Guide to sluice box matting gold mats

What gold mat should you use to recover the most gold? What about sluice box matting gold mats? What are the pros and cons of using each kind of mat in your sluice box? This guide to sluice box matting gold mats will help you understand everything you need to know before choosing the right kind of matting for your mining needs.

What is a gold mat?

A gold mat is any material that can be used in a sluice box for extracting gold. There are different types of material that can be used for separating gold from its ore, and many people like to experiment with what works best for them. Gold mats come in several varieties, and everyone has their own preferred style based on how they want to separate gold from ore. However, there are some things you should know before investing your money into a new kind of mat. Popular gold mats used today:

Miners Moss

Vortex Mat

Dream Mat

V Ribbed Mat

Rubber Riffled Mat

Polyester Sluice Mat

What is miner’s moss?

Miners' Moss is a type of sluice box matting to trap gold nuggets and fine gold particles. It is made out of synthetic rubber or vinyl fibres interwoven into a spaghetti like mat. Popular amongst prospectors around the world, miners moss is probably the most commonly used gold trapping mat in river sluice boxes and highbanker sluices. These mats usually have a backing material to stop material from flowing out of the mat, but are also widely used without a backing. Miner’s moss is normally green or blue in colour and also referred to as "Nomad Carpet" named after the 3M manufacturing company who initially developed these carpets.

What material should you choose for your gold mats?

There are a number of different materials you can use for your gold mats, but some are better than others. The most popular types of materials for your sluice box matting include miners moss, vinyl ribbed mat, vortex mat or a very popular vortex mat called dream mat. It is necessary to understand that different mats have a different purpose, for example, it is not very common to use vortex mats in a highbanker setup, but rather in smaller clean-up sluices along with a fine gold matting. Miner’s moss is widely used in highbanker setups as well as river sluice boxes. A lot of prospectors would also tend to mix and match different types of gold matting for different stages within your sluice. For example, the first 3rd of your sluice you might want to have ribbed mat, the middle has miners moss, and the last 3rd section of your sluice perhaps use a fine gold trapping mat for any tailings. This way you could maximize your recovery and have very few losses. It is very much experimental and prospectors might have a completely different view or setup to yourself. The type and size of gold also plays a role in your mat setup.

How long do these gold mats last?

Gold mats do not last forever and need to be replaced after about a year. This also depends on the type of mat being used and the material that is run over them. Larger sluice boxes and highbankers work the mats a lot harder than a small clean-up sluice for instance. Clean-up systems run a much finer material whereas sluice boxes would run larger rocks/pebbles and load a lot more material at once. Miners moss in general is quite strong and you can expect to run a fair amount material (several tons) before needing to replace them.

How do you clean them?

Sluice boxes are relatively simple mining devices. Once you get them set up, it is a matter of putting your material in one end and water in another and letting gravity do its thing. The first thing you should know about cleaning out your sluice is that you will be doing it a lot, depending on how much material you have going through. In general, if you are using miners moss or any other carpet, once you are satisfied with the amount of material you have run through your system, you loosen your riffle system and slide your mat out of the sluice being cautious not to drop or lose any material while doing this. Once your mat is out, you will then turn your mat upside down into a large gold pan or 20L bucket, rinsing the material out of the mat. Once the mat is clean you will set it one side, set a gold pan or bucket at the bottom end of your sluice, and rinse out any material that was left behind. This material will then be put through a clean-up sluice, panned out or processed using a miller table or blue bowl.

Final word

There is a wide variety of mats available in the market. It is very much experimental. Some designs work much better than others but you would be surprised to find that you could come up with a very inexpensive matting solution from your hardware store. As a temporary solution or a cheap alternative this is a great option. If you however can find miners moss or other gold matting specifically designed for a sluice, these will most probably work better giving you a higher recovery. Don’t be afraid to try out different designs and materials and especially different mat configurations in your sluice. Determine what works best for you and go for it.