DEEP WELL SILICONE MAT SLUICE

This is kind of a follow up to my Silicone Mat video. I decided to make a sluice to fit the mat and this is my first tests on it. I will be doing more testing of the sluice and mat because some of the changes I made on this sluice kind of caught me by surprise. It has turned out to be quite an interesting sluice to run.

[@RugratKiller]

Nice Creation!! I like how this works. I would like to thank you and Alan for so many idea’s to build off of.

[@utahavalanch]

Canadian Realist Thank you for watching. This idea of his has been a fun one to play around with. I think we will both have more projects with these mats.

[@angelcardenas1249]

Hello sir big fan I really like and respect your work I was wonder if you might to give me the name of brand Off the Special paint for gold you talking about for the Miller table thank you very much I appreciated

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Angel and thank you for watching. The paint that I use is called Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint. It comes in a quart can and you have the store mix it to the color you want. I like the teal green the best. You can buy this paint in any paint store, Wallmart, Home Depot or Lowe’s.

[@angelcardenas1249]

@@utahavalanch Tank you very much I will Buy the paint and make my own thank you appreciated Keep up the good work Stay safe

[@utahavalanch]

The very best of luck to you in your build. Heh, heh, wish I could stay safe. I’m sitting in a hospital right now with viral pneumonia. 😖

[@cabandit1]

Excellent video. I have already duplicated your deep riffle sluice in a 2 foot and 3 foot configuration. I almost have my miller table finished as well. You have provided me with some very good ideas. Thank you for that. Now to find an area close to me where I can dig up some promising samples to test the things with.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Cabandit1. This slickplate modification is something you may want to try sometime to help guide your gold into the top riffle. Just keep sampling and you are bound to hit on a good spot.

[@stephenfuller8345]

Thank you my friend for your guidance. I will check these out while I’m on the road.

[@danhodgins4015]

Beautiful design and craftsmanship! Thanks for sharing.

[@utahavalanch]

Thanks Dan and thanks for watching.

[@laszlosoltesz3772]

I love your creativity, always improving and tweaking your miller tables. Congratulations on another great design.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Laszlo and thanks for stopping by. I really like Miller Tables and I guess whatever you could call this one. Something similar to this in a Drop Riffle although much larger will most likely be my sluice for this season.

[@rubyduma6238]

Looks like it’s working like a charm!

[@utahavalanch]

Hey Ruby, Yippers, it's really working quite well. It's a fun sluice as you can see right away if you have any gold or not. I'm going to make a larger drop riffle version that will hold a lot more material in the riffles for the season. Hope you got some gold out of your trip.

[@randythomas3478]

Subscribed! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your innovative vids! Thank you from North Carolina

[@utahavalanch]

Thank you, I hope I’ll have some videos that are of interest to you.

[@richardduke9788]

Another great idea and video explaining it !

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Richard and thank you and thanks for stopping by.

[@piratedredger1857]

Great build my friend , still inventing and still spot on .well in buddy ☠👍👍👍⛏💙

[@utahavalanch]

Hey Pirate, glad to see you're still around. Thanks for watching and I hope you have a great season this year.

[@coptechgold]

I would need something like this. Very well done.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Doublenot and welcome back. I think you would like one of these. It's the most fun I've had with a sluice in a long time. I don't have any streams I can work so I just take samples from everything I can find and if I find gold, I go back for more. The slick plate acts kind of like one of those indicator mats everyone puts at the head of their sluice. It will very quickly tell you if there is any gold in a sample. I run it out of a 10 gallon tote so I can set it up in the back of the truck and run quick samples through it. I think this time of the year with the high water, if you set it up on the bank of a stream and used a hand dredge to gather material out of the stream you could still easily move quite a bit of material with out the problem of getting out in the fast water to try and shovel something. I think a Drop Riffle version would hold much more material than the mat and so I'm going to make one of those in a larger version and use this one for cons or small samples.

[@sovereignlivingsoul]

i like the deep well concept, nice design

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Dashlalonde thank you and thanks for watching. I put a number of years into developing and testing this design as well as several others. This was developed especially for capturing the very small gold.

[@ivandavison1808]

You explain so well the sluice i like here in my part of bolivia the gold is 50 mesh up to about 400+ so your sluice is perfect thank you for the videos.

[@utahavalanch]

Ivan Davison Thank you Ivan and thank you for watching. I designed this sluice just for that size gold and smaller and it works very well for it. It's also very easy to build.

[@robertshappenings5481]

very nice setup -- the silicone really does the job and your well/ramp system is excellent at slowing water and allowing for brushing value up for catchment .. amazing how when we setup to do /make something we end up making something even better than what we started for ! We will take it !

[@utahavalanch]

Thanks Robert and thanks for watching. Yippers, this has really been a great sluice for catching gold.

[@robertshappenings5481]

@@utahavalanch i dont know what the angle should be but i heard Dan Heard on his high school teaching video state that it is supposed to be near level .. so prob something like 1 or 2 degrees .. i had mine at 5 .. i will reduce .. i had a kind of teeny riffle mate and a very smooth surface (i should get a can of that chalk board paint) - I plan to put some foot matting that has riffles about 1/16" --- htis might do good to hold micros .. a DC pump with variable is the best solution, u can also get a variac on an ac pump , not as good as DC but a lot quieter operation. I might try a vibration mechanism as these things are slow as heck to move the material (with that very slight angle and very low water flow) ..

[@utahavalanch]

@@robertshappenings5481 The angle and water flow are very important especially if you have fine gold. The mat makes a big difference as well. If you have a very shallow mat like a vortex, Deep V or similar. I would start out at about 5 degree angle. If you have a deep trough mat like in the video, you can go to about 8 - 10 degrees. Most prospectors run their water too fast and wash out all the fine gold. If you are working with fine gold, keep the flow to around 5 - 700 GPH. The best thing to do is get some fine gold that is around the size you are working with and set the angle at about 5 degrees. Then pick a water flow and run your gold in some fine sand. Then very carefully pan your tailings to see if there is any gold. If so reduce your water flow and keep running till there is no more gold in the tailings. If there is no gold, then keep running and increasing your water flow until gold shows up. Then reduce your water flow and run again to make sure there is no gold showing up. You want to fine tune your sluice so that it will always keep the fine gold. Also always screen your material down a couple of sizes. If you only have 1 screen, use a kitchen strainer and run the larger material through in a run with increased water and the finer sizes at the reduced water level you found kept all the fine gold.

