Keene Engineering, Inc.

Keene Engineering, Inc. Dedicated to providing you with the finest Mining and Prospecting equipment for over 70 years! http We at Keene Engineering view our customers as family.

Keeping in touch with our community and sharing stories is half the fun of prospecting so feel free to share! Send us pictures of your treasure hunts or gold finds at [email protected]. Our CEO, Jerry Keene, loves to hear from you, as do we!

09/02/2026

Here is a new DW312Max upgrade we have been working on, and so far I am really impressed with the results.
We fired this setup up a few days ago for testing, and it is working amazingly well. The new strap helps keep the bellows pulling inward instead of pushing outward and interfering with the bumper mechanism.
At this point, I have roughly 48 hours of solid run time on it between testing in the shop and out in the yard. The bellows still look perfect, and the belt-style webbing is showing zero signs of wear.
The idea actually came from a good customer of ours. He originally used a piece of leather that extended only a few inches into the bellows. His idea worked, but we took it a little further and found that using a longer piece of heavy belt webbing worked even better.
We are always looking for ways to improve our equipment, even when it means making changes to an already successful machine.
We should have conversion kits available soon for existing DW312Max owners.
My brother Patrick is taking one up to the Yuba for some real-world testing. As long as the ground stays dry, it should be a very productive piece of equipment. I am looking forward to seeing how it performs in the field.

09/01/2026

Here’s a quick video of a 4" intake and 5" discharge dredge at work. These guys are opening up the water intakes and clearing out accumulated material to improve water flow.
It’s a great example of how dredging equipment can be used for much more than gold recovery. A machine like this can help clean out waterways, ponds, irrigation intakes, docks, and other areas where sand, gravel, and sediment build up.
And I have to admit—it looks like they’re creating a pretty nice swimming hole at the same time!

Great news on the DW312MAX Dry Washer!We are finally getting production up to speed, and we are already halfway through ...
08/28/2026

Great news on the DW312MAX Dry Washer!
We are finally getting production up to speed, and we are already halfway through a run of 16 machines. This batch should take care of about 90% of our current backorders, which is a big step forward for us.
Our production crew is now trained and getting very comfortable building these machines. The DW312MAX is probably the most difficult and labor-intensive dry washer we manufacture. There is a tremendous amount of detail work that goes into every unit, but the team is really starting to hit its stride.
We should begin shipping these machines during the latter part of next week, and we are excited to finally start getting a lot more DW312MAX units into our customers’ hands.
We really appreciate everyone who has been patiently waiting. Demand for this machine has been incredible, and we are working hard to keep production moving while still making sure every machine is built the way it should be.
It feels great to finally be catching up!

This is another custom component that goes with our 8" Tri-Jet and 8" Quad-Jet dredge systems.Both of these 8" dredges a...
08/28/2026

This is another custom component that goes with our 8" Tri-Jet and 8" Quad-Jet dredge systems.
Both of these 8" dredges are powered by larger diesel engines with 6" pump discharges, so we fabricated two custom heavy-duty splitters.
One is a 6" x 3" x 3" x 3", and the other is a 6" x 3" x 3" x 3" x 3".
The beauty of these splitters is the fluid dynamics. We are trying to keep the water moving smoothly without making unnecessary sharp changes in direction. The smoother we can keep the water flow, the more efficiently we can transfer the engine and pump horsepower into actual dredging performance.
A bulky conventional plumbing manifold with a lot of elbows, tees, and abrupt direction changes can easily rob 10% or more of the system's performance.
On a big, high-powered 8" dredge, every bit of efficiency matters. Better water flow means better jet performance, stronger suction, and less wasted horsepower.
Sometimes the simplest-looking parts require a lot of thought to get right.

This picture probably means nothing to most people, but there is a lot going on here.This is the side of the new 8" Keen...
08/27/2026

This picture probably means nothing to most people, but there is a lot going on here.
This is the side of the new 8" Keene Super Max dredge we are building. We are fabricating a custom aluminum engine-mounting system and mounting the motor on four large rubber isolators. If you look to the left, you can also see the big 40 HP Vanguard mounted on rubber isolators.
Over the long term, these isolators help reduce vibration and metal fatigue throughout the dredge. They also make the whole machine feel smoother and, in some cases, can help reduce noise.
Some people might consider this overkill. But when someone spends this kind of money on a dredge, we really try to build the best machine in the world.
That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes or keep learning. In fact, we made several changes to this model compared with the last one we built. One of the biggest changes was shifting the engine, pump, and sluice box about 10 inches to improve the balance and help the dredge float flatter in the water.
Every machine we build teaches us something, and we keep making them better.

This is a heavy-duty custom 8" oversized power jet, built for a serious high-volume dredging operation. It features larg...
08/27/2026

This is a heavy-duty custom 8" oversized power jet, built for a serious high-volume dredging operation. It features large wear plates, TRI-JET three-jet logs, and our big 8" suction-hose quick-release system.
This unit will be matched with our larger 34" wide sluice box. There is going to be a tremendous amount of water moving through this jet, which is one of the main reasons we need the extra width in the sluice box—to properly handle all that water and material.

