Cleanup Sluice Comparison: Tailings Tested for Each Sluice. Dream Mat vs Devon Gold VDR vs Others.

This video is my best attempt at an un-biased third party test of several popular clean up mats tested against rough top conveyor belt, miners moss, and a wool blanket that absolutely stunned me with the results!
This video was filmed over a 14 hour day, as the tailings of every single test needed to be run through the exact same cleanup sluice to compare the losses from each mat. I have included a picture of the losses from each test run taken next to a dime for scale. Overall the mats performed well, but some stood out with better recovery rates that others, or much fewer concentrates to pan out at the end of the run.
If I had to choose just one, it would have to be a balance between minimizing concentrates, and still getting good enough gold recovery. Perhaps a hybrid system would work best with the mat with the least concentrates coming first, followed by a mat with better recovery. At the end of the day, most of these mats do well enough for hobby prospecting, and a long enough sluice of any mat would strip a high percentage of your gold from your concentrates.
This was a lot of work to put together and edit, but I think there is valuable information here that I have learned through the process. If you got value from this experiment, the best way to show your appreciation is by giving the video a like, and spread some love in the comments bellow!
My Website: www.utmostoutdoors.com
My Patreon: / membership
Cheers,
Kyle.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro.
12:50 Dream Mat Micro Mat.
26:48 Dream Mat Mini Mat.
39:14 Rough Top Conveyor Belt (as used in Gold Cube)
44:20 Diamond Conveyor Belting (Because I was curious)
49:24 Miners Moss with Expanded Metal (5/16" thick backed moss)
56:48 Wool Blanket **Surprising Results!**
101:43 Devon Gold VDR Drop Riffle 3" Cleanup Sluice (Infinity Prospecting)
115:48 Results
122:36 Final Dime Gold Picture Results

[@thejoeyc]

I can't tell if you did this comparison because you were genuinely worried about personal gold loss, or if you did it because you're being Canadian and you're genuinely worried that someone, somewhere, will lose gold without this information. Either way, it's much appreciated.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Little bit of columb A, little bit of columb B.... You earned your heart buddy!

[@zangzhiao8374]

Lmao

[@mosel42]

Utmost outdoors, I think a baseline test on your gold would be a great example. Set an empty box at a zero degree slope, and then test water flow on what flow rate takes to wash your gold out of the box. Then match to sluice design. Try going at it the opposite way.

[@FlourgoldWizards]

Really enjoyed this ! There’s definitely a setting where you can get both styles of capture areas in that VDR sluice to work together, you did great ! Thank you ✅👍🏻

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Wow, thanks for stopping by Jason! Yeah, I think a middle setting on the VDR can definitely be found with further testing. Definitely only so much you can do in a day though. I really like the VDR's balance of concentration and capture rate. Give Rigby a scratch for me!

[@FlourgoldWizards]

@@UtmostOutdoors I know that was a mighty long day !!!

[@mazuj2]

Great Video! You are answering all the questions that I have asked myself AND 10 times more thorough than I would ever have the patience for. Thanks!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks man! I'm glad the video had useful information for you. It makes be feel better to know I didn't waste a bunch of time satisfying my own curiosities, but am actually answering questions others share. Thanks for watching!

[@TheJohnEdmonton]

Thanks Kyle for all the time you put into your work using your critical thinking. Being unbiased is a great attribute to carry with you. I am going to buy some wool, as it just might be the ticket for removing gold from sand. Excellent video.👍

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Yeah that blanket worked surprisingly well... Thanks for watching and for the positive feedback John!

[@sterling557]

Fascinating test of the different mats. You are very good at recovering that fine gold.👍🥳

[@bigjm83]

Thanks Kyle, taking all that time to do that work and then edit a video together is very admirable. Very well done and much appreciated.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching and letting me know it was appreciated!

[@MohammedNovalija]

Well done on reaching over 5 thousand Subscribers. May you be blessed to reach whatever goal it is you seek.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you so much!

[@GSProspecting]

Great job all around fam. Loads of great info. Cool setups indeed. Keep on having fun getting that au and living the dream. Gold Squad Out!!!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Appreciate it!!!!

[@dirtkellogg4252]

Absolutely a very well put together test and video 👍👍. Great job

[@papayork1907]

right on brother! this was exactly what I was looking for. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! My son and I have been strictly pan prospecting for a couple years and this year we are stepping up to a sluice, the first step in building a small dredge. I was trying to figure out these differences by watching bunches of prospectors working and trying to take notes for comparisons but it was getting hectic and incomplete. You have sorted so many questions all in one (long) video. Thank you

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I'm glad it was helpful! I know there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and the gold is different in different places, but if you have a ballpark setup you will catch good gold. At the end of the day, getting out there and shoveling is the most important step 😀

[@ainschuntayleuhn1147]

I’m Impressed. Best Sluice Mat Comparison Video on KZbin!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Much appreciated!

[@divergentthinking8324]

Great job. Nice testing, explaining and camera work.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you very much!

[@gorillagoldhunters]

Right on! Lots of questions answered in this one! I was very surprised! Well done! Gotta love that wool blanket! Barts the best!

[@bartbley1269]

Thanks . It is just old tech modernized . I have video's and drawings [e-mail] My guess with Kyles exposure and testing of other tech he will come up with a kick butt sluice for the market

[@UtmostOutdoors]

The "Bart Special" was a big surprise!

[@josephsmith9374]

I appreciate the honest testing. Nice work 👍👍

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you!

