How does a gold dredge suck up gravel?
Suction dredges utilize a high pressure gasoline powered water pump to suck up water, gravel and gold and inject this material into a sluice through a header box. The header box dampens the rush of water and gravel so that it flows evenly into the sluice. The sluice then expels the worthless gravel and retains the gold. I get a lot of questions about how a gold dredge can literally suck up gravel from the bottom of a stream without the gravel going through the gasoline powered pump, which would destroy the pump. The answer is that a device is used to convert the pressurized water discharged from the pump into a vacuum. This device can either be a power jet or a suction nozzle. These two devices work the same but are configured differently.
