Gold Panning

**Rick** · 08-01-2009, 01:03 AM

We drove the scenic lighthouse road when we were in Nova Scotia. Pretty cool. There are some seriously nice folks that live there. Gold robbers not withstanding.

**Rick** · 08-01-2009, 01:20 AM

Tonester - If you are going to be working creeks and streams, look for high water marks then look for any rocks, holes, or tree roots that are between the high water and the water level. As I said above, the gold will concentrate when it can fall out of the water and working ground that is out of the water makes it that much easier.

Another tool you can make is a crevice tool. Just take a piece of coat hanger and bend the last inch or inch and a half at a 90 degree angle. It will let you reach into crevices in rocks and drag out any gold that might have fallen in there.

You can also work down your dregs to just black sand then dump it all into a 5 gallon bucket to work up when you get home.

Here's a list of some of the gear we have. This is by memory. I'll have to check and see if I miss anything.

10 Gallon tub to pan tailings into. We never panned in the creek. Always in the tub. That way if you drop something you can still find it.

5 gallon bucket for black sand

We have two classifiers but I don't know for certain what size. 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch I think. Set a classifier in your pan and dump your dirt into the classifier. It will remove the big stuff so all you have to work down is the really small stuff. The classifiers fit inside each other so it's easy to work the larger rock out before it gets into your pan.

Tripod seat. It's really nice to sit on the little seat in about a foot of water and work your pan rather than stand bending over.

Small trowel for loading your pan.

Snifters and bottles for storing tons of gold.

10x jewelers loupe. Indiana also has diamonds and rubies so the loupe helps with that. Check the geology where you intend to pan. You might be surprised what you can find. Also check with your state department of mines and minerals. They generally have pamplets or online information about the geology and where gold is located.

I'll look through my gear and see if anything else interesting is in there but that's the main stuff that I can think of.

**tonester** · 08-01-2009, 10:53 PM

thanks rick and everyone else for all the info and tips. i actually wrote down some notes in a note book and took it with me today. unfortunately we really didnt find any thing besides fools gold. but we still had a lot of fun.

the creek we panned in had a lot of gravel and pebbles. didnt really find any of that dark sand you were talking about rick. do you guys think this creek would even have any gold in it?

this week im gonna get some tools and gear to search in some cliffs that we came across, these cliffs look like they have a lot of different minerals in them.

anyways like i said before i really dont care if i dont find any gold (it would be nice though

) but i think i found a new hobby.

**Rick** · 08-01-2009, 11:01 PM

I've never found gold where there wasn't magnetite present. The old timers I've talked to say the same thing. Magnetite has to be present. It's part of the gold bearing rock. Having said that, I've never panned in California so as sure as I tell you that it won't hold true there.

It is a lot of fun and another way to get outside. You'll be surprised how much wildlife you'll run into panning. My wife and I were working a very shallow spot in salt creek when we heard someone walking through the water. We were each sitting on a three legged seat I spoke about above and looked up to see a deer just walking down the creek. Neither of us moved and it didn't seem to be the least bit concerned. It checked us out for a moment then strolled on by. Pretty cool moment.