In the sluice box we input water, sands, silts, and gravels, now the water is what is used to transport the materials from one end of the sluice to the other and in the process gravity and specific gravity allow for the heavier minerals to settle towards the bottom of the sluice and the lighter materials are catch up in the water as a suspended load. Now this works to a degree and it doesn¡¡¥t, as the bed load materials can and will be caught up by the water flow and moved along and right off the end of the sluice. To trap and hold the heavy minerals in the sluice we need some obstructions in place, this is where the riffles and matting come into play, and the matting while having importance in gold recovery, is not as relevant in the recovery of gold as the riffles. The riffles now these are important and having the right design of riffles will make an enormous difference in the amount of gold that you are able to recover from a cubic metre, therefore the amount of material that one will have to excavate and wash through you sluicing system when working. So having the right type of riffle system for the type of sluice box operation you want to use is going to make your gold recovery more efficient and cost effective, therefore more gold in your pocket at the end of the day.