Need help buying a sluice.

[GoldpannerDave]

I don't own a BGT but have watched several videos demonstrating their ease of use. I agree with everyone suggesting the BGT if all you are ever planning to do is shovel material.
When I got back into prospecting a little over a year ago, I was looking for the easiest sluice based on my local water conditions. I ended up settling on a drop riffle (RCM and AM explorer). Man do these catch the fines. Now a question to keep in mind is how far do you want to go with your prospecting/mining adventure. I knew I ultimately wanted my own claim and hoped that dredges would be back in the water and I would have a dredge operation going on. With this in mind, I chose to invest in the keene A52. I agree that these stream sluices can be agrivating at times trying to set them up. But when I finally got the settings right, it was a piece of cake. Although it is not a dredge sluice, I have learned the mechanics of feed v. flow v. angle which will apply to dredging as well as highbanking/powersluicing. So just some food for thought.

Lots of folks recommend Bazooka sluices not just because they work (all sluices do to one degree or another) but they work WITHOUT CLASSIFYING! And you don't have to learn the mechanics of feed v. flow v. angle so as a beginner you can anchor that bazooka into the stream or river and start shoveling in. Clean ups are quick and easy. You can run them in restricted water as KevinInColorado or 425jesse showed with nice pictures in the following threads:


http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/prospectors-journals/398263-kevin-s-own-thread-journal-but-feel-free-post-random-thoughts-44.html

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/445879-a52-vs-bazooka-gold-trap-3.html

The smaller ones can be easily carried into back pack areas as easily as a Le Trap or an Angus MacKirk but you don't need classifying gear, only a minimum of 1 bucket, shovel, etc. I own an A52, a Wolf Trap and a Le Trap but generally I use the Bazooka or sometimes the Le Trap. The A52 is now part of my recirculation set-up. The Wolf Trap and Le Trap go to friends if there are more than two of us (with just two, we shovel into the Bazooka).

Yes, the A52 learning curve might be good if you are planning to move on to a dredge, but not everyone can afford to do that, plans to do that, nor is there suitable dredging areas near everyone. However, your point is a good one IF you are planning to move that direction. Otherwise, for the original question of needing help buying a sluice, I think the answer is hands-down a Bazooka.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[gold kid]

Thanks all for your help

 

[specksandflecks]

I could see the Bazooka really shining in low sediment gravels, I have the perfect flood deposit in mind for one of those. Hand classifying kind of sucks, though if you have high sediments it could be of benefit as breaking up 'sedimented'? material will help with recovery.

+ Letrap is cheap, gives good contrast of gold/heavies at a glance, extremely efficient if well controlled.
- Letrap requires classification, less processing capacity than similar size sluices,requires more precise water control.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

I could see the Bazooka really shining in low sediment gravels, I have the perfect flood deposit in mind for one of those. Hand classifying kind of sucks, though if you have high sediments it could be of benefit as breaking up 'sedimented'? material will help with recovery.

+ Letrap is cheap, gives good contrast of gold/heavies at a glance, extremely efficient if well controlled.
- Letrap requires classification, less processing capacity than similar size sluices,requires more precise water control.

I am trying to wrap my mind around this. Do you mean low percentage of fines? Gravel itself is a sediment. Were you meaning cemented?

 

[specksandflecks]

Not sure really, it all kind of varies. My sentiments on sediments are somewhat cemented. As in looser gravel usually has less 'turbidity' than hard pack gravel and cemented gravel is another thing entirely IMO.

 

[Goldwasher]

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Wonderful ... now tell us what you really meant :drinking:

 

[goldog]

This has gotten off track. Get a device and put some dirt thru it. If you have enough year around water a Bazooka prospector is hard to beat, but almost any brand will work.

Don't over think it.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Yes, but I don't have the figures here at hand and it is late. I think Goodyguy may have had pictures on how to connect water to the tubes in the fluid bed and others probably also. Tomorrow I will try to scan and see what I can find and post it if I get time. But the short answer is yes, you can use them in a recirc situation. Try it with a smaller bazooka, since the larger one require more water.

OK, finally got time and found that the amount is between 5 and 9 gals per minute. Actually someone else linked Goodyguy's thread and so I can post it here:http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/sluicing/263238-my-diy-fluid-bed-gold-trap-sluice.html

He shows how to connect tubes here and he gives 9 gpm and Bazooka management gave 5. HTH