SLUICES

THEIR DESIGN, APPLICATION

AND OPERATION

SAVANA MINING EQUIPMENT LLC

CALIFORNIA, USA

Placer System Design & Fabrication, Geological, Mining and Lands Consultants
Phone: +353 83 452 5859 Europe
+1 925 822 8852 USA
www.savanamining.com
Email: wyeager@savanamining.com

PREPARED BY:
Wyatt Yeager MSc Savana Mining Equipment

OVERVIEW
The dramatic increase in gold price during the years 2008 to 2010 created renewed interest
in the development of alluvial gold mines and in particular has turned some previously
uneconomic properties into viable mining ventures.
The resulting interest has seen existing manufacturers of alluvial recovery equipment
increase production and has introduced many new constructors into the market place.
While conventional plant; screens, trommels, pumps, jigs and sluices remain popular there
are many new innovations, while as yet untried in the long term, also available.
The world economic downturn had resulted in equipment costs rising and many mine
owners are thus forced, because of budgetary constraints, to seek less expensive recovery
circuit equipment. The sluice remains one of the least expensive and reasonably efficient
means of recovering heavy minerals. However, the capital savings do come with certain
drawbacks as sluices certainly do not offer the consistently high recoveries of machines such
as jigs and centrifugal concentrators.
This report is intended as a broad background to sluicing, a guide to the types of sluices
available, their design, characteristics and application. It is by no means intended to be a
complete guide to sluicing and some comments and recommendations here may not be
relevant to certain mining properties and their development.
Sluices are one of the earliest means of recovering minerals. Agricola in his De Re Metallica
(1556) makes mention and describes in detail the use of strakes and sluices. The design of
the sluice has altered little from those times. Modern engineering practices have resulted in
more efficient riffle designs, the use of expanded mesh and 3M Nomad matting are two
modern variations of the older wooden riffle and coconut fiber matting used up to as
recently as the 1950s.
Sluices are at their most efficient when treating Long Range type feeds and do not respond
well to Short Range, closely classified feeds. Having said that the combination of large
boulders with fine sands is to be avoided. Similarly sluices are well suited to free running
gravelly ground but not so well suited to fine sandy or clay rich feed.

While many operators claim high recoveries, +90%, when using sluices, this is not normally
the case. Such high claims are often made as a result of the operator not actually knowing
his average head grade or of his failure to account for losses of fine mineral across the sluice
to tailings. Many operators never even know they have fine mineral in their feed stock.

REPRODUCED FROM DE RE METALLICA, 1556

This report attempts to provide the reader with basic background information on the sluice
as a gravity recovery mechanism. Much of the data contained in this report has been derived
from old texts (See Bibliography), from the authors personal observations and from
anecdotal information provided by miners and prospectors. For those readers who require
further information they are referred to the texts detailed later in this report and in
particular to the very thorough study by Clarkson, 1990.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE NO.

1.0

INTRODUCTION

12

2.0

COMPONENTS OF THE SLUICE

38

3.0

TYPES OF SLUICE

9 12

4.0

DESIGN CRITERIA

13 22

4.1

PRODUCTION RATE

14 - 15

4.2

SCREENING

4.3

FEED RATE / SLUICE CAPACITY AND DESIGN

4.4

WATER CONSUMPTION

5.0

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
5.1

SCREENING

5.2

MISCONCEPTIONS

15
15 22
22
23 26
23
24 26

6.0

SLUICE LOSSES

27 - 31

7.0

RECOMMENDATIONS

32 - 34

8.0

BIBLIOGRAPHY

35 - 36

LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE NO.

FIGURE 1

COMPONENTS OF A HUNGARIAN RIFFLED SLUICE

FIGURE 2

EXPANDED MESH RIFFLES / MAT COMBINATION

FIGURE 3

LONG TOM AND RIFFLED SLUICE

10

FIGURE 4

KEENE TYPE UNDERCURRENT SLUICE

10

FIGURE 5

OSCILLATING TYPE SLUICE

11

FIGURE 6

INFORMATION QUESTIONNAIRE

13

FIGURE 7

GOLD SIZE ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE

14

FIGURE 8

CROSS SECTION OF RIFFLE RECOVERY MECHANISM

AFTER CLARKSON, 1990

18

FIGURE 9

TYPES OF HUNGARIAN RIFFLES

18

FIGURE 10

BENT FLAT BAR RIFFLES

19

FIGURE 11

INCORRECT RIFFLE PLACEMENT (AFTER CLARKSON, 1990)

20

FIGURE 12

SELECTIVE DATA REPRODUCED FROM CLARKSON (1990)

26

LIST OF PHOTOS
PAGE NO

PHOTO 1

PERUVIAN GROUND SLUICE, BOULDER RIFFLES

PHOTO 2

ARTISANAL SLUICE, MEXICO

PHOTO 3

ARTISANAL SLUICE, SULAWESI, INDONESIA

PHOTO 4

ARTISANAL SLUICE, CAMEROON WEST AFRICA

PHOTO 5

HUNGARIAN RIFFLED NUGGET TRAP SLUICE

PHOTO 6

EXPANDED MESH SLUICE RIFFLES

PHOTO 7

ARTISANAL SLUICE, SULAWESI, INDONESIA

27

PHOTO 8

INDONESIA, MINUTES AFTER PHOTO 7

28

PHOTO 9

CAMEROON, WEST AFRICA, NOTE EXTREME SLUICE ANGLE

29

PHOTO 10

CAMEROON, WEST AFRICA, NOTE LAMINAR FLOW ACROSS RIFFLES

INDICATIVE OF POTENTIAL GOLD LOSSES

PHOTO 11

30

CAMEROON, REPLACEMENT SLUICE SYSTEM, EXCESSIVE WATER

FLOW

30

1.0

INTRODUCTION:

