Panning - how do you do it

Its summer and its time we try different activities. Over the time this forum has been set up, one thing we have not discussed much is panning, the best spots to go, what equipment you use, how to do it. There are very experienced members and readers out there so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Jeff

Hi Jeff and all,

My friend has been running his sluice quite a bit recently. We just went out to Gaffneys Creek and ran the sluice. It was quite successful and got quite a few bits. We didnt pick the right weekend to go away as the rain was a bit annoying but good to get away. They usually have a dig in the slow points and on the inside of bends. They usually go east around Warburton as the research has showed there was a bit of gold in the creeks. We are still a bit inexperienced and I am sure we will hit better spots but have got little bits every time with the sluice. We have tried Slaty creek in Creswick which wasnt bad. One thing I think we have to do is go to more remote spots in the creek, which can be hard. I need to build one of those suction pumps a few posts down.
In regards to equipment we take a sluice, pan, shovel and 2 big tubs, one has holes in the bottom to filter the stuff we shovel in, although it gets filled up with small rocks, need to make something with wire mesh.


Nick

I'd suggest you go to the Alluvial gold prospecting site and ask the xperts, phill

Don't know how to do the link thingo, but heres the best alluvial site in oz, very helpfull mob.

http:alluvialgprospectors .proboards107/index.cgi

Like i said, bit of a caveman with putas, maybe some one more savvy can sort the link.

cheers steve

don't know if this was the one Stevo was trying to post http://www.goldprospectingaustralia.websyte.com.au/
Panning,manual sluicing damn hard work and in summer still as hot as swing a wand only U get to put ya feet in the river. Rivers are like giant sluices every crack tree stump basically anything that slows the water flow allowing the gold to fall outa the flow stream.
Slate is always a good bet for some fine flood gold but for rounded larger pieces i have always found that U have to wander away from the river and up the embankments scrounge around old diggings etc, problem is you have to carry your wash dirt back to the river and in 30c + temps as i said damn hard work. I gave this up for detecting and believe me its a lot easier swinging a wand than hauling buckets of dirt around.
Regards
John

Jefgold as Stevo 444 suggested go to www.alluvialgprospectors.proboards.com they are a great bunch of blokes and gals that are more than willing to help you on any question about Alluvial prospecting. You will have to join first but that is only a formality. You can get plans from the site on how to build your own highbanker and sluice plus many more interesting topics regards to prospecting. The other site that Freshwater has suggested will not be much help to you because "membership is by invitation only". were the site I have suggested you can join on your own accored and will be more helpfull.

Cheers Wombat

Thanks fellas for those links and advice.

I think that we just have to remember to think outside the square in summer and you may like to try beach detecting or stream panning. Our club even chose Reedy Creek near Beachworth for a change in January one year. Food for thought

Jeff

when i go panning a good thing to do is make sure u puddle all of your material before u pan it if clay. because u could find the clay is sucking up the gold and u are panning it out . i just use a bucket to puddle . another thing i do is put a drop of dishwashing detergent into the pan before panning to get rid of the oil in the pan. small gold can actually float. (i mean specs of gold) im no pro but this is some of the things that i have come up with. hope this helps.

I cann't pan and have tried a couple of times with no result, now the question lies am I just not doing it right or was there no gold in the sample I was panning???

How to prove my technique?? Cut up some small piece of lead to a known quantitiy, say 8 or 9 bits ranging in size, add to a sample and pan off until all of the lead is recovered and then I'll know that my technique is correct and will be personally satisfied that I won't miss any of the good stuff.
Now to raid the pile of lead stash, shave and practise, practise, practise.......

Practise makes perfect unless you are practising wrong, then in that case you will always be perfectly wrong!!
Cheers

Hi Jefsgold,

The Alluvial Gold Prospectors are planning a group trip to El Dorado Vic at Easter 2010.

Like Wombat said, they are a generous buch with their knowledge and will be happy to show you the ropes.

Cheers

Fly_Dirt

I can 2nd or 3rd that.
Have been to a get together at HE with a lot of them and still occassionally detect with some I met through that group.

