Your source for sluice boxes and directions on how to operate and set-up a sluice box properly.
Sluice Boxes
Sat Jan 28 2012
 
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Proline 30 Inch Sluice Box Proline 30 Inch
Proline 36 Inch Sluice Box Proline 36 Inch
Proline 50 Inch Sluice Box Proline 50 Inch
Folding Sluice Box Folding Sluice Box
E-Z sluice box E-Z Sluice Box
Jobe 36 Inch sluice box JOBE 36 Inch
Jobe 45 Inch Sluice Box JOBE 45 Inch
 
 

Sluice Boxes
Using a sluice box is one of the easiest ways to prospect for gold. You do not need much equipment to successfully operate a sluice. Sluices are run by nature, all you need is gravity so unless your in outer space then you should have no problems operating a sluice box. Another great thing about them, there are no motors. All you hear are the sounds around you and the water as it flows over the riffles and creates small eddies allowing the heavier gold to settle. They are a great way to move quite a bit of material with minimal efforts.

Sluice boxes were designed to get gold nuggets. The whole design was taken from the way gold is found naturally so in order to understand how a sluice box works we need to figure out how gold moves up and down streams and rivers naturally.

Gold as I am sure you know is heavy. It is heavier than the rocks and just about everything else that occupies a stream or riverbed. So gold will sink down to the bottom. Being that gold is so heavy it can take quite a bit of power to move gold nuggets down a stream. So what moves gold down the riverbed? How about a spring thaw or some heavy rains. Anything that gets your favorite stream or riverbed really flowing fast. The more water pushing through and the narrower the stream or river, the more likely it will pick up gold and hold it in suspension until the flow ebbs. You can scout a good area when the river or stream is low, just look for deep pockets where the current slows or even backs up and forms whirlpools, these are the places that the gold will drop out of suspension and sink towards the bottom.

Now that you know how gold moves naturally, you will understand how a sluice box works. The sluice box creates a straight channel of fast moving water with regularly placed slow spots created by riffles. These riffles create an area of back flow allowing the gold to drop out of suspension and settle in your sluice box. You hand feed the material at the top and gravity does the rest. The current needs to be just right in your sluice box or the gold will not drop out of suspension. Setting up and running your sluice box properly is the key to getting your gold every time. You are also going to need some other gold prospecting equipment.