Fine ribbed rubber matting for sluice bed

[percaf]

I bought some fine ribbed rubber matting from Clarke Rubber to use as a bed for my sluice.

After running water through the sluice for a couple of hours, I noticed that alot of air bubbles had formed in the ribs. Not sure if the rubber was attracting air bubbles from the water or there was cavitation happening but I suspect the bubbles may have caused some fine gold to bounce off their surface (due to surface tension) and ultimately out the end of the sluice.

I think next time I might need to rub dishwashing liquid into the rubber to help "wet" it better.

Still managed to pull some fine gold out of the sluice though, much easier than using moss.

[Andy]

Welcome to the forum percaf. Yes, it was cavitation happening, & that's created by the ribs. Ribbed mat is not really good to use on its own. I don't use it in my highbanker, but do I use it in my river sluice with Miners Moss (Nomad matting) on top of it, which stops the cavitation effect.