You can also see our welder, Javier, in the background. Javier has been with us for over 4 decades and does absolutely amazing, high-quality work. He always has a great attitude and takes pride in what he builds. We are very fortunate to have him as part of the Keene Engineering team.

A big part of our business at Keene Engineering is building custom dredging systems for applications far beyond gold min...
08/26/2026

A big part of our business at Keene Engineering is building custom dredging systems for applications far beyond gold mining.
Our equipment is used for clearing waterways, removing mud, sand, gravel, and debris, and cleaning underneath docks and marinas. These systems can help deepen boat slips and channels, remove invasive aquatic vegetation such as Eurasian milfoil, transfer sand for beach restoration, clean ponds and golf course water features, and even help maintain fish ladders and other waterways.
We also manufacture a line of powerful gravel pumps designed to move mud, sand, gravel, and small rocks over long distances. Depending on the application and setup, these systems can pump material more than 1,000 feet horizontally or lift it over 50 feet vertically above the water level.
Every job is a little different, which is why custom equipment has always been an important part of what we do at Keene Engineering.

We’re finishing up a few of the larger sluice boxes and sumps. In the photo, you can see the sump layout while it’s stil...
08/22/2026

We’re finishing up a few of the larger sluice boxes and sumps. In the photo, you can see the sump layout while it’s still flat, before we bend it up.
This is definitely not an easy job. On a piece this large, there isn’t much room for error. At over $4 a pound for aluminum, one mistake can get expensive fast—and that’s before you add in all the water-jet cutting, deburring, bending, welding, and labor.
This flat sheet is getting ready to be bent up and formed into the sump that fits on the end of one of our 34-inch-wide sluice boxes.
A lot of work goes into these larger systems before they ever start looking like a finished dredge.
You can also see the long side boxes in the background. These will be packed with a combination of different riffles, carpet, moss matting, and expanded metal, depending on what we are trying to recover.
Normally, a 5-foot sluice box works great, but when you step up to a much larger sluice and a higher-powered dredge, you need the extra length to handle the additional water and material.
Big power means more water, more material, and deeper water running through the box.
In the picture, the water depth is roughly 1 to 1¼ inches over the riffles. With the larger box and increased water flow, these side boxes will be running closer to 1½ inches deep over the riffles.
That extra length gives the material more time to settle out and allows the recovery system to do its job without overloading the box.

We are getting a lot of great feedback from customers using the new DW312MAX.Just today I spoke with two different custo...
08/21/2026

We are getting a lot of great feedback from customers using the new DW312MAX.
Just today I spoke with two different customers, and both sent me pictures of the gold they are finding. These guys absolutely love their machines, and they are using the crap out of them!

The first customer has recovered 17 grams of beautiful crystalline gold. He has also come up with a couple of clever modifications that we are seriously looking at. He added a heavy rubber flap where the oversized tailings drop. He steps on the larger dirt clods to break them up and then reruns the material. He also made a shield to keep material from sliding underneath the bellows. Simple ideas, but they seem to work really well.

The second customer is already at 32 grams and counting!

Both guys are averaging somewhere around 0.5 to 2 grams of gold per day, depending on where they are working.

They both credit a lot of their success to the new Keene DW312MAX, and they are calling it the best dry washer in the world!

One of the biggest advantages is how lightweight and compact it is. You can carry it into remote areas where taking a larger machine would be difficult. You can shovel directly into the hopper or feed it with small buckets.

There is no banging on the hopper and constantly clearing the feed opening. The bumping hopper keeps the material moving, and it makes a huge difference in how quickly you can process material.

Another big advantage is how quiet the machine is. No gas engine screaming away all day. A small lithium battery weighs only about 5 pounds and can run the machine all day and then some.

And the amount of material this little machine can handle is a lot more than you might think.

Both of these machines are working hard. Like any piece of mining equipment that gets used day after day, they require some maintenance and the occasional minor repair—but that's all part of the game.

Most importantly, these guys are getting into remote areas, moving a lot of dirt, and finding gold!

DW312MAX — small machine, big results.

This is an older picture, but we really like this 4" x 3" x 3" x 1.5" splitter. It really cleans up the plumbing, reduce...
08/19/2026

This is an older picture, but we really like this 4" x 3" x 3" x 1.5" splitter. It really cleans up the plumbing, reduces the number of fittings, and makes the whole setup lighter and cleaner.
The blaster hose can also make a huge difference in a mining operation. Being able to blast out cracks and crevices where gold likes to hide can be a real game-changer. Sometimes that little extra tool is what gets you into the gold everyone else missed.

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20201 Bahama Street
Chatsworth, CA
91311

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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