Gold Buddy

Gold Buddy Prospecting Equipment: Sluices, Pans, and Nugget Suckers

Gold Buddy builds practical, affordable gold prospecting equipment that shows up in more loadouts than almost any other budget brand. This collection carries the working core of the line: Yellow Jacket and mini sluice boxes, Archer gold pans and complete panning kits, hand-operated nugget suckers for crevicing, plus the suction tips, dredge adapters, and cleanup magnets that keep a small operation running. Whether you are panning your first creek or adding a second sluice for sampling, the gear here is chosen for one thing: putting more color in the pan for the money.

Choosing a Gold Buddy Sluice Box

Match the sluice to the water you work and the weight you can carry:

• Yellow Jacket 36" and 45" sluice boxes are the full-size choice for active streams, with riffle designs that create the turbulence needed to drop fine gold out of the flow while lighter gravel washes through. Pick the 45" for maximum capture length, or the 36" when pack space is tighter.
• The 24" Mini Sluice with flared intake and the Deluxe Mini Sluice are backpack-friendly options for sampling small creeks and testing new ground before you commit to hauling bigger gear.
• The Magnum 10" sluice with stand and the power sluice header box step you toward a recirculating or pumped setup when you want to process more material than the natural current allows.
• Running a Le Trap? The sluice stand for the Le Trap sluice holds it at the correct working angle without rock-stacking.

Nugget Suckers and Crevicing Tools

Some of the best gold never reaches a sluice because it sits packed in bedrock cracks under the waterline. Gold Buddy's hand-operated nugget suckers, including the 2" Magnum gravel pump, pull gravel, sand, and pickers straight out of crevices and pockets with a plunger stroke. No motor, no fuel, no noise. Plated suction tips in 1.5", 2", and 2.5" sizes and matching dredge adapters let you fit the pump to the crack you are working, and the pocket plunger magnet strips magnetic black sand from your concentrates during cleanup.

Gold Panning Kits for Beginners and Veterans

If you are starting out, the Gold Buddy beginners gold panning kit covers the essentials for the price of lunch, and the Strike It Rich kit adds two Archer gold pans and the extras that make a family outing productive. The Archer pans themselves, in 10" and 14" sizes, use molded riffles that hold fine gold through an aggressive wash. A gold pan never stops being useful: even prospectors running the biggest sluice finish every cleanup with a pan.

Complete Your Prospecting Setup

Gold Buddy gear covers recovery, and the rest of your kit determines how much paydirt reaches it. Break hardpan and move gravel with rugged digging tools and picks, then scan bedrock, crevices, and your tailings pile with a dedicated gold metal detector so larger nuggets never slip past the hopper. Classifiers, gold pans, and pumps live in our full gold prospecting equipment collection. For final cleanup of your concentrates, run them through a Blue Bowl concentrator or a Camel Mining spiral panning machine, and if you pack deep into the backcountry, compare the ultralight Dr. Sluice drop riffle sluices. Coin and relic hunters can browse all metal detectors, and the Detecting & Prospecting Guide covers technique. Questions? Call (844) 771-0707 and we will match the gear to your claim.