ContactGSW
Greenie
- Mar 2, 2016
- 11
- 18
- Detector(s) used
- AT Pro, CZ21. Tessoro Vaquero, CTX3030
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Reading all the gold miners stories got me wanting to try to learn how to pan. I live in Arkansas so there is no real panning to be done as a hobby or day trip. So thought I would try paydirt bought off the internet. After trying multiple different bags I have got a couple recommendations for other beginners wanting to have some fun and learn how to pan.
First what are your goals:
1. Learn to pan.
2. Have fun.
3. Get as high a ROI as possible of gold in your vial.
1. A pan and a big container to catch the sand and gravel to re-pan. Plenty of cheap pans on Amazon, you can find the other container around the house. I highly recommend getting a snuffer bottle. I spent a lot of wasted time using a lab dropper to suck up the gold and leave the sand. Now I suck up all the gold with the sand into the snuffer bottle and when I get a good little amount just dump it back in the pan a couple times to clean it up by swirling separation. Learning technique, just go to Youtube, most is getting out and doing it. You will want to start off with a heaping table spoon at a time at first. Jet dry is highly recommended, hard working miners are going to get all the good gold and sell us dirt with tiny flakes that can float on the water, and into the big container they fly, a few drops of jet dry stops a lot of that.
2. If you want to have fun, you are going to have to find gold. I want paydirt that lets me find color in every little coffee scoop I pan. In my experience that is not going to happen unless you buy added gold paydirt. The seller puts a pinch of gold into the dirt. Sometimes I think I have gone through pounds of the dirt and have only found the pinch. Also, the problem is the size of the pinch. Sometimes its not much. You want to go with a dealer with a reputation of a generous pinch. I will illustrate how I solved this below. If you buy non-gold added paydirt, be prepared to be disappointed as a beginner. Most of the gold you find, even in gold-added dirt, will be a high number mesh, meaning very small fine flakes to micro-dots. If you want to find a nugget you can pick up with your fingers, you are probably going to be disappointed. I will illustrate how I solved this below.
3. Want an ROI of greater than 1? Its just not going to happen except rarely. Gold is $42.54 a gram today. If the dirt contains more than a gram per pound or even 3 pounds, the miners are going to figure out a way to put that gold in their pockets. But with enough research you can find dirt that can get you well over 50% ROI. Which is great because it means you are having lots of fun finding the gold, there is color in each small scoop, and makes it a much less theoretical out of pocket cost because that gold in the vial has real value. There are reviewers on line that will help you find dirt with a high ROI, one is a guys site goldpaydirtreviews who is pretty good. I always include the shipping and handling in estimating my ROI.
My approach to a higher ROI.
First when you buy paydirt you want to support the hard working small family miners. The kind of folks that made America great. You help these people stay where they are and do what they do by supplementing their bottom line. If you can, buy from their web sites instead of amazon or ebay it saves them money on fees. I have bought from an Alaska family, Constellation Mining Company, 12 bucks a pound, 6.26 S&H, which stays the same on 2 pound orders at least, and there are always flakes in a scoop. They are nice people.
But I want nuggets, and gold in every scoop, and at least a chance at a ROI over 50%, so here is what I do. I found a guy on ebay, wolfjeff, a pretty cool dude, who know how to get return customers: He makes sure there is a small nugget or two in every 12 oz of his super rich gold con. Its expensive, $40 plus $4.75 S&H, but he makes sure his customers are happy, picking up a nugget or two makes you that way, and the dirt is rich in additional flakes.
Not many sellers will tell you exactly how much they add to the dirt, I found one who does. Randy, at goldadventures, sells bags with a known amount added. His 3 pound concentrate bag with 1 gram added is $69.99 plus $6.45 S&H. I have bought a bag from Jeff and a bag from Randy, and mixed them together. Its expensive, $121.20 total, and at todays gold price I need to find 2.85 grams to get close to a 100% ROI. But I am already one third there with Randy's added gold, his cons have a variable amount of native gold, and Jeff's cons can sometimes add up to more than a gram (and those nuggets are so cool). So from the start I know I am already above 50%. With a little luck and panning ability, I have a lot of fun and get a high enough ROI to always want some dirt on the front porch; when it gets to dark to pan (pan only in sunlight or with very good lighting) I get to sit on the couch and shake all my hard won gold in my little vial and watch it glitter.