[@utahavalanch]

@@robertshappenings5481 Just noted in your comment. If the material is moving too slow, then increase your water flow till it does. If the water flow doesn’t move it enough, then increase your angle til it does. It’s a balancing act between water flow and angle. If you find a combination that looks good then run some fine gold through it and carefully pan your tailings to see if any gold escaped. Always remember to test your tailings.i like to run small batches at a time like about a gallon so there are not too many tailings to pan. If you don’t have any fine gold, you might want to buy a bag from Minersdepot.com. They have the best gold for the money and their bags have a lot of flower gold in them that’s good for testing your sluice.

[@freddypichardo8041]

SUPER AWESOME!!!

[@HDshovelEd]

Hey I swung by to see what has been going on over here and missed this Video. I really like your deep well video... The one I built from you design works so well. Love the different ways you can use it....

[@utahavalanch]

HD shovel Ed Hi Ed and thanks for stopping by again. I'm glad to hear your Deep Well is working well for you. I do a lot of sample testing for myself and other people and with this sluice I can quickly determine if there is any gold or not. I'm now making a larger version to process more material.

[@jamesfishfish9099]

I love your sluice box

[@utahavalanch]

James Fish Fish Thank you James and thanks for watching. This is by far my favorite design. I am currently using a larger version and it's really something. I'll put up a video one of these days on it.

[@alanrobertson2510]

Very cool sluice! That is a problem when the gold doesn't make it to the mat that everyone would love to have. I love the deep well sluice I might have to give it a try. Almost ready to try the mats from the 3D printed molds.

[@utahavalanch]

Hey Alan, Thanks for stopping by. Yes, that is very aggravating having it just sit there cluttering up the slick plate. :-D I'm looking forward to seeing what the new mats are like. Looks like you have started quite a new fad. I'm getting lots of input from other folks starting to make their own mats. Maybe Gold Hog will start putting them out as well. :-D

[@alanrobertson2510]

@@utahavalanch I think the idea is taking off for sure I have even seen the mats show up on Facebook who know what will happen they sure work well.

[@AnythingReally]

great video!!! I enjoyed it!!

[@utahavalanch]

Anything Really Thank you and thanks for watching..

[@coyotecanyon5801]

Awesome as always! A little heads up though.. I've already made this exact deep well/ miller sluice in the drop riffle version you are wanting to do. Its 12Wx30L with an 11 inch long chalkboard slick plate and 3/4 riffles. I made the 1st riffle a tiny, tiny bit higher than the slick plate to allow the material to slam into it like you reccomend, which is AMAZING when running full speed. But when you lower the water flow to use it as a miller table, the low flow doesn't push the material over that first riffle; it creates too big of a dead zone. The material backs up onto your slick plate and leaves you with no room to work it like a Miller Table. So maybe to save you a headache you might want to make that first riffle even with the slick plate if you want to use it as a miller table as well. I was pretty dang sad when I spent hours and hours on my fancy, dancy drop riffle/miller sluice and it didnt work as a miller table :( It does work as a drop riffle though! Lol

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Chandler. I do see the problem. Actually what you have is exactly the end product I was thinking about when I made this. I ended up getting distracted by all the gold falling out. LOL The main problem with the slick plate is that it can let fine gold build up speed and get caught up in the turbulence and get blow out the end. The original plan was not to have it act like a miller table but just slow the gold down so that it would reliably drop into the top trough. Once it's down in there it is pretty hard to have it get washed out. I think that part is probably working well on yours and I wouldn't change it. I think that would be a really good production sluice and I think my summer sluice will be just like it. Just a little shorter. Now that you have one under your belt the next build gets easier. So why not make a finishing sluice? And then a...............Yea, it never ends. LOL I may try another 8" test drop riffle sluice using 5/8" high riffles instead of the 3/4" to see how that would work although now I'm thinking that maybe a mat is a better idea. It will handle a slow water flow better. Oh, well, I've got to have at least 2 sluice projects going all the time so that will give me something to work on. :-D

[@coyotecanyon5801]

@@utahavalanch Gotcha, yeah I love how it works on the first riffle. You've designed these perfect! Haha, oh dont worry, you've given me the sluice making bug. I'm up to 6 I've made now in the last month and a half. The first 3 ended up not working like I'd like. But now I've got a deep well miller, mat/miller sluice, and that drop riffle sluice which are all working great. I've learned more from you and this page than all the reading/advice I've ever gotten from any other sources combined! Wish you lived closer than Ogden, I'd love to pick your brain and watch how you do things in the field. But KZbin will just have to do for now Haha. I really haven't found too much as far as urban gold down here lately. I found about a gram the first place I tried, a few -12 mesh pieces, but mostly -30 stuff and below. But pretty much skunked after that. I was gonna ask you if you've ever thought of just purchasing some road bed material? You mentioned always finding big flakes in road bed stuff in one of your videos. Worth it to purchase a truckload or so and run it? Or too random on whether or not it holds gold?

[@utahavalanch]

@@coyotecanyon5801 Well Chandler, now that you have some good working pieces that you can depend on, you can start branching off and trying different designs and ideas. I video all of my builds and pretty much most of my dirt runs so I can sit back and see whats working and whats not. It's surprising how much you learn from the videos. I notice things that I think i'd like to change and that starts off another project. :-D Well, if i could still drive I would take a trip or two down that way and maybe spend and afternoon or two but I'm kind of stuck here most of the time. I'm thinking of doing a video on Urban Prospecting and where to look for material and how to process it. I have a lot of footage and it's just sitting down and editing it. It's something you just have to keep working at and eventually you will start learning where to look. Most of it is quite small so learn how to catch the very small stuff. Small it is but it adds up. Yes, I think of buying a truckload of road base all the time and I have a guy who really wants to sell me some but unfortunately I don't have a place to put it except in my driveway and the city would be on me in a heartbeat. So I just hit the old roads up the canyons and collect some of the material on the shoulders.

