Sluicing 

Tips & Techniques

Tip #1

I use a Letrap Plastic and wish I had  one 30 years ago! Here's a tip for holding them in place in the stream. Fasten (rivet) a 3/8 pipe (copper or aluminum) full width just under the mouth of sluice, then run a piece of heavy, solid copper wire (e.g. ground wire) through, leaving about 30" on each side then fasten. This works extremely well for wrapping around rocks in the stream. Also for pushing into sand or gravel. Bends nicely out of the way for packing and weighs almost nothing.  

Submitted by: WAYNE WILLIAMS.

Tip #2

  A way to speed up sluicing is to pre-screen the material before running it through the sluice box. Use a pail with a 1/4" screen built in the bottom. One can screen out larger rock fairly quickly, so you only wash material most likely to have gold in it. Considering the amount of rock screened out, you will find out that you have processed a lot more material quicker than washing the unscreened material.  

Submitted by: Fine Gold Recovery Systems

e-mail: finegold@edmc.net

Web:  www.edmc.net/finegold

Tip #3

My ramp, a sluice made with bed of miner's cloth and Hungarian riffles (for traction), works great as a doggie ramp.  My "Bybe" loves it and this gets me a full night's sleep since he can get on bed without awakening ol' dad.

Submitted by: bobbaran

Thanks for the interesting way to use a sluice...without sluicing!

Tip #4

One critical measure of the sluice box is the angle at which it lays in the water. The tail end should be tilted down 1" for every foot of length. Example, a 4 foot long sluice box should have a total "drop" of 4 inches between the feed end (the top of the sluice) and the tail end (the bottom of the sluice).

Tip #5

Another critical measure of a sluice box is the speed of the water allowed thru the box. The riffles should produce a "bubble" in the water as the water moves over the riffles. You will know when the "bubble" is right, as lighter materials will wash out of the box, but heavies (like black sand) will settle just in front of the riffle.