[@josephsmith9374]

@@UtmostOutdoors no problem. Thank you for sharing

[@stephenshort839]

I use a Goldwell Sluice, 6"×36" in Arizona, recirculating water (often in a dry area) and it's amazing. Have you ever heard of or used a Goldwell Sluice? 40:07 40:07 40:07

[@jeffashton3352]

Great Job. Great Video. I know that was a ton of work. Thank you for doing and publishing. New subscriber.

[@herbertboelk7545]

Kyle, since you are the curious guy taking notes, making calculations and compare every single bit (with my full respect for this!): I do not run my pumps by percentage, but by measured real time voltage the battery gives me, and use always the same volt meter and regulator for tuning. (At home, it's a small lab power supply.) Reason is every battery is different in capacity and percentage of charge, and they age. examples: 76% of this new battery give me not the 11,78 Volts the other battery running now at 76% does give me since 3 years. But my pump needs exactly 11,78 Volts to give me the magic flow to work best with my fave mat at 9,8° inclination. It's time consuming at the beginning, but once you tuned all well, you'll gain time and spare frustration. Knowing flow and inclination are important with a given mat, I might have to run my concentrates three times and check my tailings, where a fine tuned pump and sluice does not require more than 2 runs. Also, if you have gold in the last third of your sluice, you certainly have to check your tailings for losses, i.e you have to tune pump flow and inclination for better results. No mat is really bad, it's the operator who has to get used to it and become better, and better and better, even better :) We all know, it's a hard school, but rewarding! Whishing you all rewards you can find! Cheers!

[@MohammedNovalija]

Nice post

[@A-a-ron480]

Well done thank you so much for running this test, you are amazing, you have patience. And thank you for being "normal" not over acting

[@ronpeterson7773]

Thanks for your video and your time, I really enjoyed the information you gave us!😮😊

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Side85Winder]

Amazing video loads of information to absorb here. The conveyor belt mats are pretty cool for you to use, being on the other side of the world hard for us 😂. I am building my highbanker happy with my choice of expanded mesh and miners moss. I am also doing some CAD work on making a silicone mould of my own mat. I can custom make for example a mat with small to large vortexes.

[@Mr_Popejoy]

Great comparison video! I have been running dream mats and I was surprised by your findings that they lost gold when running without feed. And surprised by the loss from them in general

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I haven't used the cape D mat from them, but my mini beach mat had trouble with fine flat gold. Still caught a bunch, but it seems too aggressive. I think dreams mats are probably great mats for less flaky fine gold...

[@james.adkins]

I really like the combo mats from Dream Mat as it incorporates multi size cells for better recovery. After seeing the lossess from the micromat in the beginning I am a bit concerned about trusting it alone though. @@UtmostOutdoors

[@jacobmiller2454]

Thank you for actually putting time and effort into giving real advice. I'm not really sure where to start this adventure in gold panning. I'm in portland, oregon, and just starting out

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I hope this video wasn't too much for just starting out... In summary, a lot of mats work great. There is more to a good sluice than a good mat. Get out and enjoy the outdoors, you'll have fun whatever you run. :)

[@james.adkins]

This is an interesting comparison between a variety of options. Your observations are very helpful as well because it is difficult to judge anything accurately from this side of the screen. I do not have enough time to run this type of testing for myself nor do I have enough gold so I greatly appreciate the effort you exerted with this video. I will offer one suggestion that you might consider. It is considered to be badluck to hang a horseshoe upside down. Turn it up so that it retains the luck and enjoy a bountiful year in 2024. Thank you again.

[@ramonjuan9282]

Cool test I was wondering the difference and you did most of the work for me thank you 👍🏾🌵😎

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Glad to help.

[@ramonjuan9282]

@@UtmostOutdoors Hello hope you are having a great weekend . Question have you tried different water temperatures and adding jet dry and other additives since your at home not out in the wild and reusing the water LoL the video might have been long but great info and results thanks for all the hard work and time you put into it 👍🏾🌵😎

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks for the question, I haven't done any testing with different water temperatures. I don't think the material properties of water are supposed to change much with temperature, so my hypothesis would be that the matting would act similarly in any temperature. Perhaps salt water could have a slight effect on things?

[@ramonjuan9282]

@@UtmostOutdoors cool thanks, ya was wondering if it effected the different Matt's M Moss and others 👍🏾🌵😎

[@bartbley1269]

Looks like the golden fleece ($20 Old Wool blanket from good will ) worked . James Gibbons of the 1800s was right to build the grizzly to mine alberta flour gold on the Saskatchewan river . His Wool blanket catch though was on a 24 degree angle, and his by my use of an exact replica of his had a lot less black and blond sands because of that steep angle . His too had a nugget trap before the wool blanket that spread material and water evenly across the blanket and it was hard backed and permanently affixed to a removeable wood tray for easy clean up. Turn it up side down in a tub and rub your fingers on the wool to release the gold. In my 5/8" plywood sluice the wool blanket is only 9"longX13" wide and It is capable of catching 3 grams of flour gold and has a regular sluice there after in the unit to catch missed gold there after Great test for all types of gold catchers . I am impressed with the wool blankets success at another angle. Kyle you do flour gold catching justice . We look forward to your sluice iteration . It will most likely be the best gold catch in the mining community .

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Bart, I hope it made your day when you saw the "Bart Special" kick so much butt on gold recovery in this test! Thanks for sending that in and for your consistent information sharing. Lift each other up, were all in this together!

[@bigjm83]

Bart, I watched your video link to the grizzly. Do you run wool underneath your expanded as well? Very cool. The wool is an awesome idea, thanks for sharing 👍 cool that Kyle put it to work. Amazing results.

[@AquaDonkeyProspecting]

Nicely done!❤🎉🎉❤

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you!