Sluices are effectively a form of stirred bed. In other words the feed, normally Long
Range, is stirred or agitated at a rate insufficient to keep all the mineral grains and rock
particles in suspension. This action, independent of the container in which the feed has been
placed, results in reverse classification and gravitational stratification, the result being that
the heaviest particles settle the most rapidly and form the base or basal layer in the
container.
In the case of a sluice it is the tumbling action imparted by the riffles coupled with the flow
of the water across the riffles that effects separation and thus settling.
Sluices have been used in various forms throughout the world for the recovery of gold, tin
and tantalite and can be used for any mineral having a Concentration Criteria of 3.5 or
greater. Other applications are washing pyrite or slate from coal, lead shot recovery from
rifle and gun ranges, etc.
So what is a sluice? Basically it is an inclined trough or launder, usually on a slightly angled
slope, into which the feed ore is placed and washed down the trough by a rapidly running
stream of water. The sluice may have no riffles (tin streaming box) or have riffles of which
there is a wide variety that have been and are being used.
Recoveries vary widely and depend to a large extent not only on the feed type, but the
ability of the operator to monitor and adjust feed rate, water flow rate, sluice angle and
sluice riffle load. No feed is consistently the same, particularly alluvial or placer feeds, and
sudden changes in feed size, feed rate, water flow and other such variables are the main
cause of high losses over the sluice.
Sluices were widely used in gold and tin mining by artisanal miners, in small scale
mechanized operations and, up until the 1940s, on large dredges. During that decade many
of the larger dredge and even land based mining operations discarded the sluice in favor of
modern pulsating jigs. The jig had much to offer, a smaller engineering footprint, more
automated operation and much higher and more consistent recoveries.

Page 1

Notwithstanding these changes, the sluice is still popular and forms the basic tool of many of
the worlds artisanal miners. The Incas used natural rock sluices, see Photo 1, and wooden
launders or sluices are seen in artisanal mining operations on every continent. Photo 2.
Recoveries are always problematic. Unless the operator has some quantitative estimation of
his head feed grade then it is impossible to determine sluice efficiency. Many claim
recoveries of +90% and Clarkson, 1990, has documented very high recovery rates in studies
he conducted in the Klondike and Yukon.
Clarkson does, however, also report losses of between 0 and 71% in most operations, two
operations he studied losing more gold than they recovered. Other mines with sophisticated
screening systems prior to the sluice recorded recoveries of as high as 99%.
Clarkson concluded that all the mines without screening equipment would pay back all their
capital outlaid on screens in one season of operation.
So do sluices have any application in modern mining?
If operated carefully with adequate pre-screening and feed conditioning then they are
capable of high recovery rates and the recovery to cost ratio in such cases is certainly better
than other gravity machines. However sluices do not offer satisfactory recoveries of very fine
gold particularly fine flattened particles.
No writer appears comfortable in giving a lowest size limit for recoverability, some believe
that sluices can recover down to 200 mesh, this is unlikely! A conservative figure is more
likely to be 50 mesh (300 m). Clarksons data indicates that in the Yukon deposits there is
little gold below 100 mesh and thus in that region the sluice is a popular recovery tool.
The work by Clarkson, while restricted in its location is a valuable guide as to sluice efficiency
and clearly demonstrates that for sluicing to be successful pre-sluice screening is required.

2.0

COMPONENTS OF THE SLUICE:

Page 2

A sluice is effectively an open launder (or channel) into which are fitted riffles of one form or
another. It can be a constructed box of metal, wood or plastic or a ditch excavated into
bedrock (Inca Sluice). Raw feed, usually screen underflow product, is introduced into the
head of the sluice and a flow of water applied so as to move the feed down the length of the
launder across the riffles. The tumbling action imparted onto the feed by the water and the
tumbling action of the coarse particles over the riffles results in separation of the mineral
constituents in the feed, the heavy particles moving downward and becoming trapped on
the floor of the sluice and behind the riffles.
The various components of the sluice as set out in Figure 1 and described in more detail
below.

FEED
DISTRIBUTION
BOX

PIVOT POINT
NORMALLY A
BOLT EITHER
SIDE OF THE
LAUNDER

HUNGARIAN
RIFFLES
CONSTRUCTED IN
A STEEL FRAME

SLICK PLATE
600 MM TO
1,000 MM
LONG

FASTENING
CLIP EITHER
SIDE OF
LAUNDER

3M NOMAD
MAT UNDER
RIFFLED
SECTION

FIGURE 1 COMPONENTS OF A HUNGARIAN RIFFLED SLUICE

(I)

THE LAUNDER:
Page 3

May be made from any material, normally it is made of steel or aluminum and apart from
artisanal mining operations, rarely now of wood. The launder may be straight or tapered
(Pinched Sluice). Old wooden sluices were tapered so that each section of the sluice could
be slotted together. Some modern sluices made of steel are also tapered.
The Long Tom was tapered outwards in length; this effectively allowed the feed to spread
out across the launder. This slowed down the flow rate, thus assisting the heavy minerals to
settle more quickly.
(ii)