[@williamgipson6558]

Nice problem to have, lol. Nice job and great video. Thanks

[@utahavalanch]

William Gipson Thank you William and thanks for watching.

[@johnsaucerhunter]

I think you've done a wonderful job of creating a device that captures the micron -100 & -50 AU. Good Job!

[@utahavalanch]

Thank you John and thanks for watching. I have found that there is much more gold in the smaller sizes and so I have spent the past 10 years trying to build equipment to catch it. I can now catch down to -200 easily although you need to have 40x lenses to see it. For me it's the challenge of being able to catch it.

[@johnsaucerhunter]

@@utahavalanch Here's the deal with the AU in the minus 150-200 size... If there's enough of it... you'll see it. I actually thought that the only way you could get the -200 (and smaller) was with the use of a centrifuge. I monkey'd around awhile back trying to make a DIY version (failed miserably too LOL)

[@utahavalanch]

@@johnsaucerhunter Your are sure right there John. But I usually don't get enough together at one time to be able to see it easily. I usually find it in the super fine sludge I used to throw away. Now I just pan it down to the black sand and gold and snuffer it up. When I get about 1/4 ounce of it, I throw it into a batch of fine gold I'm melting down in the furnace. I do a lot of urban prospecting now days as the material is all around me and I'm getting way more gold out of gutter dirt than I ever did shoveling into the big Gold Hog Sluice. It's crazy.

[@connieeveritt5704]

Very nice. Thank you for sharing ;)

[@utahavalanch]

Thank you and thank you for watching. This is getting to be my favorite sluice.

[@CandSMINING]

Thanks for sharing your video.👍👍👌😊

[@utahavalanch]

Chuck Gentles Hi Chuck and thank you so much for watching.

[@CandSMINING]

@@utahavalanch it is good to see another creator trying to help the prospecting community.

[@utahavalanch]

Chuck Gentles I can't get out and work a claim any longer so I enjoy building and testing different equipment designs. I was surprised at how many people are interested in building their own so I decided to pass along some of what I think are the more efficient projects.

[@CandSMINING]

@@utahavalanch Thank you for doing it on your channel. I still have a couple of years left in the field, but am still trying to give some of my 30 years of experience back.

[@utahavalanch]

@@CandSMINING You have a good channel going and it's important to pass the information on to the younger generation. There sure isn't anywhere around here for them to learn so they have to resort to the KZbins. Back in my younger days when I was making dirt, I didn't realize how much trouble this yellow stuff was going to be. Guess I should have left it out. :-D

[@kennligas6931]

utah....another thing of beauty!

[@utahavalanch]

Thank you and thanks for watching. It has turned out to be quite a fun sluice to run. You can certainly tell when you have some gold in the dirt.

[@jadekayak01]

Easy to understand-miller table with a ribbed mat on the bottom. You could use chalkboard paint on the slickplate and even tintable chalkboard paint you could colour it blue or grass green

[@utahavalanch]

Yippers, that’s the way you do it. Thanks for watching.

[@stephenfuller8345]

Thank you so much Sir! I’m am a big believer in a deep well or fluid bed Sluice setup. My clay content requires me to soak, as much as possible because the Gold acts differently in clay than it does in gravel or sand. It doesn’t sink, it sticks to the clay. Slows down production. The miller idea at the beginning of my sluice run after I soak it in a fluid bed of sorts, might do the trick. I don’t know if you saw my silicone mat video, but any ideas for it would much be appreciated! As always, your friend, Steve

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Steve and thanks for watching. I did pay you a visit and left some info. I may have some other ideas as well. Yippers, clay is a real pain. I used to soak it for awhile, then dump in a bunch of Home Depot all purpose sand and mix it with a drywall mud mixer on a power drill. Once it mixes with the sand it's easier to control and you can always recover the sand to use again. What I do now is do a gallon at a time. I fill about 3/4's of the bucket with the clay and then take a piece of 1/2' PVC 14" long and put a garden hose connector on the end. Then turn on the water a little bit and start stirring. pretty soon the superfines will work to the top and spill over. I usually put the bucket in a Wally World sink dish washing tub to catch the fines for processing later. In my material, once I get those supers out, I end up with some very nice fine sand that goes through the sluice nicely.

[@utahavalanch]

Stephen, something I just ran across using chemicals to break down the clay so it acts like normal sand. Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) Mix 1 cup of Sodium Carbonate with 3 cups of water and add to a gallon of clay mixture. Wait about an hour and then process. Sodium Carbonate you can make by spreading a pound of Sodium Bicarbonate on a cookie sheet and baking at 200 degrees for 2 hours. Or it's in a lot of Swimming Pool Ph chemicals and also a lot of cleaning products for clothes. Don't add more as it will then turn to thick sludge. Also 20 Mule Team Borax can be used to break the clay up although I don't know how much to add. You can buy Sodium Carbonate up on Ebay for about $13.00 for 5 lbs.

[@greenandgold2185]

I run two different classifications on my table. By adjusting the angle for smaller material it works great. I'm thinking about making a table 2ft wide or wider for lake Superior beach mining.

[@utahavalanch]

Undercover Auditor Hi Undercover, that is the best way to do it. I usually classify to 3 levels. I have run 2 - 1.5 gallon batches of Lake Superior sand that was sent to me for testing. I found that about 80% of the gold was in the minus 40 material. So that is what I would concentrate my efforts on. A 2 foot wide table would be a good size to use and it would help to have a Silicone drop Riffle mat on the lower end like this one. I'm currently working with the minus 100 gold in Nome Beach sands with this unit.

[@greenandgold6740]

@@utahavalanch I've watched your deep well miller table video about a year ago. I've since made a deep well myself. They work great!

