Still learning how to pan cons

[allenkeeton]

Panning is one of those things no one starts off good at. I've been practicing a bit in my spare time with my bucket of cons. I haven't actually panned anything out of it yet cuz i get down to black sands and get nervous, and then dump it all back in. I know I'll get it one day, and when i do, I know my prize is waiting on me.





I see you hiding.....


Sorry for the blurry photo, best I could get. photo was taken almost at night so....

 

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[bobw53]

You aren't getting anywhere by dumping the sands back in the bucket.

Last fall the little lady's school had a science fair thing, and she decided I should do a gold panning booth. I needed to be able to process kids
through pretty fast, so we didn't do bags of cons.. I made up little solo cups, a few big rocks, a bit of blonde sand, a bit of black sand, enough
to cover the gold, and #25 & #30 mesh gold that I bought on e-bay...

I had approximately 75 kids go through my booth... I processed out the panning tubs afterwards, total loss from 75 kids, (kindergarteners to
5th grade) was about 4%. And I can pretty much tell which kids lost it.. Not paying attention.. Total instruction time, about 2 minutes, and another
2-4 minutes of panning. And they got to take home their gold, about 10-14 pieces each, about .04 grams.

In other words... Its really not that hard.. GOLD IS HEAVY!!!!!!

Where I ran into problems.. Not classifying.. A bigger light rock can displace a small dense piece of gold.. If you are classified, you literally have
to try to lose the gold.

Also black sands can be tough.. A little bit at a time(1/4 of a spoonful to start?), and work your way up... Also, if you haven't found your own gold yet.. I suggest getting your
hands on some, even if its a $5 or $10 bag of the smallest gold you can get on e-bay.. Once you see how it behaves, and how HEAVY!!!!! it is, and
how it really doesn't want to leave your pan, you'll gain confidence and won't doubt your panning skills.. (though they can always be improved upon, I
know mine can)

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Jason in Enid]

Even large "fines" are easy to pan, it's the flour gold that gets tough. When you are trying to pan the -50 gold, you need to seperate by mesh size. Gold is heavy, but it won't stay in the bottom if there are bigger, heavier rocks kicking it around. When it's all the same size, it's much easier.

 

[johnedoe]

Even large "fines" are easy to pan, it's the flour gold that gets tough. When you are trying to pan the -50 gold, you need to seperate by mesh size. Gold is heavy, but it won't stay in the bottom if there are bigger, heavier rocks kicking it around. When it's all the same size, it's much easier.

Yup.... this is the big key to successful panning..... Get yourself 2 or 3 sieves .. 20..50..& 100 mesh and you are pretty well covered... This will definitely make your panning easier and more successful.
And like bobw53 said gold is HEAVY.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The funny thing I've found is larger material is easier to pan when the smaller stuff is removed from it too. Classify before panning for concentrates!

 

[allenkeeton]

I was tired and forgot to mention that the cons were in in a clear tote i picked up at the dollar store. stored for my convenience i suppose.

 

[johnedoe]

Here are a couple of tricks and techniques to help in your panning....... How to Pan for Gold

 

[allenkeeton]

Here are a couple of tricks and techniques to help in your panning....... How to Pan for Gold

Doc from gold hog has some really great videos. No one can comment on them though. too bad. I think he is missing alot of thank yous.