[@danhodgins4015]

Good work on the test Kyle. Tough to be perfectly scientific, but it doesn't have to be. Moral of the story is - with moderate flow and feed rate, most of these setups would catch most of the gold with a long enough sluice run, and running the material through twice, possibly at different classifications. I have seen great results using a long 6 inch cleanup sluice with only v-matting. Appreciate your work!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks Dan! Yeah, overall the results show I don't need to be too stressed out about losses. I did enjoy learning that I can bring the concentrates down far enough I can almost get away without using a miller table! Will be a good experiment to run this summer.

[@mattpanas5741]

Good day to you… I’ve seen all your videos! And some a couple times. Thanks for educating us all.. having said that all gold prospectors/miners spend way to much time trying to over think the whole process. That’s who we are. But more gold is lost not getting off there ass then worrying about what color gold pan gets more gold. Keep up the good work.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you! I definitely agree with you on that one! Get 80% of the way there and then just get out and mine! :)

[@gaetondemers9377]

This video is so knowledgeable😊 ty .

[@UtmostOutdoors]

You're so welcome!

[@KeeneEngInc]

It looks like you did a great job with the testing.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you!

[@gwolfeman]

Great video, would love to see the results when each sluice is ran at different speeds and pitch but I’m sure you don’t have 3 weeks of your life to waste for us! 😂 Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

You are very welcome. One day I'll dig deeper into this... for now, time to be out on the rivers collecting concentrates! :)

[@kittygonzalez2827]

Thoroughly enjoyed this...I’m having insomnia and to me, you were entertaining!😂🙀 I would not pass a test if you gave me one right now, but I just realized that by the end, your eyes became almost as blood shot as mine! So for now...Good Night from Near Napa California 🎯😉

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I'm glad you were able to calm your mind and hopefully get some rest.

[@dwaynelowery5808]

First time seeing you. Like it a lot.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Welcome! and thank you!

[@jonathanheinz2376]

Totally going to buy a wool blanket tomorrow. Best value.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

But how will you stay warm if you turn all your blankets into sluices!?

[@seeker522]

I use the black conveyor belt vortex mat under a small weave expanded metal. Smaller than the expanded metal you have over the miners moss. Less cons. Works great for the flower gold where I go. I thoroughly enjoy your videos! Cheers

[@usa91787]

Have you tested to see how much you might be losing?

[@randysmith3171]

i use that diamond conveyor belt as a extension to my gold hog piglet it catches more gold than expected. After seeing this i may start using as a clean up sluice as well. Can also get them at rural king as well. Thanks for the great video.

[@SladeByReality]

I'd be curious to see how the diamond conveyor would fare out on the river.

[@chriscarley9951]

Test, test, and test different parameters . It's absolutely the best way to get tuned in to become as efficient as possible. Cheers 🍻

[@chrisanderson9276]

Hi kyle Loved the video Just incase you aren't aware What the old timers did with the wool blanket was when it was getting warn they'd burn it in a frying pan or their gold pan Then pan out the ashes I know this works as i have use wool matts in my sluice box under what ever matts and whatever riffles I want End of the season I burn them off I've never found more than half a gram Now I just have to try it as a clean up matt Thanks again Happy prospecting

[@Jennifer-007]

Great analysis, thank you… I didn’t notice, did you jet dry your water on each run?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks. I did use some jet dry.

[@01mustang05]

At 15:21 the duct tape riffle & mat pockets were full of clean gold that I think should have been sucked up right after most of the black sands were washed off, no change after another scoop; second half of mat re-run. I also wonder what is better - scoop & wait or continuous (hmmm). I also wonder if a vis mat up top might be better to slow material down just a bit. 15:37 looks nice with that band across - I'd try to repeat all that caused that, a bit after the first few inches & maybe even again. Good video.

[@Goldwaschen-mit-Tom]

Thanks a lot. Great test. Sleep well my friend. Greetings Goldwaschen mit Tom

[@bigmark1957]

Hi Kyle,one question ,the flour gold you used was 200 mesh and smaller or was it combination of fine gold which is 30 mesh and smaller if so was there more fine gold then flour gold important to know . great demo

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Hey, good question. The gold used was as it was found in the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta. It's 30 mesh and smaller. There is actually a descent percentage of it that is plus 50 mesh if I recall correctly. Here's the thing though. Under a microscope, the gold is roughly all the same thickness, it's as if it's pounded into thin flakes and some flakes are large enough to look like a piece of paper. This shape means that some larger flakes are actually harder to capture as they can be caught in the current more easily than smaller flakes. I'm not sure at what point the gold gets so fine that it becomes harder to capture again, but this test was just done with whatever came out of the river.

[@fuatbayram4930]

Hi, bei uns in deutschland haben wir wirklich ultra feines goldstaub. Welche matte können sie bei wirklich feinem goldstaub empfehlen? Ich hatte mir vor jahren mal fie matte von gold hog gekauft aber da bin ich nicht sicher, dass die geeignet ist. Bei meinem letzten urlaub in der türkei am strand war die ausbeute sehr schlecht.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

The Rough top conveyor belt used in a gold cube should work, I have seen people using the VRD matting on beach sand also. Most mats will work well if you classify the material to keep larger rocks out of your sluice and run a low slope with slow water flow. Personally, I currently use miners moss with expanded metal on top when I am out digging, and then run a rubber mat later on at home for my cleanouts. The miners moss hold a large amount of black sand which is annoying, but seems to bring home the most gold at the end of the day. I will update my thoughts at some point in the future if I am able to do better tests.

