the Dream mat,
You should take a good look at the Miracle mat... it sort of looks the same but is Not.
Take care and enjoy the adventure....
Great test! Even though gold is 19 times heavier I have found the same thing happen with larger flat pieces tumble out especially when the dream mat is not clearing out all the time.
Yes, gold is 19 times heavier than water and lead is 11 times heavier. In a sluice in this situation they should react about the same. I wanted to test how the mat handles flat gold, that's why I used flat lead. I've seen flat gold flap and tumble out of mats before. I was hoping the vortex style wells would hold it better. Rifles force gold higher up in the water, allowing it to gain more momentum.
Hey there!!! I saw a Seabee emblem at the beginning of this video.!!!!! I was a UT in NMCB40
Hoorah, lol You're the first person to notice that. I figured sooner or later a Seabee would see it. I was in 4.
Right on man! What rate were you? And what years were u in? I was in 40 from 82 to 84. And then some reserve time in WISCONSIN. What state are you in?. Was out prosecting with my daughter for the last time this season here in WIS... won't be to long and our water will be getting kind of hard.. lol.. today we got 2 inches of rain and flooded all the creeks around here. Here we only find flower gold. Talk to you later!!
Really like this mat testing, Im doing gold prospecting since 12 years, using a sluice maybe 2 times, I really sticking to the panning skill and technique to increase volume, time come with age and try to figure out if its really a sluice can beat fast gold panning and recover more gold maybe.
I have a couple videos where I was speed panning and dumping the black sand in a bucket. Then I'd run the concentrate at home. I've wondered myself what is faster. I like the speed panning method if you're short on time. You don't waste the time it takes to set up the sluice.
Of course! Most of time it take few min to setup at the right place, it just a little controversial between two different techniques, its some physic involved but over backbreaking a sluice its thing to consider thats for sure! Thank for the video! 😊
I run a mini mat and get mostly fine gold in my material,i also use a drop riffle and like both sluices,my big box or production box is gold hog and i dont use that as much due to flow issues but have caught nice gold in it to.
I love the drop riffle for hiking in! The plastic sluices are so light and they perform well. I really think th most important thing is to just understand how to dial in whatever sluice you're using. Sometimes, you have to pick something based on gold size.
Dredge matt is definitely dream matts beat matt for running material. I run miners moss expanded metal, Hungarian riffle qnd dredge matt in my Hugh banker moss and dredge matt perfect combo
I still to break out my highbanker. Maybe this spring.
I've head the dream mat is more forgiving while he hog has to be tuned properly. What do you think of this,?. I had a 35 foot long highbanker and fellow miners always susprized I had gold all the way down wonder if it's because I would dump 5 gallon buckits at a time into the distruction chamber. Thus flat boarding the upper part. Mats were mix of gold hog home made and carpet runner v matt also some negative slope areas to slow the flow and give different catch areas
Dream mat is advertised to be a very forgiving mat. So far that seems to be true running a stream sluice. For the dredge mat I need more time with it. Gold hog I've found some styles are more forgiving than others. They don't seem too terribly difficult to setup. They also struggle to catch that big, light and flat gold. I've seen it tumble out. That's when the correct style of mat comes in or adding a variety of mats.
I think, based off where the water Chanel V is in the sluice, you've got too much velocity of water/angle. I find this to be an issue myself for river sluice's and is why I've moved to pumps, so I can control those things more.
Completely agree though it's all about knowing both your equipment and its capabilities as well as what your after. Test pans are crucial.
You could be right with the v. In that location, it was the only way I could get the mat to exchange material.
That's amazing! Where are you finding those $2000-sized pieces of gold? Just asking because I want to test out my mats, too.
Dream mat sells tungsten rounds now for testing. They have just about the same specific gravity as gold. I'll be using them for my next test.
Puting lead in the stream wonderful ideal
Ever go fishing? I hope you go to the fishing channels and complain about the same thing? I've pulled buckets of lead out of the rivers over the years. That's also why I took the big peices out as they tumbled towards the end. Nice comment though. 👍
Sounds like you would make more money on lead if your pulling buckets of lead out if I were you give up on gold and just get lead 😅
That's funny because when I was a kid, my dad and I used to walk the rivers, picking up lead, fishing line and trash. So that's where a lot of the lead that I removed came from. The rest of it is from gold prospecting adventures. Nice try though. 🤣 I hope you also volunteer some of your time cleaning up the areas you enjoy.
