By far the most popular gold recovery technique is for fine gold. It's not that we don't want gold nuggets, it's more a matter of a lot of the easy gold has already been prospected or mined. There is a lot of fine gold out there in streams, rivers, beaches and even deserts. Recovery has always been a problem. Most standard sluice boxes barely touch the stuff. I mean you lose more fine gold out of your sluice box than you recover.

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There are four things that happen that explain why you lose this gold.

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First: Some fine or flour gold actually floats on the water's surface making gravity separation impossible.

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Second: A lot of fine gold is simply carried along with the current and dumped back into the stream or river.

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Third: Incorrect angle or flow rate through your sluice automatically ejects this fine stuff.

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Fourth: Most fine gold recovery sections of sluice boxes are poorly equipped to accurately catch the fine material.

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While building the High Production Sluice Box I discovered a simple trick to catch this fine gold. I've expanded a tuned the continuous capture system to just catch " fine gold ". The High Volume Fine Gold Sluice Box will also trap gold up to 1/8 ounce, gold particles and of course gold flakes.

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What makes this new method so good is that it is designed to process and capture a lot of gold bearing material. I look at is like this; I would be happy with a quarter ounce (approximately $325) at the end of the day using a smaller narrower sluice box, BUT, I would be a lot happier with over 3/4 of an ounce of this fine gold (approximately $975) with this High Volume Fine Gold Sluice Box.

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Like all things, the right tool for the right job makes all the difference for your success. This High Volume Fine Gold Sluice Box is designed just to grab fine gold (up to 1/8 ounce) pieces.

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What you will see in the sluice box during use.

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The heart of this fine gold recovery sluice box is in it's continuous capture system - no riffles. We increase the gold recovery efficiency by varying the current pressure throughout the sluice. Every time we change from a fast stream pressure in the box to a slow one, more fine particles of gold drop out.

 

In addition the sluice box keeps getting wider as it goes along. So what you will see as your gold production continues is:

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Near the front where the current from the stream or river enters are gold particles. This is where the largest of the fine gold will show up (up to 1/8 ounce pieces).

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As you work your way down the sluice the gold will appear in bands. These bands are where the current speed suddenly drops and allows the fine particles to drop out on your collecting surface. You will also notice that the black sand will also appear in bands just behind the fine gold. These gold / black sand bands occur in steps. A major advantage with this separation approach is you can see how much gold is in a given location very quickly.

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And finally for the smallest of gold particles, floating gold and flour gold, I use a very specific type of nylon brush suspended in the sluice boxes flow. This fully adjustable brush does two things.

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1) It slows down the water flow and causes a pressure drop.

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2) It combs the fine gold flakes from the sluice box water flow.

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I explain, in the plans, how to modify the brush/es, how to build and install the brushes and how to adjust them for different conditions you will encounter.

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A New Method of Separating Fine Gold

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The number one new method of separating fine gold from lighter rock and sand mix is to use ferrous magnets. This is a new applied technology and therefore is not in wide use as of yet.

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Gold is non ferrous and not attracted to ferrous magnets, but, the black sand is drawn to a magnet. We use a buildup of black sand on a magnet to set up a micro fine gold trap. The black sand stands up like hair on the magnet, combing the gold particles from the water flow. For a complete description on how to build a magnet gold trap please check out the High Production Sluice Box.

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