[@genofromrenoprospector6940]

I really appreciate your videos. Your wood working skills are top notch. What is the length and width of this table?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Geno. Thank you and thanks for watching. The baseboard is 21" long x 8" wide. The deep well is 2-1/2" from the header board to the Slick Plate. The Slick Plate is 7" long x 8" wide and has a 45 degree angle cut on both ends. there is a 1/2" notch cut under the bottom end so the mat can slip up under. The header board is 2 - 1x3's glued together with one extending down behind the baseplate and one sitting on top. The water bar is 1/2" PVC. The paint is Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint in Teal color. Hope this helps.

[@Devilock79]

I think I'd set the silicone mat at a steeper angle than the slick plate. Obviously would require a two-piece sluice but I think a steeper angle would help clear out more of the lighter gravel. That being said, I made a silicone sawtooth mat after seeing one of your videos and I think it'll work pretty good!

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Devilock and thanks for watching. Yep, it could have used more water to clean out some of the riffles. But It's interesting to watch that the material piles up at the bottom of the slick plate and the water just rolls it down the mat. As it's rolling, the gold just drops out on the mat and doesn't stay with the rest of the material. I build and test about 20 sluices a year but none of them have worked quite like this one. But what I'm trying to do is find ways to steer the gold to an area that you want it to go to rather than just fall out randomly. I can do that with panning and now I'm hoping to do it with sluices. This will work really well with a drop riffle that has deep troughs to store the gold in. I'd be interested to hear how your mat works out when you get some time out with it.

[@Devilock79]

@@utahavalanch Yeah I think silicone is really the way forward for fine gold. It's sticky but it's not...Anyway thanks so much for all these videos you share with us, no amount of knowledge or theory can beat real-life experience.

[@utahavalanch]

@@Devilock79 Yes, it's interesting it sticks to metals and not the rocks. Real life experiences I have. I have made all the mistakes and I can certainly tell you what not to do. :-D

[@swadishtadda327]

Nice

[@ivandavison1808]

Exelent little sluice .i see your turning on and off the electric a lot you could try a foot switch like a sowing machen has.

[@utahavalanch]

Ivan Davison Hi Ivan. Good idea, I will look into it.👍

[@frederickbierweiler8020]

informative you got a second watch from me

[@utahavalanch]

frederick bierweiler Well, thank you. I appreciate your taking the time to watch. I also have a couple more videos on it's bigger brother running some new mats you may be interested in.

[@johnnytoy5487]

Thanks 👁️ like it 👍

[@utahavalanch]

Thank you and thanks for watching.

[@morrismercier9849]

What is the GPM you are running in it? Or did you very it? This would be helpful to us all.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Morris and thanks for watching. I am using an 800 GPH pump on this and the valve is varied between about 500 - 600 GPH. If I had material classified down to 30 mesh and smaller, I would reduce it to 300 - 400 GPH. The idea behind this is, that if you get a waterflow that is too high for the fine gold, the paint will slow it down to the point to where it will slowly work it's way down the slick plate and onto the mat instead of getting blown out of the sluice. Also at higher water flows, it will cause the gold to stick momentarily so you can see if you are on the gold or not. Like having an inspection mat on your slick plate. I'm finding that if you reduce the water flow, the slick plate acts like a Miller Table and you can sweep much of the gold like I'm doing here into the deep well for later collection with the snuffer bottle. You can put this paint on the flare of a stream sluice and it will slow down any gold in the material while letting the sand and gravel flow normally. If you have an inspection mat at the front of your sluice, the paint will cause the gold to collect in it more. The best valve I have found for this is a gas valve you can buy at your local Home Depot store. They also sell nylon hose barbes so you can connect the hoses to it. Hope this helps.

[@wessimmons9502]

Love the video and can you make me a sluice just like yours? Thanks,keep the videos rolling..

[@utahavalanch]

Wes Simmons Hi Wes and thanks for watching. I'm sorry but I'm not able to right now due to medical problems. But these are quite easy to make. Check out my how to build Miller Table and it will show you the basics on building one. It's the same for both the Miller Table and sluice only the top deck is shorter on the sluice.

[@closr4480]

What kind of pain is that whatever called if I may ask? I appreciate this most valuable information u have shared with us Thank U...

[@utahavalanch]

Clos R Hi Clos R and thanks for watching. The paint used is Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint. You can get it at Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart or any Paint store. It comes in a quart can.

[@bjvoorhies]

How about some pictures of your MOUNTING system? The adjustment stuff....

[@utahavalanch]

B. James Voorhies Hi James and thanks for watching. I've been going to make a video on my recirculation set up for some other folks, so I'll try and get something put together on it soon. I'll be sure to include the mounting and adjusting as it has evolved into something I really like about it.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi James, I am currently working on a video with the info that you requested. I came up with some new material to add to it so stay tuned.

[@davetaylor6721]

Great video, and great ideas! It looks like that silicone V mat is from Alan Robertson's mold (or mold idea) - is that right? An either way, how does that silicone compare with the recovery produced by a Gold Stop Mat? Keep up the work, this is all good stuff!

[@utahavalanch]

Dave Taylor Hi Dave and thanks for watching. You're right, it is from Alan's idea. I have made 10 different mats and 4 sluices for them. I primarily like the Drop Riffle sluices best and now I have a number of different configurations of Drop Riffle mats to choose from. Check out my Combination sluice video for one of them. These are way better than the gold stop mats. I have a video coming out on a simple sluice you can build to use with his mats. I had 2 mats on it, 6 inches of Silicone at the top and 6 inches of Gold Stop mat. I ran a very high water flow test and the Silicone caught almost all the gold but the Gold stop was stripped bare of anything. These beat out anything on the market right now because the gold sticks to the mat and doesn't slide off like with rubber mats.

[@russsherwood5978]

somethin like thet woud make a great beacmachine fer beach minein,, thank ya fer the video

[@utahavalanch]

russ sherwood Hi Russ and thanks for watching. It does indeed. I just got through running 3 buckets through its big brother and it did a great job on that tiny gold.

[@russsherwood5978]

@@utahavalanch thank ya fer the info,ai,,ll be makin won in the future, thank ya fer the informactiv videos

[@utahavalanch]

russ sherwood You are welcome. Best of luck on your build. I think you will really like one of these sluices.

