A complete beginner here in the UK.

[vasquez109]

Hi everyone.

I have in my possession, 2 gold pans (one large and one small) and a lot of enthusiasm.

I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and utterly amazed with what can be done with some patience and a bit of skill with a pan. I do realise that I wont get rich in panning here in the UK. And what little is available will be time consuming. Im doing this to get myself out and about and get a little bit of exercise. Possibly, to get just enough gold to take to a jewellers and get a ring crafted for my fiancee!

Ive seen plenty of instructional videos on how to use a pan. Which I still cant do properly after several days and countless buckets of gravel and stuff from my local river. I do realise that there might not be any gold in my river, im just trying to get all the heavy stuff to the bottom of the pan where potential gold might be. Either im terrible at it, or not doing it right. Im following the countless videos but not getting the same results.

Also, what conditions am I looking for when I do start my search for gold. At the moment im using my river which probably doesnt have anything in, im just using it to get pan practice. Ive cut up really small bits of lead which ive added to my bucket of stones and gravel from the river. I cant even find this lead, so im obviously not doing something right.

Ive got rivers here next to hilly/mountainous areas, some of which have fast flowing areas a few miles downstream and a couple of twisty bits. This is very good according to what ive read, but dont want to go there until my pan skills are up to speed. What other geographical/geological conditions am I looking out for?

Ive got 2 pans and a trowel. What other equipment should I be adding to my collection next?

Sorry for all the questions, but Im really new to this and very keen!

Thanks for reading.
David.

 

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[Johnnybravo300]

Gold is much easier than lead to pan and drops to the bottom faster. Theres not much skill to basic panning, it's just about gravity. Keep at it and visit some gold bearing areas and you'll be surprised how easy it is to do.

 

[arizau]

IMO the best tip for searching for gold is to look for it in areas where it has been found before. If you are not in one of the general areas mentioned in this google search for gold in Wales then you are not likely to find any. https://www.google.com/search?q=gol....69i57j0l5.14575j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.

It almost sounds like you are panning only gravel and not a mixture of dirt, sand and gravel. At the least you should be able to concentrate some heavy black sand from that mix and that should include any lead chunks that you have added by just the most basic of panning skills. In other words you need more practice following what you have seen in the videos until you can do this.

Good luck

 

[vasquez109]

Oh! I just skimmed the top of the bed with my trowel. Need to dig a tiny bit too then? Noticed theres a lot of black anthracite in these rivers too. Are there heavy sands in all rivers or just gold containing ones? Thanks for the tip!

David.

 

[arizau]

The black sands we speak of are mostly iron sands and are found virtually everywhere on earth since iron is one of the most common elements. Just finding black sand is NOT an indicator that you will find gold with it but if there is both gold and black sand in a river then they will accumulate together since they are both very dense in comparison to most other sands, etc. Since they are both dense they usually end up as low as they can go which is most often at bedrock level or on top of a layer of clay. Dig to and sample pan material from atop those levels as a start. If you can find cracks in bedrock then clean them out and pan the material. Remember, gold will settle as low as it can.

Good luck.

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi vasquez109 and welcome to TNET!

We would like to See a picture of each pan looking into the pans at an angle and showing the riffles in them with something like a 12 oz. soda can(sorry - 0.355 liters) in the picture for size. Are the pans stiff?

Something is wrong here as lead should still be in your pan('s) when you get down to the fines!

Adding a simple rare earth magnet to your kit will help sort out the magnetic bits. (have the magnet in a strong plastic bag Before You Use It as this will allow you to keep the magnet clean)

Sample, sample, sample is the common practice but where you are sampling along any given river is important. Like on the down river side of any type of blockage to the water flow (large rocks, buried tree stump, dead cows) you know obstacles! At bends in the river channel, the inside curve offers a shorter distance for the water to travel which causes the water to bunch up and slow down and the heavies drop out.

For now learn your equipment (let us look at the pans from the pictures you post), the lead should still be in the bottom of your pan !!!............63bkpkr

 

[Bejay]

Vasquez109. Learn to identify the 3 major rock types. Intrusive Igneous,,,,,sedimentary….and metamorphic. Then focus your attention on rivers and streams with intrusive igneous. That is a good place to start panning. Identify areas where gold has been found.

About 50 years ago I was a newbie with a gold pan. I was also a college student of geology....so I knew the 3 major rock types. I elk hunted an area with my dad and a bunch of other friends. We camped next to a creek that had a lot of intrusive igneous rocks. On one hunting trip I took my gold pan and just for the heck of it I went down to the creek mid day and began digging in the gravels and panning. Low and behold I found colors and flakes. I spent many a weekend up in the area and followed the colors/flakes up the creek....working my way up about 6 miles.... I then began to find pickers and nuggets......that were not deformed much. Further examination of the area disclosed old high bank placer diggings. Long story short...….I filed claims and have held and worked them for 40 plus years.

