Getting started gold panning with PRO-GOLD (Part 2)

It can bit of a challenge to try show how to pan for gold in a direct fashion without overwhelming people with too much information. So, while the PRO-GOLD Getting Started video does a great job of explaining the basics in a few minutes, many of the finer details were not fully covered. The intention of this blog (Part 2) is to provide more of this detail to enable people just starting out to learn more from my experience.

Step 1 – Fill the classifier

This is the most important step because you can only find gold if you put gold in the pan. It is very important for beginners to research and put themselves into known gold bearing locations for the best odds at success. The internet can be your number one research tool, with sites like DetectorProspector.com listing numerous public gold panning sites. Better yet, beginners should take the time to practice at home in a tub before ever hitting the streams in search of gold. You never know if gravel you find in the field has gold in it or not, so trying to learn in the field can be frustrating. Was there no gold in that spot, or did you just lose the gold? Having faith in your panning skills is all important when that question is asked.
A tub full of water at a comfortable height can be a great place to learn how to pan. A few small gold nuggets can be used for practice, and if these are not available a few pieces of flattened lead will serve. Place a known quantity (six nuggets or six pieces of lead) in some mixed gravel. Practice panning in the tub until you can recover those six pieces every time. You can be as vigorous and quick as you wish because the tub is always there to catch mistakes. The number one thing to work on is panning the material quickly – most beginners take far too long to pan gravel. Anything more than a few minutes is too long, because the more pans of material you can process, the better your odds are at finding gold. Practicing and building confidence in advance will go a long way towards insuring you do not question your abilities when you finally do go panning for real

Step 2 – Classify your panning material

The classifying itself is very important because it does dramatically speed your effort by almost instantly removing all the oversize material. If you try and pan large rocks from small material it will increase the odds of gold being lost so classifying is always the best option. On the small chance that a very large nugget is left in the classifier, get in the habit of turning the classifier over quickly and dumping the rocks on the ground where a quick look can confirm no large nuggets exist. The last thing you want to see is something that looks like large gold sailing to the middle of the rapids where you toss the rocks!
When digging far away from the water the material can be screened directly into a bucket before carrying it to the water for panning. Why carry all that rock? However, dry screening can leave silt and clay on rocks and when in the gold wet screening is preferable. This insures all the gold is washed from the rocks before they are discarded.

Step 3 – Fill your pan with water

I like to find a comfortable spot to pan because it can be hard on the lower back. Beginners should consider again taking a tub along that can be filled with water for panning as insurance against making a mistake and losing gold when practicing. If working in the creek itself rubber boots are nearly a requirement, and good gloves can protect hands from cold water and abrasions. Material in the pan should initially be mixed by hand to break up lumps of clay and pockets of air in the gravel.

Step 4 – Agitate the material

The real goal here is to get all the material moving so it is loose and soupy. Gold is about 15 times heavier than gravel, and when the gravel is vigorously agitated the gold goes immediately to the bottom of the pan. Lackluster shaking will not settle the gold. Think of it as being like getting popcorn seeds to the bottom of a tub of popcorn. Everything needs to be loose and moving for settling to occur. I keep my pan level and tilted slightly away from me when doing this, so that the gold settles along the forward bottom edge of the pan. 

Step 5 – Remove unwanted materials

There are almost as many ways to do this as there are panners. The Minelab PRO-GOLD Panning Kit is designed with three different panning surfaces; coarse riffle, fine riffle, and smooth surface. In general the coarse riffle helps with panning larger gravel, the fine riffle helps with sand like material and the smooth surface for the separation of the finest gold particles from remaining sands. My own panning action is very distinct with the agitation process separate from the washing process. I settle the gold, then wash light material off the top. Other people do both at once with a more classic swirling type action. Some people use riffles, some do not. Some will use one riffle set, and not the other. In the end you must practice gold panning and the only gauge of success is in being able to always retain gold in the pan if put to the test using spiked samples. People develop their own styles and none are wrong as long as they work. The Minelab PRO-GOLD Premium Panning gives you many options you can use or ignore depending on your own panning style. And yes, videos can be a tremendous aid here as describing how to pan is very difficult!
 

Step 6 – Separate black sand

Common black sand is magnetite, a magnetic iron ore. It is quite heavy and difficult especially for beginners to separate from gold. A magnet is included in the panning kit to help deal with black sands. Placing the magnet in a plastic bag prior to use makes it easier to remove sand from the magnet.
If you use a magnet to pull black sands from your pan be aware that when wet black sand and fine gold can clump up and be drawn together onto the magnet. Use the magnet on black sand that is visibly separate from the gold. Do not plunge the magnet into the material, but instead let the magnet draw the sand up. You can always just put the black sands into a separate container for examination later. Drying the black sands and spreading them out before passing the magnet over them can also help prevent gold from collecting with the black sands.
Unfortunately not all iron ore is magnetic, and some heavy minerals like garnet will always present difficulties when panning. Working concentrates from a sluice box can be slow tedious work, but by working a spoonful at a time and into a tub even the worst concentrates can be panned effectively. I do all this sort of panning on the smooth panning surface, and the small pan shines for this use.

Steps 7 and 8 – Collect the gold and Transfer the gold into the vials

This is the best part because you have to have gold to use these steps! The suction bottle really is a fabulous tool. You do not need to be an expert panner and need not get every last bit of sand out of your pan. If you see some gold, vacuum it up with the suction bottle. You can do this for every bit of gold you see, and do not worry about getting a little sand along with the gold. Once you are sure all the gold is out of the pan and in the suction bottle, clean the pan, then dump the contents of the bottle back into the pan. Now you should have all the gold and just a little sand, making it very easy now to eliminate every last bit of sand, leaving you with clean gold. Congratulations!
I hope these notes provide some useful extra information that will give beginners a great head start on the way to finding their first gold and having many hours of enjoyment and success with gold panning.

To view the PRO-GOLD Getting Started Guide click here.