SLICK PLATE:

In most modern sluice boxes there is a plain flat section at the head or feed end of the sluice
over which the feed passes prior to it reaching the riffled section of the launder. This blank
section is normally 2 to 4 feet, 600 mm to 1.2 m in length, is designed so as to allow the
heavy mineral in the feed stream to commence hindered settling prior to encountering the
first riffle.
(iii)

THE RIFFLES:

There have been a wide variety of types of riffles used in sluices. The Incas cut ground
channels and used rock fill as the riffle medium. Photo 1 taken in Peru indicates that this
practice successfully continues even today.
Other artisanal miners use more conventional wooden sluice arrangements, Photos 2, 3 and
4, taken in Mexico, Indonesia and Cameroon, West Africa, respectively. Losses across these
sluices are normally quite high.
Riffles can thus be any material that imparts disturbance to the feed and promotes settling
out of heavy minerals.
Rocks, stones, and boulders, steel bars, wooden bars, wooden blocks, rails and poles (usually
set longitudinally), angle iron, flat bar and expanded mesh are and have been used. Modern
sluices usually use a combination of Hungarian Riffles and Expanded Mesh riffles placed
over synthetic matting such as 3M Nomad mat. See Figure 1.

Page 4

PHOTO 1 PERUVIAN GROUND SLUICE, BOULDER RIFFLES

PHOTO 2 ARTISANAL SLUICE, MEXICO

Page 5

PHOTO 3 ARTISANAL SLUICE, SULAWESI, INDONESIA

PHOTO 4 ARTISANAL SLUICE, CAMEROON WEST AFRICA

Page 6

PHOTO 5 HUNGARIAN RIFFLED NUGGET TRAP SLUICE

Hungarian Riffles are normally made of wood, steel or aluminum and are placed across the
launder with an overhang on the downstream side. See Figure 1 and Photo 5. Alternately
they can be made of angle iron, having the angle sloped slightly downstream.
Expanded Mesh riffled sluices are conventionally used as scavenger sluices, they have a layer
of expanded mesh (walkway mesh) over Nomad mat. Figure 2 and Photo 5. In this instance
the slope of the mesh faces downstream.

PHOTO 6 EXPANDED MESH SLUICE RIFFLES

Page 7

FIGURE 2 EXPANDED MESH RIFFLES / MAT COMBINATION

Page 8

3.0

TYPES OF SLUICE:

There are many variations on the basic sluice, and one has only to access the internet to see
the large number of groups now manufacturing commercial and hobby sluice boxes. Most
modern sluices are constructed of steel or lightweight aluminum bodies and steel riffles.
There are a number of manufacturers now constructing using plastics or Polyurethane with
preformed or molded riffles.
The list below is a few of the types of sluice in use, these being listed in no particular order of
efficiency:

Streaming Box effectively a non riffled sluice generally used for cleaning up tin or
tantalum concentrates particularly when they contain accessory minerals such as
zircon, rutile, ilmenite and monazite.
The concentrate is placed at the head of the box into which is passed a regulated and
evenly distributed flow of clean water. The operator stands in the box and using a
flat mouthed shovel keeps turning the concentrate back on itself allowing the lighter
impurities to move down the box to tails. While this does result in some looses to
tails along with the impurities the resultant product remaining at or near the head of
the box can reach grades of over 74% Sn.

Long Tom consists of a tapered non riffled launder into which the feed and water
are introduced. The box tapers outward at the discharge end and onto a punched
plate screen. Large rocks are removed from this section of launder by hand as is the
screen oversize that accumulates. Fines are passed though to a wide riffled sluice.
See Figure 3.

Undercurrent Sluice comes in many forms and is basically used to recover very fine
gold that is conventionally lost to tailings. Figure 4 is of the Keene type Undercurrent
where the -1/2 material, the sands and fine gold are separated from the coarser
material using a punched plate screen.

Page 9

LONG TOM

SCREEN

FIGURE 3 LONG TOM AND RIFFLED SLUICE

Expanded Mesh Sluice is depicted in Photo 6 and may be straight or tapered. They
are normally a combination of expanded mesh over matting and used for recovery of
fine gold lost across the primary sluice (Hungarian Riffled type).

NUGGET TRAP RIFFLES

PUNCHED PLATE SCREEN

+ SCREEN PRODUCT

KEENE TYPE 3-STAGE SLUICE BOX

- SCREEN UNDERFLOW PRODUCT

FIGURE 4 KEENE TYPE UNDERCURRENT SLUICE

Triple Run Sluices - rely on a punched plate distribution system to separate the fine
sands from the coarser gravels much like the simple Undercurrent Sluice. In this case
the fines are distributed to two side sluices while the coarse material continues down
the central run sluice. They are notoriously inefficient, (Clarkson, 1990) with much of
the fine gold being trapped in the high and turbulent water volumes required to
move the coarse material down the central sluice.

Page 10

Oscillating Sluice Boxes are being manufactured in a number of countries, some

impart a side to side motion, others a circular motion similar to panning. The
efficiency of these units compared to simple straight run stationary units is not
known. The diagram below illustrates the circular motion type sluice.

FIGURE 5 OSCILLATING TYPE SLUICE

Hydraulic Riffled Sluices these have been tried at a number of locations with
varying degrees of success. The normal installation sees every third riffle being
replaced by a square tube in which are drilled small holes, water is introduced into
the tube and thus out into the area behind the riffle. This appears to rely on the
settling velocity of the gold rather than creating disturbed vortices behind the riffles.

