How to practice panning?

[Mrlimb]

I am a very new at this panning thing, so new, I am still waiting on some garrett pans In the post. In the mean time I was using a metal dog bowl with deep sides. As a test i have been using cut up lead split sinkers. They seem to behave like gold. Maybe someone with more experience can confirm this. Still good fun as you know how many you put in. I also ran them through a Bunnings sluice like the one Reece put on the site. Seems to work well.

It has given me confidence that if there is yellow in the material I am working it will be in the pan at the end of the process.

How did others hone there skills? 8)

 

[trenchfighter]

G'day Mr Limb.
You are correct, little bits of lead are excellent to use for training in gold pan recovery, and metel detecting to some extent. Patience and practice brother. ALso, you'll learn, gold is pretty hard to accidently pan out, i meen, aslong as you take your time and pan thoroughly and methodicly, and not go ape shit crazy.
With lots of practice, you'll be surprised at how quickly u can end up panning.

cheers brother

 

[Reeks]

What trenchfighter said.
Im only new to panning also and still surprised how well even pin head size gold works its way to the bottom of the pan and stays.

If you do use lead, try to knife off tiny tiny pieces. Chances of finding split shot size and shape gold are rare.
I used my poor-man-sluice on the weekend and it caught some very fine gold.
Reeko

 

[Teemore]

Welcome Mrlimb,
Not an expert by any means BUT as mentioned above it is actually difficult to move even tiny specks if everything is well settled, gold IS heavy.
Reckon I was doing a wimpy job until I watched someone very proficient at it ... what was taking me half an hour he would do in 3 to 5 minutes.
Just have to make sure tany clay type material is well disolved and settle the contents of the pan ..... the gold WILL make it's way to the bottom and stay there.
Remember just because you don't find anything in your first pan doesn't mean you're doing it wrong ...
Just make sure you settle the contents well and you can't go wrong, be agressive till you get rid of the bigger stuff then a bit more gentle to settle it amonst the finer 'sands' ... if you're retaining black sand them you're on the right track (and in the right area).
Try to get out with someone, or watch someone proficient at it and you'll be a pro in next to no time.
Cheers Tom.

 

[axeman]

If you are down Kilkivan way call into the Prophet mine, I'm not sure of the cost but you can go panning there for the day (they have a pile of wash dirt there you can pan), John the owner will teach you to pan (Queensland champion).
Mick

 

[navieko]

Some excellent advice above. Just take it slow and easy, don't overload the pan too much until your pretty confident, be sure to periodically shake/vibrate the pan while doing the tilting motion, as some of the gold will tend to work its way back up when going through the tilt/wash motion. The biggest learning curve will be at the end - figuring out the technique to separate the gold from everything else, which can be particularly hard when there is a lot of black sand - this is where I'd recommend watching a few videos on youtube of other doing it. After about a year since starting I feel I've only just begun to master this technique and can now almost always end it with the pan completely clean of everything except the gold. I know a lot of people prefer just collecting the cons (the gold with the black sand) and going through some process to separate them back at home... but I reckon if you can do it all in the pan it'll save you a lot of heartache later on.

So long as you remain persistent with it though you'll become an expert in no time... get enough pans under your belt and your brain will figure it out pretty easily!

 

[diggerdave]

If you use a 1/4 or 1/8 inch sieve to get rid of the larger material then I find its heaps quicker especially if there is only fine gold in the area. Just make sure you don't over fill the pan and give the pan a good shakeup three quarters full of water to get the gold down. As you become more confident you will realise how quickly the gold gets down to the bottom and you can wash off the lighter sands and gravels.
Best of luck.

 

[Mrlimb]

Remember just because you don't find anything in your first pan doesn't mean you're doing it wrong ...

... if you're retaining black sand them you're on the right track (and in the right area).

.

Very encouraging, getting black sand

 

[Ag Man]

Spot on about using lead to practice.
Flatten out the lead shot & then cut some up into odd sizes. Gold is usually flattish unlike a lead shot.

Uhm, If I'm just panning/crevecing, everything goes in - piff out the biggest rocks & load that pan up full - use plenty of water & wash the pay-dirt real well until the water coming off the pan is near clear. By this time most of the gold will be at the bottom. Then do the normal shake shake shake under water & then you can confidently scrape off the top 1/3 - 1/2 off your pan with your hand. If the gold is at the very bottom of your pan, you wont disturb it by scraping the top layer off. Cuts your panning time down heaps.
The Garret pans are ace - you'll love them. Very hard to lose any colour with them & they're fast too(just some operators that make them seem slow).