[@davidanderson1765]

Outstanding product and would like to have you make me one.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi David, and thanks for watching. Unfortunately due to medical problems, I am unable to make you one at this time. However I have a video on making my Deep Well Miller Table. The only difference is that the deck on this one is 6 inches long instead of about a foot.

[@FlourgoldWizards]

Miller sluice Miller beer , it all goes down lol. Your brain fascinates me!!!! Thanks 🍺🍺🍺🇺🇸

[@utahavalanch]

Hey, Wizard. thanks for stopping by. Yea, it fascinates a lot of people. Most would like to remove it and drop it in a hole. :-D Used to love the beer when I was in Germany. Then I came home and gave it up. We only have that watered down stuff that has less alcohol than those little wine coolers. If we want a real beer we have to drive to Wyoming. Urgghh.

[@JamesKlukas-lu7xd]

So , the slick plate is chalk board paint ? Please reply and thanks.

[@utahavalanch]

James Klukas Hi James and thanks for watching. Yes, it is. I forgot to mention it at the first. It really slows down the Gold so it doesn't get blown out the sluice if the water flow is too high. I am working with a larger version right now and it is really a gold catching machine. I check the tailings after each run and 0 losses. It has a fluid bed and the sluice plate which can be used as a Miller Table or just to slow the gold down. I'll put up a video on it a little later.

[@NickatLateNite]

1st time I ever heard anybody get frustrated having to stop their rig to brush the 'gold' out of the way ;-)

[@terrymac682]

Nice, question? When you stop /start pump, does it wash out the gold you brushed in the deep well?

[@utahavalanch]

I haven’t had the problem. It’s generally hard to get the gold to blow out unless you really turn the water pressure way up when you turn the water back on. Even then the gold will stick to the Chalkboard paint on the Miller Deck and will eventually get pushed down into the top riffle of the Silicon mat. Gold likes to stick to Silicone as well so between the Miller Deck and the Silicon mat, I have about 18” of gold flypaper that catches pretty much everything down to the finest micro gold.

[@johnnytoy5487]

I watch your videos many many times to make sure that I get the details right, What thickness of cardboard do you recommend starting with for the silicone mat.🤔

[@utahavalanch]

What I have is 1/8” thick. If you can get thicker, I would.

[@freddypichardo8041]

What kind of paint do you use? Thank you!

[@utahavalanch]

Freddy Pichardo Hi Freddy, and thanks for watching. Check out the video on its big brother. The paint I use is Rustoleum Chalkboard paint in the pint can. The color is Teal. You can buy this in most any paint or big box store. The gold likes to stick to it and so it is used here as a Miller Table surface as well as to slow the gold down to make sure it lands on the to the top edge of the mat.

[@jassmandidgeridoo]

Should the paint be applied across or down the board

[@utahavalanch]

jeremy scriver Hi Jeremy and thanks for watching. It doesn't really matter as any brush or roller marks will disappear as the paint dries. I usually paint in one direction and then in the other. You need to apply at least 4 coats of paint as it dries quite thin.

[@evcin1]

How can I get or make a Deep well silicone sluice? Do you have plans you sell or do you sell the deep well sluice? How do I get one or the plans?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Stanley and thanks for watching. I don't have any way to sell these or plans. But you can make one of these fairly easily. I am in the process of making videos on building this and another sluice and I have a video out on making a silicone mat and will have another one on making the drop Riffle mats. Hang on, getting old and don't move too fast. 😄 in the meantime watch my video "How To Build The Deep Well Miller Table. It's the same process except you make the top plate only 6-1/2" long. You can go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy: 1- 1/2" x 8" x 3' hobby board for the base board. 1- 1" x 8" x 6' pine board for the Slick Plate 1- 1" x 3" x 8' furring strip for the water bar header board. You can use this for the side rails as well. You can buy 1/2" hobby boards for the side rails as well but they are way more expensive. I hope this as well as my other video will help you for the time being til I get these other videos out. Best of luck on the build. This is really a great sluice/Miller Table/fluid bed combination.

[@Dvhunsaker]

In Utah here, I have lots of legos you can borrow if you want to try and make a mat.

[@utahavalanch]

Hi David and thanks for watching. Thank you very much for the offer. I have since found other ways to make the mats. I found that they really work well and I have made quite a few of them.

[@bartbley1269]

turn your matt a 180 use the smooth side see what happens . Alan another miner uses a flat silicone surface in the bottom of his blue bowl and it works good

[@utahavalanch]

bart bley Hi Bart and thanks for watching. I have. The problem is that the black sand likes to stick to the Silicone as well. It coats the Silicone and makes a hard slick surface the gold can't stick to and so it washes off. I tried painting the Silicone on to the Miller Table part here as well and it did the same thing. Alan can get the water flow much higher in the blue bowl so it breaks the black sand loose. You can't generate those speeds on a flat Silicone surface in a sluice and keep the gold. So you need to have the pockets that are big enough to hold the gold and the black sand. It helps if the black sand and gold are screened to the same size because then the gold is a little heavier than the black sand and the gold will settle in the bottom of the troughs and the lighter black sand will eventually wash on out.

[@bartbley1269]

that answers that question . did you think of doubling your angle I catch gold on a 24 degree angle with my old wool blanket 95+% recovery @@utahavalanchhere's another thought In recent years I have been in contact with a fellow from Calgary www.envi-tech .ca or com he uses Chitosan a adsorbent to get fine gold . worked well for NSR gold . but he seems reluctant to using it for placer mining . I suggested electro plating a metal slick type of trays and bonding the chitosan to it to collect gold like the old timers did with mercury on acidized copper . He told me that the chitosan was from apricot cornels and he got the product from Poland. E-mail me at [e-mail] I can send you pictures of my out fit and my wool blanket with about 3 grams of gold in it

[@utahavalanch]

@@bartbley1269 Hi Bart. No I don't go beyond 11 or 12 degrees as with regular mats that will lose most of the gold. Wool is a good gold catcher and has been used for thousands of years. The story about the the golden fleece comes from the ancient Greeks and others used to use sheep skins to capture gold. Yes, there are many ways they have developed to catch the fine gold. I just use my mats and a gold pan now to catch the gold. I can catch gold down to the size that I need a 40x loupe to see it. I suck it all up into 1 snuffer bottle and when I get 5 or 6 grams, I'll melt it down into a button.