The riffles play an important role in sluicing, Peele notes three very important functions of
riffles, specifically he states:
Riffles have three chief functions:
(a) To retard material moving over them and give it a chance to settle;
(b) To form pockets to retain gold which settles into them;
(c) To form eddies which roughly classify the material in the riffle spaces.

Page 11

Their exact operation is not understood. Strength and shape of eddies (the boil of the
riffle) is affected by shape and spacing of riffles, their position with respect to direction of
flow, and the velocity of current. The boil must be strong enough to prevent the riffles
from filling with heavy sand (packing), and not too strong to prevent lodgment of gold.

Page 12

4.0

DESIGN CRITERIA:

Before considering the use of a sluice there are a number of parameters that must be taken
into account. The first and most important is Know the Ground, specifically:
What is the nature of the deposit, what are the average grade and feed size analysis and
composition of the ground? The data set out in Figure 6 is considered as minimum required
for adequate treatment plant design.

FIGURE 6 INFORMATION QUESTIONNAIRE

Page 13

In addition it is also important to know the size analysis of the gold or mineral to be
recovered. If for example the mineral is all in the 100 to 200 mesh size range then selection
of a system other than sluicing would be required. It is thus advisable to try to determine
grain size as follows:

FIGURE 7 GOLD SIZE ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE

Size Analysis May Be Applied To Any Mineral Species

4.1

PRODUCTION RATE:

This is normally based on the economics of the venture, that is, how much feed is required
to be processed to keep the operation profitable. Having settled on a figure then the design
process can be commenced. Taken into consideration must be:

Feed what is to be presented to the sluice, is it to be a long range feed, that is a

feed with a wide size range or a short range feed, that is a more closely sized
material;

Page 14

What is the nature of the feed material, is it sandy, cobble, clayey, etc.;

These factors determine the width and to some extent the length and the slope of the sluice.

4.2

SCREENING:

The screening of feed is of major importance. Traditionally sluices were fed long range
feeds and thus there was a requirement for large volumes of water to move the coarse
gravels down and out of the sluice. This normally resulted in much, if not all, of the fine gold
being carried away by the turbulent water flow and lost to tailings, in some cases as much
gold was lost as retained.
The use of modern earthmoving machinery and the availability of mechanical screens;
trommels, vibrating screens, etc., meant that the sluice could be fed a short range feed
relatively easily. This resulted in improved recoveries and lowered water requirements.
It should be noted however that an extremely Short Range feed is not desirable as this can
lead to packing of the sluice by clays and fine sands, screening should be a happy
compromise between a Long and Short range feed.
Screening of feed is critical to good sluicing.

4.3

FEED RATE / SLUICE CAPACITY AND DESIGN:

Older texts relate feed rate to water carrying capacity, probably because most of the water
was not pumped but flumed to the boxes. Modern pumps remove those concerns and
getting water to the sluice is now considerably easier.

Calculation of Width:
A simple rule of thumb used by some manufacturers is that you require 1 of sluice
width per loose cubic yard of feed per hour.

Page 15

Note this is a loose cubic yard (lcy) or material after excavation. In metric terms this
equates to 0.30 lcm / hour per centimeter of width.
Thus if you are intending to treat 10 lcy / hour across the sluice the width required
would be 10. This may well be an oversimplification and I have seen it misused on
several occasions.
The problem in applying a rather rigid rule of thumb is that the ground being treated
is normally variable with size fractions changing both laterally and longitudinally
within the deposit. Thus the feed rates to the sluice must change to reflect these
variations.
It is often wise to add in a factor to the calculation, say 20%. Thus to achieve 10 y 3 /
hour would require a sluice width of 10 +2 = 12.
Clarkson quotes feed rates of 0.65 to 1.30 y3 /hour per inch of width and makes a
very valid point that Hungarian Riffled sluices would be the upper end and expanded
mesh the lower end of those feed rates.

Calculation of Length:
In most well operated sluice systems the bulk of the heavy mineral is retained in the
upper 30% of the riffled area, however, this is not always the case and while shorter
sluices are certainly less expensive to purchase or manufacture additional length is
desirable.
The author has observed losses of well rounded fines up to 1 oz nuggets across a 10
m sluice operating in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Length does not affect capacity but does affect recovery rates.
Many modern sluices are manufactured to material sheet sizes, thus 8, 10 and 12
steel and aluminum sheet lengths usually control sluice length.
On a small 30 lcy / hour plant where say 50% of the feed passes to the sluice after
screening a length of 12 would normally be recommended.

Page 16

It is a simple matter to add sluice modules to increase length however this should
only be done where losses are high. These extra modules take additional clean-out
time and add greatly to plant operating workload and cost.

