Lots of useful info here. I've been looking into gold trommels lately and can't decide if I should buy something like the mountain goat trommel or try to build one myself.

Hi Kay and welcome to the forums! Glad you are finding good info here and please make yourself at home.
The Mtn Goat is extremely small and doesn't move much material unfortunately.
IMO.... The Green Giant is the best bang for the buck at under 2k. Large yet portable: Green Giant

Welcome KayEhm!

I don't know anything about trommels so I would look at the suggestion make by swizz.

Hi all, first post here. I purchased a Mountain Goat Trommel with a Desert Fox Spiral Wheel a couple of years ago after I retired, and I expected to get Back into Prospecting with a vengeance. Well, not so much here in Texas. I have used it a couple of times on the Brazos, and although I didn't find much gold, I can tell you that after you get it set up, you can easily process a 5 gal bucket of material in 7-10 minutes. So if you are just recreational, it would probably work fine. It is a bit pricey, and you need a deep cell battery, but it is a lot of fun. Hope that helps...

Welcome to the forums Gold Flake!

Thank you!

Welcome GF!

Hi KayEhm,
A trommel is just a rounded moving screen (this is an underestimation I guess ) but instead of hand classifying , you just let the trommel do the job.
Also this depends on your material being run, if you have a lot of clay, this is where the trommels shine. They give those nasty clay cobbles a nice ride and showers a massive torturing machine if you say so !! On the other hand, if your gravel is "clean" enough, then a regular highbanker or power sluice (if you're permitted to use such machines ) would be sufficient to get the gold.

You ask whether to buy or build, well that also depends on your budget and access to tools and your craftsmanship ! A trommel is not that hard to build yourself provided you meet the aforementioned criteria. If you have the time and the right tools, you can put one yourself. If you don't want to waste time building, testing, modding...etc then buying a trommel is much quicker to get you shoveling There are many one person units on the market with varying degree of gold recovery efficiency and price tags.

Has anyone on the site seen or owned a 12" green giant gold trommel? Very highly considering purchasing before the market goes up in the spring, looking for any kind of feedback or input? The trommel will be used in leadville if that helps?

Welcome to the forums Leadville prospector!

I have not used any trommels myself but I have considered trying it if I find the right gold first. Let us know how it works for you if you get one!