[@bartbley1269]

@@utahavalanch Yes you are right about the golden fleece. The fellow that gave me my first out fit told me that story in the 70s . He built that outfit exactly like James gibbons grizzly from the 1800s using nothing but wool blanket on a24 degree angle to catch the gold . which is pretty close to the angle of repose for NSR gravel . The picture I have of the blanket tray that was on the same angle is really cleaned up in regards to blonds and black sand . I used a 1" gas driven pump for water supply and classified material with 1/4" convex screen which afforded self cleaning of the screen . basically all one has to do is shovel .A stolen idea from another old timer . Thanks for your attention

[@hammer0371]

Awesome video. What is the name of that paint

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Trevor, thank you and thanks for watching. The paint is Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint. It comes in a pint can and there are a number of colors you can have it mixed in. The color here is the Teal. You can buy it in any paint or big box store. It has a surface that gold will stick to which makes it ideal for Miller Tables or as it is used in one mode here, to slow the gold down so it doesn’t get blown out of the sluice with high water flow.

[@johndalton5586]

what is the paint that gold likes to stick to

[@utahavalanch]

Hi John and thanks for watching. The paint is Rustoleum Chalkboard paint. You can buy it in a quart can and have it tinted to the color you want and it also comes in a black spray can. Gold likes to stick to it and so it makes a great surface for a Miller Table or places where you want to slow gold down like in this unit so the gold goes into the top riffle. If you slow the water way down, the deck of this can be used as a Miller Table as well to make it easy to separate the gold from the black sand.

[@roberttburrows5827]

Chalkboard paint on upper slick plate?

[@utahavalanch]

Robert T Burrows Yippers. The idea was to slow the gold down so it would be sure to drop where I wanted it. It kinda went a little further than I had planned. I'm playing around with this some more and it's getting quite interesting. Thanks for watching.

[@joshortiz1576]

Love it!!! How much was the cost for supplies to make it and what are the?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Josh and thanks for watching. Well, the Chalkboard paint and the Spar Varnish are the most expensive and they run about $10.00 each. Then there is a 1x6x6 pine board that I use for the Slick Plate that runs about $8.73. I use 1/2 a cedar fence board for the base plate and the other half to make the side rails. That is about $1.97. You can use 1x3 furring strips for the side rails if you can't cut the cedar board down the middle and they run about $1.92 for a 1x3x8. So around $30.00 if you use the Chalkboard paint and $20.00 if you don't. Of course you may be able to round up materials that you have already to help cut the cost down. Hope this helps.

[@joshortiz1576]

@@utahavalanch sweet thank you very much for the info =) very much appreciated!!!

[@utahavalanch]

@@joshortiz1576 You are very welcome. if you build one let me know how it works for you.

[@joshortiz1576]

@@utahavalanch I will do so. It might take me a bit to get all the supplies for it. Living on disability does not leave much for extra funds lol

[@utahavalanch]

@@joshortiz1576 Yippers, Josh, I sure know how it is. Just buy one or two items a month as money permits and pretty soon you will have what you need to get started. All of my projects are made from the cheapest materials I can find. It doesn't need to be fancy to work.

[@303prospecting7]

Nice gold catch you should check out the easy classifier I made.

[@utahavalanch]

Thanks for watching 303. I did check out your classifier. looks like something us old guy with bad backs could use. Thanks for sharing.

[@evcin1]

I would like to take a look at your easy classifier. How can I do that?

[@alphabror835]

Mr. Avalanche, How many GPH is that pump you’re using?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Alpha and thanks for watching. I have an 800 GPH pump on it. However I have a valve on it so I can turn down the water flow. I very seldom use it at the 800 GPH and mostly at around 600 GPH.

[@jamesfishfish9099]

And miller plate

[@randythomas3478]

I think the chalk paint area could be a foot longer....what say ye?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Randy and thanks for watching. Yes, it could be a little longer but I needed it to fit in a 10 gallon tote for portability so I wanted the larger capture area. I have another video of it with a different mat that worked much better. I mostly present the idea here and you can make them to suit your own needs. I have start up miners making these in more than 7 different countries and they are making them up to 24” wide x 15’ long. With the deep drop riffle mat I have a couple of videos on, they are catching gold in the minus 100 - 200 range quite easily. I like this sluice as I can take it on the road and test any dirt I run across that looks interesting very quickly. I can run a sample on it and if there is any gold it shows up on the deck very quickly. Faster than panning.

[@amenaaron]

Where is some good local places to dig? I live in slc

[@utahavalanch]

Hi SinMob and thanks for watching. You are pretty limited unless you do Urban Prospecting like I do. The Cottonwood canyon streams you aren't allowed to even wade or wash your hands in, so the only way to get the material to work is with a hand dredge and then take it home to work. American Fork Canyon is the closest place that has gold that you can work the stream. I am only able to get down there a couple of times a year myself. I think your best bet would be to join the Utah Gold Prospecting Club there in Salt Lake as they have claims you can work on and they have people there who know more about where to find the gold around there.

[@weswalker1208]

What is the paint that you talked about? And thank you in advance

[@weswalker1208]

A little later you said chalkboard paint

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Wes and thanks for watching. Good, it looks like you found the answer. Rustoleum Chalkboard paint has a surface that gold tends to stick to and the black sand not quite so much. So it makes it perfect for a unit like this. I can use slow water and use this as a Miller Table or with faster water, it will slow down the gold considerably so it falls into the mat and not get blown out the end of the sluice. So far it is still the best paint or rubber product for this job.

[@X02switchblades]

14:50 what are those silvery specs along with the gold ones?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi XplaneZ and thanks for watching. That is very fine gold. Gold is the only thing that sticks to this paint. The heavy black sand that is associated with gold even moves off and that’s what makes this unit so good at separating the two so you only get the gold.