Riffle Action, Selection and Placement:

The Riffle Action or Mechanism:
It is important prior to selecting the riffle type to understand how the riffle works and
why it works. Clarkson, 1990 summarized very clearly the physical action within the
riffled bed and some of his comments are repeated here.
Good riffle designs should ensure that there is a loose, active bed of sand in the interriffle spaces. This ensures that the bed is maintained in place while the only material
being lost is from the upper layers in the sluice. In this way heavy mineral is
continually being added to the inter-riffle active bed.
Many early writers were of the opinion that it was the settling velocity of the gold
that resulted in its capture by the riffles. Clarkson however likened the sluice to a
centrifugal concentrator with the settling velocity only having the effect of allowing
the heavy particle to migrate to the base of the slurry column. At that point the
particles enter a turbulent vortex created by and in between the riffles.
It is effectively this vortex, a low pressure system, which draws the slurry column
down into the riffle area. There, under ideal conditions, the slurry is overturned and
flows down the face of the forward riffle and in a circular motion to create and
sustain the vortex. The gold and other heavies are driven, by centrifugal force to the
outside of the vortex and it is at the base of the vortex that centrifugal and
gravitational forces drive the heavies out of the vortex and into the matting. See
Figure 8.
To achieve this riffles should be of a height that does not interfere with the coarse
upper layer to an extent that extreme turbulence results in the active inter-riffle bed
being disturbed and lost to tailings.

Page 17

The most commonly used form of riffle is the so called Hungarian Riffle. It comes in
many forms but all have one common factor, a slight angling, against the flow in the
case of angle iron and with the flow in other cases. The riffles usually have an
overhanging cap or bend. See Figure 9.
STREAMLINES
FREE WATER SURFACE

FINER / LIGHTER
MATERIAL
HEIGHT OF
CUT TO
VORTEX

LOW
PRESSURE
SEPARATION
ZONE

COARSER /
DENSER
MATERIAL

EYE OF
VORTEX

VE
LI

AREA OF
PACKED
SOLIDS

C
R
ES

AREA OF
PACKED
SOLIDS

C
EN
T
LIVE

MATTING

BASE OF SLUICE

BACK OF
DOWNSTREAM
RIFFLE
SUPPORTING
THE VORTEX

DEPOSITION
ZONE

FIGURE 8 CROSS SECTION OF RIFFLE RECOVERY MECHANISM

AFTER CLARKSON, 1990
ANGLE IRON
RIFFLES WITH
MODIFIED AND
SHORTENED
CAP

BENT FLAT BAR

RIFFLES

WOODEN
BLOCK WITH
STEEL CAP

FLOW
FLAT BAR

EXPANDED
MESH RIFFLES

FIGURE 9 TYPES OF HUNGARIAN RIFFLES

Page 18

 Riffle Selection:
Conventionally angle iron or angled Hungarian Riffles are used when the bulk of the
heavy mineral is larger than 1 mm (14 mesh). Where angle iron riffles are to be used
they are normally made from 1 angle with the top leg modified or reduced in length
to . These types of riffle are normally inclined upstream at approximately 15
degrees.
Where bent flat bar is used riffles are normally inclined downstream, riffle heights
should not exceed 1-1/2. The riffles are inclined forward at 15O and have a top
section bent forward a further 35O. Figure 10.

0.75

105O

"

0.5
0"

35O

3.0"

FIGURE 10 BENT FLAT BAR RIFFLES

Straight flat bar riffles are normally only used for heavy minerals of greater than 2.5
mm (8 mesh) as they create greater turbulence and tend to dislodge upward all but
the heaviest and coarsest material. They are ideally suited to the recovery of coarse
nugget gold, say +1/2.
Expanded mesh riffles are normally used where particle size is -1 mm (14 mesh).
They tend because of their shape to have a small sorting area and are thus prone to
variations in feed or water volume.

Page 19

 Riffle Placement:
This is critically important as incorrect placement will result in the accumulation area
either becoming packed with solids in the case of a narrow riffle spacing or either
scoured or packed solid in the case of extreme spacing. See Figure 11 (After Clarkson
1990).

1" ANGLE IRON

MODIFIED TOP
LEG
VORTEX
15.0
AREA OF
PACKED
SOLIDS
AREA OF
PACKED
SOLIDS

1 IN
TOO N CH
ARRO
W

3 INC
H
TOO W ES
IDE

FIGURE 11 INCORRECT RIFFLE PLACEMENT

(AFTER CLARKSON, 1990)

The ideal riffle placement where modified 1 angle iron is being used is 2 with a 15
degree angle upstream. Bent flat bar riffles are angled downstream at 15O.

Sluice Operating Angle:

There is widely divergent opinion on the ideal operating angle of sluice boxes. The
operating angle and water volume will determine how the gravel is transported
across the sluice, that is whether is slides, and rolls across the tops of the riffles in the
case of the coarser particles or reacts in a turbulent or leaping motion (saltation) in
the case of the finer material.
Page 20

As a general rule the steeper the operating angle the more violent the motion of the
particles.
A common rule of thumb used in old texts is a drop of 6 to 6.5 per 12 of sluice
length or an angle of 2.5O (Taggart).

Other texts such as Peele tabulate the

specifications of various mines; Peele notes angles varying from 2% to 15% of slope
(1O to 8.5O). In Guinea slopes were quoted as 2.5O for loose sand, 5.75O for loose
sand and gravel and up to 8.5O for coarse gravel and boulders.
Clarkson (1990) quotes angles of 3 per foot (14 O) when using angle iron riffles while
Savana prefer a 6O slope for the primary sluice and even steeper for nugget trap riffle
boxes.
As the application of sluice boxes is so variable, each mine will have its inherent
differences in alluvium type, size ranges, etc.
The simplest arrangement is to have the sluice set up so that the angle can be easily
altered, even while in operation. This arrangement would see variable slope
adjustment as follows:
Nugget Trap Sluice (0O to 15O);
Primary Sluice (5O to 12O); and
Expanded mesh Sluice (2O to 10O)

The Matting:
All modern sluices use some form of matting under the riffles. There are many
varieties available from simple coconut fiber, hessian sacking, astro turf, synthetic
carpet and 3M Nomad mat.
Each has its own characteristics, specifically:
Coconut / Astro Turf have very limited storage capacity and are extremely
difficult to clean;
Page 21

 Monsanto Matting - has a hard backing that makes collection of gold difficult
and the long fiber strands project up into the vortex area and disrupt the
action and collection ability in the vortex; and
3M Nomad Mat is the most widely used sluice matting. It does not interfere
with the vortex, most of its volume is available for capture of mineral
particles, and it has no stiff backing and is very easy to clean.

