Sluice boxes have been used for hundreds of years to process a lot of paydirt in a shorter amount of time than hand panning. Sluice boxes work by washing material over riffles and matting. Washing gold paydirt over riffles breaks up the dirt, introduces bubbles and creates a lot of turbulence. The turbulence around the top of the riffles creates tiny vortices which spin the water and paydirt around and causes the heavy gold to fall out of solution and into the mat below the riffles. If a sluice box is setup correctly it will catch everything from nuggets to flour gold.
Setting up the gold sluice correctly is important to catching the most gold possible. The sluice needs to be set at the correct angle to allow water to wash over it and wash out worthless tailings while leaving the gold behind. The sluice should be level from side to side so material doesn’t build up on one side of the box. Be sure to call or stop by our store to ask our expert staff for advice about setting up your sluice.
We carry a wide selection of gold sluices including everything from highbankers to handheld banjo sluices. In addition to different styles of sluices we carry a wide selection of sluice mats, miners moss, vortex mats, and other sluicing accessories. Buy a complete sluice or start with a bare one and configure it however you like.
In addition to sluices, High Plains Prospectors sells all the gold prospecting equipment you need for your sluice. We’ve got handheld suction dredges, gold pans and gold classifiers. We even stock a full line of gold cleanup tools and accessories.