Using a Metal Detector to Find Gold.

A metal detector can find gold.  In fact it can find a lot of gold.  One of the best places to use a metal detector when looking for gold is the closest park.  I bought a Garrett Ace 250 for $200 and within 6 months had found enough gold silver and spare coins to have bought 3 more metal detectors.  I would go out for only 2 hrs on Saturday morning before my wife and kids woke up.

However, a metal detector can be used in traditional gold prospecting to help locate areas rich in moralization quickly.  The technique is simple.  Wade into the water of the stream you suspect to be gold bearing.  Go to likely places that gold will drop out.  Use the gold detector till you find an area that causes it to go crazy, start digging, panning, and sluicing at that spot.  Gold detectors can also be used to go over tailing piles of old mines.  Use it just like you would in a park. When it signals metal is near dig into the tailings.  Old timers were very inefficient at recovering gold, and many of modern gold prospectors have found huge nuggets in old tailing piles.  So good luck and happy gold detecting.

Should You Buy a Gold Panning Kit?

Well let’s first discuss what your goals with panning gold will be.  Are you just looking to have a fun few times seeing if you can find color well on vacation?  Are you planning on making gold prospecting into a hobby?  Will it be a more casual once or twice a year well you are camping with the family.  Well if it is going to be a one time deal than just buy a pan and have fun.  Infact you might get addicted and end up buying a kit anyway.  It is amazing what the glitter of gold will do.  If weekend gold panning is going to become a hobby, no matter what size, once a year to every weekend during the summer, than I recommend getting a gold panning kit.

So what comes in a gold panning kit?  Usually a kit will have a gold pan, a classifier, a pair of tweezers, a snuffer bottle, and a gold vial.  They might vary a little like have a couple of sizes of gold pans, a couple different classifiers, and maybe throw an instructional book in the mix too.  But I strongly encourage the purchase of a kit.  It will give you all the essintials to go out this weekend and find some gold flakes.

Happy Prospecting!

Metal vs Plastic Gold Pan

Most gold prospectors that have used both a metal and a plastic gold pan will always say that there is no comparison between the two.  The will always grab a plastic pan.  The plastic gold pan has many advantages over the metal pans of old.

Weight: They are made from a very strong and light plastic.  The weigh almost nothing and can be carried easily into remote areas.  Metal pans can weigh close to 10lbs before any material is added to them.  You will grow tired faster with a metal pan. This will shorten how long you pan and decrease the amount of gold you recover.

Design: A plastic pan has riffles built in.  This helps keep the gold in the pan as you go through the panning process.  The metal pan is smooth and unless you are extremely skilled at panning you will have gold fall from the pan.

Price: A plastic gold pan can be purchased for under $20 including shipping. A metal gold pan will cost $50 or more.

Multiple Gold Pans:  Because plastic gold pans are inexpensive and light you can have many different shaped and sized pans to help accomplish different gold panning objectives. Coarse panning down to fine recovery panning.

So buy a plastic gold pan and go find some gold.

Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA)

You are becoming interested in panning gold.  So now what?  Many think the next step is to buy a membership into the Gold Prospectors Association of America, or GPAA.  Well that depends.  Can you find places to gold pan on your own?  Do you want prospecting buddies?  Could you spend your hard earned money on a piece of equipment that would be of more use than the GPAA membership?

I am going to look at three levels of membership.  The first is a 12month renewal.  It runs $50 and that is all you get.  But if you are new to this game you most likely would want the GPAA Mining Guide.  Well this guide is the big draw for most people to become members.  It is very attractive to have access to thousands of claims all across America.  Well it depends.  A lot of these claims get hammered hard by members.  Others are so remote you would have to take a month off work to get to them but there are some great claims to work found within the pages of the GPAA mining guide.  So if you are getting a membership for the first time defiantly get the one with the guide, $60.