No test is a perfect test as all gold that is mined is non liberated gold and its impossible to get an exact yield because there is always variables in each yard of material. Great test.
I'll figure out a way to do a more controlled test for the next one. Really it's going to come down to my overall opinion after I use the mats for a while. I've used other mats as well.
@@prospectingforadventure exactly right what ever works best for you.
Seems like the swirly points get clogged quickly and then you lose vortexing. I sense more clean outs will improve capture.
I'm a little low on water flow. You just have to wait a little longer for gravel to exchange.
Finally än actual proper test of dream mat. And just as I always thought its crap. The problem is it only has one type of capture zone, sure different sizes but still only one type.
Personally, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's crap. I believe the concept works. That being said, I prefer to use at least 2 different types of capture methods in my box. So I can't argue with that.
@@prospectingforadventure the reson i say its crap because I have never said a proper test of it against other mats, ie the other mats for example gold hog is not set up properly, especially by the creator of the mat. And when you point this out he gets mad etc and can't take proper feedback it seems.
It's easy to be biased when it's your baby. I've seen the test where 4 mats or so ran side by side with the same angle and water flow. Would have been nice to see the same test done at different angles and flows to see which one does the best most often.
@@prospectingforadventure sure but if someone comes withegitimare concerns for how tests are done you should not get mad, and yes that's one of the tests I'm talking about. That test says nothing really.
Just use the mini mat that I have in my 6 inch box or the river mat fam. I think that the combo mat was designed backwards. I do love my Dream Mat. But I'll pass on that combo mat indeed fam. Keep on having fun getting that Au and living the dream. Gold Squad Out 🤠
fam!
The micro mat inspection at the top with 20% riffle onto the mini mat never looses anything hand feed wise!!!
It has some limitations, that's why I did this video. All mats have limitations.
I have some tungsten for the next test. This wasn't an attack on DM. It's just a cautionary tale to think about the variables while choosing the right mat for what you're doing. Thanks for watching!
I think the biggest thing is really just to understand how a sluice works. Then this would be a no brainer... Dream mat still the way to go..
Unfortunately, not everyone understands how a sluice works. I'm not sure if you watched the whole thing or not. I was explaining that the mat and others have limitations. I chose this mat to prove a point because of the marketing. It's not a unicorn cure all and many new prospectors are going to be disappointed when they figure that out the hard way. That mat works well, but there are many styles and sizes.
@@prospectingforadventure
You're supposed to choose your mat for the size of gold you're getting. Why did you think the Cape d or micro mat would catch that huge lead "flake" in the first place? Those size mats aren't made to catch that large stuff. You would want a larger mat if you're expecting larger gold, it's pretty common sense really. If dream mat isn't working, it's operator error.
@user-sr9lc5jj9e
That was precisely my point and I said so in the video. Lol
@@prospectingforadventure you did a really crappy job is what I'm saying.. lol
Thank you, I could really care less what your opinion is. 👍
We are pulling past 150 mesh in wash plants running constant feed in the larger mats & dredge mat, fine gold is not the issue. The larger cells do allow for larger size gold recovery.
Now on the subject of Combo mat, what we don't see is the 1 to 1 exact flow, same exact material, and same feed rate compared on this other system that is supposed to be better.
We are confident that Dream mat has the best gravity gold recovery on the planet & are willing to step up to the plate & prove it. I Love to Race!
I edited this comment after rewatching this video. I still stand behind the knowing the proper mat size for gold recovery would have improved recovery. The regular vortex & dredge mat would have better large gold recovery. But do you have big gold in that area?
There you are, I was waiting for you.
I'll set up any test you want to do. I'll give my non biased opinion on everything I test. A controlled environment test doesn't really reflect how it will operate out in a stream with different variables. Not sure if you watched the whole video or not. I specifically said I was impressed with the fine gold recovery and that I would use the mat again. I just won't use the combo mat for areas with large gold.
What makes you think I would be upset if I lost a test? I'd be happy to lose and see what works best. The primary reason I bought that mat is because I already know other mats struggle with flat gold. And that the mat is advertised as being a very forgiving mat. Some mats are hard to set up. People should know every system has limitations.
And this wasn't an attack on Dream Mat. I could see how it would appear that way.
Not every mat performs the same at the same angle and water flow. Each mat should be ran per manufacturers recommendations. Only then is it a fair fight. Or have all mats being tested ran side by side cycling the proper setting for 1 mat at a time and see who comes out on top most often.
