Boy do I feel like I suck at panning...

[Wint]

Hey Everyone,

Been trying my hand at panning. I know it's a vital skill to be good at when it comes to prospecting. The kicker is I feel like I suck haha. I am not in a super known gold bearing area, some rivers and creeks in the county have had gold found in them. But nothing to bring in any kind of large scale interest. What's been mainly found are super fine flakes.

Because of this, I have not really had any opportunity to see what gold in a pan actually looks like in person. I have seen little specs of what looks like a golden color, but I have a ton of pyrite in this river and I have a feeling that is what I see left over, a couple of specs that just didn't make it over the edge. I just don't want to be dumping out gold when I think it's pyrite.

Does anyone know of any good videos or links on how to pan, as well as spotting gold in the pan? I've been enjoying Dan Hurd and Jeff Williams' videos, polar opposites on the personality spectrum those two are haha.

Also, as a side question, can raw natural gold vary in color? Depending on where in the world it came from it could be a different shade of gold? Or is gold always the same color and luster universally across the board? Rose gold and White gold, are simply in relation to jewelry right?

As always, any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

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[Relicgrubber]

Buy you some paydirt to practice with at home.

 

[Wint]

Buy you some paydirt to practice with at home.

Was definitely considering it so I could get some practice seeing what it really looks like. I imagine I can re-use the dirt to practice and such?

 

[Johnnybravo300]

No better, take some buckets from the creek home and its free.
You can pan down to the gold if you keep shaking it good. Keep the gold at the bottom.
Pan in a tub in case you lose anything , it wont be lost for good.
Dont worry about being good at it, let gravity do the work. Shake shake shake.

 

[Relicgrubber]

Yeah I always like to take a couple of 5gal buckets of dirt/gravels from the creek and pan it for 2 or 3 tidbits of flour gold for practice. Lol not really...

 

[arizau]

Tips for you. Gold does not lose its color when shaded. Particles that lose the gold color while shaded are not gold. Screen your concentrates into batches of only like sized material before finish panning for gold recovery....gold is over 3 times as heavy as other particles of the same approximate size making panning much easier. 30, 50 and 100 mesh screens are recommended.

Good luck.

 

[galenrog]

Practice. Take some common dirt and gravel. Add a few pieces of #24 or smaller shot. Add a few pieces of flattened shot of the same size. Practice until you can retain the shot, both round and flattened, and nothing else. You are now
ready to pan for gold.

Time for more coffee.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Pyrite would be attracted to a magnet. Not sure if all Pyrite is attracted to a magnet, but gold would not be. Just be sure to cover your magnet or it will be covered and a pain to clean off, use like a paper towel.

 

[russau]

OR a ziplock baggie!

 

[1637]

just but 25 dollars of gold and mix it with some dirt,then practice was it over and over.
good luck brad

 

[N-Lionberger]

If you are worried you can use two pans one to pan with and another to place underwater to catch your dirt so you can pan again and compare. You can get some lead and flatten it with a hammer, shave off some flecks and with some dirt from where you plan to pan you can practice in a tub, cement tubs from the hardware store are cheap and work very well as panning tubs. As you get more involved you will probably end up needing a home panning tub anyways.

 

[No gold in NY]

Hi Wint,
You do not suck at panning. You likely have not found the good spot. If you can dig up the old video by the "Buzzard" Founder of the GPAA, you will learn how to season your pan. He will also show you the technique for panning. I have brought my wife, her Sister , and my Daughter panning. They all found gold first time out. Again, you do not suck at panning.
To answer more of your questions, Natural gold is bright but NOT shiny like pyrite is. Gold can be a reddish color. Sometimes referred to as "old" gold. This is gold that has not moved in many years and has been stained by iron deposits.
There is gold in CT, but I only travel to VT,MA, and NH.

keep in mind, I am no expert, but this is how it is for me.

 

[Wint]

Appreciate all the feedback guys! I will definitely be putting this stuff to practice!

I've got one of those big black containers with the yellow tops from Lowe's filled with water and I have brought a few buckets of varying materials home to practice with. I noticed online that panning tubs seem to be a little angled? Similar to like the paint try. Or am I just seeing things? I am assuming this is to get some sort of 'wave' action in your tub to allow those waves to wash out your material?

I've got a feeling I am making this entire endeavor far more difficult than it truly is haha, terribly sorry for all the silly questions!

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

A question is the only way to gain knowledge, so never be sorry for asking questions, an old saying is the man who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes but he who does not is a fool for life.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Actually I like tubs that don’t produce much of a wave action some panning technique causes waves that splash water everywhere, a feel the use of shallower tubs is more a need to use less water/facilitate easier cleaning of the tub. Only so many pans of bank run will get your water murky, the thicker it gets the harder to pan effectively.

 

[russau]

Hey Everyone,

Been trying my hand at panning. I know it's a vital skill to be good at when it comes to prospecting. The kicker is I feel like I suck haha. I am not in a super known gold bearing area, some rivers and creeks in the county have had gold found in them. But nothing to bring in any kind of large scale interest. What's been mainly found are super fine flakes.

Because of this, I have not really had any opportunity to see what gold in a pan actually looks like in person. I have seen little specs of what looks like a golden color, but I have a ton of pyrite in this river and I have a feeling that is what I see left over, a couple of specs that just didn't make it over the edge. I just don't want to be dumping out gold when I think it's pyrite.

Does anyone know of any good videos or links on how to pan, as well as spotting gold in the pan? I've been enjoying Dan Hurd and Jeff Williams' videos, polar opposites on the personality spectrum those two are haha.

Also, as a side question, can raw natural gold vary in color? Depending on where in the world it came from it could be a different shade of gold? Or is gold always the same color and luster universally across the board? Rose gold and White gold, are simply in relation to jewelry right?

As always, any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!

Wint we are ALL at that point when we start panning ! Practice with someone that can pan and learn from him !