4.4

WATER CONSUMPTION:

In considering what water volume is required to operate the sluice successfully

consideration must be given to what max. and min. water volumes are locally available and
what is the quality of that water.
Clearly the volume of water to be introduced into the sluice depends to a large extent on the
type of ground being treated. Nominally Savana quote a rate of 10 gpm / cubic yard per
hour however that rate may be low for very rocky ground. Clarkson (1990) quotes volumes
of 320 gpm per foot of width or 26.7 gpm / inch of width.
Trying to cross reference these rather confusing figures indicates that in the Savana case the
water requirement would only be 120 gpm for a 12 sluice and in the Clarkson case 320
gpm. Who is correct, probably neither as actual volume still remains dictated by the nature
of the ground.
In considering the volumes to be used it is important to determine the water source within
the flowsheet. Where screening is being used the screen underflow will contain all the wash
water, for a 30 yph plant water volume is normally a maximum of 500 to 550 gpm. Clearly
that would be far too great for a 12 sluice so there must be an effort to either dewater the
feed or reduce the screen plant wash water.
Every sluice should be equipped with its own wash water source, usually a 2 water line with
valve for additional make-up water or for sluice clean-out.

Page 22

5.0

GENERAL CONSIDATIONS:

Given that there are some excellent publications and reports available about sluicing this
section deals mainly with things the potential sluice operator should consider.
5.1

SCREENING:

It is quite clear from the material in the Clarkson (1990) report that pre-screening of the feed
to a sluice results in far higher recovery rates. The advantages of pre-screening feed are:

Much less water is required;

Barren gravels are eliminated from the sluice box;

The removal of larger barren rock reduces the riffle and box wear and thus reduces
maintenance and replacement costs;

The necessity for triple run and undercurrent sluices is removed and the difficulty
encountered in splitting feeds in these types of sluices totally eliminated; and

Last but not least the feed enters the box in a well conditioned state, that it is prebroken and free running and does not rely on the action of the box to separate the
mineral grains from the feed.

Numerous types of screen are available, trommels, vibrating screens, derockers, and
hydraulic finger grizzlies. Each has its own application to a particular operating scenario.
The trommel or scrubber trommel is probably the most efficient unit for cemented or high
clay gravels but it has high capital cost and usually requires the construction of high feed
ramps. The introduction of hopper feeders ahead of the trommel assist in reducing feed
height.
Multi deck vibrating screens are also an efficient screening mechanism; they require less
feed height but are not suited to very clayey gravels or ground containing large boulders.
The derocker is more a moving grizzly feeder that has limited throughput and cannot size
feed to -2.5.
Screening is thus strongly recommended.

Page 23

5.2

MISCONCEPTIONS:

Testing of alluvial ground using sluice boxes is fraught with difficulty and many plant designs
have failed because of errors in interpretation of test data. Specifically:

Fine Gold the presence or absence of fine gold in a sluice test must be treated
carefully. Even the worst sluice will recover fine gold and even the best operator will
lose fine gold;

Coarse Gold (Nuggets) - operators should be very aware of the Nugget Effect, one
nugget per cubic yard does not necessarily mean that this result will be repeated for
every yard treated. Expanded mesh test sluices will normally discard most nugget
material and retain the finer gold fractions while nugget trap sluices will efficiently
retain nuggets at the expense of fine gold;

Concentration a high concentration of gold in the first few riffles of a sluice is not
an indicator of high efficiency, nuggets can be lost over even the most carefully
operated sluice and for testing it is strongly recommended that the primary sluice be
followed by a fines sluice and that tails be regularly sampled.;

Error efficiency of a sluice should not be based on the amount of gold recovered.
Alluvial ground is highly variable both in grade and in mineral grain size. Many
samples and larger volume samples are usually required to satisfy sampling
reliability;

The Gold Pan is far from a quantitative testing mechanism, Nugget Effect and
operator error make small volume dish samples at best qualitative;

The Bulk Test Plant sample reliability can be calculated as a %, (See separate report)
and it is a good rule to apply some statistical analysis before embarking on a lengthy
and costly testing program. As a rule larger samples reduce sampling error
particularly where there is a large % of fine gold, or a very strong Nugget Effect. It
would be nice to see a Normal Statistical Distribution of gold sizing but that is unusual
to extremely rare.