[@mary047photoblue]

Kyle,Greetings from Northern Ireland,Hanging up on your wall in this presentation is a green sluice box is that a drop sluice ? and have you any videos opf how to use it in river enviroment ? Thanks for your time and help.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Hi, The green sluice on the wall is a LeTrap Drop riffle sluice. I don't have any videos about it specifically but I did use it in my 2020 gold mining series as a tailing catch sluice back when my dream mats were loosing a bunch of flour gold out the back of my original aluminum highbanker. It's a great light weight sluice and catches flour gold nicely. The weak point is if you stop the water flow the gold all moves down the box as it washes out of the riffles each time you stop and start the water flow. Search for letrap sluice and you should find other people who can talk more about it. I love how light it is and easy to clean out!

[@rollandsaxton]

Great video but had to be so time consuming. Keep up the great work

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks!

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

I love this kind of analysis. It’s hard to compare mat to mat as each mat is different and responds to different flow/feed rates and particle size/density. Here is a test procedure I’m thinking about running this spring: Dream mat combo mat test normal/reversed. Goal is to test best configuration of the sluice using material that proportionally represents the particle material and gold sizes found in my claims. I plan on publishing my results. 1. buy (3g) of gold Klesh paydirt intermediate, (2g) expert, pan out gold, sort by size. Make (3) 1g samples of proportionate weight. 10-20mesh (picker), 20-30mesh (large flake), 30-50mesh (small flake), 50-100mesh (speck), -100 mesh (fines). Weigh 5 boats for tare average. Film. 2. Collect 3gal of claim gravels, classified to 1/4”. Dry, classify, remove magnetics and pan to de-aurify. Record magnetics by size and weight. Add cleaned concentrates back to gravels. Dry, classify and weigh gravels. Weigh 5 cups for tare average. Make 1.999kg buckets of proportional gravels. Add gold sample to each bucket, stir moderately to mix but not stratify. (1000ppm Au) Wet and stir gently. Film. 3. Prepare sluice box. Add legs, drill holes for wingnuts and bolts. Add boomer box and pump and test flow rate using timed 5-gal bucket 5x to get flow average. 4. Prepare set-up with table, totes, tote siphon, water. Set up sluice at 7.5° (1.5”/‘) 5. Control test: expanded metal over miners moss over deep-vmat. Run sample #1 through sluice. Time test to get feed rate and density (feed rate/flow rate in 1kg solids/gals water in time at flow rate x 3.79kg/gal). Film. Charge battery, collect tailings and concentrates. Dry, classify and weigh tailings and concentrates. Pan each, weigh gold recovered and get loss %, capture rate/size. 6. Dream mat combo mat sluice test. Perform test as above. Film. 7. Cut and re-assemble combo mat from mini/cape-d/micro. Film. 8. Dream mat reversed combo mat test. Perform test as above. Film. 9. Collect all concentrates and tailings. Dry, classify, remove magnetics. Compare magnetics by size and weight in tailings and concentrates. 10. Perform data analysis and assemble clips, write report. Compare gold loss rates by size, magnetics capture weights by size. Release on KZbin, share data and conclusions. Goal is to fine best system to capture gold and other heavy materials (magnetics). Compare feed rates (should be similar (+-10%) 11. Follow-up: Run best performing system testing two variables in 8 settings, water flow rate 500gpm/1100/2200 gpm (feed rate same, density will change), and sluice angle (5/10°). Include OG test. Pattern should show in increasing capture rate with one configuration. Continue testing that variable until results decrease.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Nice. Sounds like you have a pretty solid plan there. Documenting it and consistency is key. I wonder if one of those 3D printer guys out there could build you a spiral auger you could run on a speed control to feed the concentrates at a consitent and adjustable rate? That would be cool. PS: For your step 3: "add legs" Don't forget to make sure they are Utmost Outdoors legs purchased from www.utmostoutdoors.com/ ;)

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

@@UtmostOutdoors I’ve been thinking of that spiral feeder from colfer at mining magnets but also been working on an automatic bucket feeder that can be dropped in the head of sluice. Sooooo many people underestimate the effect of feed rate on fluid density and what it does to their sluice. Too many people run their sluices overloaded, big changes in density (surging) can rip the gold right out of the riffles and put it back in suspension and too little feed can do the same thing as you’ve seen in your ‘running dry’ tests. I think around 8-12.5% is the key target number for solids by volume in these small sluices, but hope to do more work on that soon. I will keep you in mind when I get my new 10” sluice this spring for the legs!

[@sternoapp2616]

How if you get big material like sand, stone, blacksand, gold, any mineral in your mat. My question is could you trap gold without loss gold mix a big material drop in your sluice together?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Larger material can disrupt the flow and cause losses of gold. You should classify material at least to some degree before putting it into the sluice box. I will need to do further testing on this subject.

[@sternoapp2616]

@@UtmostOutdoors good job mate i will be ready watching your next video using a big material to trap gold together

[@danieljhf7301]

Alot of work. Excellent! I learned. Perhaps I could ask to find an answer to this question: What happens when the black sand fills up spaces intended for gold? Does the gold then, finding no "room at the inn" go to the next space? What happens if the next "inn" is full? And the next, and the next? How does one find this out quantitatively, and objectively? I know this may be a tall order, but I am curious. Thanks again!!!!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Basically the same thing happens as when separating any other density of material. Gold will separate out of lighter sands pretty easy, but is still denser than black sand and can be caught in a sluice that is already full of black sand as well. All but one of the sluices in this test were completely full of black sand after the first few spoons and yet were still able to concentrate gold quite well. Even miners moss that is full of black sand will still separate out the gold, although it has to take more time to do it once it gets full. With moss, you can run relatively quickly out in the field until your mat gets full of black sand, then once it is full, you need to shovel more slowly, or use a wider sluice. Basically gold is still 3X more dense than black sand, and so gravity separation can still occur, it's just more difficult than before when the sluice fills up. I hope that helps explain it a bit better.