I rewatched the video and have to say the test was a properly feed sluice & good overall test. The big flat lead should be replaced w/ tungsten the same size for a true represented of gold. Lead is allot lighter, but a good poke in the eye test. I still would like to see the unit that does better in the exact environment. I have some flat tungsten test pieces I will send you.
@TheDSP1970 Thank you for watching the whole thing. It's important to see the context of my test.
I would love to test with the tungsten. I need to find a spot where I can get that larger flat gold in my test pan. Lol
The gold in this test location is small. I've found gold as large as 6 grams in some of my spots. One 4 gram piece that is fairly flat. Some cornflakes pushing a gram that are pretty flat and thin. Really it's the pieces that are the size of the thin, flat, hammered bird shot that I've seen move down other mats.
The only thing I could say is. The big 3 flat pieces that floated out. When you shoveled them in they sat at the top the. You had to force them to move. Reality if you seen that wouldn’t you have just pulled those out?
What if the water wasn't clear or someone was using this mat in a high banker where that section is covered by the hopper? I was testing the mat, not the flare. Ideally, I would have had a little more water and angle. Additionally, this video was to inform beginners of things to consider while running this mat or a sluice in general.
@@prospectingforadventure that is true I have pure clean water in my streams. I didn’t think of those kinds of variables. Love the video though awesome test I watched the whole thing unlike some of these people haha. I am a beginner as you can tell lol 😂 thank you 🙏
I appreciate that. Many of the negative comments are from people who didn't watch and listen to my commentary.
Have you run a comparison with any other type of matting, say gold hog?
Similar tests. Every rubber mat and drop riffle I've tested with flat lead or coins has had a similar problem. That's why I got a DM, hoping the vortex motion would stop that tumble or cartwheel motion. It also doesn't have the riffles that kick small gold back up into faster water. I have tungsten rounds now. They have about the same specific gravity as gold. It'll be a more accurate test. I do favor gold hog in areas with angular rocks. Those types of rocks get trapped in DM cells.
I just can’t bring myself to trust the dream mat. Great test though. Have you tried testing the losses on gold.
That's why I took it out of my dredge. My goal is to run some controlled tests this winter.
I pan the tailings on occasion to test for losses. I've never seen anything substantial or worse than other mats.
go ahead and try it Damon. next time your with Todd see if you can use one he has at the house
Micro/Cape D/Mini combo is really designed for fine gold. A standard vortex or Dredge would have easily picked up those dime sized pieces.
Actually, I ran a similar test in my dredge with the dredge mat. The larger flat pieces still tumbled. The gravel was fractured bedrock, that mat doesn't exchange that type of material very well. So, I want to try that test again with the typical round gravel. I forsee better results. That's why I post my experiences on here.
My goal was to expose new prospectors to some variables they may not have thought about yet.
Respectfully, timestamp 2:50 is the basis for the lackluster results IMHO. Basically you were running the box too hot. You WANT lead or gold that size to stop right where it did.
Also, if you are going to use lead as a substitute for gold in tests, please use them in a recirculating system and not directly in the waterways. We clean up enough lead and monofilament already 😉
Nice camera work and editing. Well done.
I appreciate the compliments and constructive criticism. It wasn't a perfect test, but I was able to make some valid points. And if I believe everything the manufacturer says, it doesn't need to be set up perfectly to achieve results. So an in stream test is necessary for real world results.
I respect your concern about the lead. It was no different than casting a fishing line into the river. The only difference is I have removed buckets of lead from the rivers over the years and fisherman do nothing but lose lead in the river.
I did, however, get some tungsten for my next test. Tungsten and gold also have about the same specific gravity.
Thanks for watching and the comment. Everything is a learning process.
Lol that's the crap that drives me mad about the dream mat. I posted a video of me running it even hotter and people said run it hotter! 😆No matter how the dream mat fails, there is always an excuse to why. So why do my Hungarian riffles just work, even with a shitty angle and flow?
Lol It's crazy how defensive people are over DM. I don't hate it and I don't love it.
Dream matt makes q huge mistake if you want to run just dream matt run dredge matt first then a flair of 4-8 inches qnd micro matt. Slow the water down for micro matt keep the dredge matt pumping run both matts as flat as possible want to count to 10 after material hits matts and the matts have cleared threw the material already. Don't be afraid to turn the water flow up box flater this is how dream matts do well.
Thanks for the tips.
After looking at the design. The d-cape looks inferior compared to the Vortex mat. Terrible that they dont make more Vortex combo mats!
If it were up to me I wouldn't include the first section in that mat. Even if it meant you only had two different sizes.
