DR SLUICE

Dr. Sluice Drop Riffle Sluice Boxes for Fine Gold Recovery

Dr. Sluice builds portable drop riffle sluice boxes for prospectors who hike to their gold. A drop riffle sluice uses a series of stepped riffles molded into the trough. Each step slows the water and creates a low-pressure pocket where dense gold drops out of the flow, while lighter sand and gravel wash through. The design is renowned worldwide for holding ultra-fine flour gold that washes straight over the expanded-metal riffles of a traditional sluice, and it works without miner's moss or carpet, which makes cleanups fast. This collection carries both Dr. Sluice models, The Original and The Prospector, refined by experienced prospectors for real-world field use.

The Original vs. The Prospector: Choosing Your Sluice

Both models share the same construction: durable 4mm thick plastic reinforced with two 3mm stainless steel braces, deep side walls that keep river surges from washing material out of the trough, and an indicator V mat at the head of the sluice that shows gold capture at a glance, so you know you are on the gold before you commit to a full run.

• The Original measures 27.5" long by 9.5" wide with 4" sides and weighs 2.5 lbs. The longer trough gives material more capture zones per pass, making it the pick when fine gold recovery is the priority.
• The Prospector measures 24.75" long by 9" wide with 4" sides and weighs just 2 lbs. The shorter footprint packs even smaller for prospectors counting every ounce on long hikes.

Either sluice slides into a rucksack with room left for a small pump and gear, and at 2 to 2.5 lbs you will not feel it on the hike in. There is nothing to assemble at the creek: set it in the flow, level it, and start feeding.

Built for Remote Creeks and Unclassified Gravels

Most ultralight sluices force you to classify every bucket before feeding. Dr. Sluice troughs process classified or unclassified river gravels, so you can shovel-feed straight from the streambed and let the deep walls and stepped riffles do the sorting. Classifying to half-inch mesh still speeds things up when you are processing high volumes, and it keeps cobbles from bouncing through the trough, but skipping it will not dump your fine gold the way it does with riffle-and-moss designs. When a run is done, cleanup takes minutes: rinse the riffles back into a bucket and pan or bowl the concentrate.

Complete Your Prospecting Setup

A sluice is the heart of a creek operation, and the gear around it determines how much ground you can test in a day. Find and sample productive ground with a gold metal detector, then break it out with rugged digging tools and picks. Classifiers, pumps, and gold pans live in our full gold prospecting equipment collection, and when you are back at camp, run your concentrates through a Blue Bowl or a Camel Mining spiral panning machine to finish the gold. After the sluice run, sweep the tailings and banks with one of our metal detectors to pick up nuggets the water moved. For technique and field stories, read the Detecting & Prospecting Guide, or call (844) 771-0707 and we will help you match the sluice to your creek.