[@danieljhf7301]

@@UtmostOutdoors I appreciate the quick response. I have studied this also, and run a number of tests. That is why I asked the question. How do I get ahold of you on other media for further discussion?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

My channel email address is [e-mail]

[@MohammedNovalija]

900 views yet the subscriber count went up by 1400 - I have no idea how that works , but well done you

[@UtmostOutdoors]

People subscribed from watching other videos. I'm glad to see the growth recently! Very cool!

[@MohammedNovalija]

@@UtmostOutdoors Has grown dramatically - And you deserve every cent.

[@MohammedNovalija]

I am disappointed you never ran the popular V Rib mat. I am running a squarish profile rubber mat that I would think would outperform all your mats. I thoroughly enjoyed this tape , noy sure anything to be gained by watching it twice though. Thank you so much for this and all your tapes.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks! I used a square ribbed rubber entry mat in a long tom build out of a floor mat cut up into a steel stud. It was great stuff! I bet your sluice does a great job. I wish I had the time to test more sluices, but only so much time in a day for one video. Did you catch the part I put in specially for you describing the drop riffles?

[@MohammedNovalija]

@@UtmostOutdoors Dammit - does that mean I need to watch it twice? Would that viewing time be shortened if I only watch the VDR sluice testing ?

[@MohammedNovalija]

@@UtmostOutdoors If I look at the VDR NOT Circular part , it is apparently simply a trough , half an inch wide - is that correct ?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

1/4" deep and 7/16" wide trough. Sorry, I should have pointed you to it.

[@MohammedNovalija]

@@UtmostOutdoors Thank You

[@KeeneEngInc]

I am not a fan of rubber mats in river sluice boxes, high bankers, and dredges; there is simply too much chaos in the box and gold migrates through the box. They work okay in a concentrator under ideal conditions with perfect water flows and classified material. In the Keene concentrator, we use both ribbed carpets and expanded metal and miracle matting.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I agree with you based on real world testing. I think an obvious weakness of many rubber mats in the field is that the wide shallow grooves mean that a slight tilt in the box allows material to slosh over to that side and scour out. Expanded metal over something like miners moss helps keep things working well even while the box is slightly tilted. If you skip to 22:50 minutes into this video I actually surprised myself at how well the box works even while not perfectly level. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r17OZpSVosh7oKcsi=PmQIOHCEoesP_M6E&t=1204 Once I get back home, that's where I'm highly motivated to try different mats that can get rid of all that black sand!

[@pawefilocha4421]

For me it seems that miller table is much better choice for cleaning concentrates without using cleanup sluice first, just put concentrate through few meshes and straight to miller table, what do you think?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

It is an issue of quantity. The milker table takes longer to process material, so I only use it once I'm down to just a cup of concentrates. I use the cleanup sluice to take my big sluice concentrates down to just that one cup first. If your main sluice only makes a small amount of concentrates, then you could probably skip a step and go straight to the miller table.

[@pawefilocha4421]

@@UtmostOutdoors Thanks :)

[@ElectrikNYCfunK]

lol @ "ohhhhh it hurts to do this" haha 🤣 .. it's much appreciated though! lol

[@davidhansen4471]

that was quite a test ..................................10 stars to you

[@charlese.prospecting6627]

Would like to have seen you use the Jobe High V mat at 6× 36. 👍⛏️😎.

[@jaykwasney4342]

love your videos , its helped lots , question which battery controller is this ?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you! On ebay, search DC12V 24V 48V PWM Motor Controller.

[@jaykwasney4342]

@@UtmostOutdoors very appreciated thankyou

[@elvindekle9835]

You might try ribbed mat with expanded metal. When I've panned. I would use classifiers into a blue bowl .

[@adriaannikken7519]

Cool video. A side note... was wondering if the Bow river has produced for you at all. The glaciers are bigger and closer to civilization that the glaciers are to the North Sask River and civilization

[@UtmostOutdoors]

There is some gold in the bow, but I've never found it in significant quantities yet.

[@donaldperson948]

You needed a flapper at the top of the boxes to smooth out the water over the full length of the mat!

[@danholman5282]

I've watched this twice and I'm trying to understand which system caught the most gold. Can you give us your opinion which one?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

The wool blanket captured the highest percentage in this test. If you look at speed of processing (aka feed rate) and balance that with minimal concentrates and recovery, I liked the VDR matting. If cost is a factor and you need to cover a larger operation, I like the rough top conveyor belt as it's very cheap and durable. I should do a follow up and more scientific test at some point... My current river setup is to use miners moss as it's very forgiving to "real world" conditions like surging, running empty, or the accidental tilt in a sluice bed, but at the expense of more concentrates to carry home. I currently use the VDR matting in my fine gold cleanup sluice, but I think the dream mat micro mat could be used as well if the run is long enough. (or run twice) Hope that helps.

[@adetasakochannel6032]

Great video...greeting fr Indonesia.