@@prospectingforadventure cape- d with all that ramp, makes it look like it wouldnt hold gold well. Even if they made a mini vortex with regular vortex combo mat would better.
@phackqu I agree. However, the micro section did retain gold.
@@prospectingforadventure oh for sures...im not doubting its performance, just the inferiority of the " new" design as compared to the Vortex... im getting ready to buy one myself. Im in central california and i already got the gold fever. Wootwoot
Gold fever is awesome and a curse. Lol Best of luck to you!
A good gold catch should catch 95+% 0f your classified gold and scour should not be a to much problem . A good sluice should be set up to catch multiple types of gold nugget, flake and flour
My dredge has different stages for different size gold. I use more than one type of mat too. I was hoping this combo mat would do the same for my sluice. It works, but it's just not a cure-all.
2:50 Your mistake right there. Adjusting water/angle to get such a large and flat piece of lead to rush through your sluice... Imagine what would happen to a taller rounded piece of gold.
When I run enough water to move a 2" rock down my sluice such a piece of lead stays put on the feed. In fact, my biggest gold pieces to date have all been picked off the feed. They didn't move.
Edit: You know though there should ideally be classification to avoid material bigger than 1/3 pocket size from going over a mat for ideal separation. I have progressive screens on mine covering the upper portions as I only let fine gold enter the micro area etc.
I appreciate the feedback. Others have said I wasn't using enough water. 🤷♂️ I made sure to note that those large pieces wouldn't have made it into the bucket because they didn't fit through my screen. My intent was to draw awareness using different sluice mats. Some manufacturers will have you believe they have the cure all mat. People need to understand that you'll likely need different mats for different conditions. My second point was showing how flat gold has a tendency to lift and tumble out. It's hard to pick up on all the info by skipping around on a video.
@@prospectingforadventure Yes for sure. It is a great example of how lift&tuble works. It might even be worse on deeper water giving more room to tumble.
When I designed my sluices (for my own personal use only) I went through a lot of steps and analysis before I decided that any size sand/rock I can separate 100% reliably from a gold piece would only be 2x it's size at most. (Since gold is around 3x heavier than black sand etc.) I then tried to see if I could separate the flows of material a bit more so the larger stuff didn't block pockets for the finer gold. It's all about relative forces, and keeping everything agitated. In order to do that it appears you will have some gold migration if it is not protected by a layer of other material or it overfills a pocket. During assembly of my sluice I took some videos but I had not made it public. I've changed it now so you can see what I did for the upper areas with very fine pockets. th-cam.com/video/A5-cD45XRd0/w-d-xo.html
Yeah I ran the dredge mat in my 4" dredge last summer. It's towards the top of my play list. I had a problem with the angular rocks wedging into the vortex holes. Eliminating those catch zones. So I get what you're saying. I need to try it again on a stream with smooth gravel for a fair opinion.
@@prospectingforadventure My biggest worry is the fine mesh I need at the start is too weak to handle the bigger rocks or even gravel I need to handle later on. I settled on a bit too coarse mesh on top. I wonder if I could have used a finer undermesh with a bit coarser protective mesh on top? That way most of the weight and force is carried by the coarser mesh but it doesn't limit the fineness of the classification for the first capture zone?
I haven't looked at the video yet. Have you seen the Jarvine riffles yet? Something like that might give you the structure you need. I've used multiple layers of mesh before. One for structure and one for classifying.
If you had a big piece of gold in your sluice wouldn’t you just pick it up instead of continuing to dump in material??
Yes, if I can. Sometimes, you can't see it depending on the material you're running. The water may not be clear enough. Or if you're running a high banker or dredge where you aren't next to the box.
Lead is lighter than gold, so you decided to flatten lead and see if it holds in a mat? And I'm assuming you know flat gold floats.
Yes, gold is 19 times heavier than water and lead is 11 times heavier. In a sluice in this situation they should react about the same. Not all flat gold will float. It depends on size and surface tension. I wanted to test how the mat handles flat gold, that's why I used flat lead. I've seen flat gold flap and tumble out of mats before. I was hoping the vortex style wells would hold it better. Rifles force gold higher up in the water allowing it to gain more momentum.
if you have a piece of gold that big as that flat lead, you can pick it out before it washes away. Dream mat works awesome. also its important to classify correctly with dream mat. when running small cell mats like the 3 section you are running, you have to classify to 1/4 or smaller. with the bigfoot mat with extra large cells you can classify 1/2 in or larger or run unclassified. Good Job on explaining the exchange process.
