How to Sluice for Gold

Every gold prospector dreams of finding a nugget the size of his fist.

The description "gold prospector" usually conjures up the image of a sun-baked old codger trudging through the desert with a slouch hat, a pick and fistful of sticks of dynamite. In reality, early prospectors were more likely to be found standing in a rushing stream, looking for gold in the bottom of a metal pan. The more clever ones built a sluice, and made that flowing water do the hard work for them.

Things You'll Need

• Sluice, homemade or commercial
• Shovel
• Large bucket or tub

Instructions

1. Choose a stretch of flowing water where a sluice box can rest at a slope of approximately 1 inch per foot. Orient the sluice so that the water flows along the box's length and fills it about halfway. Anchor the sluice against the current with a heavy weight or weights.

2. Scoop up a shovelful of sand and gravel to add to the sluice. The spots where flakes or nuggets of gold are most likely to concentrate are on the downstream sides of obstructions or drop-offs. The presence of a few flashes of "color" is usually a good indicator.

3. Pick larger rocks and stones out of the shovel by hand and set them aside.

4. Pour the smaller material into the upstream end of the sluice, emptying the shovel slowly and steadily. Allow the moving water to wash everything through the sluice. Add more sand and gravel until there is a visible concentration of particles in the lee of each riffle, or crossbar, in the bottom of the sluice.

5. Lift the sluice from the water carefully and place the bottom into a bucket or tub large enough that the sluice doesn't hang over the edge. Pick out and store visible flakes or nuggets. Wash the remaining concentrate from the riffles, capturing both sediment and rinse water in the bucket. A commercial sluice usually has removable riffles and perhaps a liner on the floor, so disassemble and rinse clean.

6. Re-assemble the sluice and place it in the stream again. Repeat the cycle of shoveling in sand and gravel, sluicing and cleaning the sluice box.

Tips & Warnings

• After one or two cycles, look through the material in the bucket for gold. You may need to pan this concentrate for small flakes. If the concentrate contains no gold, consider a different location.

References

• Nevada Outback Gems: Placer Mining for Gold with a Sluice Box
• Black Cat Mining: Sluice Box Use and Set-Up