First Try, Nothing

[hayhauler]

Okay, I spent about an hour this morning panning out a couple of salad bowls worth of dirt. Nothing to speak of a few pretty rocks. I think I'm doing it wrong, when it takes me an hour to "pan" such a little bit of material. Still, I can say I tried. I'm going to finish that bucket and see if I get anything, and I don't plan to quit right away.

[strickman]

practice with bb's or lead shot,once you can pan and keep all targets-then work on your speed.shake and statisfy very often.let settle -wash off the light.later once you have it down,then work on technique.as you progress you will find which technique works best foryou.BUT MOST OF ALL DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!it will get much easier,and your luck will improve.

[hayhauler]

I'm trying a place where I've never heard of there being any gold, just because the dirt looks good to me. But there wasn't any black sand.

[strickman]

what general area are you in (not specifics) just what state ,n,s,e,w, etc.

[hayhauler]

I'm north of Birmingham and South of the Tennessee River in Alabama.

[Hoser John]

RUN--don't walk to your local gem & mineral club and join up. Your in good territory from what I've read and seen on tv for some righteous $$$ specimens and gems too. KEEP THE PAN and get more practice in---tons a au & gems too-John when I can't find gold--I look for gem/mineral specimens--if none??I then break out the detector and look for relics too--expand your views and there is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much to reward you

[hayhauler]

I think the most helpful advice I've received so far (thank you Strickman) was to drop a few bbs in the pan. I can tell that I've been being far too tentative about washing materials out. t least now I'm able to move a little faster. My wife (a chemist) showed me on a periodic table why you can pretty much depend on gravity to move the gold to the bottom. So, now with the bbs in the pan I'm at least moving a little faster. Still haven't found anything that I think has value. I don't know if I'd know a gem stone if I saw one. I'm just setting most of the stones in a pile off to the side, and I'll look at them more closely later.

[strickman]

here's some good reading ,might help to find some other goodies. http://www.missourigeologists.org/Min-Loc1-2005.pdf

[Astrobouncer]

Hayhauler I know you say you wouldn't recognize a gemstone, but once you see some for sure you will. I don't know about all gemstones but some gemstones are heavy and they end up in the 'black sand concentrates' and man are they pretty.They also usually have a higher index of refraction then quartz crystal so they stand out (for example Zircon, Diamond and Topaz.) See here: http://www.allaboutgemstones.com/gem...ive_index.html

One of the first times I panned a creek I got some little red sparkling garnets and they looked like rubies to me. Another time I was out panning at a local river and I got an oblong black crystal in my pan that turned out to be Schorl (black tourmaline). Since then, I have found garnets aplenty, some ruby spharelite, ruby,topaz, emerald and lots of quartz crystals.

I have specimen stones with all kinds of gemstone inclusions I have picked up in the Mtns here and even some nearby.
So even if you don't find gold right away there's other valuable things that are fun to find out there. Not to mention the other heavy minerals which could also be valuable like silver, galena, chromium, platinum and the rare earths...

A few things to look for in gemstones:

Is it Faceted (how many sides does it have)? What shape does it have (round square etc)? What color (bright gems are usually worth more then cloudy ones etc)? Is it clear (clarity)?, How big?

I'm sure there's more but anytime you find something neat, interesting or shiny/sparkly, keep it, it just might be quite valuable. Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

PS Rock hounders will pay good money for neat specimen stones of gemstones/crystals/pretty minerals so its something to keep an eye out for.

[kilnmaint]

What are you looking for , gold or gems? If you are looking for gold, I recommend you go to a "pay to play " place like the Alabama Gold Camp. They will show you how to pan from their piles that they dig out of the creek. Another way is to buy a bag of cons that has a set amount of gold seeded in it. I know a man in Georgia who dredges and sell the cons. He "seeds" each bag according to the price. If you are around Gardendale any weekend I can show you what little I know about panning fine gold because that is about all I ever find!!

[Yob]

Hello...
I went out on my first panning trip yesterday and am at a loss to identify what I got.
(apologies to the op...I thought it better to continue here rather than start a new thread.)

My first try was a little below the tailings area of an old Au/Ag mine. The last pieces in the pan were an extremely fine black sand and a lot of silver coloured specs......
I also tried a mile or so up stream and got some really fine goldy coloured material...but I have no idea if it is gold or just really fine sand....

A few points....It stays in the bottom of the pan with the black sand. It's really hard to wash out of the pan. It is very fine and will actually start to move before or with the black sand. At no stage did I find anything other than this fine stuff that I could identify as gold...no pickers. The river has a lot of fine yellow sand.
Do any of you vets have an idea?

[hayhauler]

As the OP, no apology necessary, when you learn, I learn.

[riverrunner814]

Hey hayhauler don't give up it took me sometime to get used to panning. The BB is a good idea to practice, put 3 BBs in sand or dirt and pan out 3 BBs after ahwhile you will get the knack. Also on U Tube there are plenty of videos on differant ways of panning check them out. But above all don't give up, there is gold there. Go onto the Gold Prospector's of America site and theres a forum you will learn much info. There site is http://www.goldprospectors.org/ look in media and watch the shows. Also if you decide to join they have claims to prospect in most states. Good luck