Hope this helped any beginner thinking about buying some paydirt. Other suggestions always welcome.
ContactGSW
First what are your goals:
1. Learn to pan.
2. Have fun.
3. Get as high a ROI as possible of gold in your vial.
1. A pan and a big container to catch the sand and gravel to re-pan. Plenty of cheap pans on Amazon, you can find the other container around the house. I highly recommend getting a snuffer bottle. I spent a lot of wasted time using a lab dropper to suck up the gold and leave the sand. Now I suck up all the gold with the sand into the snuffer bottle and when I get a good little amount just dump it back in the pan a couple times to clean it up by swirling separation. Learning technique, just go to Youtube, most is getting out and doing it. You will want to start off with a heaping table spoon at a time at first. Jet dry is highly recommended, hard working miners are going to get all the good gold and sell us dirt with tiny flakes that can float on the water, and into the big container they fly, a few drops of jet dry stops a lot of that.
2. If you want to have fun, you are going to have to find gold. I want paydirt that lets me find color in every little coffee scoop I pan. In my experience that is not going to happen unless you buy added gold paydirt. The seller puts a pinch of gold into the dirt. Sometimes I think I have gone through pounds of the dirt and have only found the pinch. Also, the problem is the size of the pinch. Sometimes its not much. You want to go with a dealer with a reputation of a generous pinch. I will illustrate how I solved this below. If you buy non-gold added paydirt, be prepared to be disappointed as a beginner. Most of the gold you find, even in gold-added dirt, will be a high number mesh, meaning very small fine flakes to micro-dots. If you want to find a nugget you can pick up with your fingers, you are probably going to be disappointed. I will illustrate how I solved this below.
3. Want an ROI of greater than 1? Its just not going to happen except rarely. Gold is $42.54 a gram today. If the dirt contains more than a gram per pound or even 3 pounds, the miners are going to figure out a way to put that gold in their pockets. But with enough research you can find dirt that can get you well over 50% ROI. Which is great because it means you are having lots of fun finding the gold, there is color in each small scoop, and makes it a much less theoretical out of pocket cost because that gold in the vial has real value. There are reviewers on line that will help you find dirt with a high ROI, one is a guys site goldpaydirtreviews who is pretty good. I always include the shipping and handling in estimating my ROI.
My approach to a higher ROI.
First when you buy paydirt you want to support the hard working small family miners. The kind of folks that made America great. You help these people stay where they are and do what they do by supplementing their bottom line. If you can, buy from their web sites instead of amazon or ebay it saves them money on fees. I have bought from an Alaska family, Constellation Mining Company, 12 bucks a pound, 6.26 S&H, which stays the same on 2 pound orders at least, and there are always flakes in a scoop. They are nice people.
But I want nuggets, and gold in every scoop, and at least a chance at a ROI over 50%, so here is what I do. I found a guy on ebay, wolfjeff, a pretty cool dude, who know how to get return customers: He makes sure there is a small nugget or two in every 12 oz of his super rich gold con. Its expensive, $40 plus $4.75 S&H, but he makes sure his customers are happy, picking up a nugget or two makes you that way, and the dirt is rich in additional flakes.
Not many sellers will tell you exactly how much they add to the dirt, I found one who does. Randy, at goldadventures, sells bags with a known amount added. His 3 pound concentrate bag with 1 gram added is $69.99 plus $6.45 S&H. I have bought a bag from Jeff and a bag from Randy, and mixed them together. Its expensive, $121.20 total, and at todays gold price I need to find 2.85 grams to get close to a 100% ROI. But I am already one third there with Randy's added gold, his cons have a variable amount of native gold, and Jeff's cons can sometimes add up to more than a gram (and those nuggets are so cool). So from the start I know I am already above 50%. With a little luck and panning ability, I have a lot of fun and get a high enough ROI to always want some dirt on the front porch; when it gets to dark to pan (pan only in sunlight or with very good lighting) I get to sit on the couch and shake all my hard won gold in my little vial and watch it glitter.
Hope this helped any beginner thinking about buying some paydirt. Other suggestions always welcome.
ContactGSW
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