With the price of silver quickly on the rise, many people are looking into mining silver. The act of mining silver dates back to ancient times. During these times, silver was used to financially sustain Greek countries.
Today, there are still silver mining companies to be found. Most of these companies are found in Mexico. Mexico leads the world in silver production. One of the most popular silver mining techniques is called sluicing. Sluicing can be done by expert and novice miners alike. In sluicing, specially designed boxes are set up to collect silver from gravel and other debris.
To begin sluicing, the miner will find a location within a stream bank. They search for areas that have not been mined in several years. After they have scouted the perfect location, they begin setting up their sluicing boxes. The boxes are submerged into the water about half way up the box. To prevent slipping, miners will secure the ends of the box with heavy rocks. Gravel is now ready to be filtered through the sluicing box. The gravel is poured slowly into the area. Dumping gravel to quickly can result in lost silver. As the gravel is sifted through the box, the attached screen will separate any potential gravel from the silver. After the material is collected, miners will carefully pan the debris looking for silver. Although time consuming, sluicing is a great way to mine for silver.
