Panning question

[Rh2racing]

Ok so I did the birdshot trick to see how my panning technique was and I did good. I caught all five smashed pellets I put in there but then I saw something. There was a flake of gold moving around the bottom of the pan. It was small and flat and therefore light so it was lighter than the pellets. I got to thinking, is there a test for people in areas like mine to test to see if we are catching fine flour gold and small flakes?

 

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[419GottaMinute]

Panning flour gold takes practice and patience.

 

[AlwaysBusyJ]

Best way I know of is to just get out there and pan. You can spend all day coming up with new tricks that might help you, or you can get down to the creek and start running material! Now if you just aren't able to get out for the real thing you could always spend a few bucks for paydirt and practice, but not sure if that would help with that specific type of gold your having trouble with. If you think you might be missing some gold set up a catch basin and repan your material until you're sure you got it all. Shouldn't take long before you get the hang of it. You might never perfect the technique but don't obsess over it too much, just keep at it and you'll do fine.

 

[TerryC]

Use a black pan... or very shallow black bowl. Use a mineral scope or jewelry loupe to check out the black sands. If you have fine flower gold, you should see it. Good luck. TTC

 

[Rh2racing]

I see bits of color mixed in the black sands that look like gold but it is tiny. I am saving it all just in case.

 

[MadMarshall]

I see bits of color mixed in the black sands that look like gold but it is tiny. I am saving it all just in case.

Just curious.... In case of what?

 

[Rh2racing]

Just in case I am right and it is gold. I dont want to throw it away

 

[KevinInColorado]

If its mixed with the black sands and looks like gold it probably is! Hints:

1. Use a magnifying glass to look closely...even tiny gold looks like a nugget up close :-)
2. Use a magnet to remove any iron rich sand...process that separately
3. Separate the remainder by size.
4. Pan material bigger than a 50 mesh screen the usual way.
5. For the really fine stuff, put a tablespoon or two in your 10" flat bottomed (more smooth the better here) pan and do a lot of tapping/swirling combined to "walk" the gold out of the material

Steps 2-5 are really pretty quick and you'll love the results you get with nothing more than screen and pan!

Oh and step 6: post results here :-)

And step 7: keep all your leftovers for the day when your gear and skills make it worth one more pass thru.

 

[dabskie]

If the smashed lead pellets were not moving around your pan and that small flat flake was,,then I don't think it was gold,,gold is twice as heavy as lead,,and should not have been moving around,,,try putting a drop of dishwashing liquid or Jet dry in the water in your pan to break the surface tension,,,small gold will sometimes float in your pan . The jet dry will eliminate that from happening. The specific gravity weight of gold is 19.3 and the specific gravity weight of lead is 11.3 so gold is twice as heavy,,if your swishing the water around the bottom of your pan and the lead birdshot is not moving, any gold in your pan should not be moving either.

 

[AlwaysBusyJ]

If the smashed lead pellets were not moving around your pan and that small flat flake was,,then I don't think it was gold,,gold is twice as heavy as lead,,and should not have been moving around,,,try putting a drop of dishwashing liquid or Jet dry in the water in your pan to break the surface tension,,,small gold will sometimes float in your pan . The jet dry will eliminate that from happening. The specific gravity weight of gold is 19.3 and the specific gravity weight of lead is 11.3 so gold is twice as heavy,,if y swishing the water around the bottom of your pan and the lead birdshot is not moving, any gold in your pan should not be moving either.

Good points especially adding jet dry, I always keep a bottle near when I'm panning. But I have run across certain gold that loves to move around, sometimes extra thin or really round small pieces will move around alot on me, so be careful you check it before you dismiss it! Doesn't happen all that often but sometimes I find pesky pieces like that.

 

[Rh2racing]

It was a very flat flake like a flake of paint. Small (very) but it was gold. I think it was a water issue. I used some dawn dish detergent and seemed to do the trick.

 

[Grizzled old Miner]

Gold is twice as heavy as lead, gold doesn't dance in the pan. Even the smallest speck or "color" wont move easily, that's why its there in the first place. It is most likely mica or pyrite - "fools gold". Take your finger and rub the flake against the bottom of the pan, if its gold it wont change at all, but if its pyrite or mica it will leave a "white-ish" streak and break up, gold wont! Gold is soft, but not that soft, it feels like smooth hard metal, not rough or powdery, or crumbly at all.

 

[DesertNuggets]

I get all sorts of shiny looking stuff in my blacksands. If I didn't know better I'd of thought some of it was gold. A loupe and a flashlight always does the trick for me.