Gold Pans
 

There are dozens of different gold pans...materials (metal & plastic)...sizes (8"-17")....different type or no riffle system...wide bottom....drop bottom...etc.

Qualifier -I don't sell any gold prospecting or mining equipment and have no affilliation with any manufracturer or dealer.

There are different views and opinions regarding gold pans, all pans have some +'s & -'s. My recommendations for a gold pan is firstly get a good one. Avoid the cheap plastic pans ($4-$8.00 range), and metal pans. Copper looks nice on the wall but is expensive; metal pans have to be heated to blue and then lightly rusted...and then wiped dry and maintained so they don't rust heavily over time.

Choose a good plastic pan. 14" for adults, 12" for the ladies, and 10" for the kids. Avoid 17" pans. They have purpose but not for most of us: they are too large, cumbersome, and tiring...they are heavy when you put dirt in 'em.

Also choose a pan that has a good - not too severe - concave system of riffles (gold-traps) molded in a portion of the side.

Additonally avoid black colored pans...especially for prospecting. The color is easy on the eyes but it is exceedingly difficult and time consuming trying to see black sands against the black bottom of a pan.

Choose green or blue. These colors are (1) easy on the eyes over time outdoors, and they let a person quickly see black sands against the bottom.

There are two basic types of pans: "Wide-bottom" and "Drop-bottom". Some prospectors swear by a "drop-bottom" pan. I and most other weekender's recommended a "wide-bottom" pan. This is because the nugget trap that is created by the "drop" at the bottom of a drop-bottom pan is not needed if a person is using a pan that has a good set of molded-in concave riffles (gold-traps).

A wide-bottom pan of the same diameter of a drop-bottom pan has more room in it. This is because the sides are more steeply sloped to make the bottom wider. What is important about more room in a pan is that a person must get all of the materials in a pan moving under water in order for the particles to loose and suspend, so that gravity can move the heavier gold downward through the comparatively lighter materials to the bottom...where a person want's to keep it, while they progressively wash the lighter materials off the top to finially get down to the gold and other "heavies" (iron ore pebbles, black sands, maybe lead shot, bullets...or whatever other very heavy items) that are in the dirt).

Don't fill a pan more than half-full of dirt until you have learned to pan...and then never fill it more than 3/4 full. Remember that it is critical to separate out gold, that all the material gets moving and loosened so that heavier gold can move down through it and locate on the bottom of the pan. If the gold doesn't get down there then it will be washed over the side of the pan along with the other lighter ("lights") materials.

IMO the best weekender prospecting pans for adults are the "The Professional" made by "Proline" (2) "The Gold Catcher" made by the Gold Prospectors Assoc. of America (GPAA), and (3) a Keene Engineering 14" "Super 3-Stage". All three of these have websites that list..email addresses...and phone numbers. Each can also be ordered on line.

Don't get a bunch of stuff you don't need....start out with a good gold pan, a not-too-heavy long handled shovel (don't have to bend over to use it and it's a might weapon to keep 2 & 4 legged critters at bay if a person has to!), a 3 or 5-gallon plastic pail to carry lunch and maybe some gloves or other "possibles" in. Pad the handel with some foam and duct tape to make it larger and more comfortable in the hand. A pail also serves as a great seat...compared with sitting on a rock or wet ground, or on your knees.
Also carry a Tuppper-ware type sandwich container with a good lid to keep your black sand and fine gold in, and carry something like a plastic 35 mm film canister in which to put any nuggets.

Re: Gold Pans
 

Thanks, Already I need a change in gold pans. I got two green ones and a metal. I will be ordering some new ones tomorrow.

Re: Gold Pans
 

Okay... Call me lazy. :cheers:

http://www.goldrushtradingpost.com/inc/sdetail/2811

http://j.b5z.net/i/u/2089773/i/Deser...ture-image.jpg

Re: Gold Pans
 

All new gold pans have a somewhat oily surface. It's residue left from manufacturing. Oil and gold do NOT mix. Any oil in a pan will cause small particles of gold to float...prevent them from moving from the bottom, and subsequently washed out with the lights.

To prepare a plastic pan, put it in the sink and use a good grease cutting dish detergent and a green-fiber Scotch scrub pad to scour it thoroughly inside and out. Knock off all the shine on the inside...don't worry about scratches they're good to have. Sand on the creek will also over time scour out the pan.

Metal pans: heat them slowly on a stove and just until they turn a bronze & blue color. Don't get it too hot or the bottom will warp = a bad deal. Heating will burn off all the oil. Dry the pan and set it outside for a couple of weeks until it takes on a light coating of rust and your ready to go.

