Want to teach the kids and practice panning

[david6789]

So we are definitely coming out to Colorado in June to do some gold panning. I want to teach the kids how to pan (and get better myself).

I was thinking of buying some "pay dirt" (yes I know this is almost always a scam and never ever worth the cost of the dirt). Is there a better way of teaching the kids to pan and letting them actually find some color?

 

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[arizau]

Everyone, kids included, will be unsure or at least misidentify "stuff"* until they actually see real placer gold and how it acts in a pan. Buying paydirt is a good idea and remember keep/recycle all the dirt and sand that you get so that you can practice over and over again. For practice, many cut slivers or small chunks of lead off a fishing sinker and add to common dirt and sand to pan. Keep track of how many pieces are added and compare to how many found. Not quite the same thing but better than nothing since lead is heavier than most of the heavy minerals found in common dirt thus can be isolated by common panning methods.

Good luck and have fun.

*Mica, pyrite, etc. The best thing to remember is that gold looks like gold in full and shaded light. Everything else loses color or shine in the shade.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Sure, you can buy paydirt. You could also buy flake gold and mix it in with dirt yourself. If you have a shotgun or a friend with a birdshot shell, mix the birdshot pellets with dirt and sand. It is a fantastic way to practice! My Dad use to count out pellets, mix them, and challenge me to find them all before telling me how many he put in.

 

[mikep691]

You can check out Roaring Camp. They have a"Dirt of the Month Club". Since we're not supposed to give addresses of non vendors, you can Google them. They don't seed their dirt so you never know what you'll get.

 

[OneStudPuppy]

A great idea, although one warning.. you will get a fever! Gold fever!
I bought some paydirt and teaching my friends kids and myself. They have interest in a non electronics related hobby! Woohoo.
I was a little disappointed I went a little gung-ho and bought a holiday special with discounts etc, ordered 40lbs..
I have to say as of now I found better gold in the tv show “gold rush” bags.. and better quantity. .5 grams of gold from 1 1/2 lbs of pay dirt. Some peices were big enough to hand pickup.
This other seems to have a lot of micro gold and have panned about 4 out of 40lbs so far..
once I asked about being shy some was told it would be made up on my next order but to
Do it through their website and they would “throw in some extras to find” I asked about the price jump etc and vendor went quiet. PM me if your interested in who disappointed me.

But between YouTube videos a pan and a tub 48 quart, and pay dirt I’m pretty damn comfortable panning and have had good results. It’s a great way to start! Go for it.

The fever hit me so good I now have a sluice box, pans, classifiers and a gold magic wheel.

 

[RichieRich]

Bird shot or split shot fishing weights that are round can be used. Spray paint them gold for fun as well.

 

[nh.nugget]

Bird shot or split shot fishing weights that are round can be used. Spray paint them gold for fun as well.

Flatten them out with a hammer they stay in the pan better. Once you master that cut them in half do it again. Don't waste your money on pay dirt you're better of to save your cons and buy a gram of gold make your own pay dirt.

 

[Duckshot]

Good on you for taking the kids panning. It's a bit better than fishing as far as keeping the kids interested in quality time, IMO.

You don't need to pay $10-20 bucks a pound for the dirt parts of paydirt. Buy some placer without dirt for about $45-$60 a gram, add it to some river bottom in your pan, and make your own paydirt.

You are going to need denser black sands, stones and gravel and less dense lighter colored sands in your paydirt, the denser sands help to keep the gold down in the bottom as they create a relatively smooth surface for the less dense materials to slide off of as the gold is trapped under them. The trick part of the trick is learning to pan off the black sand which you will need to teach the kids anyways if they want to find "wild" placer gold.

 

[Goldwasher]

Pay dirt isn't a "scam"

Most of it averages 50 to 75 a gram of gold recovered. It ends up being worth more as the market gains value.

When you buy cleaned placer your paying about the same.

Then you have to add stuff.

Avoid companies that sell raw cons by the pound. trying to make you think you may got something you missed.

If you do your research you will find a couple companies that are small time guys who sell their gold and cons from their digs.

So you are supporting small scale mining.

I throw gem rough, replica arrowheads, pyrite and the occasional square nail and lead that comes from the field. So, it has white petina and there are flakes of lead as well.in my paydirt

The customer knows the weight of the plus 30 mesh that will be in there. Because that's what they're buying. 1/2 gram.. gram...DWT or more it's up to them.

I throw in black sands from minus 50 that I can't pan out by eye. So, you get the weight plus the bonus fines

People like the discovery aspect.

I sell clean gold as well. Most people want the paydirt they want to pan it.

getting good paydirt is the closet you can get to a real pan (always richer than natural for begginers)

It is very helpful to try and pan with other heavies and fine gold in the pan. Plus random flakes.


Buy paydirt that is clear about how much gold there will be.

Buying by the pound from a company that claims it is unsearched dirt from their mine can lead to disappointment.
The

 

[Capt Nemo]

If you want "practice gold" try buying the Raptor pellets from Gamo.