yesterday I tried a few pans at Credit River that feeds into the Minnesota River. just some black sands. i'll likely go back just because its so close and to work on my panning.
I went panning along Cannon River somewhere on a sandbar between Faribault and Northfield. About 4th pan i saw a glint of gold in the pan. It was a tiny speck. Smaller than a head of a pin. It stood out in the pan -- the color and the way it stuck to bottom of pan. I snuffed it into a bottle. I was very encouraged.
Several pans later ... nada. I was only out for about an hour and I was beat. I was using a Garret Super Sluice pan and I was getting tried quick. Went home and emptied the snuffer. When i tilted the pan, the speck stayed in place while the black sands swirled around it. At one point I tilted too far and the particle jumped up to the surface of the water and floated. Gold, right?
I used a small microscope. Sorry for potato quality picture. It really looks like gold.
I had problems transferring it to a vial. At one point I found it was stuck inside the snuffer. The piece is small that with my bad eyes I wasn't sure if I was successful transferring it to the vial.
Wondering if a Garret Pinpoint metal detector could pick out the gold in the vial?