[@tabarzan]

Helpful ❤

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Glad it helped

[@Christian_Johansson]

Hey there, I am trying to regulate my bilge pump with a regulator similar (I guess/guessed) to the "Motor Governor" that you have but when I connected it to my 12v lifepo4 it made a faint wistling sound and started to smoke haha, after that my lifepo4 seemed to be dead and when I after a while got it to charge it jumped between 13 and 14,4V. I know absolutely nothing about electrics and how it works but I think it could have been the regulator I bought cheap from amazon "RUIZHI DC Motor Speed Controller 6-60V 12V 24V 36V 48V 30A PWM" so I am thinking of buying the exact one you have...unless you might think it also won't work with my setup! I have a Eco-worthy 12v8ah lifepo4 and a 12V 3A bilge pump. Would very much appreciate your input (pun intended)

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Hey, I had good luck with the one I was using in this video and it says ZK-BMG motor governor on it. I got a almost identical looking one more recently here in Australia and didn't have the same luck. I guess just make sure your positive and negative are in the correct place and you might have to just try another governor... I think they are available on ebay or amazon. (usually ebay is a bit cheaper) You should be able to just run directly off the 12.8 to 10 volts coming off your lifepo4 to make sure the battery ad bilge pump are working right. Good luck!

[@Christian_Johansson]

@@UtmostOutdoors thank you for your informative answer! I actually found the exact model that you used (found it after my mishap of course) so I will buy it. As we have import fees and crap it most often gets cheaper for me to buy stuff on amazon than ebay, because we don't have a swedish ebay. So it was a good thing they had it on our version of amazon 🙂

[@upnorthgold2632]

I did a similar test. I found that the sluice mat in the multi sluice from gold hog was the best vs v-rib mat and conveyor belt mat

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Very cool. I loved watching all of Doc's mat testing videos. Strange I have never personally used them yet, just seen the run by other prospectors who seem generally impressed.

[@joesinakandid528]

I use Gold Hog mats exclusively in Bank Run, Dredge Run and Concentrate Clean Ups. For over 50 years I have experimented, testing as I went along, throughout North America - from Nome, all of Alaska and all the way from the West Coast to the East Coast. I have "a goodly number" of their recovery products both sluices and converted Keene products (as well as others). So far the Multi-Sluice has proven to be the very fastest and most efficient product that I have used specifically for concentrate clean-ups. No affiliation with Gold Hog - just admiration for a product line that works the best for me, in my circumstances and in both factory produced and DIY uses. PS, You 'got taken' (BIG TIME) on that white conveyor mat scrap. 🥴 Joe S - AK and ID

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

Well seems like the old timers were right about recovering gold in Aberta by useing a Hudson's Bay blanket.

[@BlindDude]

I bought a strip of dreammat mini and one of micro. Put the micro up top and lost at least 20% of what I ran. I didn't use it as a cleanup sluice. I think I will try now. Thank you! I was losing less with my I think it's called SluiceFox. In a little over a year I've gotten a total of 8 grams. Woooeffinwhooo huh? It's from the dry creek in my back yard and it gets the wife and I out and exercised. It's tiny fly poop gold but I have found 2 pickers.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Nice work on your gold take so far!

[@AgentM3tallion]

I wish he would have used actual currency for the contrast, like an American dime. That Cana-a-duh "dime" is worth so little, I think it cost you at least a tenth of a gram just by being in with actual gold. j/k of course! Great video my man! I was considering doing a video like this, and thought I should talk to chatgpt about whether such a thing had been done or not, and surprisingly, it sent me here! You even thought of things I didn't, so good show mate! Only thing I'd have liked to see was a gold hog and a gold cube side by side for the test, but I'm well aware they're not worth getting if you got that kind of gear already. Bravo mate! Bravo! Now, to get back on brand: The day of the rake will come. You better watch out leafs. ;-p

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Wow, unreal that chatgpt sent you my way... All hail our AI overlords!

[@boomersadventures]

I enjoyed your video. It was interesting, watching I am very impressed with the old wool blanket. That was very interesting. As well as the VDR is only 3 inches the cons cannot be correctly weighed. If you were 6 inches wide could you not potentially catch more of the gold as well? even though by your test, the cons would be divided by half but the total would still be unknown unless you did did it with a 6 inch VDR sluice👍

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Hum... my assumption for the VDR for this test was that two 3 inch sluices should equal 1 6 inch sluice for weight of concentrates. In the field, the wider the sluice, the more sensitive it is to being slightly out of level. I did my best working with what I had available, but at some point it would be good to do another follow up with more tests. I hope you found this one helpful for what it is, and I too was very impressed with the wool blanket!

[@boomersadventures]

OK so I re-watched it. my bad. I saw that you doubled your feed time so that it would be like feeding at 6 inch so potentially your losses would be the same you did a pretty good job of keeping this all straight for 14 hours filming I’ll give you two thumbs up for that😅

[@selfretired3025]

What if you put the expanded metal over the wool ?

[@danhodgins4015]

or even 20 mesh metal window screen.

[@bartbley1269]

Expanded metal makes no difference . think of flour gold as small and flat , blonds a blacks as round hard marbles The expanded by my experience just catches more blacks and blonds accept with coarser gold

[@selfretired3025]

@@bartbley1269 my thinking with it was to hold the wool down better

[@bartbley1269]

@@selfretired3025 In my sluice the blanket was held on a removeable wood tray with handles that served to sandwich the wool blanket on either side. It was also stapled on the back side on the open ends kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5TPZWyorctlp7s the tray was also held in place by the handles a long with a friction fit . It caught three types of gold

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Bart, I wonder if you could staple the blanket to some wood "tiles" that could be held in place and then individually removed to pan out. The stuff worked like a hot darn!

