First Time EVER Panning for GOLD!

[Sideways Sherry]

Well I loaded up the family and we went to the San Gabriel River-East Fork today on our first ever gold panning adventure! We met a great guy named Ken who hung with us all day and showed us how it's done. I personally had a great time! It reminded me of being a kid again going to the river with lakes and camping with my parents back in Alabama. Honestly, I realized that there has been something missing from my life for over 20 years... The serenity of camping! I can see A LOT more of going to the river in my future! OK, so here's a pic of our first panning rewards ever!

 

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[goldenmojo]

RSMSherry Congratulations on sharing the joys of being outdoors with your family and finding some great California Gold. As you will find most gold miners are nice people to be around. They have a great love of the land and helping each. I hope that you enjoy many more adventures like the one you had and please share all your stories and finds here with us.

Goldenmojo

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Thanks Goldenmojo, I'm sure we will!

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Well I loaded up the family and we went to the San Gabriel River-East Fork today on our first ever gold panning adventure! We met a great guy named Ken who hung with us all day and showed us how it's done. I personally had a great time! It reminded me of being a kid again going to the river with lakes and camping with my parents back in Alabama. Honestly, I realized that there has been something missing from my life for over 20 years... The serenity of camping! I can see A LOT more of going to the river in my future! OK, so here's a pic of our first panning rewards ever!

May your pans be heavy

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Thanks TheGoldProspector, that would be awesome! 😜

 

[3xflyfisher]

That's a great day RSM! Looks like you did well panning, that's nice gold - next step is a sluice!!

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Two thumbs up!

 

[rodoconnor]

Way to go! G/L

 

[aarthrj3811]

No matter if you use a sluice or dredge it always ends up with a pan in your hands..Learn that part well as you can lose a lot of gold......I always start with a 5 gallon buck...If you fill it with water and then start screening it is much easier...I screen with ½ inch, ¼ inch and a 1/8 inch screen...when each screen gets full I pan it to see if there is any big stuff in it....When I have everything down to 1/8 inch I can start my final panning or take it home...I always sink a pan in the water with a big rock and pan over it..That way if I make a mistake it will be in that pan....I hope this helps as I don’t like to lose a single flake...Art

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Great info Art, thanks!

 

[aarthrj3811]

I have done a few 1000 pans and just like to tell others how I do it

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Ok, dumb question from the new chick... What all do you have to do to sell your gold? How do you get all of the black sand, etc completely out? So new to panning that I can't really get it to separate. LOL!!!

 

[afreakofnature]

Unless you want to spend more money on concentrators, you really just have to keep practicing panning that gold out of the BS. Just pan into a spill pan so what you lose you can recover later

 

[DizzyDigger]

Hi Sherry, and welcome to the Gold Prospecting forum...

Good advice on the panning, above, and you can also check
out YouTube video's (many members have pages) and there
you can see different techniques.

Best suggestion I could make would be for you to spend time
reading through the back threads on different prospecting
topics. The search feature can also be a big help when you want
info on a specific subject. This way, rather than just getting a
few replies here, you get the benefit of all that knowledge shared
on the older thread.

With all the visible gold I see in the pic, you could probably pan that
down carefully (over a safety pan) and then use a snuffer bottle to
pick it all up. There are a myriad of devices made for cleaning up
concentrates (what is in your jar), but at the beginning level you
can just carefully pan them down.

As your knowledge (and poke!) grows, you can consider a miller table, Blue Bowl
or other type of finishing device.

There are a number of good prospecting clubs in So. Cal., and depending
where you're located, I do know that Valley Prospectors is a good group, and
there claims are quite decent. A club gives you a chance to go out with
a group of seasoned prospectors, as most are more than happy to help
beginners gain experience.

 

[rodoconnor]

Orange County Prosps. has very good claims . Check with Pat Keene @ Keene Eng. He is involved with The San Fernando Pros. Club. You should find out if Bernie is still hanging around @ EF. Greatest guy you can meet.

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Thanks guys! ;-P

 

[KevinInColorado]

And you can get a fair price for your gold at your local prospecting store (maybe 90% of the published price). To make more, sell it on eBay about a 1/2 gram or so at a time.

 

[Prospector70]

Water tweezers


Because I am old and blind


Don't use chlorinated water, a good friend told me it dissovles small gold.

Hope these help!

pan down best you can, use the water tweezers to blow the junk gently away from the gold, suck up a flake into the tweezer and drop into the glass vial. Once you get all the gold into the vial you can clean it out again to get rid of any small bits are left. Be sure not to do it over carpet and don't drop the vial!

Welcome! (Can't believe I'm the firs to say this... hehe, get a bazooka gold trap sluice! you will get way more gold. Bazookagoldtrap.com)

Edit: OMG don't sell it! Make some jewlery or keep it for the future. It will be worth way more later in time, and if the world crumbles you can always melt it down for bullets.

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Hi P70! Thanks for the welcome and tips! About selling the gold... I need to afford the gas to get back there, a good metal detector, that Bazooka that I'm now in love with AND a blue bowl. Dang y'all I'm addicted! I suppose there are worse things to be addicted to! ;-P

 

[Prospector70]

Hi back! The blue bowl is nice, but I find as I get better at panning I'm not using it as much except for the really fine stuff -40 -70 -100.
I have a crappy metal detector, it won't even ping on my vial of gold but will on my wedding ring.,.. go figure hah
The bazooka would be a sweet start, if you can get 10 times the gold you will make more to sell quicker. All you really need is a shovel, a couple of five gallon buckets and a bazooka and a gold pan and you're set.
Best of luck and have fun!