Nice bunch of folk!

panning is a good day out for the kids too . just make sure they have a spot downstream .

I started my mad obsession years ago panning the small creeks between beechworth and eldorado in northeast Victoria ,a few kilometres from my then home .They all produced good gold especially in the spots where they flowed into Reedy Creek and the flow slowed due to natural barriers .There is a lot of tin in the wash and the general rule in that area was that gold would be present as well ,the only setback was that even though the creeks were crystal clear the local leach population would hone in on you the second you entered the water ,so much so that I used to wear pantyhose to ward them off ,very effective and it kept the tourists much amused ,there is probably a local legend floating about the area now about the strange cross dressing prospector that used to haunt the Reedy

Here is a little bit of info. you might want to read. (even a instructional vid)

http://www.operationgold.com/gold-panning-instructions/

yes clay that was a great link

The Alluvial Prospectors forum was chosen for it gives valuable information on panning,

Jeff i cant find any info on panning on the site ? do i have to join up ? or can i see info as a guest? this site is very user friendly cant see why others cant be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vQVjgM0icg easy way to learn how to pan...have to love youtube

stoppsy !! why do ya rekon they had the bloke panning backwards? the instructor had it right but then made the other guy pan awkwardly!! but thanks for the link

Murachu wrote:stoppsy !! why do ya rekon they had the bloke panning backwards? the instructor had it right but then made the other guy pan awkwardly!! but thanks for the link

that's what i was thinking...but you could do it both ways. i'v done panning befor and was doing it the way the instructor was....mite have to give it anther go i reckon...then after a bit do some detecting...the thing with panning i think you have to say where you got it from and that not to sure....

Hello everyone. I'm glad you all liked my gold panning instructions that Clay linked to. Thank you Clay for sharing the link, because otherwise I wouldn't have found this nice forum!

As stoppsy said, you have to love Youtube. Besides going panning yourself, there's probably no better way to learn how to pan for gold than watching a video demonstration, and there's lots of them on Youtube. Just search for gold panning and start watching. I've gathered the 5 most popular gold panning videos in this article: http://www.operationgold.com/gold-panning-videos/

As for equipment, all you really need to get started with gold panning is a pan, shovel and a bucket. A classifier will make it a whole lot easier for you to process material, as it helps you get rid of all the rocks before you start panning. You can make your own just like Nick did with a bucket with holes in the bottom. Or you can cut out the bottom completely and attach wire mesh. Just make sure you don't throw away any nuggets with the rocks Here's a couple of classifier videos I just found on Youtube to spark your imagination:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhckdY2XZB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW5Ldb--B4M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60GA040dsvQ

The key to finding good places to pan is to "read" the river during the spring flood when the water level is high and the current is strong. That's when the current is strong enough to transport the gold. During the rest of the year the gold often stays at its resting place until the next spring flood. As someone else mentioned the gold can be found where the water slows
down, so behind big rocks and in inner bends of the stream are good
places to look.

I'm not an expert by any means, but if any of you have questions regarding gold panning I'll do my best to answer them. Happy hunting!

Daniel thank you for the imput. I have been prospecting now for 30 years, panning, dredging when legal, Highbanking, river sluicing and now detecting. What I have found when you view other peoples styles you pick up a bit of information every time. It is a sad day when you learn nothing new. Cheers

Murachu wrote:The Alluvial Prospectors forum was chosen for it gives valuable information on panning,

Jeff i cant find any info on panning on the site ? do i have to join up ? or can i see info as a guest? this site is very user friendly cant see why others cant be

Hi Murachu. You do need to join the group to see all the information on it. We unfortunately had to set it like this due to some trouble. You can sign up to the forum simply by clicking on the "Register" link at the top of the page, or the "Create New Account" link at the bottom of the page. After you have registered, you can gain access after one of the moderators or myself approves your account. This shouldn't take too long, it just depends on who is online at the time.

There is a requirement to post 3 messages to gain access to all boards in the forum. The easiest way to achieve this is to post a message in the "Introduce Yourself Here" board, then either reply to those who welcome you, or post a question in the "General Discussion" board & reply to one of those posts.

