Micro-Sluice

[Sierra Kid]

Has anyone ever used a Micro-Sluice? I picked one up at an estate sale and am curious if it is a good product. Cork

 

[Nullers]

Morning Cork,

Micros work pretty good for cleaning up your cons but not much else. I'm using a Keene mini sluice, 6.5" X 24", with a recirculating pump to reduce my cons. It seems to work well for me. It's also good for testing out new spots, small enough to cart around and can process a shovel full pretty quick.

 

[russau]

yep our club also has one. it works really good. and it is a tool for consentrates only. it works better if you also have the extra extension to the sluice . what did you pay for yours??

 

[Sierra Kid]

I paid 15 bucks. Also got 10 gold pans and a rock hammer with the deal. Not to shabby.
It did not come with any instructions and I'm not really sure how the setup is supposed to go. I looks to be all there. It does have some v-matting that is no longer any good, so I will have to replace it. Did they come with v-matt or miners moss? Cork

 

[Nullers]

Sounds like you got quite a deal

My sluice has about 4 inches of ribbed mat on the bottom of the flair the riffle box has moss. Hope the photo helps explain it better lol

 

[Sierra Kid]

Nullers,

Thanks for the pic. I went into the El Paso's today and got some good dirt to check out the unit. Cork

 

[Nullers]

Cork,

Make sure that you screen the material down pretty fine, rocks will cause you a lot of grief in a micro. Might also want to let the tailings run into a bucket, lets you run them a couple of times.

Something else you might want to try. Get a couple of pounds of clean black sand, no gold in it. Weigh out a gram or two of flake and fine gold, toss in a picker just for fun Make sure to weigh the gold and write it down! Mix the gold into the clean black sand. Set up your sluice so that you are catching all of the tailings in a bucket, if you're using a recirculating pump add a couple of drops of JetDry to break the surface tension of the water. Pour the black sand in about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time. Once you've processed all of it, time for clean up. If you've got plenty of free time you can suck up the gold that is caught in the ribbed mat and weigh that separate. If not then just pan out your super cons and weigh it out. Compare pre and post processing weight to see what your recovery rate is.

Make adjustments to sluice angle, water flow and feed rate as needed. Repeat the process until you're happy with the recovery rate. 95% is a good starting point. It might sound like a lot of work but it's a good way to spend the day when the weather is nasty. Plus it's much more fun that doing chores around the house

Best of luck,
nullers

 

[Sierra Kid]

Nullers,

Thanks for the great info. I need to pick your brain and learn this stuff. I've been at it for a little over a year but am an amateur. We should go out in the El Paso mountains sometime. Cork

 

[Nullers]

Happy to help but not a lot of brain left to pick lol. I'm an amateur myself and just enjoy getting out of the house, finding the yellow stuff is just a bonus have not found a durn thing since 2007. 07 was a good year.

Drop me a PM if you would like to hook up for a day trip. How did that bucket of dirt work out for you?

 

[Sierra Kid]

Nullers,

Great finds! Yeah, that's what i'm lookin for. I did not process the bucket yet. Back hurts and just generally being lazy. I will PM you next time I hit the dirt! Cork