A gold pan is the only equipment that is ab-solutely necessary to get started gold panning, although a small hand trowel or shovel, is very helpfuL If you pursue this activity you may want to add a classifier, tweezers, a magnet, and a magnifying glass. Gold pans may often be pur-chased at hardware stores, but the local prospecting shops are recommended. They are a good source of information on panning, often have displays of nuggets, and are interesting places to visit. They are listed in the telephone directory under ‘mining equipment.’ Carrying extra water and a large tub will enable you to pan in areas that do not have water.

Due to gold’s high specific gravity, panning is an effective way to separate gold from the sand and gravel of a stream. If you pan correctly, and there is gold in the sediments you are panning, the gold will end up in the bottom of your pan when the lighter materials have been washed away. Pan-ning is a simple process, but difficult to describe. Watch an experienced panner if you have an opportunity.

Fill the pan about half full of gravel, sand, or dirt. Submerge the pan in water, breaking up any clumps with your hands and throwing away large rocks, after verifying they are not large nuggets. Shake the pan underwater. Raise the pan, moving it in a circular motion and tipping it away from you so the top layer flows out of the pan. The motion of the pan will settle the gold to the bottom, duplicating the action of the stream that concentrates the gold in the stream bed.

Occasionally tapping the rim of the pan with the palm of your hand will help settle the gold to the bottom. Speed is not apriority. Take the time to pan carefully. Manually rake larger grains from the pan. Repeat this process until a small amount (less than half a cup) of material is left in your pan. This concentration of heavier material should be worked carefully. Swirl the pan in a circular motion to fan out the concentrate in a ‘tail.’ Gold, if present, will show in the  tail.

You are far more likely to fmd “flakes II ( or colors) of gold than nuggets, so check your pan carefully. Black sand, if common magnetite, can be removed easily with a magnet. Put the magnetic in  a plastic bag to avoid the necessity of continually cleaning the magnet after use. Tweezers and an eyedropper can be useful in retrieving gold from your pan. It is frustrating to find a few flakes of gold and not have a place to put them, so carry along a small container. A glass vial filled  with water admirably shows off your find but a pill container will do .

Step
The following simple instructions will help you get started with agold pan, which you can purchase at your local hardware store, rockshop, or prospecting supplies store.
1.First, fill your pan nearly full of the sand and gravel. Removethe largest stones from the pan.
2.Place the pan under water and be sure that all the material getswet. You may have to mix the contents of the pan with yourhands.
3.Quickly move the pan from side to side, either under water orwhile it is full of water, and rotate the pan’s contents (but don’tspill the contents). This action gives the gold particles a chanceto settle to the bottom.
4.While continuing the side to side motion, gently tip the pan awayfrom you. Lighter material and larger pieces that come to the topwill move to the front of the pan. These can be skimmed orscraped over the brim of the pan with your thumb or hand.
5.Continue the motion described in steps 3 and 4, allowing waterto wash lighter material over the brim until only a small amountof material remains in the pan. You’ll need to add water to thepan.
6.The remaining heavy material is the concentrate. If you haven’tyet seen any gold in your pan, pour out excess water untilenough is left to barely cover the concentrate. Swirl the pan con-tents to ‘string out’ or ‘feather’ the concentrate; lighter particleswill be washed farther than the heavier particles, leaving thegold (because it is the heaviest) in the ‘tail’ of the concentrate.
7.Continue swirling water in the pan to further clean the concen-trates, being careful not to lose any gold. Recovering gold bypanning takes practice!

Conversion Table for Measuring Gold

Grains          Pennyweh!ht      Troy Ounce      Avoir. Ounce     Grams

1 Grain                         1                       0.0417                0.0021             0.0023              0.0648

1 Pennvweh!ht          24                      1                          0.0500             0.0549               1.5552

1 Trov Ounce              480                    20                      1                        1.0971               31.1040

1 Avoir. Ounce          437,5                18,2292                0.9115             1                         28.35 .