How to Get Started Panning for Gold

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(Free-Press-Release.com) February 26, 2012 -- Gold is heavier than most gravel found in streams, so that's why it can be collected in a gold pan when the right techniques are used. If you don't already own a gold pan or two, purchase them individually or save money and buy a gold panning kit. Then all you need is an optimistic attitude and practice to get good at hand panning.

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How to Get Started Panning for Gold

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First, look for a "gold trap" — a place along the stream where the current slows down enough for gold to settle. Gold can settle on the downstream sides of boulders and logs or in bends or curves in the stream. Many gold prospectors time their outings to coincide with winter snow melt or following a big storm. The thought is that Mother Nature may have loosened the gold lodged in high places and now it's flowing downstream and getting stuck in spots where you can reach it.

Place a small amount of material from the streambed in your pan — maybe 1/4 to 1/2 pan full at first. Submerge the gold pan just below its rim and shake side to side or around and around fairly vigorously. Be careful not to wash a lot of material out of your pan while doing this. The heavy material and black sands will work their way down to the bottom of your pan while the lighter and useless materials will rise to the top and can be discarded.

Move your pan slowly up and down in the water so that the water itself is washing off the lighter sands and gravel. Keep the material semi-liquid and continue to use the action of the water to wash the lighter material out of the pan until you see the darker more heavy material coming to the surface. Sweep just a little material off each time — don't get a huge tidal wave going in your pan or you are sure to lose your gold. Continue slowly sweeping this material out of your pan with water.

As you get further down in the material in your pan, notice how the heavier material turns darker and darker. Notice how it is increasingly more difficult to wash this material out. Resist the urge to wash harder. Continue sweeping the material out little by little until you have almost just black sand. Luckily, gold stands out well against this dark background.

Use a gold magnet to quickly separate the gold from the black magnetic sand concentrates. Place the magnet to the bottom side of your plastic pan and move it in a small circular motion with the pan slightly tilted. This will quickly remove the gold from the magnetic black sands.

Use a snuffer (snifter) bottle to quickly suck up any gold you see. A snuffer bottle is a small flexible clear plastic bottle with a small tube attached to its end. Squeezing the snifter bottle creates a vacuum inside, and submerged gold from the pan can be easily sucked up through the tube and saved by releasing the bottle and moving it around the edges of your pan showing gold.

Back and forth, round and round, or side to side motion — it's up to you! As you practice, you'll find there are as many methods to panning as there are people gold panning. After a while you will find your best technique comes automatically. Your panning will become swifter and your gold losses will become smaller.

Keep in mind that all the shiny stuff in your pan may not be gold. Pyrite, known as "fool's gold," and mica are both brassy in color. If any gold-colored flecks float on the water, it's a sure sign it's NOT real gold. Don't get discouraged. Keep practicing, and sooner or later that flash in your pan will be the real deal!

More information can be found online at http://www.panningforgold.org

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