Gold Mining Basics - Which River Sluice is Best? 

Hay Chris, You missed mentioning the drop riffle sluice like the Angus Mac Kirk

First time anyone has explained, properly, a fluid bed sluice.

I would also add when buying an entry level "Creek Sluice" buy one thats a size that you can upgrade into a Highbanker down the road by simply adding a hopper and stand. Keene and Pro-line "Creek Sluice's" are same as what their Highbankers are. If that makes sense. Happy Diggin! :D

Nice to have you back Chris & Grizzly. I got a Tinsmith to make the aluminum sluice for me and it did not cost much. Then I bought two lengths of mats from GoldOwl. It can be used on both sides with different rifles. Thank you for another well done work. I appreciate this.

Dude you took the supposed uselessness of hiking out in nature away and gave me the ultimate excuse( I'm really looking for gold to make your wedding band ), "bless u sir".... teary eyed

The one with the gold in it is the best

Hi Mate, after watching this video a few weeks back bought myself a mat sluice 6 inch wide from Gold Rat. Very happy with service from them when I first used the mat sluice box, after running 3 buckets all that was in the box was about 2-3 tablespoons of pay dirt. Needlessly to say I was very skeptical but after a quick pan out, I found about .6 grams of gold. Thanks for the great lesson on sluice boxes and I can proudly say the mat system is by far one of the better sluice systems out there on the market. Jefesgold

Thanks Chris. Great show. No running water here, we take home and soak the pay dirt for 2 weeks to get the clay out. Then use gold rat 6". Works good on the fines.

i use the riffle sluice the most, that way i have some black sands/grinding grit for my rock tumblers.

Well there you are : D Nice presentation Thank You! I had a Rabit like yours once. Jeffry was his name, had him for two years then the misses took him when she left. I sure miss that Rabit, the misses not so much : )

It is really good to find out which sluice for which gold (or gems)! Thanks! (And I had been wondering about why you weren't classifying.)

Welcome back Chris I have missed you but I hope that you are taking care of you! Nicely done video great explanation of the difference in sluices. I got a 6" dream mat I have a friend building me a sluice for it. I can't wait to try it out but it will have to be next year we already have snow. It is hard to believe last year at this time I was out on the brook with Adam from California Gold rush found my first bits of gold. Grizzly looked really comfy laying there in his nest. Have a great day Chris and hope you have heavy pans.

"Fitting the whole creek into my sluice!" Ha ha ha 🤣. I loved this comment of yours. When I saw it printed 6 or so months ago on your merchandise I bought a hoodie from your website. I'm either wearing it or it's in the wash. Cheers Chris

I got my aleader shoes the other day, the discount worked except it converted back to US$ costing A$35 in the end. They are light and strong and look good, so back to the aluminium folder and welder to finish my sluce. Good to see you and Grizz again.

Good to see you back in the thick of it. I found out something about using the fluid bed and have been testing it out. Researching the patents and such I discovered the fluid bed works best when "charged" with high SG material before use on paydirt. So I run it first with a pan or bucket under the discharge until there is a layer of heavies to the bottom of the tubes. Put what was in the bucket through again. Worked exactly like a fluid bed in industry. Fine gold is retained, as was the various bits and shapes of lead I put through.

Your videos are like Star Trek. I can binge watch from any season, in any order, and it just doesn't matter. You're like a good rock band, but for nerds that like dirt!

Good to see you again. Hope you're doing well.

Luv this channel , I've learned so much ,thanks I appreciate it ,lots of luv keep up the good work 👍🙂

Gday, we orignally used just a classic riffle mat sluice and it worked pretty well for us, not so good at catching ultra fine gold but good at catching all the bigger bits but it is always pretty slow to clean out. We recently got the smallest model of the Gold rat sluice and it works incredibly, its super fast to clean out and feed through and is really easy to set up, and it catchs all the fine stuff but, we were recetnly mining an area I took multiple test pans from our classified bucket and pulled out a nice 0.1 gram picker and a multiple very large flakes that also moved the scales, so we continued mining the spot but after 20 buckets through the sluice ( multiple seperate clean outs ), we only got 1 other large picker and about 1/2 a dozen large flakes, it has all the fine stuff we could expect and a really solid result on that front, but it had no where near as many pickers and big flakes as we were getting in the 2 or 3 test pans we took from our matirel, ( this was the smallest gold rat sluice ) and we were defintley running the sluice well and the spots test pans continued to be good but the gold just didnt show in the sluice, so is the gold rat sluice ( or at least the small version ) faulty at collecting larger pickers, flakes and nuggets? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated :). Keep up the great content !

HEY! I can see Grizzly playing in the woods at 4:10... hehe

l made my first sluice out of wood with wooden rifles and it worked a treat even caught the fine gold at Eldorado.

The drop riffle sluice is great for flower gold. It all depends on how you set it up (angle and flow pressure). Over here we have mostly flower gold so I classify down to 1/8 mesh and it seems to be doing the job. I have very minimal losses with this procedure.