[@trevorashton4598]

Hey bro i thank you for the long video 😂 good job buddy thank you . My opinion i think i do the green infin first ,than the red micro Than the convayer belt Than run a ribbed mat at the bottom Run that as a system set up Run the 3 inch at top i think you said flair to 6" and hits the different mats good tago 😮

[@trevorashton4598]

Hey you seen and or used the gold hog interchangeable mats they have the put some pile of time and dedication year on how gold moves reaction flows ect I was going to order than I seen you video popped up on my phone I'm like got to check this out I pulled over off the road an everything 😂😂 to watch you video

[@archananagarajan4540]

Can you please share the name of the company that made that machine?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Hello, I built these myself and normally sell products through www.utmostoutdoors.com Currently out of stock but I'll have a few of the "utmost explorers" for sale again soon.

[@TRyan3]

So moss is easily the best at catching/holding gold by far! Use moss in the field, and a patch at the top of a cleanup sluice to act as a reservoir so cons to feed down more slowly.

[@Jennifer-007]

Surprised to see no inclusion of the Keene Miracle Mat or any of the Gold Hog fine gold type mats but thank you for this work.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

At some point in the future I would like to do another test including more mats. It's just such a big time commitment that for now we'll have to wait.

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

Kinda surprised you didn’t test straight v-mat as many people run that in their clean-up sluices. Maybe next time?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Maybe next time my freind... I even have a strip of it laying around from when I was using un-backed moss. There was only so much time in the day this time though, I've saved the yogurt container of concentrates so I can repeat a few more tests in the future.

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

@@UtmostOutdoors why backed vs unbacked over v-mat? Less concentrates? I’m always worried about gold running through the moss and out the bottom.

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

@@UtmostOutdoors that wool blanket result was surprising!

[@UtmostOutdoors]

If you cut little cross sections of the backed moss apart, the way the little spaghetti spirals attach to the mat form enough little stops all along the bottom of the mat to prevent gold from just sliding down and out. Backed and unpacked both work pretty much the same as far as I can see. Go with 1/2" if you run hot. But 5/16" I think is fine for the pop'n'son settings running just 20gpm per 12" of sluice width.

[@MerchantMarineGuy]

@@UtmostOutdoors thanks I’ll give that a shot!

[@jeaninebradley7855]

Wow..I'll stick to hand-panning!! Big Kiss! Carry On. Go Jet Boat!

[@robb3341]

looks like I need to cut up an old wool blanket! the recovery on that blew me away. so cheap and easy.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Yeah, it worked surprisingly well!

[@Themaverickdetector]

Have you ever tried gold hog mats?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Never personally, but I did see some of the older Gold Hog UR matting running on a claim in BC. I actually have a 8" wide Gold Hog piglet sitting in my shop I plan on testing out soon! I look forward to seeing how it does...

[@DenEvigePeder]

Vdr-spirals reeks of engineer, always complicating simple processes! 🤷😘 Wool was impressive, definitely putting a few inches of that in the end. If you're chasing the micro you will get a lot of cons from a 4 foot system, aint no getting around that at this time. Good and informative test, could've made a great sluice based on this alone. Def a sub on that!

[@TheXanthoman]

Are those goldrat sluices ? Thanks

[@UtmostOutdoors]

No, those were called the "Utmost explorer" it was a little mini packable sluice I used to make from my garage shop in Canada.

[@FireShine-ss4sb]

The miners moss was said to be better than regular carpeting because the carpeting can't be cleaned out 100% just like the wool cloth. But my question is.....who cares, just let it fill up. "Jason and the golden fleece" it was a true story called a fable. They used sheepskin in their sluices and they filled up with flour gold. But probably with oil in the fur, they couldn't clean them out so well. Very interesting level of science you add to it there in your lab. To do things by wisdom on the cheap being frugal. Some guys just throw money at their problems and get a gold cube at $100 a section. An old timer like Two Toes is going to be time conscious with those sluices. He is going to get those cons into a mercury amalgam tumbler because he has advanced mercury skills and keeps it under water at all times. Amatuers and mercury are looking for lost beads in the garage and going more crazy to find it if they don't find it. And mercury needs to be cleaned up after it gets dirty so who has that down to a science with safety? Thanks for your painstaking Thomas Edison approach to this.

[@Joshuaellis420]

Good job now send me the fold to inspect and add to my pile

[@jamesolson4420]

Good to know

[@jeffashton3352]

Maybe the VDR was created for Australia vs Northern Hemisphere, thus the Spirals are swirling the wrong way and not working?

[@amankaramov3385]

hi how much does the equipment cost???

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I have a some products on my website: www.utmostoutdoors.com/ I'm not sure when I'll have more stuff in stock. It's a side project / work in progress.

[@alfredmisterka5880]

I really interested in your video on sluce

[@amankaramov3385]

hi how much does the equipment cost

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I have a few things for sale at www.utmostoutdoors.com Not sure when I'll have anything in stock... probably this fall.

[@JohanFroloff81]

The slender sluice seem to be a waste of money. -it has a lot of wasted space between the ripples.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I actually liked that sluice. I thought it had a great balance of recovery and amount of concentrates.

[@JohanFroloff81]

@@UtmostOutdoors I think If it had the ripples at the top. All the way down. It would be much bedder for cleanups.

[@PrairieProspecting]

I think those spaces are by design as a slickplate to allow the fluid to restratify

[@BlindDude]

Sorry but what kind of trees are those?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

What trees? What time into the video are you referring too and I'll see if I can answer the question.

[@BlindDude]

Holy crap. I'm sorry. The trees were in a different video I was watching. Dumb Chromecast.

[@droning2239]

Have you tried a gutter sluice ?

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I haven't yet. They look pretty good though.