[@PortHolio408]

Platinum? Not uncommon in WA beach sands

[@utahavalanch]

@@PortHolio408 hi and thanks for watching. My camera doesn’t pick up the color on very tiny gold very well. Unfortunately Platinum is quite rare here. I’d love to be able to work the WA beaches again. Been a few years. We spent 2 weeks in the rainforest there and loved it.

[@johnnytoy5487]

Do you make videos when you are gathering your material 🤔

[@utahavalanch]

Yes I do. I take samples from any dirt I run across that looks interesting. If there is gold in it, I’ll know where it came from and I’ll go back for another sample or two. I try and find places around home I can get repeatable gold from.

[@randyapplebee5691]

Do you show how you built this table in one of you videos

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Randy and thanks for watching. I am currently working on a video and trying to get it posted sometime soon. However I have a how to build video out on my Miller Table that is built exactly the same way as my Miller sluice except for the length of the top deck. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaWni62ioNJjfpo The top deck on my new Miller Sluice is about 10 inches long. This will allow you to use it as a sluice and a Miller Table both. With a mat below the top deck, it will catch any runaway gold that is too round or too flat and light to be caught on the Miller Table and you can use it as a sluice. If you have any questions you can contact me at [e-mail].

[@randyapplebee5691]

@@utahavalanch tks a lot I'm watching it now

[@utahavalanch]

@@randyapplebee5691 👍👍

[@utahavalanch]

@@randyapplebee5691 If you have any questions, let me know.

[@johnnytoy5487]

This is the type of table I'm working on, is this matt made from a cardboard mold.

[@utahavalanch]

Yes it is. Find a box with the tallest corrugations you can find. I used a bushel fruit box. Make the frame about 3/16” higher than the cardboard. You can probably use 1/2” square dowels for the frame For this mold I soaked the cardboard with Helmsman spar varnish. You have to really soak it so the cardboard is really saturated. Something I’ve been thinking about but haven’t tried yet is to thin down Tightbond type III glue and brush it on so it soaks into the cardboard. Give it a really good first coat and then another lighter coat. It will harden hard and then you can spray the spar varnish over it to give it another layer of waterproofing.

[@welcometothetruth6651]

How deep and angle is your well

[@utahavalanch]

Hi and thanks for watching. I made the top deck out of 3/4” pine so the well is 3/4” deep. The angle on the top of the deck is 45 degrees. You can also cut a 45 degree angle on the bottom of the deck or just round off the bottom corner of it buy about 1/4”. The angle makes quite a bit of difference on how it catches the gold. The angle on this unit has a 45 degree cut on it and it channels the gold down the angle and into the to riffle of the mat. Too much water flow can blow out the gold. On this type mat, If you adjust the flow properly for the size gold you have, it will blow everything else out and leave mostly nice clean gold like in the video. If you just round over the bottom edge of the top deck, the gold and dirt will get caught in the top riffle and stay there. There is less chance on getting the gold blown out this way. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Best of luck.

[@coreymerrill3257]

Seems like a good problem to have to me! I mean, if you don't want the thing because of that inconvenience id be happy to take that machine and problematic yellow stuff off your hands. Lol On a serious note, how does it work with super heavy blonde sands? Like ground shelite ?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Corey and thanks for watching. I will definitely let you know when I'm ready to get rid of all that stuff. :-D It would depend on how heavy the sands are as compared to gold the same size. I think the gold would still win out if they were both screened to the same size. That's the key to the whole thing. Making sure the material you run is screened to the same size. Then it's easy for the gold to stay put and the rest to move on out. Problem is, too many people don't want to classify and blow 80 -90% of their gold out the end of the sluice. I sure wish I could work a lot of the tailing piles I see on the tube.

[@coreymerrill3257]

@@utahavalanch I am in the middle of doing that now actually. Im still brand new to prospecting and am building my equipment so my classifiers leave something to be desired for the time being. I have the garrett 1/2 inch and a 10 mesh kitchen strainer then 40,50 and 60 mesh 6inch classifiers...i know i need at least a 100 mesh if not down too 300 and a 1/4th or even 1/8th inch to sort the big stuff out more efficiently...should i expect different results with gold dust broken out of shale and other bedrock vs. Regual placer dust? Or should it still work out the same with propper classifying? Does the chalkboard paint need to be any specific brand ? That will be my best option for a miller table , by painting my sluice bed...would blue be, if i can find it or purple , be better for showing black and blond sand as well as metals...there seems to be tiny pgm flakes in abundance so i want those too.

[@utahavalanch]

@@coreymerrill3257 Classifiers are one of the important tools to have. I make my own out of 1 gallon buckets. I order the buckets 10 at a time from Home Depot online and have them sent to my closest store. Then I buy 8" square stainless steel screen off Ebay for the bottom. I cut a circle in the bottom of the bucket and leave about 1" to rivet the screen to. Then I drill and rivet the screen to the bucket. This will hold almost as much material as the 5 gallon screeners. To use, just fill another 1 gallon bucket with water and place your screener bucket inside. Dump in your material and twist your wrist back and forth to screen. The material whether it be rock dust or placer should work fairly close to the same. Rustoleum is the brand of paint I use and you buy it at Home Depot, Lowes or Wallmart. You have to have it mixed at the paint counter. There are 12 colors they can mix it in. Blues, green, Teal, Purple, Raspberry, and a number of others I can't think of right now. Teal is what I painted this sluice in.

[@coreymerrill3257]

@@utahavalanch well that is cool! Rivets are underrated fasteners. I learned about hot riveting and hot to do that in a course i took. I can see the wisdom of buying the tools to build whats needed vs buying everything and being helpless if not hapless trying to do repairs...if it even occurs to the person they CAN repair things and not just throw them away. Does wet classifying have any issues vs dry classifying? And does it matter if it is wet or dry if i want to use a magnet? ( and i do the area is LOADED with iron and other magnetics...) I am sorry i have so many questions , I want and perhaps need to learn EVERYTHING ,as i am late to the game being in my mid 30s i am trying to give myself a crash course so to speak...i wouldn't suppose pictures of the main two concentraits i end up with would be of any use to point me in the right direction?