The next level of membership is probably the best level for first timers.  It is called Buzzards Special, it runs $68 and includes a 12month GPAA membership, a year subscription to Gold Prospectors Magazine, the GPAA mining guide, 2 DVDs; Sure Fire Panning Methods and How to use the GPAA Mining Guide, a green plastic gold pan, a black GPAA hat, 2 GPAA patches, a snuffer bottle and a sticker.  So the things I like in this membership are the Guide, and the magazine subscription.  Most individuals already have anything else of use and don`t care about the hat, patches and stickers.  The how to pan DVD is fairly worthless as any of that info can be obtained from youtube.

I hope this helps you make an informed decision.  Happy Prospecting!

Whether you are mining using a gold pan, a sluice box, a high banker or a gold dredge, you will end up with a large quantity of black sand concentrates. This black sand concentrate must be saved.  It can contain a significant amount of what is known as float gold, flour gold, or fine gold. Some of this type of gold is so small it takes magnification to see it. But it is heavy and will add up if you have significant quantities and a way to recover this fine gold.  A gallon bucket of rich black sand can weigh 30lbs. Recovery of the microscopic gold contained in the concentrate is a perplexing problem for all prospectors.

When processing your concentrates or sending them to a professional testing facility, it is good to know the exact location they came from. If the concentrates yield an economical amount of fine gold, you will want to return and work that location again.

Below I will go over several ways of recovering this fine gold.

Commercial Recovery Methods

Cyanide leaching is the standard method of gold recovery for all commercial opperations.  It allows for the processing of a large amount of material on the cheap. Cyanide, forms a stable complex with the gold and separates it from the material around it. Cyanide is extreamly toxic and is not a method recommended for recreational prospector.

Mercury is another chemical that can be added to gold concentrates to help separate out the gold.  It binds to the fine gold particles and then binds to its self.  The mercury is then burned off leaving the gold all gathered into one place.  Many of old time miners would take the mercury and place it in a hollow potato.  They would bake the potato, this cause the mercury to dissipate off into the potato leaving the gold in the center. Again, mercury is toxic and extreme care must be taken when working with it.

Manual Recovery of Fine Gold

Before starting this process it is good to sieve your concentrates through as small of sieves as you can get.

Working with just a couple of tablespoons of concentrates at a time spread the concentrates out onto a large piece of white paper. Using a pair of needle-nose surgical tweezers, pick out any visible tiny nuggets or flakes and transfer these to a glass vial for storage. Place a magnet in a ziplock bag and move the magnet gently through the concentrates. The magnet will pick the black sand particles. Remove the magnet from the bag, and the particles will fall away. The gold will remain on the paper and can easily be transferred to a storage vial.

Mechanized Recovery of Fine Gold

Mini-sluice boxes, centrifuge concentrators and wheels are popular automated systems for fine gold recovery.  Some work well, others do not work.  Make sure you read any reviews you can find on them. Go to your local mining store and request a demonstration on the different models they carry before choosing the one that is right for your application.  Many times they will let you bring in some of your gold concentrate for the demonstration. These machines will pay off if you have a large amount of black sand concentrates to process.

How to Find Gold

Join the Lost Dutchman's Mining Association (LDMA) or Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA).  With your membership you get a guide to claims all over the country that you can now pan for gold on.  It also makes it easier to network with other gold prospectoer and find the glory holes in your area.

You can pay to mine on someone else’s claim. There are many pay-to-mine businesses that permit private parties to pan for gold.  This might include a trip to Alaska so maybe you want to do a little fishing too.

However, one of the best ways I have learned to find gold producing areas is look where it has been found before.  Streams, creeks, lakes, and rivers all over this great country have produced gold.  So do a little google search for historic gold producing areas in your state, and start looking there.  The old adage that "Gold is where you find it" is always true, because once you find it you know gold is there.  However, this also means gold is where it has been found. Prospecting in the better known gold bearing regions will immediately improve how your chances of finding gold. So, gold is where others have found it and you live in a world with better technology and techniques to recover that gold.

Some places to check once you know an area that has produced gold in the past. Rivers and Streams naturally collect gold every spring during the run off.  So, years with heavy run off mean good summers for finding gold. Gold is seven times heavier than most other materials and will come to rest in areas of the streams that slow down. Look along the inside bend of the river/stream or around major obstacles such as a boulder or fallen tree. Prospect thoroughly at these areas in the water that cause a slowdown.

