Posted by the staff

written by Marlene Affeld on January 24, 2009

Panning for gold is a fun and potentially profitable activity and not that difficult a skill to master. Have patience, gold panning is like any learned skill, one gets better with practice.  Read the creek or stream bed and find a likely spot. One of the best places is behind boulders were eddies have formed.  Fill your gold pan with gravel and/or sand.  Pour water into your gold pan or dip it in the creek to fill.

Gently move your pan in a back and forth in a sideways motion. Gold is one of the heaviest elements and it will start to migrate to the bottom of your pan.  After a few minutes of gentle motion, the materials in your pan with begin to stratify. The larger pebbles and rocks will be on the surface and the heavier materials, including any gold and black sand (magnetite), will move to the bottom of the pan.  Carefully look over the surface material in your pan and remove the larger rocks. You do not want to throw away any nuggets, so do this by looking at the material and removing the unwanted rocks by hand.  Continue to gently agitate the material in your pan. If there are any clumps of clay, break them up, as clay can trap gold and carry it out of your pan.

In calm waters of the creek, slightly tilt your pan away from you and slowly allow the muddy water and any debris to slosh out of the pan.  Read the complete article...

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