Buying a bag of pay dirt

[Nuggetbrain]

Hi all. Just starting out here so forgive my newbness!

It might be against the rules of the seasoned gold hunters, but I would like to buy a bag of pay dirt to practice my panning.

I have practiced with creek dirt I have dug up locally, but I live in Los Angeles, and locally, there aren't really too many places to pan.

I hope to get our to the San Gabriel river soon but in the meantime I would like to buy a bag of pay to hone my skills and see what color in
my pan actually looks like!

I thought I saw some recommendations for honest sellers on these forums but I can't seem to locate that posting again.

Any thoughts on legit sellers of small bags of pay?

Many thanks.

Tim

 

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[norcalsteve]

Check out Gold Bay. I think they have the best price on gold by the gram for paydirt.

 

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[Scubaman2]

Just my 2cents worth - Kevin you do a lot of posting and can't disagree with any of your posts - I would say you know your gold. I would just add if it is fine desert gold like in my region with red clay drop some clay gone (more expensive brand) or just use Jet Dry (does the same job).

 

[blynch35]

I bought a small bag of Yuba river dirt from goldnuggetminer on amazon for 10 bucks, and I was really surprised by the amount of gold. For ten dollars its a great value I bought it for my kids so I can keep them happy between trips lol. I have bought from three different places through the years and its a crap shoot but this was the best value by far, got about the same amount of gold that I have from bags three times as much. good luck

 

[blynch35]

you could always go get a bag of general purpose sand from home depot.

 

[meMiner]

As a general comment, if you are trying to learn on your own, getting some commercial paydirt is worthwhile because you will see how gold reacts in the pan. Once you see it, you will remember and not get confused by other shiny stuff that you will get in the field. You will also be confident that you know how to pan, so when you are in a bad spot, you will know it is a bad spot and not just bad panning technique. As silly as it seems, you will also learn to use the sniffer bottle. I don't know how many times I have seen people be too gentle with it and not suck the gold all the way up into the container and then squirt it out again. Heck, my brother in law last year was squirting it over his shoulder, back into the creek. Yikes!

Alternatively, find somebody to take you under their wing. Or find a place that has pay-to-pan.

Good luck.

 

[goldenmojo]

It's amazing how many people will snuff up there gold up and then point the sniffer towards the center of the water and squeeze the bottle forcing a stream out 6 feet high like its some sort of pissing contest. Once you get the gold don't give it back....

 

[Duckshot]

I like a pipette instead of the sniffer bottle. The sniffer is for spraying out my drop riffles for clean-up.

 

[meMiner]

It's amazing how many people will snuff up there gold up and then point the sniffer towards the center of the water and squeeze the bottle forcing a stream out 6 feet high like its some sort of pissing contest. Once you get the gold don't give it back....

Glad I am not the only one who has observed this!

I was shocked last year, when I watched my brother in law panning cons in the stream (the same stuff I was getting lots of gold). He was squeezing the bottle gently on suck, then squirting the excess water over his shoulder. I have no idea how much he lost, but he sure kept very little. I checked his snuffer afterward and only saw black sand. All he was doing was moving the gold into the straw and then blowing it away.

In my video on panning on this forum, my 13 year old daughter kinda did the same thing (once) and I called her "Todd". At least she was smart enough to squeeze the water back into her pan...

 

[flyadive]

Sure, my friend Don Finley runs Goldstrike Adventures here in Colorado. He sells great pay dirt from his claims with gold added to guarantee a gold smile!

http://goldstrikeadventures.com/goldstrike-paydirt/4582737960

Enjoy!

Thank you Kevincolorado! I purchased pay dirt from Goldstrike Don Finley. My first pan!


Had a few pickers in all. My first time panning ever. I wish I started this years ago! Darn it ! Anyway I got great tips from members videos here on TNET.
I'm ready now to prospect. I'm hoping to be able to fly my small plane to some remote airports within reason of New Jersey or within a couple hours drive from home as I hear there is Placer Gold in North Jersey!
Heavy pans and HH

 

[KevinInColorado]

Nice pans!
Now I'm going to have to tell Don he owes me a sales commission lol!

 

[KevinInColorado]

I was just at Target and noticed this:

For half price even I couldn't resist...here's the gold:

6 little pieces worth about $1.35 with a retail price of $10. All I can say is almost every paydirt vendor here will do better by you. On the other hand, this paydirt came with a Gold Rush logo'ed specimen bottle. As if.