Wow, fantastic information. Your the best and welcome back. We have very fine gold here. The sluice you used would work great. Thanks for the video. Be safe.

I’ve liked the one I built myself and am satisfied with the results. It’s interesting to see all of the many sluice configurations that are out there that people have come up with from primitive designs to the more advanced.

Well that sure was a great school lesson - second to none today! Thanks so much for explaining so clearly the pro's and con's of the three basic systems. You're a legend and you are making such good quality vids it is a real pleasure to kick back and learn all this new stuff you have for us. Cheers Chris, look forward to your next offering :)

Been in the market for a little back packing sluice for glacial till gold here in the states. Might have found the winner.

Your awesome. Thank you so much. I'm from long island n.y. and am trying to learn about mining. Your channel is like a classroom. I have found great jewelry with my whites water metal detector and dfx. Land machine. Thinking of going to Alaska for a little gold mining vacation. Thanks so much for the education again.

Man thanks dude, very comprehensive review/tutorial of what sluice to choose. I haven’t taken the step to go for gold yet, but with your vids, I’m learning so much more. Plus they’re just a good watch man. Thank you 👌

Good to see you and Grizzly the birthday dog. LOL. Look forward to your next upload. Peace.

Chris, your videos are getting very good. I like you are using more transitions and points of view. I like you videos for the gold getting info because I'm not getting out much lately. I've been prospecting for gold and gems for many years and always get something out of your videos. Though you would like to know I appreciate the time you spend editing.

Thanks it's a great preseason brush up.

I like my sluice attached to a 3" pump. 😭 Hopefully one day they'll lift that nonsense rule. Great video! Great pooch! 😊

Good to have you back Chris and I hope your break as and is treating you well... we are heading out this weekend here in the UK so will be putting some of your lessons into practise

Thank you so much. I am a subscriber now. This is super helpful. Most love from Oregon

I have the original letrap gold sluice. By its self too floopy but put a frame on it awesome.

Hi!The man is back!Thanks a lot,as evrer,all clear explanations,I need them,because i'm looking for it where nobody look before ,on rocky coastsides where little flood creeks reach the sea,during storms,and when rain stops,they dissapear!With a homemade folding rocker_sluice bed car matted,a punch box and two opposite falling sluices.It works,but gold doesnt appear.That imcreases the fever..Thanks you and Grizzly for share!Lets go for IT !From wrong side of the world,Fabio

C&C time, coffee & Chris early black Friday here, using a homemade sluice that works okay, now I've got got an idea of what Santa can bring me. Thanks

Personally I prefer the Angus MacKirk/Le Trap, Dream Mat and the Bazooka fluid bed sluices, depending on the water and material... great video

I have a fluid bed sluice and love it.

It is beautiful up there! I have the same classifier. Good choice :)

Thanks to this vid, I ordered a dream mat 6 inch sluice, came in the mail today!. Same one in this video. Im so excited to try it out. Also got the dream mat pocket sluice. Thanks

Welcome back mate, you look rested and less stressed. Great vid and goes to show you know ya stuff, fluid beds are easier to make with abs - built mine from a garbage bin, keep up the good work mate and hope catch up with you someday.👍👍👍

hay you should use a gardening sprayer you can pump it up and pressure spray to clean the bedrock Jason from Canada eh!!

Good to see you Chris and great information

I do enjoy your videos. A tip I'd give you. Bring along a lightweight folding chair of some type. I broke my back at 18. I can't stand bending over much. I classify, feed my sluice and as much as possible everything else either sitting or on my knee pads. Save your back. Good luck mate. Smiles

Don't forget the calsluice 2b! Love that little thing.

I saw a magnet on a drill bit I believe called a magic bit for separating gold from black sands and iron bits.

I have both rubber matting sluice (Gold hog) and riffle sluice (some plastic stuff). Might buy a dropriffle soon too, gotta expand the family! haha! Awesome too see your back, your vids are an easy top 3 on my "must watch" list here on YT!

Very interesting Chris. Can’t wait for the next one. I need a little here with the setup portion. Thanks.

First lesson learned on my rewatch...im not going to find crap with my sluice,at least for gold as if i find any, Itll be micro gold. 100 mesh may be the big stuff here...

Hay brother...I just started watching....really love it Chris...I’m a single father of two and I’m about to fossick in Claremont...I’m learning bro lol...thanx to you....so far

Gold rush nugget bucket is a fluid bed sluice but vertical instead of horizontal. Water flow is moderated by the head pressure and nozzle diameter into the capture chamber so you don’t have to worry about blowing out fines as much. Needs manual classification but is 1/4 the price of other fluid bed sluices. Also uses a lot less water. Trying to figure out how to provide a non-motorized way of classifying, self-feeding and fulfilling water demands through an add-on system. Water wheel/trammel?

