Abstract: A sluice box is disclosed for use in high volume placer mining operations and a method of placer mining is disclosed, which are particularly useful for the recovery of gold from aggregate material. In operation, aggregate material is loaded into an inlet trough of the sluice box where it is mixed with water to form a slurry. A coarse recovery channel leads from the inlet trough and the sluice box is downwardly inclined, so that the slurry flows through the sluice box. The inlet trough has a punch plate bottom for separating the slurry into a coarse slurry stream which passes on into the coarse recovery channel, and a fine slurry stream which drops through the punch plate. A distribution section located below the punch plate has a generally conical and upwardly inclined floor, and angularly disposed vanes, so that the fine slurry stream is spread transversely and evened to produce a generally uniform cross-sectional flow profile.