Happy Prospecting.

Why Pan for Gold?

There are many questions that are asked when someone gets into gold prospecting.  Some of the more common ones are; Where to find gold? What equipment do I need to prospect for gold? Where is the best place to pan for gold? There are other questions I hear asked, but those are some of the more common ones.  I will write articles that try to answer those.  But today I am going to answer a question that came when I bought my first gold panning kit.  It was the Garrett gravity trap pan. I purchased it off from ebay for $10.  The UPS delivery man brought it to my door and the first thing he said was, “I brought you your get rich quick program.” I don`t remember exactally what I said, but it was something like “Yah, we will see.” Or “wouldn`t that be nice.”  Than the delivery man asked me “Why? Why would you every try to pan for gold?”  I quickly said because it is a hobby and is fun.  I had never actually been panning gold yet.

So why do I pan for gold?  Well number one reason is because it is fun.  I love getting out into the wild areas and look for something that is rare and valuable.  There is a great thrill that comes when you start seeing the glitter of gold in the bottom of the pan.  Be it a chunky nugget or flour gold the thrill is intoxicating.  Second, it is a hobby that can be done very cheaply. An excellent gold pan is the Garrett gravity trap pan.  Can be purchased for around $10.  That is all you need.  A little gas to get to an area to pan, and you can be having an exciting and fun filled day for under $20.  The is no need to spend thousands of dollars on a gold dredge, or even $100 on a quality keene sluice.  When you are starting out a pan is all you need. The third reason I love to pan for gold is that my family can do it right next to me.  My son is 4 and loves to dig in the dirt.  He will fill up a 5 gallon bucket in a few minuets.  And he loves doing it.  He gets more excited than I do when we start seeing the flakes of gold in our pan.  That makes me as a dad smile big.  Plus, the technique used in panning gold is not hard.  He is learning to pan for gold and getting quite good at the recovery.

So if you are ready to start having fun on the cheap, then buy a plastic gold pan and start having fun.  For that is why I pan for gold.  Because it is fun.

Pay Dirt Concentrates.

Is it worth the money to buy pay dirt?  Yes!  They are fun and will leave a little bit of color in your pan.  They are great for the beginning gold panner as it will give them instant feedback on their panning technique.  There is no wondering if there is any gold to find.  You know there is some, it is just a matter of getting it to pan out.

The best places I have found to get gold concentrate are on ebay.  Check their feedback and make sure they have been selling gold pay dirt for a while and that they have a good feedback score.  If they are just starting out selling gold concentrate or have a bunch of neutral or negative feedback than move on to someone else. Also, watch the shipping charges.  There are many sellers who offer free shipping.  Try to go with one of them.  Some other good pay dirt concentrates are Felix, Bonanza, Black Cat Mining.  I have panned through a few bags of each of those companies and been pleased.  But, they can be a bit pricier than what you would find on ebay.

Here are some pics:

This is a ebay special that I got for $8, and gold is showing up.

All done, total weight 1.34g of gold.

Products:

Is a sluice box need when panning gold?

The simple answer is no.  Anyone can go and find gold with just a plastic gold pan

.  However, if you have the money and want to greatly increase the amount of gold you are recovering, than you should invest in a sluice box.

A simple box can be purchased for around $50.  They tend to be light weight and easy to pack into an area that you suspect has gold.  I like keene sluice boxes. They are very well made, will last a life time, and the engineering of the ripples is firmly based in the best design to maximize gold recovery.  They are simple to place in a stream and you just load them up with gravel and let the power of the stream push the dirt and gold through the ripples.

A sluice box is not a replacement for a pan.  It simply concentrates the black sand and gold.  This concentrate then has to be panned to clean it up and recover the gold.  So if you are serious about drastically increasing the amount of gold you are able to recover in a weekend trip, than I would add a sluice box to my gold panning equipment.

Happy Prospecting!