First Sluice

[Duckwalk]

Well ive already posted my picture of the sluice that Goldwasher sent me in the show off yer sluice thread. Now that i actually have one, i have some questions about how to use, operate, and make it effective.

Quote by Goldwasher after noticing the types of BS being caught by the sluice:
"It means the black sand you don't want is washing out "

Where i live the gold is VERY VERY fine. When i pan the sands that washed out of the bottom of the sluice, im finding the fine black sand that im used to seeing here. The sluice itself caught all of the course stuff and garnets. i ran about 1/4 of a 5 gallon bucket through the box last night with my garden hose on full blast at about a 6 inch drop. It has occurred to me that the angle was too high. Once i have my angle right, is there a way to determine how fast my water speed needs to be?

 

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[3xflyfisher]

Duckwalk,
You should set your sluice up at a drop of approximately 1" per foot of length. How long is your box? Also, this general rule is somewhat ambiguous as other factors come into play such water flow through the sluice, the size of material being run, character of gold (flakes, nuggets, flyspecks etc). It take some experimenting to determine the best setting for the conditions. Also, using a garden hose is probably not the best source of water unless you can fab a header to disperse the water flow evenly. Running a garden hose full bore creates a stream of higher pressure where the values may wash out of the sluice.
Since you mention the gold is very fine, screen your material to 10 mesh (10 holes/inch) or maybe 1/4 inch, then run the undersize through your sluice (after fabrication of a header to disperse the water evenly).
Good luck!

 

[Duckwalk]

Nitric, yes, VERY fine black sands and also im finding some silvery material under the sands. i have a post somewhere in the panning section that has pictures. We do have garnets here, the sluice was filled with them last night after testing.

Fisher, we have tiny flake, and flyspeck gold around where i live. i was surprised to see how much of the coarser black sands i was catching even with a garden hose. The sluice is 10" by 50" long. Cant wait to get it in the creek!

 

[Prospector70]

I think youtube is invaluable for things like this. Here is a good instruction from Howtodrillawell.


I love this guy's video's, I was looking for another one that explained the angle better from another dude, I'll post it when I can find it.

Best of luck!

 

[Goldwasher]

Duckwalk, With that sluice run abot 3/4 inch drop per foot. With water about 1.5 to 2 inches deep. watch the material in the drops you should see it moving around. Add material as far up the flare as possible. When one scoop clears ad another. I wouldn't bet on only fine gold in your area. I wouldn't classify smaller than 3/8. Let that sluice do the work for you. Focus on finding the concentration areas and pay streaks and moving more material. That sluice is set up for fine gold and has zero choice on catching any larger stuff that it may be fed....I gave her a long motivational speech a long time ago and she seems to be a good listener!

 

[Duckwalk]

so just to be clear we are looking around a 3 inch drop for this particular 50" drop riffle right? that seems much more manageable than i had imagined.

 

[3xflyfisher]

That's a good starting point. Then adjust as you learn!

 

[Duckwalk]

whats the best way to pull this out of the creek? pick it straight up? tilt backwards? im afraid of losing any gold i may catch as soon as i change the angle to remove it from the creek.

 

[Prospector70]

pick up the butt end of it enough to slide a 5 gallon bucket over the back. Stand up (not too straight!) and rinse it into the bucket. I used to stack 3 buckets in a row so I could set it on two and clean out into the thrid as I took it apart.

 

[Prospector70]

Here are the quick steps
set up sluice (around an inch per foot, or a little less)
Take at least 4 five gallon buckets
classify to 1/4 inch at least
fill 4 buckets with classified material
feed the four buckets through,
clean out sluice
repeat.

When you get sick of classifying you can get a bazooka, just set up the sluice at about an inch per foot and shovel directly onto the skid plate. rocks and lights go out the back gold stays in the bed. Clean out once at the end of the day. You just dip the back end into a pan bucket or tub depending on what size you get.

Best of luck to you old top!

 

[Goldwasher]

Around 3 inches should be good. I wouldn't classify to 1/4 you can run through more material at 1/2 inch. with good flow I would only classify to an inch.Rocks roll through drop riffles very well. The drops also protect the gold that's been trapped, not as likely to be scoured out like in a traditional Hungarian riffle sluice.

 

[Duckwalk]

Well, I ran everything that I have panned in the last month through the sluice tonight. Everything was great! Ran it with the hose (despite being told not to) at 3" slope. This is what I got out of a half of a 5 gallon bucket. Keep in mind this is stuff I've already panned. Clearly I was panning too quickly! Too bad I didn't see a single fleck of gold. If it was there, it would've been caught judging by how much BS there was.

 

[goldenmojo]

Duckwalk If you haven't already, find the youtube video on tapping. Tapping the pan to walk the gold up the pan and the bs down the pan. It's an art but one you can learn quickly and you will spot your gold.

 

[goldenmojo]

Here is one.

Gold Panning - The Full Training Video - Why Gold Floats - Surface Tension - Finish Panning - YouTube

 

[Campngolf]

Listen to goldenmojo. He's a tapping guru and I'm working on my tapping skills he taught me.

 

[Duckwalk]

ok cool. ill watch the video off and on today at work. Cant wait for the 3 day weekend. pretty sure im going to a cookout at my parents some time this weekend. Cant wait to put this thing in their creek to give it a try. Do i really need 20 gallons of 1/2 classified material to test it out? i was hoping more for a 5 gallon bucket classified to give it a test run.

 

[3xflyfisher]

You can test with any amount of dirt you wish. The more dirt you wash the higher the chances are you will recover something. Once you determine there is gold in a creek or river, the more dirt you wash the more gold you will find!

 

[Duckwalk]

its more or less getting to "know" my sluice. Gotta figure out how to get it set up so it washes rocks down and keeps my riffles from packing. Also a side question, is gold ever found IN garnet? ive got what i think is a garnet sitting in a cup at home with what looks like gold in the middle of it. pics to come...

 

[Prospector70]

I'm finding tons of mica? I notice some is heavier than others. It's tough to figure out if it's fine gold or heavier mica?. I do find a lot of fine black sand. This is just from random digging. No real method. lol Just curiosity! I think the sluice is something your going to have better luck tuning or figuring out in the creek with the type of material that your going to be running. I was playing around with mine and to be honest it doesn't work right with a garden hose. If your looking to build a clean up type sluice you can do that with a piece of plastic spouting and some ribbed tool box mat, for a starting point. You get better control and can see what's going on with your fine stuff. I had one built in my basement with a wash tub and a bildge pump when I lived in ohio to run my glacier cons. If that makes any sense at all! lol

There are few things you will dig out of the ground that are heavier than gold. Uranium, Iridium or Platinum for instance. You are most likely seeing Zircon. Post a good pic of it in focus and you will get your answer from one of the mineral hounds on here

 

[KevinInColorado]

Well actually uranium is much less dense than gold or the platinum group metals due to their crystal structures. Osmium is the most dense but is quite rare, just like the other platinum group metals (pgms). Also, no such thing as dense mica. Even tiny gold is dense and will sit still in a pan when everything else the same size is moving. Did you notice I said "same size"? Biggest rule of finish panning: classify material BEFORE panning!