Best sluice box for fine gold

ethanmckinley10

Greenie
Dec 29, 2015
13
2
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I was wondering in your opinion what would be the best sluice box for finding fine gold.
With all of the forums I've read with people talking about their opinion of the best sluice put together, I've narrowed it down to these sluices and I was wondering, if you had to pick one of them, which one would it be?
Jobe folding sluice
Proline sluice box
angus mackirk sluice
Le Trap sluice
Keene A52
Bazooka Gold Trap

Thanks so much for the help
 

mike(swWash)

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Feb 6, 2008
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Whites Spectrum XLT with about 1/4" of dust on it and can't even remember how t turn it on?!?!?
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OK here goes my 2 cents worth which is actually worth about 1.5 cents.

For portability and running unclassified material;
Bazooka, but it needs significant flow to work best.

For portability, but needs classifying for best results;
Angus MacKirk and LeTrap, and they work even in much slower water conditions.

For less portability but much more adaptability for use as a rivers sluice, highbanker or dredge using the same sluice unit;
Any store bought or home made flat bottomed piece of metal, plastic or wood with sides using appropriate Gold Hog mats.


I use a MacKirk for prospecting and break out the high banker or dredge set up lined with Hog Mats when I find a location worthy of sweating.
 

KevinInColorado

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Jan 9, 2012
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What do you mean by "fine gold"...what mesh? Mike is spot on unless you are dealing with -200 gold on a beach somewhere. Then you'll want a gold cube or beach box.

Bigger than 100 mesh? I'm a fan of the Bazooka Goldtraps but to be fair, I've never used Goldhog mats.
 

mike(swWash)

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Feb 6, 2008
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Kevin is right, I forgot to add that when I go to the beach I put vortex mats , just like the cube uses, in the highbanker for the really fine stuff.
 

Hoser John

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Mar 22, 2003
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No mats, crutches or doodads-Le Trap simple, light and righteous recovery every time for over 30 years-convolutions are not the solution-John
 

johnedoe

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Jan 15, 2012
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Cleangold sluice & prospectors pan, EZ-Gold Pan, and custom cleanup sluice.
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For the fine beach gold....... Cleangold magnetic sluice.
 

restless spirit

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Mar 6, 2016
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20160417_075904.jpg this sluice up front here has beach box matting in it made by Colorado goldsticks with a rock washer at the top. its been pretty good for fine gold.
 

Goodyguy

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Mar 10, 2007
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Primary Interest:
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I was wondering in your opinion what would be the best sluice box for finding fine gold.
With all of the forums I've read with people talking about their opinion of the best sluice put together, I've narrowed it down to these sluices and I was wondering, if you had to pick one of them, which one would it be?
Jobe folding sluice
Proline sluice box
angus mackirk sluice
Le Trap sluice
Keene A52
Bazooka Gold Trap

Thanks so much for the help

You asked for: opinion what would be the best sluice box for "finding" fine gold.
I'm sure you meant for "recovering" fine gold.

For the money, speed of clean up, and light weight it would be hard to beat the Le Trap. Although it requires pre classifying material before feeding it.

If I could only choose one sluice from your list, and price was not a consideration, for me it would be the Bazooka Gold Trap.
Yes it does need good flow but catches fine gold with no classifying and is also fast to do a clean up.

However,
With that being said the Keene A-52 is also an excellent choice because it is so adaptable and can be fine tuned for varying conditions and uses.
I like the inspection mat just after the wide flair so you can see a sample of the gold you are recovering, the sluice can also be used on a highbanker, or small trommel, can be used in slow moving or fast flowing water, you can change out the green carpet for whatever mat you want, miners moss, gold hog, vortex, ribbed, etc., use with or without the expanded metal, use with or without the riffles, you can even break it down to bare metal and use it as a miller table. Also it's much stronger and more durable than a plastic sluice such as Le Trap or Angus Mckirk.


Go for the Gold
GG~
 

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restless spirit

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d48a29_06fb9c1cfa1a49acabae45081c445ece.png I think the videos on this are way cool the aurora sluice
 

utah mason

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Jul 10, 2015
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I think the trap clean out is cool. But I'm not sure I like how it sprays water in from the sides. Is the center going to fluidize?
 

KevinInColorado

Gold Member
Jan 9, 2012
7,037
11,370
Summit County, Colorado
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Grizzly Goldtrap Explorer & Motherlode, Gold Cube with trommel or Banker on top, Angus Mackirk Expedition, Gold-n-Sand Xtream Hand pump
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The Aurora is tricky to set up correctly but it does a great job on fine gold. It's also very lightweight which is both good and bad. I doubt it would hold up to heavy use the way other sluices do.

The top half of the trap tends to scrub out and the bottom half tends toward locking up...and yet it works.
 

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Goldwasher

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May 26, 2009
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I was wondering in your opinion what would be the best sluice box for finding fine gold.
With all of the forums I've read with people talking about their opinion of the best sluice put together, I've narrowed it down to these sluices and I was wondering, if you had to pick one of them, which one would it be?
Jobe folding sluice
Proline sluice box
angus mackirk sluice
Le Trap sluice
Keene A52
Bazooka Gold Trap

Thanks so much for the help
the jobe folding sluice will give you fits until you rivet it so it won't fold anymore.

le trap has great recovery but, is very flimsy and you have to cut it to make it a stream sluice.

I like drop riffles. angus or brawn. they recover the same fine gold as a le trap. you can feed them minimally classified material. riffled sluices kick fine gold into the upper flow, destroying the benifits of stratifacation. And they can load up ith lack of flo that prevents stratifacation and exchange. Drop riffles let the dense material in the layers drop out and exchange in the eddie's while protecting the concentrates from larger material. You can run a drop riffle with less flow than a riffled sluice. If you have the flow required a riffled sluice still get's great recovery.

The other thing about angus and brawn is the thickness of the plastic. they strap to your pack with minimal if any bending unlike the Le Trap.

I'm not sure of models but, look for the ones that have the built in flare/hourglass type design.



the aurora......I will bury with a garret supersluice gold pan!!!!!!


regular aluminium sluices can be found on craigslist and like Goodyguy says are extremely versatile in modifacation. If you can get one anf put hog matts in it you ill be very very happy!!




just my couple grains of input...i've used them all
 

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Duckwalk

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Mar 21, 2014
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30" Bazooka Sniper, Drop Riffle sluice box.
Various Gold Pans
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View attachment 1314266 I think the videos on this are way cool the aurora sluice

Not being rude here but if you want my opinion, if you EVER have any thought that you may have slow water, DO NOT GET THIS. you can not properly dam up behind it as the plenums must not be blocked for the trap to be active.
 

Goldwasher

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I think the trap clean out is cool. But I'm not sure I like how it sprays water in from the sides. Is the center going to fluidize?
NO!!!!! There is nothing fluidized in the trap. it is mis charachterized as a fluid bed.
 

utah mason

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Jul 10, 2015
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utah
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Question answered! Thanks I had considered this sluice, but went with the bgt because of the weird side intakes on the amp. Well that and the loyalty of bgt owners. Anyone with that level of customer loyalty is on the right track. After purchasing one, it wasn't long before I had 2. It probably won't be too long before I have 3 or more realistically 4.
 

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