[@droning2239]

I live in a apartment so I use it at the kitchen sink ! It works great for Alberta flour gold

[@Strngr--]

Why a 1.5" drop per foot? Hobby mining equipment is normally designed for 1" per foot

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Some hobby mining equipment like gold hog stuff is actually designed to run at 2" per foot. I just picked a middle ground number for this test.

[@DWCStuff]

Thanks...

[@UtmostOutdoors]

You're welcome!

[@abdullahislam8978]

Appreciate your work from Pakistan. Little suggestion for better/fair results, OR to test next time following my suggestions or Addings your's into mine suggestions 😊 1. You should use the same water flow for each matt 2. You Should use equal amount of black sand and gold separately, then mixed it together to run the test. i.e. 1 gram of gold and 25 or 50 grams of black sand mixing together eith gold then run the test to check the remaining Concentration of sand and gold 3. use 2 or multiple matts to check remaining concentration of black sand and gold by panning gold at last 4. First use less water flow then use high water flow to check effectiveness of each matt individually, that which matt has good recovery with high water flow 5. checking the height of sluece box is a topic for some other day 😊 i am 0 and beginner with a tiny b in this field but i understand you did well being alone without anyone's physical help. what i liked the most, your organized and disciplined way of working. Appreciate your work whatever your intentions behind this 😊

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thank you. I appreciate your suggestions, I think they are good. I look forward to doing a better test this year.

[@abdullahislam8978]

@@UtmostOutdoors getting help from different KZbinrs are great but using our intelligence and experience could be far more better than other KZbinrs. unfortunately there is no such professional training institute available to help us finding gold, we have to do it asking from Google, KZbinrs, Geologists, and lastly, our own intelligence and experiences

[@bazonis1gp]

👍👍

[@TeslaAtoms]

Just try some NOMAD carpet with a fine expanded metal on top. Trust me, you will be amazed. Only downside is, lots of concentrate to pan out afterwards.

[@SladeByReality]

So your telling me this whole time I just needed a blanket?

[@bartbley1269]

key is old wool blanket . The red blanket you saw was from one blanket bought for $20 at good will . The wool blanket is not new tech .I was introduced to it in the 70s in the form of an exact replica of the 1800s james gibbons grizzly . I would suspect it was taken from the greek story of Jason and the argonauts in pursuit of the golden fleece

[@coolmaster43232]

great video but I would have liked to see gold hog matting (since that is what I run) and maybe keene riffles and carpet

[@UtmostOutdoors]

Thanks. I just used what I had access to and will leave room for a round two test one day. Gold hog has about 9000 mat choices offered, which one would you think would do best in a future test, and how would you run it in a 6" sluice?

[@coolmaster43232]

@@UtmostOutdoorsI 'd probably run the ur mats I have a variety in my stream sluce but I think that would be the best in a cleanup sluce. My cleanup sluce is a raingutter with just ribbed rubber matting you have to run it real slow on concentrates so I usually hand pan it all. I like it!

[@Jennifer-007]

LOL, I just said the exact same thing, Gold Hog and Miracle Mat.

[@frenchys_prospecting]

I was going to dusmiss everything in this video until you apologized at the end. Youre 100% Canadian

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I can't help myself... :)

[@frenchys_prospecting]

@@UtmostOutdoors I can translate Canadian. I think you said "sorry, eh" All laughs mate. Have a corker

[@1kreature]

That was way too high angle vs flow for the micromat. If gold migrates out of not full pockets it's too turbulent. Higher waterflow at a shallower angle would create a deeper flow. I never find gold below the first 4" of my mat.

[@UtmostOutdoors]

I'll have to give a lower slope a try in future test. What slope and flow would you recommend I start with? One thing to consider is that I have had AMAZING results with this same slope and flow on slightly coarser gold. I think it's a good mat, but the gold in Alberta is very flat and fine and has a difficult time being captured by all mats. When you say you never see gold travel more than 4" down the mat, I know for a fact you are not sluicing the same flour gold as I was testing with in the video, because nothing I have seen can do that to this gold.

[@1kreature]

@@UtmostOutdoors I was sluicing a lot of finer gold but not as fine no. There was some flour though. I did not have my videos of the sluice build public but I changed that now: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2aQlHdqar2FmpI My first zone has very deep water as it is both above and below a screen separator in the flare. Only finer sizes get down to the first section. Then a rougher section comes with accompanied larger cells in the mat. Finally a open section allows everything to run over it but with quite deep water and even larger pockets. When I set it up to clean up at home I classified material and ran the finest on just the top half of the sluice. (It folds out so it's easier to transport.) I try and classify at 2x steps to get super clean separation. (less panning.) When I use it out in a river I can run unclassified material on it thanks to the screen. I've then had it move 2" rocks while 1/5" gold pieces never moved off the screen.

[@FireShine-ss4sb]

I think a chunk of carpeting backed with canvas, glued on with PL caulk, then flair it off the back letting it lay down into the water basin. Its going to catch the blown out gold but again, not going to be able to clean it well. But peace of mind knowing you didn't commit any cardinal sins like letting micron gold blow out for being too fast with the water. So a river sluice needs front flair to increase water volume and flow speed but I say it needs carpet flair off the back just for the hope of negating stupidity with the illusive inconclusive s. In cons sluice ifs. Whereby we already saw 20 videos of bold shrugs panning out their sluice cons and not getting flour like you have. So without the flour, can they make bread. This amount of flour you get proves you are successful because your river location skills don't need to be that accurate. So all us know nothings have a chance. We just need the right equipment and to end up unemployed for awhile. We can be trained to do some tricks along the rivers. First its a zoo, then it becomes a circus. Some might prefer living for panning out of a van down by the river.

[@dubblewrap]

Bump!❤