Small sluice
- Thread starter longbob
- Start date
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
Your first "friendly" post here and no reply to presumably "friendly" email enquiries ....... hmmmmm! what could be wrong?
take a lead from this post https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=281368#p281368
take a lead from this post https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=281368#p281368
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2015
- Messages
- 7,768
- Reaction score
- 12,889
Hi.
I ordered two Angus MacKirk sluices from the US as the company I purchased them from had a deal going, the offer was too good to pass up and I had a mate over there on holidays that would bring them back for me, thus saving money and avoiding freight costs.
Anyhow, the one piece Angus MacKirk sluices are just wonderful, their "Abyss ramp and trench" riffle catches all the small gold and the black sand but allows the rock, sand and pebbles to flow through the sluice and drop off the end. There are a good number of videos on YouTube showing how to set them up and run them. Yes you need to see the V in the water and when those first rocks drop off the end of the sluice you will wonder if your loosing gold, but your not.
I have the Foreman II and the Scout, you will have to look around as the Oz sellers don't seem to stock much of the Angus MacKirk range (what they think you want?) and the prices here are unfortunately higher. You don't need a overly large sluice when your just starting out or seeing if you'll like the hobby, they all catch gold! However the sluices hold their price well and if you do decide to sell it you won't suffer a huge loss.
I know that there are other generic 'plastic' sluices on the market but stick to your decision to buy the Angus MacKirk as it is the right one.
I ordered two Angus MacKirk sluices from the US as the company I purchased them from had a deal going, the offer was too good to pass up and I had a mate over there on holidays that would bring them back for me, thus saving money and avoiding freight costs.
Anyhow, the one piece Angus MacKirk sluices are just wonderful, their "Abyss ramp and trench" riffle catches all the small gold and the black sand but allows the rock, sand and pebbles to flow through the sluice and drop off the end. There are a good number of videos on YouTube showing how to set them up and run them. Yes you need to see the V in the water and when those first rocks drop off the end of the sluice you will wonder if your loosing gold, but your not.
I have the Foreman II and the Scout, you will have to look around as the Oz sellers don't seem to stock much of the Angus MacKirk range (what they think you want?) and the prices here are unfortunately higher. You don't need a overly large sluice when your just starting out or seeing if you'll like the hobby, they all catch gold! However the sluices hold their price well and if you do decide to sell it you won't suffer a huge loss.
I know that there are other generic 'plastic' sluices on the market but stick to your decision to buy the Angus MacKirk as it is the right one.
Agree Thylacine,
I own two McKirks...Alaskan and Recon II both excellent sluices, easy to set up, easy to clean out and captures gold.
I pan my tailings and never find any gold only what's caught in the sluices. Great gear the McKirks
I own two McKirks...Alaskan and Recon II both excellent sluices, easy to set up, easy to clean out and captures gold.
I pan my tailings and never find any gold only what's caught in the sluices. Great gear the McKirks
Thank you for the info. I was looking at the backpacker MacKirk but think the Grubstake would suit better. Going to try my luck in Reedy (Reids?) Ck near Beechworth, but with so much rain lately might have trouble finding a decent spot.At least the rain will have washed out more gold.Thanks again
Teemore
One foot out the door
The Angus sluices do what they're designed for, catch gold .... BUT the material really needs to be classified down to have it working as it should, have been using a Boss/Foreman between detecting outings and it does trap gold. Larger pickers will often sit on the "feed" portion of the sluice.
If you can't get satisfaction from a supplier you can have mine at a 10% discount on what the current asking prices are (I have no idea).
Why sell it ....
1 I'm more into detecting the sluicing for most of the year and,
2 I've just finished playing with and buying the new (?) Dream Mat sluice from Goldrat Highbankers .....
Very impressed and pleased to say the pre clarifying your material is not necessary (unless you're processing almost pure clay), correctly set up ALL large material tumbles down the sluice, washing it, and leaving only the finer sands and of course gold.
Whilst normal SOP would be to test pan till a few specks were found, 2 old farts shovelled for a while, panned off the trapped material and checked for gold, we did that twice.