Dry a metal pan after each day's use to prevent it from rusting excessively.

It's a good idea to drill a 1/4" hole near the top of the rim directly across from the center of the riffle section. Tie a loop of sash or parachute cord through the hole so it can be clipped to a belt or belt loop in back for carrying = both hands are free. The hold and cord also serves to let a prospector always know whitout looking, where the center of the riffle section of the pan is when it's underwater. Feel the cord and hold with a thumb and know that the center of the riffle section is directly across the pan from that thumb.

Re: Gold Pans
 

I tried an old pie pan in my backyard creek a few days ago. May have found a few small flakes buy couldn't be certain.

You have a primer on the process of panning posted here somewhere?

Thanks

Re: Gold Pans
 

Panning is a simple water-gravity separation process.

1. Fill the pan 1/2 to at most 3/4" (1/2 full for the unexperienced) of material.
2. Sink the pan underwater and use your fingers to smash any clods of dirt or clay. Any clod can hold gold and unless the gold is freed, it will be lost.
3. Sink the pan underwater and holding and keeping it level, swish it round and round, side to side, and away from and toward you. Do not move the pan up and down. This will create turbulance in the pan that will keep gold up off the bottom.
It is critical that all the material in the pan is set into motion UNDERWATER, so all the particles can loosen, separate, and become suspended while in motion. It is this loosening and sparation that allows gravity to pull the heavier gold "colors" downward to locate at the bottom of the pan.
4. After about 20 seconds stop, let the material come to rest and lift the pan out of the water. Use the side of your little finger and hand to gently "wipe" the comparatively larger (less comparatively dense) stones off the top (don't dig your fingers down into the material) over the side and out of the pan.
5. Repeat Steps 3 & 4 three times. You will find that most of the larger stones have moved to the top and "wiped out of the pan. You'll only have maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the original material in the pan and it will all be the smaller particles.
6. Sink the pan again and repeat step 3. Stop the motion and lift the pan part way out of the water and tilt it. Maintaining the angle, gently slip the pan back into the water and then still maintaining the angle, pull it back out of the water at a faster pace so that the water running out of the pan washes some of the lighter material that is on the surface, over the side of the pan at the center of the riffle (gold traps) section.
7. Complete three rinses and then sink the pan again. Get all the material moving to make sure the heavier gold particles are on the bottom. Stop and complete three more washes.
8. Continue these two processes until you only have 1 or 2 tablespoons of materials left in the pan. This material will be the most dense of all the particles that were originally in the pan.
9. Use a bit of water to wash the materials together at a location where the side of the pan meets the bottom, and then use the same water (about equal in volume to the volumn of particles that are left in the pan) to gently wash back the lighter brown silica and heavier black (iron ores and oxides) sands.
If there was gold in the material and it was made to move sufficiently to get the gold to the bottom, and you created no up and down turbulence that would raise the gold off the bottom where it would get washed out of the pan with lighter materials, then any gold that is in the pan will be under any black sands and small dense pebbles that might remain.\

Practice makes perfect. A person can practice by taking 4-5 small split-shot lead sinkers and flatening them out (so they won't roll) with a hammer. If you can keep the pieces of lead in the pan you can keep gold in it also because gold is 1.8 (nearly twice) times as heavy as lead.

Hope this helps. Good luck, and if you find any nuggets I need to know where you're diggin!

Re: Gold Pans
 

Can silver be panned like gold or is it too light?

Re: Gold Pans
 

Silver is very close to the same density as lead...it's heavy. Gold is about 6-7 times as heavy as any rock you'll ever find in a gold pan...silver is about 3-4 times as heavy so it could readily be moved to the bottom to separate it out. However.......

Gold nuggets are rare. There are more diamonds found than gold nuggets. Visible nuggets and other size particles of silver are by far, more rarely found than gold. Placer deposits of silver no doubt exist but the particles are so minute that nearly none of them are seen with the naked eye. I've never heard of anyone who panned for silver.

Silver mining is conducted through very expensive commercial mining operations. That's one of the reasons why it's going to be VERY hard for silver production to catch up with demand, or otherwise re-create large above ground deposits.

Re: Gold Pans
 

Thanks GM. Just saw that you answered me.
I'll give it a try

Re: Gold Pans
 

Hey......I'll bring a couple of my green pans down and show ya how if you want.....and you can give a night scope lesson....deal ?