[@genefarnham5363]

What do you mean by better water bar

[@utahavalanch]

Gene Farnham Hi Gene and thanks for watching. This water bar is just a standard 1 row of holes that I used to show how the Deep Well smooths out the water flow but it's not a good one for fine gold. A water bar can make a big difference in the smoothness of your water flow. If you are working with 20 mesh gold and larger it doesn't make much difference. However the gold I work with is in the 50 - 200 mesh range and you need a very smooth flow for that and that is the kind of gold I designed this sluice to catch. I found that a multiple row of holes on the water bar can give you a smoother flow than just a row of single holes. If you watch my video on running the 10 inch Silicone mat, you will see the kind of water bar I'm currently experimenting with. I am now adding another row of holes to that one to see if it works any better.

[@genefarnham5363]

Thank you I'm going to try building one check my channel out I have a few things I'm working on love the deep well idea I'm working with the same size gold

[@sherylwilson248]

Sorry you had to stop so many times to move your gold.😁😁😁

[@utahavalanch]

Sheryl Wilson Hi Sheryl and thanks for watching. Yea it was tough. 😖 Been trying to get rid of this stuff so I can get to Sluicing. 😝 👍 I normally just move it into the Deep Well as I'm going along or just let it go down to let it get caught in the mat. Most people won't notice that the gold is what those light specs are so I did that to call attention to the fact that it's stopping the gold on the deck of the Sluice or if you turn up the water it will drastically slow the gold down so it will be sure and get caught. 👍

[@bonsaibeanz]

Where can I find Silicone mats.

[@utahavalanch]

You have to make them yourself with Silicone calking. I have a couple of videos out on how I made the mold and silicone mat. Also you can do a search for Allan Robertson. He has a lot of videos on making silicone mats and he also sells the molds.

[@bonsaibeanz]

@@utahavalanch thank you sir 🙏😃😃

[@utahavalanch]

@@bonsaibeanz You are very welcome.

[@alphaphichufafionse3005]

What kind of paint is that?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi and thanks for watching. It is Rustoleum Chalkboard paint. Gold likes to stick to it which is handy for making Miller Tables and sluices.

[@alphaphichufafionse3005]

@@utahavalanch thank you sir

[@utahavalanch]

@@alphaphichufafionse3005 👍👍

[@Notellemkrik1776]

Can I buy one of these from you

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Kirk and thanks for watching. Sorry I'm so slow but KZbin didn't notify me you had posted. I'm sorry but I am not set up to sell over the internet. I have a number of people who would like my products and so I made a video on how to make my Deep Well Miller Table. You make this unit the same way except the top deck is shorter and you allow room for your mat down below it. They really aren't that difficult to make. You just need a saw of some kind to cut the wood and a drill and several bits. You might want to give it a try.

[@darrelllne2136]

Do you manufacture these for sale ?

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Darrell. Thanks for watching. Sorry, no I don't as I'm not set up to sell them. I have a number of people who are interested in them and that's why I put "How to Build" videos up here to show people how they can build their own.

[@darrelllne2136]

Thanks for the reply, love your idea @@utahavalanch

[@darrelllne2136]

What's the name of the paint ?

[@utahavalanch]

Darrell Lne Hi Darrell and thanks for watching. The paint is Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint. You can buy it at Home Depot, Lowe's, Wallmart, etc. it has a surface that gold likes to stick to but all the other material just slides off.

[@darrelllne2136]

@@utahavalanch Thankyou So Much !!!

[@utahavalanch]

Darrell Lne You are very welcome.

[@jkabee]

anyone else get aggravated by watching him spoon out more heaps of material on top of gold laying on the table? Why not sweep it up BEFORE you put more material on top of it. You are washing some of your gold off the table? You should be spreading each spoon out as widely as possible, let the junk wash out, and sweep your gold forwad to the well. Every spoon. Just my thoughts on the matter. Its your gold...

[@utahavalanch]

Hi Jaybird and thanks for watching and commenting. No worries, very hard for the gold to get lost. This sluice uses Silicone mats and unlike the rubber mats, the gold sticks to the silicone like a magnet. This sluice is a 3 way unit. You can just feed the material into the Deep Well and the gold will settle to the bottom of the well and the lighter material will wash out. If any gets out of the well, the top deck also is treated and as you can see the gold sticks to it and so it will very slowly work its way down to the Silicone mat which the gold sticks to as well. In the sluice mode that you are referring to, you can just shovel the material onto the deck as in the video and if there is any gold in the dirt it will stick to the top deck and you can see immediately if there is any gold in the material you are running. You can then brush the gold up into the well for storage or let it slowly work its way down and get caught in the mat or both. The deep drop riffle mat that I now use on this sluice, catches 90% of the gold in the top trough and the rest in the next 3 troughs. I have run about 30+ runs through this sluice and haven't found any gold in the tailings so far. This makes it nice as I do sample analysis and testing for several prospectors and if there is any gold in a sample, this will catch it the first run through. On my video on testing the 10 inch silicone mat, and my Combination sluice video, you can see how the 3 different modes work a little better.

[@christinewillie7599]

How much to build me one ?

[@utahavalanch]

Christine Willie Hi Christine and thanks for watching. I'm sorry but I don't have any way to sell things over the Internet. I have quite a few people who want them and so I put out a video on how to make the Miller Table. You make this one the same way you do that one except the top deck is shorter on this one. These are really quite easy to make with very few tools. Mainly a hand saw, a drill and a couple of bits. Why not give it a try?👍

[@frederickbierweiler8020]

rather you sent me that yellow stuff for proper disposal than you just dumping it out in your drive way

[@utahavalanch]

Well thank you Frederick. I have been wondering what to do with it. I’ve gotta couple of buckets of that yellow stuff I’ll send to you so I can get rid of it. 😁👍⛏

[@frederickbierweiler8020]

@@utahavalanch tff love your videos , well presented and easy to understand , a good watch still after 3x

[@utahavalanch]

@@frederickbierweiler8020 Thanks Frederick. Much appreciated.

[@frederickbierweiler8020]

@@utahavalanch tff lamo great video

[@utahavalanch]

@@frederickbierweiler8020 Thanks Frederick and thanks for watching.