It all started with a gold pan and a small garden shovel and rock hammer. There you go: Enjoy the journey!

Bejay

 

[OwenT]

Keep trying and watching videos. If you can find someone with some experience you will learn faster but for me doing it on my own it was about practice and eventually the intuition (and the first flakes of gold) came. As others have said it’s important that you go somewhere where you know where gold has been found. Then once you are confident in your ability to find the gold you can start looking in other places.

 

[OwenT]

This video was one that helped me the most.

 

[et1955]

From what I have seen from your area, best bet, get a metal detector and hunt for ancient relics. Also study the geologic history of your area, has gold been found there and if it has find out where and focus on that area, if not maybe buy some paydirt with gold and practice on that.

 

[et1955]

I will also add this, you have the ability to do what I would love to do, metal detect for ancient coins and more but on the other hand I have what you want, gold rich areas that I mine, Life is interesting.

 

[vasquez109]

Thank you so much everyone for your kind advice. Been practising all evening with my pan. Cut some more lead up and chucked in a small shaving into my pan followed by 3 good scoops of river sediment.

Weird thing was, the shaving of lead started floating on the surface after a couple of shakes?!?!? How is lead floating on water How much heavier is gold than lead? Hope to get better though...

David.

 

[vasquez109]

Just taken some photos of my kit. The other pan is the same as this but a little smaller. Also have a trowel and a garden mesh pan for getting rid of the big stuff!

 

[Bonaro]

Vasquez109. Learn to identify the 3 major rock types. Intrusive Igneous,,,,,sedimentary….and metamorphic. Then focus your attention on rivers and streams with intrusive igneous. That is a good place to start panning. Identify areas where gold has been found.

About 50 years ago I was a newbie with a gold pan. I was also a college student of geology....so I knew the 3 major rock types. I elk hunted an area with my dad and a bunch of other friends. We camped next to a creek that had a lot of intrusive igneous rocks. On one hunting trip I took my gold pan and just for the heck of it I went down to the creek mid day and began digging in the gravels and panning. Low and behold I found colors and flakes. I spent many a weekend up in the area and followed the colors/flakes up the creek....working my way up about 6 miles.... I then began to find pickers and nuggets......that were not deformed much. Further examination of the area disclosed old high bank placer diggings. Long story short...….I filed claims and have held and worked them for 40 plus years.

It all started with a gold pan and a small garden shovel and rock hammer. There you go: Enjoy the journey!

Bejay

This is actually the answer to your questions. Finding gold is a progression. not only of the areas you are looking but of your prospecting skills.
Having good panning skills is the foundation of effective prospecting, master this first...master it well
If you aren't recovering your lead shot they you aren't recovering any gold that may be present.
I use analogy of a noisy hunter. If he is not proficient with walking quietly then he will never know if the area is void of game or if he simply scared it away before he spotted it.
Learn to pan, buy some pay dirt, add lead shot and learn to recover it all then go prospecting

 

[63bkpkr]

vasquez109 - thank you for the pictures! As long as your pans are stiff then they should work just fine. It took me awhile to learn so just keep on practicing with "Small" pieces of lead till all of them are still in the pan when you finish.........63bkpkr

or BB's

 

[vasquez109]

Yes. The pans are hardened plastic. One other point to make is that the local gold area is about 20 miles of so from my house. I drive the local buses that go to a small village in the mountains which is just under 10 miles from the gold mine.

Whilst waiting my time I happened to notice a lot of quartz about the place, and looked up on hill and saw a screed slope with a lot of this white quartz rock about.

Is it worth having a go? Or not, as its miles from the mine. There's no water about, just this 'opened and loose' part of the hillside. Maybe a stream or river was there many thousands of years ago.

Is it worth taking a bucket to sample or not?

David.

 

[arizau]

It never hurts to check out a quartz deposit that is fairly near to a known location. However, prior generations have surely done the same and either found nothing or rejected it as low grade. Look for pieces with obvious mineralization such as pyrite or iron staining, etc. You can crush your sample and pan the fines to possibly find gold. Even though there is no water there may be drainages that cut through the deposit so sampling in one of them is probably what I would do. Don't forget to look for evidence of prior digging which includes unnatural piles of rocks, etc.

Good luck.

 

[et1955]

Yes. The pans are hardened plastic. One other point to make is that the local gold area is about 20 miles of so from my house. I drive the local buses that go to a small village in the mountains which is just under 10 miles from the gold mine.

Whilst waiting my time I happened to notice a lot of quartz about the place, and looked up on hill and saw a screed slope with a lot of this white quartz rock about.

Is it worth having a go? Or not, as its miles from the mine. There's no water about, just this 'opened and loose' part of the hillside. Maybe a stream or river was there many thousands of years ago.

Is it worth taking a bucket to sample or not?

David.

You live in an ancient country compared to the western US where we have the right to mine by our laws, do you have the same, check your laws about mining