Sluice boxes of the past were anything but small and portable. Often they were permanent structures made of wood, into which water from the river was diverted. Luckily, today the situation is very different, and modern prospectors can get their hands on small and portable sluice boxes made of different materials, and even folding sluice boxes.
The best small, lightweight, and portable sluice boxes are:
- ASR Pocket Sized Sluice Box (Super portable)
- Sluice Fox 12″ Mini Pocket Sluice Box (Super portable)
- ASR Multi Riffle Sluice Box (Bigger yet portable)
- Folding Aluminium Portable Sluice Box (Bigger, yet portable)
This guide is going to cover each of the sluice boxes listed above in greater detail. But first, we will look at the essentials you need to be aware of when buying a new sluice box.
Important: Like all miners, I find myself preferring certain types of gear over other. Keep this in mind, and process the information shared below like you would when asking a neighbour for some advice
Table of Contents
Why Get a Small Sluice Box?
The first piece of equipment a prospector should make sure to have is a gold pan. It’s an incredibly versatile tool that’s used by virtually every prospector in some phase of the gold recovery process. This also applies to those using sluice boxes, where you will have to do the final cleanup process using a gold pan to separate the gold from the black sand.
There are two main reasons why many prospectors are choosing to go with a small and lightweight sluice box:
- To Increase Output: Gold pans are great for processing smaller quantities of material, but its capability as a production tool is fairly limited. A sluice box lets you run through much larger quantities of gravels, in turn enabling you to find much more gold.
- Portability: Many gold-bearing locations are located far from roads, as most easily accessible locations were those that were emptied first. Thus, many prospectors will travel far and want a lightweight piece of equipment to carry with them on their outings.
Small Sluice Boxes Vs Bigger Sluice Boxes
If we look past the apparent difference, namely that a bigger sluice box is heavier than a smaller one, there are three important aspects you should be aware of:
- Less Capacity: A smaller sluice box will be able to process much less material than a bigger one. The difference might become that you will be using a scoop when loading a small sluice, in contrast to using a shovel or pouring gravel out of a bucket into a bigger one.
- Recovery Rate: It’s harder to create a short sluice that has a high gold recovery rate, than a long one. This has to do with that the gravels get less time to stratify and disperse properly in the channel. As result, as a general rule of thumb, you shouldn’t expect a small sluice to be as efficient of a gold trapper as a bigger one.
- More sensitive: A smaller sluice requires gentler handling to capture gold effectively, and it is more important to get the water flow and angle of the sluice in the waterway right.
Nevertheless, small sluice boxes still provide a great upgrade to any gold pan, and I highly recommend getting one!
Sluice Box Characteristics: How Sluice Boxes Catch Gold
Sluice boxes come in many shapes and forms, and their performance and difficulty to set up do vary quite a lot depending on what types of gold traps they make use of. I sincerely believe every prospector should understand the basics behind how sluice boxes trap gold before they buy one.
Let’s just take a quick at how the most common gold traps in a sluice box work.
Riffles
Riffles exist in several forms, but they all work on the same principle. By slowing down the current as the water flows over the riffles, the heavy gold falls to the bottom and deposits behind the riffles. To help gold deposit, each riffle has an overhanging lip that provides shelter from the rushing water. The above image illustrates all this clearly.
Mattings
While the riffles tend to capture the bigger gold pretty well, the finer gold is more likely to escape and get flushed out. Therefore, many sluice boxes are equipped with mattings or carpets following the riffles. As the gold travels over the surface it will get caught in the fibers, where it lies until the matting is removed and washed.
Best Small And Portable Sluice Boxes
Below we list the best portable sluice boxes, together with their dimensions and weight. As you’ll notice, some are made of plastic while others are made from aluminum. Which one you go for is a highly personal choice, and both have their advantages and disadvantages.
However, personally, I’m quite fond of the plastic sluice boxes in this particular category, as they are lightweight and really durable. In addition, they won’t bend and deform like a metal sluice, and with injection molding, there is a bigger variety of riffle designs available to choose from.
The trade-off is that you need to work more to get it to stay in place in the river, as it’s prone to just floating away. This is much less the case with an aluminum device.
ASR Outdoor Pocket Gold Sluice Box ( Super-portable)
This is a quite tiny plastic sluice box that will fit into most backpacks. It measures 12 by 3 inches, and throughout its short length it manages to cram in several riffle types, as well as a 5.5 inches wide mouth that helps funnel in more water to achieve the exact right water flow.
The different riffle types include:
- Hungarian riffles
- v-shaped riffles,
- square riffles.
In addition, the riffles are made in varying sizes, to increase the gold recovery rate across different gold shapes and sizes.
Pros:
- Cheap
- Really compact and lightweight. Just three inches wide! Even fits in your pocket!
- Made from durable TPR plastic.