Page 24

In operating situations the claim that the sluice is catching 100% of the gold is a major
misconception. Many operators claim they have no fine gold because they just never see it,
probably because their test work was such that it was never recovered. Clarkson (1990) has
tabulated production and recovery rates from a series of mining operations, those data are
somewhat of an eye opener.
Losses are in some cases extreme, more gold being lost than recovered, losses of 0 to 71%,
etc. The following Table, Figure 12, is taken from his work and is a snapshot of some of
those data.
It is clear from those data that prescreening of the feed prior to sluicing dramatically
improved recovery rates; further the addition of screening devices to mines currently
without that process improves recovery and reduces monetary losses. Certainly you cannot
capture all the gold or heavy mineral but the operator has choices which enable him to
minimize losses and quite significantly improve his monetary returns.
Sluices remain one of the least expensive gravity recovery processes available and while
relatively easy and inexpensive to operate still remain one of the most misunderstood
machines and processes available to the mine operator. It should be remembered however
that they are not suited to the recovery of extremely fine gold, that is, gold below 100 mesh
Tyler. Many deposits that are now being developed that contain high percentages of very
fine gold; the day of the sluice may well be numbered. The deposits with coarse nugget gold
are rapidly disappearing.

Page 25

SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND RECOVERY

SLUICE

SINGLE RUN
TYLER

DIAM

MESH

MM

LOCATION

DISTRIBUTION
%

HOMEMADE TRIPLE

RECOVERY
%

DISTRIBUTION
%

RECOVERY
%

PEARSON TRIPLE

DISTRIBUTION
%

RECOVERY
%

ROTATING TROMMEL
DISTRIBUTION RECOVERY
%
%

VIBRATING SCREEN
DISTRIBUTION RECOVERY
%
%

+4

4.76

+8

2.38

+14

1.19

52

33

84

44

100

100

+28

0.59

13

68

37

88

28

68

35

100

39

100

+48

0.29

66

48

24

84

44

84

38

61

24

96

+100

0.14

20

36

60

18

64

21

78

25

96

-100

0.9

0.5

100.9

100.5

101

99

100

0.6

MONETARY VALUE OF GOLD LOSSES (GOLD CA $400.00 / OUNCE)

Raw Gold gm / hr
$/Hour
$ / 1,200 Hours
Overall Recovery

41

14

37

$418.00

$145.00

$381.00

$47.00

$6.00

$502,000.00

$174,000.00

$457,000.00

$57,000.00

$8,000.00

48%

84%

72%

79%

98%

0.3

RECOVERABLE GOLD LOSSES (GOLD CA $400.00 / OUNCE)

Raw Gold gm / hr
$/Hour

38

11

36

$390.00

$113.00

$367.00

$44.00

$3.00

$ / 1,200 Hours

$468,000.00

$135,000.00

$440,000.00

$53,000.00

$3,000.00

Capital Cost

$50,000.00

$100,000.00

$100,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

Operating Cost

$5,000.00

$10,000.00

$10,000.00

$O

$0

96

96

99

99

99

Overall Recovery

FIGURE 12 SELECTIVE DATA REPRODUCED FROM CLARKSON (1990)

Page 26

6.0

SLUICE LOSSES:

Losses across sluice boxes vary widely but as a rule are reduced by pre-screening the feed
material prior to sluicing. Recorded losses (Clarkson, 1990) varied from 0 to 71% with at
least two operations losing more gold than they recovered.
Unlike jigs, which in many respects are more forgiving in their application, sluices respond
badly to variations in feed rate, water flow, slope and feed type.
Water and feed flow are related.
Periods of no, or low feed, usually see little change in the water flow, thus in this instance,
the low feed causes the water to flush the sluice and some gold, particularly that material
sitting exposed between the riffles, will be lost to tailings.
Similarly surges in the supply of water will increase turbulence in the case of more water and
cause losses of fines to tails or in the case of lower water flow cause general losses across
the whole sluice. See Photos 7 and 8.

PHOTO 7 ARTISANAL SLUICE, SULAWESI, INDONESIA

Page 27

In Photo 7, a sluice fed by gravel pumping, several potential loss causing factors can be seen,
specifically:

The sluice is not level;

The sluice has to few riffles, note the riffle free section in the centre of the sluice;

The sluice is being fed a Long Range, -4 feed with no real screening and the
operators are using highly turbid re-circulated water.

PHOTO 8 INDONESIA, MINUTES AFTER PHOTO 7

Note in Photo 8, taken only minutes after Photo 7, which the flow rate across the sluice has
dropped dramatically but that a surge of water can be seen at the head of the sluice. This
surge will probably have resulted in gold being scoured from the riffles.
In one instance the author has observed over-screening causing severe sluice losses, Photos
9, 10 and 11.
In this instance in Cameroon, West Africa, the operators were trying to treat extremely clay
rich ground and in the process screening to a -5 mm sluice feed.

Page 28

Apart from very poor trommel design that saw screens blind to about 20% open space
availability, and fail to break up all the clay, the sluice was set at an extreme angle greater
than 15O. This created the mini Niagara falls seen in Photo 9 and was made worse by use of
excessive water flow.
The gold had little time to settle and no apparent vortex was able to form behind the riffles.
The clays formed hard packed areas behind the riffles
The solution was to install a dual sluice system of a Nugget Trap ahead of Expanded Mesh
sluices.
These units operated at flatter angles and resulted in better sluice performance although
excessive water flow was a common problem.

PHOTO 9 CAMEROON, WEST AFRICA, NOTE EXTREME SLUICE ANGLE

Page 29

PHOTO 10 CAMEROON, WEST AFRICA, NOTE LAMINAR FLOW ACROSS RIFFLES

INDICATIVE OF POTENTIAL GOLD LOSSES

PHOTO 11 CAMEROON, REPLACEMENT SLUICE SYSTEM

EXCESSIVE WATER FLOW

Page 30

It is also important to stress that sluices are not suited to recovery of very fine mineral
product; sizes below 100 mesh are better recovered using other means. This fine size
material is normally lost across the sluice in the turbulent flowing upper layers.
Losses certainly can be minimized but not completely avoided.

