How to Pan for Gold

Gold is the heaviest of all metals and sinks to the bottom of the pan through any sand, gravel, dirt or rocks. With practice, panning for gold becomes relatively simple, fun and exciting.

1. Find a spot in the stream where the water is sufficiently deep to submerge your pan completely and the water almost calm but flowing enough to carry off the dirt and muddied water that will occur.

2. Fill your pan about ¾ full of the dirt & gravel you wish to wash. Dip the pan in the water, hold with one hand and use the other hand to completely wet the material you are washing. This will cause the gold to sink in the wet material.

3. While underwater, agitate the material by shaking the pan back and forth, so that the heavier material sinks to the bottom being careful at this time to keep the pan completely flat.

4. As the dirt and light material are washed away in the stream, move the pan in a circular, swirling motion to move the material, allowing the lighter material to float away, at the same time pick out the larger rocks and toss them aside careful to wash them over the pan before tossing as they might have gold sticking to them.

5. When the water has cleared, keep the pan just under the water, tip it slightly away from you and with a gentle circular forward tossing motion, allow the lighter material to wash over the edge of the other end of the pan.

6. From time to time, level the pan and shake it back and forth. This will cause the lighter materials to come to the top and the gold to sink to the bottom.

7. Repeat the above process until only the heavier material or black sand remains. These are your concentrates.

8. Take your pan out of the water and pour off most of the water in the pan leaving just enough to cover the black sand about ½ inch. Shake everything to the far end of the pan and tap pan while tilted to make sure the gold is settled.

9. Now's the time to see the gold. Tilt the pan toward you gently and slowly while swirling the water until the black sands are pulled back into a crescent and on that line and in the bottom crease of the pan the gold remains. Use your tweezers to pick out the flakes, and put them in your specimen bottle.