Cheers,
Andy (AGP Admin)

My two bob's worth.....

There is a lot of useful info on the site and a good bunch of fellow prospectors.
You will see thier website sticker attatched to the rear windscreen of my ute

Cheers Pol

how many classify their dirt before panning ? i see some do a little /i see some do a lot/ i see some who dont classify at all ,your thoughts please

Murachu wrote:how many classify their dirt before panning ? i see some do a little /i see some do a lot/ i see some who dont classify at all ,your thoughts please

I classify my dirt whenever I can. I need to get some finer wire mesh though because there's pretty coarse gravel(and very fine gold) at some places where I pan. Now I have to remove the coarse gravel by hand while I pan, because it interferes with the panning process. It takes a lot of time to remove every stone by hand from your pan, I think that's why some people prefer to classify their material.

thanks for that Daniel -- yes i can see that you would have to know what size gold was in the area and sieve down to a little bigger but would you look at the spoil in the sieve for a bigger piece ?

I generally pan without a classifier (see reason No 2 below). If I am short of time, or water, I use a classifer and take the dirt home to pan properly.

However, I classify the dirt in water in either a pan or backet and give the rocks a bit of a wash before throwing them out. Why?.......because it is easier to see any dirty nuggets that come clean in the seive before you throw the contents away and No. 2......because if you are working with damp dirt, the gold can stick to the rocks and the water releases the gold, both fine, nuggety and flakes. This is especially so if you are working in damp loam or clay.

The water is strained out before taking the dirt home.

Using a Highbanker/Banjo is the same as using a classifier, as the Highbanker/Banjo has a built in classifier and the water flow moves the light material out the sluice, and the concentrates are taken home in a bucket.

Cheers
Fly Dirt

Murachu wrote:thanks for that Daniel -- yes i can see that you would
have to know what size gold was in the area and sieve down to a little
bigger but would you look at the spoil in the sieve for a bigger piece?

Absolutely!
Even if you've just found fine gold in a certain area, who knows what's
to be found there in the future? I would never forgive myself if I
threw away a nugget, no matter its size. A gold nugget will stand out
pretty good amongst other rocks, so it won't take much time to check
through the spoil.

Fly_Dirt wrote:
However, I classify the dirt in water in either a pan or backet and give the rocks a bit of a wash before throwing them out. Why?.......because it is easier to see any dirty nuggets that come clean in the seive before you throw the contents away and No. 2......because if you are working with damp dirt, the gold can stick to the rocks and the water releases the gold, both fine, nuggety and flakes. This is especially so if you are working in damp loam or clay.

Fly Dirt, that's a really good point that I forgot to mention. If you're classifying damp material, some gold is very likely to stick to the rocks, so make sure you classify it in water. That it's easier to see the nuggets after they've been under water is spot on too. Here's a video demonstration on using a classifier in water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnkg4b6EIxc

Fly_Dirt wrote:I generally pan without a classifier (see reason No 2 below). If I am short of time, or water, I use a classifer and take the dirt home to pan properly.

However, I classify the dirt in water in either a pan or backet and give the rocks a bit of a wash before throwing them out. Why?.......because it is easier to see any dirty nuggets that come clean in the seive before you throw the contents away and No. 2......because if you are working with damp dirt, the gold can stick to the rocks and the water releases the gold, both fine, nuggety and flakes. This is especially so if you are working in damp loam or clay.

The water is strained out before taking the dirt home.

Using a Highbanker/Banjo is the same as using a classifier, as the Highbanker/Banjo has a built in classifier and the water flow moves the light material out the sluice, and the concentrates are taken home in a bucket.

Cheers
Fly Dirt

ok i see where in one incidence you are taking home heavy concentrates to pan off but in the other case you are actually removing soil which in Victoria at least is illegal what is the position in other states ? but it is an interesting point and maybe some other members can give their opinions on that.

removing soil which in Victoria at least is illegal

So is digging a hole 30 feet long 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep isn't it