Mountain Goat Trommel

I bought one of these and needed support from the maker regarding material feed quantity, motor, and best sizing of material. The maker wouldn't offer any tips of useful detail.This is not a machine for small flakes of gold. Keene Spiral Wheel 25" Professional Model (KEENE ENGINEERING) would be your ticket.As for feeding material, I use one of the 'all-purpose plastic miners' spoons. The maker wouldn't give any details or tips about proper feed, other than to say to run 1/4-inch screened material. Give the machine time to process the feed amount, say a minute or two between feeds. Don't get in a hurry. Dump those particles into separate 'values' bucket for later processing with a spiral wheel. Use a Neodymium magnet in the spiral pan to lessen the impact of black sand or meteoroid fragments.As a concentrator, the unit is built to be carried up a hill (according to the manufacturer), w/a bilge pump to use in stream water. Maybe the concept works out for the maker. One way or another, a guy would have to tote the water up the hill, or bring the buckets full of potential pay dirt (40-60 lbs.) down the hill where water is more convenient. Then you'll have to lug up a hefty battery, shovels, a pick or hammer, enough buckets, and a sieve or two. While gold can be found in a stream, the majority of the gold lying around on a hill, etc., is not close to any sort of water.Processing is better at home in the back yard. Everyone needs a setup to make the run of material cleanup as comfortable as possible. At home or in the field, get a big tub (plastic or galvanized) that can work your values, and hold enough water to recycle through the unit. No matter how it's pictured, mining is very labor intensive. AND don't forget to bring along the tools and extra parts when things break or you need to improvise

Took this trommel to a club outing this summer and was extemely disappointed in its inability to catch gold.We had several trommels working of all makes and models and this one performed worst.I tried ever angle and trick I could think of but medium to fine gold was still escaping the trommel.After I returned home I even tried using it with clean water in the garage in a controled environment. Still losing gold very disappointed. Considering the price you pay for this, you are better off with a reciculating sluice or a gold cube or hog.When I called the manufacturer they had no tips or ideas as to why it was losing gold so badly.Compared to thier videos, I was spoon feeding it there is no way you can feed it as fast as they do and get any good results.Stay away from this product

I would have to think that any reviews less than 4 or 5 are from guys who didn't have this machine set up correctly. I've actually done quite well with this device. The setup needs to be correct regarding levelness and ability to keep the intake screen clean prior to the pump, but once that is taken care of, this machine does a good job of processing material. It helps if you prescreen down to 3/8-1/2" size before just dumping shovelfuls into it. Read the manual, its pretty straightforward. This machine paid for itself after the 3rd outing in recovered gold.

This is a toy,you can process more material faster and with better results with a 10 dollar gold pan & a Little practice

Dissatisfied with the quality of the helix material. There were voids and porosities where the material could get caught and not travel up like it is supposed to. Angle adjustment on legs does not allow for fine adjustments. Battery clips are not what you would expect on a unit to be used in the field. Holes in the spray bar had drill shavings and debris around openings. I like the drum material that was used on the earlier models, and am amazed at the fine gold recovered. I think you should go back to a smoother inner drum surface. People trust your reputation, and I was disappointed in your product as it is today.