Newbee and paydirt

[bpete]

so i would consider myself pretty new to gold prospecting and had been having trouble identifying so called gold in the pan. it seemed that every bit of anything remotely resembling gold got ya to thinking or should i say making yourself believe it is gold. maybe others new to this has also went through this. I kept seeing bags of paydirt for sale on ebay, amazon etc and at first i was thinking that this was somehow cheating. then I realized that this may be a great opportunity to learn what real gold would look like in the pan. of course all of this hinged on buying some pay dirt that actually contained something more that microscopic flakes. i took a chance and bought a bag and was pleasantly surprised to find several descent flakes and small pickers. the best part however is now I see what to look for and that is permanently burned into my brain. purchasing pay dirt may not be for everyone and you cannot expect to really make a profit from it like some of the negative reviewers expect but for someone just learning this could be a good thing.

Brian

 

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[arizau]

What you did on your own (buying and panning out paydirt) is what is most often suggested to those newbies who are unsure if what they are seeing is actually gold. One other tip (this is my first goto for identifying gold) is that gold looks like gold in full and shaded light. You now have some so do the test to see what I mean.

Good luck and heavy pans.

 

[bpete]

What you did on your own (buying and panning out paydirt) is what is most often suggested to those newbies who are unsure if what they are seeing is actually gold. One other tip (this is my first goto for identifying gold) is that gold looks like gold in full and shaded light. You now have some so do the test to see what I mean.

Good luck and heavy pans.

thanks Arizau. great tip, I knew about this but until I actually saw the difference i kept convincing myself otherwise. but it was pretty amazing to really see the difference first hand. plus seeing how gold really does stay put in the pan while other materials swirls around.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

thanks Arizau. great tip, I knew about this but until I actually saw the difference i kept convincing myself otherwise. but it was pretty amazing to really see the difference first hand. plus seeing how gold really does stay put in the pan while other materials swirls around.

Yep, it is amazing to see real gold in the pan--both in shade and sunlight and as compared to all the other stuff that sometimes fools newbies. After you see the gold remain in place and the other stuff move as you back-pan is really helpful. I was fooled myself for a few times until I actually got gold. May your pans be heavy with the yellow stuff that actually is gold.

 

[oidium45]

I can honestly tell you that I was in the same boat with every piece of mica or pyrite that I came across until I finally did find a bit of gold and realized that the advice that everyone had been giving was pretty spot on. Gold will almost glue itself to the bottom of the pan vs most other materials. It will take quite a bit more movement to get it to swim around with the other stuff unless it is a very thin large flake. They seem to move around quite a bit easier.

I guess what I am saying is that you will know it when you see it.

 

[Capt Nemo]

Ozone treated water can float gold and make it act as mica would in a pan. Suck a moving flake up with an eyedropper and lay it down in a clean spot of your pan. Does it now stick tight? Yes, you have gold!

I had a lot of that working the gold out of playground sand. One bag mined down south had a wicked amount of mica and pyrite in it.

 

[jsulateskee]

As a newbie to gold panning I think purchasing paydirt is probably one of the best and most effective ways of not only learning how to pan but in helping one improve their gold panning skills. It does help you more accurately identify what you're looking for as well : )