X3 Rinser (The Roach)

This was our thinking in late 2019 when we came up with the plan to aim high and get our equipment on TV, and no other TV show could be any more relevant to us than the very famous series ‘Gold Rush: Dave Turin’s Lost Mine on Discovery Channel.

Our X3 was the ideal machine for their team as it is quick and easy to set up, cost-efficient to ship, and easy to transport from site to site. The X3 is additionally super user friendly for any level of operator to work with. It was essential for this new screening plant to have a rinsing facility so it could wash down the raw feed material and screen out the cherished gold efficiently to the sluice box.

The Roco X3 ticks all boxes required, compact for shipping, fully independent screening unit on a tracked mounted chassis, and conveyor belts that were all hydraulic folding so setup was quick and easy. Roco’s X3 would come fitted with a fully remote control hydraulic tipping reject grid with  4″/100mm grid bar spacings which mean it can feed the screening plant directly with a wheel loader without damaging the feed belt, as the grid would reject the oversized heavy material. From there the 4″ minus material would be fed by an independent feeder system onto another feed belt that would then bring the dirt material to the two-deck vibrating screen box where it would get washed down and segregated into the correct discharge conveyor areas. We manufactured the first-ever rinsing kit for our X3 model and modify the unit so that it could be used for wet screening. We installed a new bespoke heavy-duty 10″/250mm manifold on the side of the feed conveyor, above the screen box area which would take a high volume water feed from a large water pump on-site. This manifold would then distribute the water to the many hoses and wash bars installed on the screen box. The water could then be regulated by adjustable taps on each outlet if required.

The two-deck vibrating screen box was modified at the crew’s request as we fitted adjustable angle spray bars and nozzle heads to create higher water pressure for cleaning the material. Nine spray bars were installed, four to the top and four to the bottom deck of the screen box, and we fitted a single spray bar at the end of the feed conveyor to give the material a high-pressure blast before entering the screen box. We also installed an extra water outlet for washing everything down after a day of screening which would be very useful for clean up.

With everything in place, the new modified X3 rinsing plant was then loaded and shipped to the United States by 40-foot container and later transported to the site by truck, where it was set up and ready to run some dirt. The plant commenced work in July 2020 for its first season after restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic eased.