What if you're using this mat in a high banker? You aren't sitting over the mat like you are just sluicing. The manufacturer is advertising that you don't have to classify with this mat. I personally know that it's going to perform better using a smaller classifyer. I made this video to demonstrate that this mat isn't a cure-all mat that a lot of beginners might believe. Beginners fall victim to hype and manufacturers' claims. Without real-life experience, it's hard to make informed decisions.
Use the right equipment for the location you are running remember there is no one tool for all jobs
That was the objective of my video. I probably didn't do a very good job stating that.
Not to mention if your big gold gets hung up at the top, just grab it before it tumbles down. Obviously not a fool proof plan. 😂 I’m sure u already on that tho
What happens if someone chooses to use this mat in a highbanker configuration? You aren't hovering over the top of the box. Many new prospectors don't understand that each mat has different limitations. I'd use this again as a stream sluice, but I wouldn't use it in my highbanker.
I sold my combo dream mat. Bad design.
I don't think it's a bad design. However, it does have its limitations.
@prospectingforadventure the combo dream Matt is a bad design because in order to catch gold in the micro dream matt first you have to slow the water down. Then it plugs up the bigger cells at the bottom. If you have a higher water flow for the bigger cells at the bottom the gild gets washed out if the micro cells at the top. I used it on the beach on lake superior and my tailings had almost as much gold as the sluice Matt did
Have you had the same result with course fines from the river? Beach gold does best with smooth laminar flow. I use the gold cube for that. I see where you're coming from though. The end of the sluice dictates how you run the rest of the mat.
@prospectingforadventure I use the devon gold vdr Matt now most of the time. Sometimes my own home made design. I'm pretty happy with the results from them
I'll have to look that up.
Spread your cons across the the slick plate don’t pile
I do both. I feed in the center when I want to see the amount of black sand that comes out of the pile at the end. It also concentrates the gold on the center of the inspection mat.
read that dream mat asks for 7-12 ° angle that's steep?
12 is on the steeper side. They advertise the mat as a very forgiving mat. That's essentially why I did the test. If that's true, it shouldn't need a specific angle and water flow. Most of the information is general information to watch out for while running any type of sluice.
try flipping your mats around 180 degrees it might work better sluice not level
That's the direction the manufacturer says to use it.
All sluice don’t past that test
That's not true. I've had traditional hungarian riffles catch that larger flat lead and coins. I've also seen certain gold hog mats catch similar items. I bet the DM mats with larger cells would perform better as well. You don't know if you do try. And I have seen flat gold the size of the large flat lead in my test.
I don't like the combo matts they make no sense to me. Your fine gold matt is your micro matt this should be ypur last matt. Also 3 different size matts in one matt all 3 should have different flows of water
I'm not a fan of having the micro mat in there. I'd rather it just be the last two sections. The theory is you catch the fine gold first while it's moving along the bottom. Once you introduce it to more turbulent water it becomes more difficult to capture. The larger gold is easier to catch.
The test is bogus! You NEED to test with lead that is similar size and shape to whatever is in your area. Have you ever seen or heard of anyone finding gold that big and that flat? A real test should would have been in a controlled environment, known weight of gold and a catch pan at the end of the sluice to catch whatever made it through.
You must not have watched the whole thing. And yes I have seen flat gold that size. Thanks for the input. 👍
there's all kinds of variables not accounted for here. while I get your "test", your mat here isn't even designed for nothing more than tiny stuff, not even larger flakes. your mat is wrought with issues in the first place. it's too short, has slightly too high flow rate, has small catch mats. I have a 6x42 dream mat with 16" green mat and gray 16" larger catch mat for rock size gold. Youre expectations begin biased for what you're using. but I'm not saying anything you don't know I'm betting. I just don't know why you'd throw rocket science at a mat designed for hobby use, NOT serious prospecting.
you answered your own disbelief at the end. I think you should revise this video. honestly I don't even know why this video got uploaded. no disrespect.
You and I have experience sluicing. Many other people are just starting out and don't have the experience necessary to avoid unnecessary mistakes. I'm running into too many people that believe the DM mats are the cure all for gold loss. My video was against the grain on purpose because no one else was putting the info out. The same thing happened with Gold Hog when it came out. So many people thought it was the answer. In reality, the answer is knowing the variables that influence gold retention and knowing what your sluice is capable of. I like Dream Mat, this wasn't an attack on the manufacturer. It wasn't a perfect test, but it is a valid cautionary tale.