Using Sluices

For those that are interested in another method of getting gold our of the ground in quicker ways then by panning, you will be interested in finding out about a sluice or a rocker as this will help to solve your problem. Panning surrenders most of the gold in a shovel full, but it is not a quick process.

Sluicing is much quicker, however the only problem is that it causes the little flakes of gold to be lost and a lot of water is required if you are going to be doing it this way. Rockers are not as quick as sluicing but they are still quicker then panning and the advantage you have with them is that you do not waste as much water as you would with a sluice. You are still going to need to use your pan in order to explore and once you have found a good spot, you should set up the rocker or the sluice and start throwing dirt.

A sluice is in general defined as a synthetic canal through which causes flow-controlled amounts of water. In gold placering, the sluice consists of sluice-boxes that accumulate the gold by a variety of configurations of riffles, corrugations, mats, expanded metal, etc that then catch the heavier specks and particles while it at the same time allows the waste to pass on through.

An essential component of any sluicing operation is the water supply it has to have, and if you are working in a place where there is not an abundant amount of water, pumps, pipelines, or even dams with special head gates may perhaps be necessary.

Small-scale sluicing by hand methods has been called pretty suitably shoveling -into-boxes. In contrast, in ground sluicing, generally a more proficient operation, most of the digging is achieved by the action of water flowing openly over the materials that are going to be mined. In whatever case, the materials go through a sluice, where gold is obtained behind riffles. A variation of the sluicing technique, where water is accumulated and let out adjacent to or diagonally from the materials sporadically, is described as booming.

The sluice-box in its simplest structure may be a 12-foot-long board of 1- by 2-inch pine lumber, and the sides that are around 10 to 12 inches in height, are nailed with braces held at a number of places across the top. Bigger sluices can be prepared with strips of wood to cover up joint in between boards where the gold could fall out, and with support built around the external part of the box for better firmness.

A sluice is very simple to use. All you have to do is set up the head a little higher than the tail. You can practice by setting the angle at ten degrees to start off with and see if that works if not you should continue until you get it right. You will then need to dig a channel so the tailings coming out of the bottom do not accumulate and cause it to block the flow of the water. The head needs to be set near the stream and so that you are able to reroute the some of the water in the stream into the sluice, and then you will need to shovel dirt inside the head end through the growler.

The water will take care of washing the dirt away while the gold will get stuck in between the riffles. You will need to continue shoveling and sluicing until the sluice is full of gold or until you get tired of it. Once the sluice is full or you are tired, you can stop the water and the get gold out and this can be done by either picking it out, amalgamating it with mercury or by scraping the sand out from behind the riffles and then using to the pan to pan it.

Inside the sluice box, a variety of kinds of riffles may be used, depending on the accessibility of material and whatever you prefer using. The riffles, which go on the bottom, are frequently set diagonally in the box, but they can also be efficient when positioned lengthwise. They might be of wood, or of strap or angle iron, or an arrangement or combination of both of them. Straight, round poles or a pattern of square blocks or stones can be used as riffles as well. Rubber or plastic strips have also been used.

Stability is essential when you are going to get involved in longer operations, so wood can be reinforced with metal. Expanded metal, heavy wire screen, or cocoa mats all serve as very good riffles for gathering fine gold.

Those who are interested can even build their own sluice, as it is not a difficult thing to learn. The nature of the sluice is not the most important thing, however the length of it is. In general if it is longer it works better, it should be at least eight or ten feet long. It is okay to make the sluice completely water tight, however you need to be sure the joints where the sections are overlapped are bolted together in a way that the water flows over the joints without getting obstructed. If it is not done right you will end up with a riffle that has a leak in it and this will cause the gold to trickle back onto the ground.

If you are going to be working in a place where there is not a good amount of water you will need to use a dip box which is a type of modified sluice. A dip box is like a sluice but it is shorter. A dip box can be made by nailing the sides of 1” by 12” floor, then nail another 1” x 6” board along one end in order to create a back for it. You can then cover the bottom of this channel with burlap or with carpet in order for it to catch the gold.

Riffles are needed in order to slow the runoff and let the gold settle in. one easy way to make the riffles is by setting a sheet of wire mesh on the bottom five feet of the burlap or carpeted channel. Create a steep slope for the dip box by setting it on top of some trestles.

In order to use the dip box, you can shovel some dirt into the top foot of the trough and wash it on top of the riffles with buckets of water. Obviously you do not want to pour the water to harshly on top of it or you will risk washing absolutely everything away. In some cases you will need to get rid of the bigger rocks that will be on the trough with your hand in order for the box to work appropriately.