The Importance of a Sluice Box.

As a weekend prospector one of the best tools you can take is a sluice box. The reason this is such a great tool is because of the amount of material it allows you to process. A sluice box is less expensive than a dredge, lighter, smaller, and easier to take almost any place you want to look for gold.

A sluice box is a long channel with a bottom and two sides, used for separating gold from sediment in gold mining. The sluice is placed in a creek or river and secured in place. The box must be on an angle to the creek bed, and adjustment is necessary to get the slope correct so that the water flow is not too fast, pushing along the heavy gold material, or too slow, not clearing lighter, worthless sediment. Sediment is placed in the front of the sluice. The water pushes the material through the sluice. Each riffle creates an eddy which slows the water flow, allowing heavier material to drop to the bottom of the sluice and remain trapped behind the riffle. Several riffles ensure that the heavy material has more chance of falling to the bottom as the flow is interrupted over and over.

A sluice box is not a replacement for a gold pan. But, it is a supplement to it. You have limited time out in the field collecting material that has gold in it. So run the gold bearing material through the sluice and clean it up in the gold pan at home. Panning can easily be done at home in your backyard.

So when you are in the field hunting for gold. Take a sluice box. Work your whole trip moving material through the box. This will create a concentrate that you can place in a 5 gallon bucket for latter gold panning.