Many years ago, when I started looking for ways to increase the amount of gravel I could process in a day, I found the sluice box to be the best choice for the lone prospector. At first, I used the “box” without regard to its proper setup. I didn’t know. But then I met an old-timer who did know and got my first course on how to set up the standard Keene-type sluice.
There’s a lot to it, including getting the proper (12°) angle from end to end and just the right amount of water flowing over the riffles. Set the sluice at the wrong angle, and it either won’t run properly or will wash all your gold out the bottom end. Too much or too little water flow—the same.
Don’t get me wrong—the Keene A-51 standard sluice is a great product, as are many others like it in its classic design. I still have one and still use it. But there are times when a quick, effortless setup, combined with the near-total recovery of mineral values, is the way to go.
That’s what I discovered with the Grizzly Sluice.
Advantages to the Grizzly Sluice III
The Grizzly Sluice III, from Bear Bottom Mining, has several advantages over panning or operating a conventional sluice box. It’s light and compact, sets up effortlessly and without complicated setting requirements, and does not need to be set up in the stream. You, the prospector, stay dry and at the same time, can process many times the amount of gravel versus panning. Bear Bottom Mining says that a conventional in-stream sluice box recovers around 50 percent of gold values, but the Grizzly Sluice III recovers “99% retention on all flour gold.” Pretty impressive, and I have noticed the higher recovery rate in my placer workings.
Here is an excellent video from Bear Bottom Mining on using the Grizzly Sluice.
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Any sluice box can be used to recover 99% or better off mineral values feed into it. It, as stated earlier in the article, depends on setup and experience. I can use a sluice box made of 2 smooth pieces of wood for the sides and 1 piece of extra rough cut shaggy timber for the recovery bed with no riffles or moss, just the shaggy wood grain and start recovering 80% or more.