Page 31

7.0

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The following are some recommendations for those considering using sluice boxes for the
recovery of any heavy mineral, specifically:
i.

Know Your Ground

The mine owner should make every effort to know the ground he intends to work.
Simple procedures can be adopted such as:

Conduct feed size analyses at several locations throughout the area to be

worked;

Determine the nature of the alluvium, whether it is sandy, clayey, rocky, etc.;
and

Take several bulk samples and from the concentrate determine the size range
of the mineral being sought.

Other information on items such as water supply, etc., is also valuable when
considering pumping and pipeline requirements.
ii.

Feeding and Screening

Screening of the feed gravels is essential and where possible should be into three
fractions; +1, -1 to +1/2 and -1/2. The former is discarded to tailings while the
other two are sluiced to recover the heavy minerals.
Feed rates should be closely controlled either using mechanical feeders such as
conveyors, apron feeders, vibrating grizzly feeders or even hand operated monitors.
Sluices like constant feed without surging.

iii.

The Sluices
Where a twin sluice system is to be used, that is where there are two size fractions
the following should be adopted:

Page 32

The Coarse Fraction:

-1 to +1/2 should be passed across a nugget trap sluice with a minimum
length of 12, set at a steep angle, at least 9O;
Ahead of the riffles the sluice should have a 3 slick plate to assist in settling of
gold or heavy mineral in the slurry column prior to hitting the first riffle;
The sluice should be fitted with either angle iron or bent flat bar riffles as
described in the text, riffle spacing of 2 for angle iron and 3 for flat bar;
Water may have to be introduced and should not be less than 10 gpm / cubic
yard of feed, but no less than 150 to 200 gpm per foot of sluice width. The
operator may find higher water rates are required to move the gravel down
the sluice and should avoid the phenomenon of Rooster Tailing by adjusting
slope and water volume until a good turbulent flow is achieved;
An over turbulent water motion (scoured bed) and / or a flat flowing water
surface (indicating a packed sluice bed) will result in gold losses; and
The riffles should be laid on Nomad Mat and clamped tightly down.

The -1/2 Fraction:

Should be processed using two sluice runs in series, specifically:

Nugget Trap Section:

A first nugget trap type sluice having a slick plate at its head and angle iron or
bent bar riffles set tightly over Nomad Mat;
Riffle layout as described in the text, normally a 2 spacing or 3 in the case of
flat bar riffles;
The sluice run should be no less than 10 and ideally 12, width is determined
by feed volume;
Slope should be steep 5O to 9O depending on the wash type;

Page 33

The riffles clamped down on Nomad Mat; and

Water volume determined by feed rate;

Expanded Mesh Sluice :

A 12 to 16 section of sluice fitted with coarse expanded mesh tightly
clamped on Nomad Mat; and
The sluice should be wider than the Nugget Trap section, the difference
should be around 20%, and the sluice set to operate at a flatter angle.

Ideally the sluices should be constructed so as to have adjustable operating angles

and provision made to be able to introduce extra water at the head of the sluice.
iv.

General:
High sluice recoveries can only be achieved by good design and care in their
operation.
Sluices should not be allowed to pack with concentrate and should be cleaned out
on a regular basis.
Where nugget ground is encountered they can be fitted with locked mesh security
screens.

Page 34

8.0

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

AGRICOLA, Georgius.

1556

De Re Metallica.
Translation by Herbert Clark and Lou Henry Hoover, 1912
The Mining Magazine, London
BOWIE, Jr., Aug. J.

1895

A Practical Treatise On Hydraulic Mining In California,

D. Van Nostrand Company, New York.
CLARKSON, Randy.

1990

Placer Gold recovery research, Final Summary.

Klondike Placer Miners Association, New Era Engineering Corporation.
2010
The Use of Nuclear Tracers to Evaluate the Gold Recovery Efficiency of Sluice boxes

Gravity Gold, 2010, Proceedings AusIMM

GRIFFITH, S.V.

1938

Alluvial Prospecting and Mining.

Mining Publications, Ltd, London
HARRISON, H.l.H.

1946

Examination, Boring and Valuation of Alluvial and Kindred Ore Deposits.

Mining Publications Ltd., The Mining Magazine, London.
1962
Alluvial Mining for Tin and Gold.
Mining Publications Ltd., The Mining Magazine, London.

LONGRIDGE, C.C.

1902

Hydraulic Mining, Part III

The Mining Journal, London
Page 35

1906
Gold Dredging, Annual Supplement, 1906
The Mining Journal, London
Gold and Tin Dredging and Mechanical Excavators
The Mining Journal, London
MACDONALD, Eion H.

1983

Alluvial Mining, The Geology, Technology and Economics of Placers.

Chapman And Hall, London
PEELE, Robert.

1945

Mining Engineers Handbook, Third Edition.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London
RICHARDS, Robert H.,

1903

Ore Dressing, Vol. I & II

The Engineering & Mining Journal, London
TAGGART, Arthur F.

1945

Handbook of Mineral Dressing, Ores and Industrial Minerals

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. London
WELLS, John H.

1969

Placer Examination, Principles and Practice,

Bureau of Land Management, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.

Page 36