Gear guide
Sluice boxes for gold
Pick by the water you will use. A pocket or mini model suits a small creek, and a 50-inch box a stream with steady flow. The BLM's mining rules say casual use generally includes non-motorized sluicing. That is a definition, not a permit.
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The picks
Three small kits for a first creek, two full-length boxes, a clean-up sluice and a mat. Each frame shows what the listing title names.
1. Sluice Fox pocket sluice kit
A 12-inch pocket sluice and two pans to finish the concentrate, per its listing.
2. ASR Outdoor backpack kit with rubber sluice
A 14-piece backpack kit built around a mini rubber sluice.
3. 18-piece aluminum mini sluice kit
An aluminum mini model that comes with a pan, a classifier screen, a separating magnet and a backpack, per its listing.
4. HVDI 50-inch aluminum sluice box
A full-length box for a stream with enough current to carry the gravel through. Nothing else is listed with it.
5. VEVOR 50-inch folding highbanker
A highbanker sits on the bank and is fed with water, so you can work gravel away from the current. No pump is listed.
6. Clean-Up Buddy mini sluice kit
Its name says what it is for: running the concentrate from a big box a second time. On Oct. 16, 2026, the listing's seller was a prospecting dealer.
7. Sluice Fox miner moss matting
Matting for the floor of a sluice, sold for fluid bed sluices. The listing offers 12 x 40 and 24 x 48 inches; this button opens the 12 x 40-inch blue version.
The frames show the facts each Amazon listing names, checked Oct. 17, 2026. We have no maker spec sheet on file for these products.
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How a sluice box works
A sluice box does the work of a pan on more gravel. Water runs down the box and carries the light sand away. Riffles and the mat under them slow the flow, and heavy particles drop into the mat.
Set it in the current with a slight slope. Too steep, and the water washes the fines out of the mat. Too flat, and gravel piles up in the riffles. When you stop, wash the mat into a tub and pan what it held. Box widths are not published in these listings, so measure the floor of your box before you order a mat.
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Sluicing on federal land
On BLM land, the mining rules define casual use as activity that ordinarily causes no or negligible disturbance. Their examples include hand panning and non-motorized sluicing. A definition is not a permit, and the BLM can temporarily close or restrict an area by order. Its conduct rule on rock and mineral specimens, in the table below, does not cover mining, which falls under 43 CFR 3809.
A highbanker run with a pump is not among those examples, so ask the BLM field office before you bring one. In national forests, digging in or removing historic or archaeological resources is prohibited. Under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), digging up an archaeological resource without a permit or a listed exemption is prohibited on federal public lands.
| Land | Rule | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Land Management public lands (mining rules) Definition | In the BLM mining rules, casual use means activities that ordinarily cause no or negligible disturbance. It generally includes hand panning, non-motorized sluicing and metal detectors used to sense the presence of minerals. | 43 CFR 3809.5 (opens in a new tab)Read Oct. 16, 2026 on ecfr.gov |
| Bureau of Land Management public lands Local rules | The BLM can issue an order that temporarily closes designated public lands or restricts their use. It posts the order at its office, near or within the area, through local media and online. | 43 CFR 8364.1(a) and (c) (opens in a new tab)Read Oct. 16, 2026 on ecfr.gov |
| Bureau of Land Management public lands Allowed with limits | Reasonable amounts of rocks, mineral specimens and semiprecious gemstones may be collected for noncommercial purposes. This does not apply on developed recreation sites and areas, or where a posted rule prohibits it. Explosive, motorized or mechanical devices may not be used to collect them, except metal detectors. | 43 CFR 8365.1-5(a)(3) and (b) (opens in a new tab)Read Oct. 16, 2026 on ecfr.gov |
| National Forest System lands Digging or removal prohibited | Digging in, disturbing or removing any prehistoric, historic or archaeological resource is prohibited. | 36 CFR 261.9(g) and (h) (opens in a new tab)Read Oct. 16, 2026 on ecfr.gov |
| Federal public lands and Indian lands Digging or removal prohibited | Excavating, removing, damaging or defacing an archaeological resource, or trying to, is prohibited without a permit or a listed exemption. A knowing violation is a federal crime. | 16 U.S.C. 470ee(a) and (d) (opens in a new tab)Read Oct. 16, 2026 on law.cornell.edu |
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Care in three steps
Clean the mat every time
Wash the mat into a tub before you move the sluice, so nothing caught in it is lost on the walk back.
Dry it before storage
Let the mat and box dry in the open. Wet matting packed away for weeks smells and breaks down.
Check the riffles
Look for bent riffles or a mat that has lifted from the floor. Water running under the mat carries the fines out.
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Questions
Answered from the texts and listings on this page, checked Oct. 17, 2026.
The BLM's mining rule, 43 CFR 3809.5, names non-motorized sluicing among its examples of casual use. It is a definition, not a permit, so ask the field office that manages the land.
Match it to the water. A 12-inch pocket sluice suits a small creek, and a 50-inch box needs steady current. A highbanker needs water brought to it on the bank.
It is a sluice on legs that sits on the bank and is fed with water, by hand or by a pump. The VEVOR listing above names a folding 50-inch frame and no pump.
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