I picked up a few extra/back-up pans this past weekend and I need to do the same thing. First of all, I'm glad you chose Garrett because they're the only company that knows how to make a good gold pan in my opinion. I always bring a Garrett Gravity Trap and a Garrett Super Sluice with me when I go panning, I usually use the Super Sluice as a secondary "safety pan" to pan my concentrates into so that I can save them to re-check later on. Anyway, the last time I "broke in" a pan I put some Dawn dish soap in it, used a very small amount of hot water from the faucet, and took one of those green/yellow everyday household sponges and scrubbed the heck out of the whole inside of the pan with the green (more abrasive) side of the sponge. After giving the pan a quick and hot rinse, I put a little more Dawn dish soap in the pan and boiled a pot of water and let it sit in the pan for five to ten minutes. I noticed the surface of the pan was noticeably less oily/glossy looking after doing that. When they mold plastics they use certain chemical compounds to keep the plastic product separate from the mold that it was formed in, that's why new pans always seem kind of oily. Oils in your gold pan, including oils from your skin, can cause fine gold particles to float on top of the water in your pan. People that say gold can't float don't know what they're talking about. It's kind of important, I believe, to scrub your pan out with some hot water and dish soap occasionally if you're worried about losing any fine gold.