- Includes surprisingly many riffle variations throughout its short channel
- Could be used for final cleanup if run carefully with a 12 v pump.
Cons:
- A width of 3 inches might be a little too narrow for some users, and its scaling advantages over a regular gold pan might not be as apparent as with bigger sluice boxes.
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Sluice Fox 12″ Mini Pocket Sluice Box (Super portable)
This sluice box is quite similar to those listed so far. It’s made of aluminum, 12 inches long, and 3,5 inches wide, which makes it really portable, just like the two other sluice boxes listed so far.
As to the gold trapping device, this is where you have some more flexibility. The sluice box comes with both a v-shaped rubber mat and miner’s moss to be placed under the metal net. This gives you the option of only using the v-mat alone, or together with the included miner’s moss.
Pros:
- Miner’s moss and v-shaped rubber mat are included
- Really portable
- Weighs only 8 ounces
Cons:
- Somewhat more expensive than other mini-sluices, although not by much
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ASR Outdoor Multi Riffle Sluice Box (Bigger, yet portable)
Here you have a bigger version of the previously listed ASR sluice box. Its longer length (32 inches) and wider channel (10 inches) allow for more riffles and gold trapping devices to be fitted. As a result, this sluice box boasts four types of riffles, while the smaller version has no more than three.
Considering its bigger size, this is a sluice that will let your process more gravels and sands, especially if you’re coming from a gold pan. The handle mounted on the side also makes a difference, making it easier to get it into and out of the site.
- Dimension: 16 x 4 x 36 inches
- Weight: 6 lbs
- Material: Impact resistant plastic
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Folding Aluminium Portable Sluice Box (Bigger, yet portable)
This is the sluice box you should consider if you want a really sturdy and long sluice box, and are willing to compromise a little on weight. To be more precise, the sluice measures 50 inches lengthwise and weighs in at just over 8 pounds.
However, due to its really clever folding design, it fits nicely into a standard 5-gallon bucket and folds into just 15 inches tall by 12 inches wide. This is really convenient, especially considering that most prospectors would bring a bucket with them anyway.
The sluice is equipped with three types of gold trapping devices:
- A gold catching rubber carpet
- 8 steel riffles
- Miners moss placed below the riffles
The sluice also comes with a removable flare that is used to increase water flow, and a carry strap that’s adjustable to be used either as a hand carry strap or shoulder strap
Pros:
- A really long sluice that still takes up little space when folded
- Solid construction that locks into place when unfolded
- Zinc-plated steel riffles
- Comes with miner’s moss, riffles, and a rubber carpet
- Fits into a 5-gallon bucket
Cons:
- Heavier than other smaller sluice boxes (slightly above 8 pounds)
- The carry strap is too short to be used comfortably as a shoulder strap
All in all, I think this is one of the best sluice boxes if you want a portable, yet really potent production tool!
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How to Use Your Sluice Box: Three Easy Steps
Setting up a sluice box can be a little tricky if you want to get it all right!
So, here are three easy steps to avoid the most common mistakes, and get the most out of your sluice box!
Step 1: Placement and water flow
Place the sluice box in a part of the river or stream where there is a steady flow of watr. Then place the sluice box so that it slopes around 5-7 degrades, and add a stone on top of it so it doesn’t float away.
As to the amount of water you should have flowing through the sluice box, the following applies:
In short, you should have enough water flowing through the sluice to keep it clean, and the riffles should not become buried under the sand. You should also ensure that the bed of the sluice box doesn’t get fully covered by sand. If there is white froth as the water flows over the riffles the flow is too violent and needs to be dampened.
Step 2: Feed the Sluice
Now it’s time to work through some streambed material
Firstly, always use a classifier to remove larger rocks and debris before feeding the sluice. Large rocks will disturb the water flow and create turbulence, which has a negative effect on the gold recovery rate.
Secondly, feed the material carefully so that it gets properly soaked before heading down towards the riffles. Pouring too much material into the sluice at once will only ensure that some of the gold floats right past the riffles and mattings.
However, it’s equally important to not leave the sluice running too long without adding new material. If you are going to leave the sluice for longer than a minute or two, make sure to divert water away from the sluice itself.
Step 3: Clean-Up
Once you feel done or want to check out what you’ve got, place the sluice in a bucket and pour water over the riffles so that the gold gets released. Take out the mattings and wash them properly in the bucket to have them release the fine gold. Now you just have to use a gold pan to separate the gold from the sands.
For a much longer guide, with all technicalities covered, I refer to my full guide describing how to set up a sluice box.
Conclusion
A small and portable sluice box is a great addition for any prospector who wants to work more material than a gold pan is capable of. I have one myself, and do make great use of it, especially when going out to new places where it allows me to quickly assess the quality of a new location without carrying heavy equipment!
Happy prospecting!