How to Use a Gold Mining Sluice
If you bring your sluice box along on your next river trip, you may be able to get Mother Nature to pay for the trip. Prospecting for gold didn't die out after the 1849 gold rush. People are still pulling gold out of riverbed gravel. You probably won't get rich, but it would be difficult to find a more profitable way of getting out and communing with nature.
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Instructions
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Select a spot on the river that has a gravel deposit under or near a swift current.
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Place the sluice in the water with the mouth pointing upstream. The bottom of the sluice should be submerged with only the top inch or two of the sides exposed above the water. The downstream end of the sluice needs to be slightly lower than the mouth of the box.
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3
Slowly shovel gravel onto the mouth of the sluice. Remove any rocks that are too large for the current to push through the sluice by hand. Allow the current to push the gravel through the box and then add another shovel full.
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4
Continue feeding gravel into the sluice until the backsides of the riffles are filled. When the riffles are filled, the sluice is ready for cleaning.
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5
Hold the sluice level while removing it from the river. Carry it to the bank and set it down.
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Place the discharge end of the sluice over a 5-gallon bucket. Remove the riffles and rinse them over the sluice and into the bucket.
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If your sluice has a bottom pad or liner, remove it. Place the liner or pad in the bucket and rinse it with clean water.
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Rinse any concentrate remaining in the sluice box into the bucket.
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Reassemble the sluice and you're ready for another go at the river.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the panning method to retrieve gold dust from the concentrate in the bucket.
Overfeeding the sluice can plug the riffles prematurely. This will result in frequent, unnecessary cleanups.
Once the riffles are filled, the sluice will be ineffective. Any gold in the gravel will simply wash through the trough. Clean the sluice as soon as the riffles no longer create turbulence.
