Why didnt I find gold?

[Cazadordeoro]

Why didn't I find gold?

Hi!

I tried panning for gold in a river, I found black sand, kept panning out, I didn't found those gold particles like the ones in the YouTube videos I watched. Did I miss something? Is the place I panned out in lacking gold?

 

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[Gold Maven]

Don't expect gold in every pan, if it was easy to find it wouldn't be worth much.

Research the stream you're on to find out if there is gold there, if you found black sand you probably were digging in the right spot gravity wise.

Don't give up, good luck.

 

[Armchair prospector]

Test, test and test more.

 

[DDancer]

Does the location your panning have a history of gold in it? If so~ try try try again Gold is where you find it.

 

[Goldwasher]

Yea, where are you?

 

[Jason in Enid]

How much experience to you have in panning? When all you have is fines, it's not as easy as the old-timers make it look.

 

[Prospector70]

My advice:

Go deep. Think like gold, it's very "lazy" it will find the path of least resistance down a river. Look for gravel or rounded stones. When you are at a place where you think there may be gold look up stream. Then turn around and look downstream. If you were fat and lazy like gold and are traveling slowly down the river, are you in the right spot? When you start to dig down, gold is lazy there too. If it can find some clay or bedrock or a bunch of rocks to stop it from going further down it will be there. If there are other prospectors in your area, and with the right kind of eye, you can spot signs of other people working. Old wing dam, big drops, evidence of tailing piles etc.

Watch your river in the winter spring and summer, where does the water flow when its really high? When it's low? What obstacles can the gold hide behind, and what would it's ideal path be in those higher or lower water times?

Keep at it, you'll find some
Good luck!

 

[mike(swWash)]

I always wonder if I should have dug another 6" to the side when I come up empty before moving on.....The better gold will always be just 1 more shovel full away. The trick is to not give up until you get that shovel full.

 

[spillercanyon]

If there is gold in the area, it could be that the area you worked has been worked recently, maybe several times. One thing I see from people new to prospecting, they go to the classic spot to dig, that spot that looks just like the books described, what they don't take into account is that every other prospector saw that 'perfect' spot and has already dug there, several times. Look through this forum and look for topics on terraces, look for more obscure places that others have overlooked, try in front of a large bolder instead of behind it, break open some cracks cause you know nobody else has. The easy stuff is mostly gone, now we're going after the not so easy/obvious gold. Good luck!

 

[Bill_saf]

Look for spots like this







the creek that I work has looked like his 4 times in the last 9 years and then I have seen it with on water at all 2 times oh and the high water is after a 3" rain. good luck

 

[goldenIrishman]

Sounds like some more information is called for here before anyone can give you the correct answer to your question.

1. What is your location?
2. Is there a history of gold in that area?
3. Is your panning technique a valid one?
4. Where did you dig and how deep did you go?

Panning is the first and last step in prospecting so you need to become good at it and that takes practice. You pan samples to find an area that's worth working and once you've worked it down to concentrates by whatever means (Sluice, drywasher, dredge etc) you use a pan to remove the gold.

You will NEVER see someone that relies strictly on panning anymmore to get gold because it's a lot of work and is also a very slow way to process dirt. Everything gets run through a sluice, drywasher or dredge to get the junk out of it and make it so you're only working the heavier materials when you do get to the panning stage.

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

You didnt find gold because there was no gold in the dirt you dug. Next step, find new dirt that does have gold in it!!

 

[goldenmojo]

Where are you? Maybe someone here can direct you to some gold bearing areas near you if we know where that is.