Wash well & let gravity do the rest.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

All the above us great advice.
Summary
Dont overload your pan. 3/4 full is good when starting out.
Use a classifier/sieve if you have one
Immerse the pan in water,keep bottom flat and move side to side to ensure saturation of gravel
Stratify stratify stratify.
Wash wash wash
Stratify wash.
Speed will come with experience
Patientce until you get confident

Keep enough water in pan to keep gravel underwater.
Slow swirls when down to blacksand
Snuffer as you go
Practice practice practice

Good luck
Cheers, Tone

 

[casper]

Thanks Tone.... the three most important things about learning to pan - practice practice practice - and here is where i do my practice .....

I have kept all my sluice concentrates and more than a coupla days a week i'll settle down here and practice. I'll always find gold - flyspecks for sure and always more than one and in nature 2 will eventually become 3 i reckon either they're reproducing or i've missed them previously - not sure about which way i lean on that score
The tub is a $12 65 Litre storage tub from the big Red and Green sheds that are popping up in every other town (remember what i said about nature) and i bought it so i could fit my turbopan in it. Sharp eyes will notice that there is a Garrett Super Sluice floating in there - it's my fave pan (my thoughts on that are for another post).
SoMrlimb practice practice practice.......

casper

 

[G0lddigg@]

hpw good is that $12 bucjet casper.... I picked one up from bunnings last week perfect for pannung out in rathan than bending over the creek all day

 

[G0lddigg@]

damn my fat fingers

 

[casper]

hpw good is that $12 bucjet casper.... I picked one up from bunnings last week perfect for pannung out in rathan than bending over the creek all day

oh yes!

I double classify directly into my gold pan and trowel it little by little into the AM Sluice.... rather than chase the last difficult scrapes around the pan i'll pan off in to the sluice just to make sure i'm still on the colour otherwise 98% of my panning is done at home accompanied by my hound and a Coopers Sparkling Ale close by

 

[Mrlimb]

Thanks to all for there input, I am still one yellow short of finding any but the lead is in the pan every time so I guess I need to look at where I am hunting.

Mostly been looking in streams around Bundaberg. Might have to drive out mount perry way. Any other suggestions welcome.

 

[casper]

we're here to help

before you move to another prospect, just a thought... but are you digging deep enough? you'll need to find the bottom because that it where the gold is resting so that means getting down to bedrock or clay

casper

 

[Goldtarget]

Just trolling looking for some tips (we can never know too much about a process) after watching a select few videos on YouTube on dry panning. I'm certainly not against the lead, but getting your hands on a little fine gold and popping it in while practicing will show you just how hard it is to shift out of the pan. I keep a few tiny pieces aside which i pan out as practice just before i go out sampling so i get a feel for it. I have a tiny kidney shaped piece that I've had for a couple of years and as strange as it sounds i have a bond with it from seeing it appear while i practice. Ok so we all know the gold can send us a little bit crazy. Every time it just reaffirms what it looks like and how it behaves. Quirkier still if I'm in a new area I'll seed it in its strange how one piece seems to attract another. Another little tip one of the old timers showed me was to "reverse" pan when looking for a few specks. Basically stratify as usual, toward the front, get a little water left in your pan toward your body at the rear of the pan and reverse pan toward the body just using a side to side swirl that licks at the edges of the material drawing away the cons slowly across the base of the pan, until the first specks are hit, then releasing the gravels back into the water reducing the amount to pan out. From an era before blue bowls he showed me how to release the black sands from the specks in a timely manner by simply reducing the amount of material in the pan. My only other tip is get a great pan, garrets are superior in my opinion, worth every extra cent. Good luck mate, nothing beats that feeling of seeing those first flecks of chunky gold for the first time.

 

[TenOunce Tone]

How did you get on Mrlimb? I was thinking about how I pan at home. It is a good way to practice I think.
I break down my gravels by running it all through a 30 mesh. The stuff that goes through will be very fine. This will be harder to pan properly as it will generally have a higher concentration of silt. Lets call this the minus 30. The gravel that does not go through. Call the plus 30

I have the plus and minus in two buckets. I will just pan out the plus 30. Any gold will be easy yo pick up in a snuffer bottle or with a finger tip.
Depending on how much minus i have i will quarter fill a ten liter paint bucket and the run the hose in the bucket. While stirring the gravels this helps get rid of silt and breaks up fine clay.. it also helps get rid of seeds and other organic matter. When the silt is gone i will start panning this out . I will use a small 10" pan into a duper sluice. This way i can control the process a lot better than a large pan in a big tub. I pan about one or two cups of minus each time. I will put some detergent in the bucket also. I find a few drops of chlorine bleach or the cheap domestic cleaner works best. Pan out and see if your on the gold. You will have a nice gold trail at the end of the bucket. If i am feeling like i missed any gold. I will run the cons again through the home made blue bowl.

Do the panning outdoors on a sunny day if you can. The gold is easier to see in natural light than a fluro in the garage or laundry.

It works for me

Cheers. Tone

PS sorry for the spelling.. on the phone .fat fingers vs small keys...