 

[Aufisher]

$100 dollars worth if gold hits $25,000 an ounce! Ha!

 

[HunterII]

Here's a .25mm flake from a bag of $3.95 "traction" sand from an area hardware store.

 

[Aufisher]

A flake a day helps keep the fever at bay!

 

[bobw53]

Thank you Kevincolorado! I purchased pay dirt from Goldstrike Don Finley. My first pan!
View attachment 1274237
View attachment 1274241
Had a few pickers in all. My first time panning ever. I wish I started this years ago! Darn it ! Anyway I got great tips from members videos here on TNET.
I'm ready now to prospect. I'm hoping to be able to fly my small plane to some remote airports within reason of New Jersey or within a couple hours drive from home as I hear there is Placer Gold in North Jersey!
Heavy pans and HH

That is some really nice gold, but THAT PAN NEEDS SOME SEASONING... That water is beading up far too much in that pan.

Looks like you did some circular scrubbing with some scotch brite or something, but the water shouldn't be doing that... There is oil left, or the shiny is still there,
something is wrong... In my experience, you shouldn't have a clearly defined wet to dry line in your pan, and you certainly should have no beads of water...

The best pans are the oldest pans.. For a reason.. I've worked some of them hard and they still bead and seperate... Hopefully you didn't lose anything because of it,
but a pan that has water dispersed like that scares me. Beat on it a little more. Get the oils out, get the "shiny" out... A million ways to do it, most involve some
type of mild abrasive and some kind of soap.. Looks like you have already gone there, keep going, just not all circular... And more soap...

 

[flyadive]

That is some really nice gold, but THAT PAN NEEDS SOME SEASONING... That water is beading up far too much in that pan.

Looks like you did some circular scrubbing with some scotch brite or something, but the water shouldn't be doing that... There is oil left, or the shiny is still there,
something is wrong... In my experience, you shouldn't have a clearly defined wet to dry line in your pan, and you certainly should have no beads of water...

The best pans are the oldest pans.. For a reason.. I've worked some of them hard and they still bead and seperate... Hopefully you didn't lose anything because of it,
but a pan that has water dispersed like that scares me. Beat on it a little more. Get the oils out, get the "shiny" out... A million ways to do it, most involve some
type of mild abrasive and some kind of soap.. Looks like you have already gone there, keep going, just not all circular... And more soap...

bobw53 I used a Brillo pad and Dawn soap to remove the oils. I was unsure of method,if I should wax on / wax off motion or side motion when seasoning the pan? So I did a little both. I see what your saying about the way the water line is beading and such. I did loose some gold into the catch pan. So I panned it again. And found the lost gold that " shot " out of the pan! I plan on panning it yet again as I noticed a floater shoot out again! I think I'm suppose to add something to the water?? To hinder the floaters ??

 

[WesternMassGold]

a few drops of jetdry will break the water tension and your gold won't float.

 

[bobw53]

bobw53 I used a Brillo pad and Dawn soap to remove the oils. I was unsure of method,if I should wax on / wax off motion or side motion when seasoning the pan? So I did a little both. I see what your saying about the way the water line is beading and such.

I don't know if there is an actual "approved" method... Just keep working it... Rub it with dirt or whatever else you have to do.. I've got some cheap pans here, I've gone at them probably
10 times and some of them still bead up the water.. Some pans, wash 'em, a quick rub with a scotch brite and they are perfect... Like WesternMass said, Jet Dry... Only need a drop...

My personal prospecting goal.. Find enough gold to pay for the JetDry... That stuff is expensive.

 

[arizau]

I happily found/confirmed (previous suggestions from other threads) that just partially filling the pan with coarse sand and gravel up to pea size and swirling that for a while does the job of taking the slick off of the pan.
In my case it may have helped that part of my process is to sun dry material in my gold pans prior to screening for final panning. I periodically swirl the material while it is drying and the heat may have additionally softened the glaze on the new pan and thus aided in scouring.

 

[WesternMassGold]

Actually Wal-mart sells their own version of jetdry,its called Great Value Rinse for about 30-40% less than jetdry.And for seasoning the pan>> u gonna laugh. i used a Palm sander with 225 grit and after went over it with a Brillo pad and hot water. Use the brillo pad on the side walls for about 7 or 8 minutes or longer if ya bored and u are good to go.