Gold Buddy Recirculating Mini-highbanker

On a recent trip to Arizona, we found ourselves north of Phoenix heading towards Prescott. We had been traveling throughout Nevada and Arizona doing a little prospecting, treasure hunting and research. Also along the way, swinging into just about every prospecting supply store to say hello and check out what may be new on the market or some item we may have missed.

Going through Prescott Valley we couldnt resist stopping at J. W. Prospecting Store to hear all the latest news. Kevin and J. W. greeted us with smiles as they helped their other customers. I snooped around the shop, checking out the various dry washers, dredges, detectors and just about everything imaginable for finding gold. Most of the items I had already seen, but one small highbanker caught my eye.

When Kevin joined me, he quickly explained that the unit was made by Gold Buddy just down the road in Mayer. As luck would have it, in walked Leslie Honn who, with her husband Jerry, manufactures the Recirculating Mini-Highbanker and several other gold recovery units. After some fast introductions, we got a short, but very impressive demonstration. They asked how the prospecting was in Oregon and I explained that we had experienced severe flooding and were expecting one of the best seasons in years. After swapping a few stories, we said our farewells and were on our way.

Overall View of the Mini- Highbanker

The day the unit arrived, I looked it over and realized what had caught my eye; one word says it all "simplicity."

The entire highbanker comes shipped in its own case/reservoir, which measures 17 inches wide, 27 inches long and 13 inches deep, with a top that closes shut for easy transport or storage. All the components easily fit inside the case with room to spare for tools, gold pan, food etc. The entire set-up weighs only 21 pounds!

The hopper, sluice and brackets are all made of sturdy aluminum. The hopper is approximately 20 inches long and 7 inches wide, with 8 inches of expanded metal covering the end before entering the sluice for material classification. Also, the hopper easily adjusts to three angles for running different materials.

The sluice is 23 inches long and 7 1/2 inches wide. Ribbed carpet and expanded metal run the length of the sluice, with a set of riffles over the top. Everything is held down in the sluice with two clips and one wing nut. The sluice also has three settings for desired angle and, at the end, has an aluminum tailings box which sits on the edge of the case/reservoir. The sluice and hopper fold together and mount on two brackets which easily attach to the case.

The 12-volt pump hangs on the inside of the case with a hose running up to the hopper. All you need to add is water (approximately 12 gallons) and a 12-volt battery and you have a completely self-contained, recirculating highbanker. Or you can place the pump, which puts out 750 gallons an hour, directly in water outside of the case/reservoir. A motorcycle battery will run continuously for about six hours and a standard auto battery about 16 hours. I chose to use a small tractor battery with a handle on it for easy carrying. The way I run this unit the battery can last several days.

Wet Test

Before taking the Gold Buddy out in the field, I wanted to see how well it recovered. I carefully weighed out 1 dwt. (pennyweight) of gold. Most of the pieces were sub-grain in size, with three or four being around 1 grain. It only took five minutes or less to completely set up in the yard and I was up and running.

I was quite impressed with the power of the small pump. After setting the hopper and sluice at the angles I wanted, I poured the gold into the hopper and watched the gold drop through the classifier onto the top of the sluice. I let the pump run for 20 minutes to see if any gold was going to escape and end up in the tailings tray.

Shutting the unit down and studying the sluice, I could see most all of the gold had not made it past the first riffle. I did a careful clean-up job into a pan, drained the water and let it dry in the sun. Putting the gold back on the scale, I had exactly the same as I started with. Now I was satisfied the buddy was ready for the field, and I knew just the spot!

Field Test

I decided to do the testing on the South Umpqua River, about two hours to the southeast of Reedsport. The area had been hit hard by high water earlier in the year. My wife and youngest son and daughter also wanted to go. It seemed the Gold Buddy was everyone's buddy. Arriving at the river and surveying the area was unbelievable! New gravel bars, exposed bedrock and debris in the trees about 20 feet over our heads. The opportunities were endless!

The first set-up was on the inside of a gravel bar where we could just shovel into the hopper. Our 11-year-old daughter had carried the unit down to where I wanted to work and in just a few minutes the buddy was hard at it.

The hopper easily classified out any material 1/2 inch or larger. Should you get any nuggets larger than this they would be found lodged on top of the expanded metal. I checked the tailings box several times to make sure we werent missing any gold. Doing a fast clean-up, we got good color in the gravels, but I wanted to move back off the river and dig into the hardpack on the exposed bedrock.

Moving to a different location was a breeze. You simply either disconnect the hose to the hopper, or slide the sluice down over the edge of the reservoir and run the water out. After moving, just add water and start again.

At the other set-ups, we ran the gravels, (my favorite) probably the most productive way. We simply took a 5-gallon bucket and cleaned out the cracks on the bedrock. I also like to dig into the hardpack and fill the bucket and feed the material into the hopper, let it run a few minutes and shut the unit down. This method achieves two things you are only running quality concentrates and it saves on battery life, allowing you to stay in remote areas for several days.

Only once during the day did I have to change the adjustment on the hopper. We had gotten into some nice gold bearing clays. We simply adjusted the hopper to its lowest angle and let the clays or muds classify longer.

Clean-up at the end of the day is simple. Slide the sluice down onto a bucket, remove the wing nut, rinse the riffles and expanded metal into the bucket, roll up the carpet and put this in the bucket, too. Then turn the water on in case any gold got trapped in the sluice and let this also drain into the bucket. Finally, rub the carpet together in the bucket to assure any fine gold from being lost.

Looking at the concentrates, I only had a small pan full. This is why the Mini-Highbanker also makes a great concentrator after running a dredge all day! I quickly panned down the small amount of material left, and saw that we had done extremely well, especially for the short time we had worked. Within minutes we were packed up and headed for home.

After a thorough clean-up, the gold tipped the scales at just under 4 1/2 dwt (pennyweight). Not bad for a few hours' work. The Mini-Highbanker had proven itself in the field!

Conclusions

The unit is a valuable asset for high banking, sampling and concentrating. The best part is that it is simple, profitable and just pure fun to use. It easily stores in the trunk of your car, truck, closet, garage, etc. Being well constructed, it will give you years of use. To say more about the Buddy would take away from what first caught my eye simplicity!

The 12-volt Recirculating Mini-Highbanker retails for $299.95 with everything except the battery. Jerry and Leslie also carry other quality prospecting equipment, including dry washers, combo dredge/highbankers, concentrators, the RRAK-VAK and a very versatile prospectors rake. For more information on Gold Buddy products, contact Jerry and Leslie Honn, P. O. Box 1056 Mayer, AZ 86333-1056, (520) 632-5531, and let them know you read about them in Lost Treasure magazine.