How Gold Wash Plants Work

The Gold Recovery Process

Gold wash plants use a combination of water, gravity, and mechanical action to separate gold from raw placer material. Here's how the process works from start to finish:

Step 1: Feeding

Raw material (gravel, sand, clay) is loaded into the wash plant's hopper using an excavator or loader. Our plants accept material with rocks up to 24 inches in diameter — the built-in grizzly bars reject oversized material before it enters the system.

Loading material into a gold wash plant with an excavator

Material being loaded into the wash plant hopper — rocks up to 24" are accepted by the grizzly bars

Step 2: Scrubbing & Breaking

High-pressure water jets break apart clay, consolidated gravels, and cemented material. This scrubbing action is critical — gold particles trapped in clay must be freed before they can be captured. Our design provides aggressive scrubbing action that outperforms competitors.

Step 3: Classification

The screen system classifies material by size. Oversized rocks and cobbles are rejected, while gold-bearing fines pass through and onto the sluice box. This classification step ensures only properly-sized material reaches the recovery system.

Step 4: Gravity Separation

The heart of the system — our engineered sluice box. Gold is 19.3 times heavier than water, so it sinks into the riffles while lighter material washes away. Our scientifically-designed riffle pattern creates turbulent zones that trap gold particles down to 200 mesh (0.075mm).

Gold wash plant in action processing material at a mining site

Wash plant in full operation — water and gravity do the heavy lifting for 95-98% gold recovery

Step 5: Gold Collection

After a processing run, the sluice is cleaned up. Concentrated gold is collected from the riffle mats and can be further refined using a gold wheel, blue bowl, or panning. Most operators clean up once per shift or once per day.

Why 95-98% Recovery?

Our recovery rates are among the highest in the industry because of three key design elements:

Aggressive scrubbing: Clay-bound gold is freed before it reaches the sluice
Proper classification: Only correctly-sized material enters the recovery zone
Engineered riffles: Scientifically-designed turbulence zones trap even fine gold

Setup & Operation

Our wash plants are designed for simplicity. Setup usually takes 30 minutes or less — level the plant, connect your water source, and start feeding material. No special training required. One operator can run the entire system.

View our equipment lineup or get a free quote for your operation.