Great upload a lot of useful information. I'm packing it in sick of city life, going bush. Selling my property in Sydney. Buying a new Avida motorhome and gold prospecting equipment. May be I can join you in one of your adventures.

Good too see you mate great video

Great stuff Chris. cant wait to get the landy and trailer loaded up so i get busy havin fun :). Looking forward to the next installment. Cheers for sharing cobber.

Excellent overview. Enjoyed watching and learning. See you on the next demonstration video.

Great to see ya back in action on the big screen,thou there's no hiding from y-tube Robbie's fishing 😊. Excellent video you couldn't explain it any better.well done.

That was a great video, very interesting, I’ve learned a lot more again , brilliant 👍😎

Great to have you back Chris. We missed you. Looks like great weather there...im jelous. Great info. You always teach me something new. Great job Chris🎆🎆🎆😎

Wish I had a ton of ultra fine gold.... I use a Bazooka miner sluice it grabs the ultra fine very well. I just need to find a ton of it. Good luck from the US.

Very informative

I would use the ninja gold sluice.with jet dry dish soap.To break up the clay or clay be gone.and have a recirculation tub.Unless their was water for the pump.I use mine in the Arizona desert all the time.it will work with a couple gallons of water all day long.

"Fitness, fit dis whole creek in my sluce." - Wise words from a wise man.

Hey Chris. Great to see you back. Hope you´re doing good and will do more frequent videos.

Thank you Chris for another great video and to see you and Grizzly doing well ✝️✝️🇺🇸

Yea boi ya back! Good times ahead!

That with the clasifying for the riffle sluice is new to me. My knowlege is that if the flow is god if it should move about fist sized rocks. I dont know about 100 mesh but it catches down to 2/10 of a mm. I duno but from my experience you can joust put your stuff in. Filling it to fast is more of a problem

Hey Chris. Happy birthday to griz and best wishes to you and yours for the holidays.

Great video Chris. Thank you so much. Happy birthday grizz 🎉🎊😁

Thankyou for taking the time to make these vids,living in the uk aint great for gold but im going to get the basic things what i need to get out there and have some fun even if it is just a few grains per trip,love these vids and cant wait till the next one,all the best to you ;)

Happy birthday grisly. Good to see ya back. Thought it’s time that I should say that you doing a good job and love ya shows.

muchas gracias🙏 por compartir su conocimiento

You Rock Chris!! I’m new To the channel and Prospecting!

I’m so addicted to your videos Love everything about what you do! Keep up the amazing videos

Grizz, Happy Birthday

Hi Chris, Welcome back mate. I just recently purchased the same size Gold Rat as you had on the video, it was recommended to me from Blue Dog Prospecting (Blake). I'm hoping to get out this weekend to try it after doing some test panning last weekend (see my channel Gold-Den / Video / Test panning looking for a gold producing creek ) I will video if I do find some shinny. Dennis

Glad to see you back, liked the topic. Might have just been my computer but the camera seemed a little grainy for some reason.

Well thats what we're missing in the states department-store with sluices. We need to open an Australian gold store 🇦🇹

Great video! Thanks for sharing your adventure. Have a great day.

In all of your videos that I've seen you are working small creeks and streams. Do you ever work larger rivers with serious flow? I'd like to see you set-up the river sluice on some big water. excellent video btw. peace out

Hey Chris I like my keen 52 sooo handy have then my to mini sluices My dream pocket sluice so cool n catchs what other sluicez are missing then more mini choice sluice catchs nice gold eats up the blk sand

Great video Chris , love your channel ;-)

fluid bed sluice has been around for years we where using then in the 70s and 80s

Also I think it would be fun to watch you doing this full length so we can expirence what it's like to sluice and how long realistically it would be

Fitness whole creek in my sluice. Lol

Yeah Chris back🤟👍🏻 last Friday was rough 😆😆⚒👍🏻

Thanks for all the great information you share mate

Hey "Your Back" great video.... I like the vids on RU-vid that offer education, bravo mate.

Great video. Thanks brother. Keep up the hard work.

Hey Chris, really enjoy your videos and learn from your knowledge. I am new at the game and purchased a small high banker. Question i have is it only has miners moss with a grate. Is it worth changing to ribbed matting or a dream mat, or run another sluice at end of high banker? Look forward to your recommendation. Cheers!

It is not recommended to cover the entire flare with matting. By leaving some slick plate area, you allow material to break up easier, especially clays.

Hi Chris. Good to see you back again.

AWSOME again Chris pity u got soaked lol Bloody windy up at Bathurst yesterday and today Checked out some of the river today Nothing so will go to another here somewhere Hope to get down by Monday Cheers Crouch

Thanks for all the info

How durable are the silicone mats? and who has the cheapest replacement mats?

Nicely done brother 👍

HaHa, I just figured out you're filming for Ch31 as well as YT, nice one Chris.

Happy bday for the other day Grizz.

You need an "arbor fab" classifier it fits inside a five gallon bucket and has handles

great job Chris