How to Sluice for Gold

In the early gold rush days prospectors used sluice boxes to remove gold from vast amounts of gold ore and gold bearing gravel deposits. The sluice box consisted of a simple wooden trough lined with raised obstructions placed at a ninety-degree angle to the flow of the stream, these are known as riffels. The water is shut off and the riffels removed, and the heavy materials containing the gold known as concentrates would be gathered. This "run" would sometimes be the gold from several tons of gold bearing gravel.

Years ago sluice boxes were built of long wood planks. Today's sluice box can be purchased in many forms. The most popular is an aluminum sluice box about 48 inches long and 12 to 16 inches wide. The floor of this sluice box is lined with either expanded metal, riffels made of angle iron or aluminum, or a combination of both. Most sluice boxes also incorporate the use of miners moss, indoor/outdoor carpet, or a rubberized type of matting that has been specifically designed for gold recovery.

The best results are obtained when the sluice box is placed in the stream at a proper angle and water flow. The angle of the sluice box should be set so that the water flowing through it is just fast enough to wash the lighter materials out of the box. DO NOT overload the riffels!

If the water is flowing too fast, the gold will wash out with the lighter material. If the water is flowing too slowly, the box will quickly fill up with material and the gold bearing gravel will simply wash over the top and out of the sluice box.