Faster, Easier, More Efficient Prospecting Advice

[n01d3x]

As the title suggests I am looking for advice on a better way to prospect. Spending all day panning with my garret super sluice kicks my butt, and I'm not able to really process that much material. I could switch to a smaller, lighter pan; but I don't think I could process as much dirt in the same amount of time. I've been looking at Gold Hog's Hog Pan, their new Flow Pan and Fossicker's Pyramid Pro Pan. I love Gold Hog's products and own a bunch of it. The Hog Pan is expensive and seems like it would kick my butt more than my super sluice, the flow pan seems like it would be tricky with super fine gold. The Pyramid Pro Pan seems like it would be the best option of the 3 for me. I want to be able to test an area using 5 gallon buckets as a test, instead of a pan or 2. Anyone have any experience with any of those mentioned, or advice on how to prospect more efficiently in general?

 

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[arthos]

We talking specifically for test panning? Because once you find gold its time to switch to a concentrating tool where you run the majority of your gravels/material. Such as a river sluice box, trommel, highbanker ect. I don't really know of a better way test gravels than a gold pan, and the super sluice works well though admittedly its hard on the wrists being such a large pan.

 

[n01d3x]

Yea, I mean strictly for test panning. Once I find good gold I move on to production, which involves a sluice of some sorts.

 

[mike(swWash)]

A Flow Pan Might be the ticket for you. Here's a good video to watch.

 

[n01d3x]

I like the flow pan, I am just concerned with it losing super fine gold. In this video they only put in a small amount of dirt in order to keep the tiny stuff. However, I did see sluice goose running his flow pan like a mad man lol and it still kept the tiny stuff, so maybe it's worth buying and trying.

 

[mikep691]

If it's for testing given areas, why be concerned over gold you can barely see? If you're doing buckets of dirt in your tests, then skip the pan and go to the stream sluice. Classify your dirt to quarter inch then run it. Use the pan after all your buckets have been run.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Running a 5 gallon bucket isn't prospecting, it's mining. Save the mining until you have found a good deposit by prospecting.

Prospecting involves sampling and sampling and sampling some more. The samples I run go anywhere from a tablespoon or two up to a two pound scoop in the pan. Grid your area and take a small sample from each grid square. Pan each sample and inspect the results with a 10X loupe.

Keep track of each grid sample for location, amount of gold, size of gold and appearance of gold. Keep an eye out for what type of minerals are associated with the gold, they will be in your sample and they can tell you a lot about the local mineralization.

I take my samples from a uniform depth, usually about 6 inches. For location I use a hand drawn gridded map with numbers in each grid square corresponding to the numbered and bagged samples I've collected for each grid square.

Tally each grid for the 3 factors I noted and you will quickly see which grid square(s) has the best possibility of producing good gold. If they all come up pretty much the same move down to one edge of your previous grid and start again. You are looking for the best spot, not just a spot with some gold.

If you see some samples with much better gold than the others and you gridded with big squares (30 ft or so) you will want to make a much finer grid (5 ft or so) on the best grid squares from your first sample batch. Do the same process as before and you can narrow down the best grid spot to start testing.

Testing involves carefully digging down at your best grid spot. You should sample pan a bit every 6 inches or so. If you are seeing good gold on the way down stockpile what you are digging to run later. Keep track of the depth and quality of the samples just like with the grid sampling.

When you have finished that process you should know where and how deep the best gold is in the area you are prospecting.

If your results don't show much difference between the different grid and depth samples you might want to run a single random 5 gallon bucket to get an idea of the general yield of the area you prospected. Mark that down in your notebook because you need to move on to another area to prospect and keeping track of your results will teach you where to find the best gold in the area.

If the results show a "hot spot" run a 5 gallon bucket from that spot and ask yourself if it's worth digging more. Each spot requires different effort to dig and process the material so the quantity of gold recovered is only part of the equation. This is where experience comes in to play. There's only one way to get experience.

Keep prospecting work and mining work separate (even on a small scale) and you will get more gold with less effort.

Notice I didn't suggest a certain pan or tool? It doesn't matter. The most successful prospector I've met uses an old horn spoon to pan his samples, he works for the largest gold mining company in the world. It's not about the tools it's about working smart.

Heavy Pans

 

[n01d3x]

The other day I used my pan to test an area and found good gold. My next time out I brought my sluice and ran buckets. After running my 5th bucket I sampled and the gold was basically gone. That's why I wanted to be able to test using bucket instead of pans. I guess with Clay's advice though I would've known what little material there actually was in this spot. Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of running a single 5 gallon bucket to see if it's worth it, once I've found a spot by sample panning.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Clay’s method is a tried and true method for river placer and lode prospecting.
There are certain types of deposits such as glacier or mudflows from ancient high channels that require a larger volume per sample. The material can have nearly zero fine gold, but sparcely distributed nuggets, which make the material pay very well. A shovel of this material will pan out like garden dirt. It may not even have heavy concentratrates. If your taking teaspoon samples, you might pass right over handfuls of nuggets. You really need to have some knowledge as to the type of gold in your area and how it was deposited.

Finding good nuggets with a metal detector, then sluicing that material has proven this to me.

 

[Hamfist]

Pyramid Pro is fatiguing to use and isn’t much faster than a Super Sluice. Also 10x the price. I’ve had one for a few years. Not terribly impressed with it.

 

[mytimetoshine]

I had the hog pan, but sold it. Didnt work for me. Have you thought about a Banjo pan? Looses a little compared to a garret but does move a lot of material. I come to the conclusion that for me, all things considered. The standard Garret is best for me. Its smaller and lighter then the super sluice.

 

[n01d3x]

Thank you guys for all of the advice. I think I'm going to better organize my sampling and switch to a lighter pan. Saved me some cash, thanks!

 

[Bonaro]

A gold pan in experienced hands is the most efficient method of testing bank run gravel. Use the pan in many locations until you find the area that gives up the most gold. Then set up a sluice and shovel on. If the gold is extremely fine you will catch it with the pan but the sluice will lose much of it. Time to find an area with better/bigger gold. Plastic drop riffle sluices are much more efficient than traditional riffle and carpet sluices. I recommend LeTrap or Angus McKirk

 

[Capt Nemo]

Clay’s method is a tried and true method for river placer and lode prospecting.
There are certain types of deposits such as glacier or mudflows from ancient high channels that require a larger volume per sample. The material can have nearly zero fine gold, but sparcely distributed nuggets, which make the material pay very well. A shovel of this material will pan out like garden dirt. It may not even have heavy concentratrates. If your taking teaspoon samples, you might pass right over handfuls of nuggets. You really need to have some knowledge as to the type of gold in your area and how it was deposited.

Finding good nuggets with a metal detector, then sluicing that material has proven this to me.

So true with glacial deposits. A bucket may only yield a speck or two to indicate that you're on the gold.