Result was 2 pans containing "almost" pickers to numerous smaller specks approx 20 plus in the 1st and slightly less in the 2nd cleanup plus superfine gold.
Verdict .... a great result considering the spot was untested, expect to find bigger and more if properly testing an area before hand.
is a winner
The Angus, great but for volume and quicker results the Dream Mat Sluice.
Cheers T.
If you can't get satisfaction from a supplier you can have mine at a 10% discount on what the current asking prices are (I have no idea).
Why sell it ....
1 I'm more into detecting the sluicing for most of the year and,
2 I've just finished playing with and buying the new (?) Dream Mat sluice from Goldrat Highbankers .....
Very impressed and pleased to say the pre clarifying your material is not necessary (unless you're processing almost pure clay), correctly set up ALL large material tumbles down the sluice, washing it, and leaving only the finer sands and of course gold.
Whilst normal SOP would be to test pan till a few specks were found, 2 old farts shovelled for a while, panned off the trapped material and checked for gold, we did that twice.
Result was 2 pans containing "almost" pickers to numerous smaller specks approx 20 plus in the 1st and slightly less in the 2nd cleanup plus superfine gold.
Verdict .... a great result considering the spot was untested, expect to find bigger and more if properly testing an area before hand.
is a winner
The Angus, great but for volume and quicker results the Dream Mat Sluice.
Cheers T.
longbob.
Good choice, the newer (there seems to be two versions) Grub Stake has the flared mouth, boil box and ramp riffles but not the Abyss trench riffles. Still the riffles are deep and you won't be loosing any gold. Yes the rain is a curse for some and a blessing for others as it churns up the gold and redeposits it hopefully where we can find it....
If your digging small gravel off the bottom (bedrock) of a creek there is no need to classify with a sieve, just slowly drop the material onto the front of the sluice and the water will move it along. But, if your digging dirt from the banks then you will need to classify and the small "Garrett Gold Pan Kit" has everything you need aside from a bucket to carry it in and your shovel.
You will need a bucket as your sieve fits into the top of it or you can use the pan, but most of us use a bucket. Sieve sits on top (in) bucket, pay-dirt goes into sieve, add water, more pay dirt, more water, check the sieve for those big one ounce nuggets then flick the rocks away (you can always run a detector over them later), repeat the process until the bucket is mostly full then ladle your 'concentrates' slowly into your sluice the water-flow should be fast enough so that by the time the ladle is empty the mouth of the sluice is too.
Repeat the process until you run out of concentrated material then you can carefully wash out your sluice into the pan and pan for gold.
Have fun and if your on the gold, remember to take some happy snaps and post them up for us to see!
Good choice, the newer (there seems to be two versions) Grub Stake has the flared mouth, boil box and ramp riffles but not the Abyss trench riffles. Still the riffles are deep and you won't be loosing any gold. Yes the rain is a curse for some and a blessing for others as it churns up the gold and redeposits it hopefully where we can find it....
If your digging small gravel off the bottom (bedrock) of a creek there is no need to classify with a sieve, just slowly drop the material onto the front of the sluice and the water will move it along. But, if your digging dirt from the banks then you will need to classify and the small "Garrett Gold Pan Kit" has everything you need aside from a bucket to carry it in and your shovel.
You will need a bucket as your sieve fits into the top of it or you can use the pan, but most of us use a bucket. Sieve sits on top (in) bucket, pay-dirt goes into sieve, add water, more pay dirt, more water, check the sieve for those big one ounce nuggets then flick the rocks away (you can always run a detector over them later), repeat the process until the bucket is mostly full then ladle your 'concentrates' slowly into your sluice the water-flow should be fast enough so that by the time the ladle is empty the mouth of the sluice is too.
Repeat the process until you run out of concentrated material then you can carefully wash out your sluice into the pan and pan for gold.
Have fun and if your on the gold, remember to take some happy snaps and post them up for us to see!
Teemore
One foot out the door
Thylacine said:
Errr, Ummmm ........ Digging the banks should not be encouraged - illegal.
And don't forget to make sure you have your Miners Right (or yr states version).
Cheers T.
