Panning techniques and a few other questions?

[casper]

......here's a youtube link that is nearly identical to the method that I use and is similar to what 20xwater describes. What I do different is that I don't swirl, I double-tap and back wash.
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/j8NuXBCidTg[/video]

The water has no bearing on the SG...with all respect to the fella who did the video. The water is used to create the right environment that allows the 'physics' to work and for the heavier bits and pieces to drop out. The fancy name for panning is 'wet gravity concentration'....the water is the 'lubricant' that allows the dirt particles to seperate and 'fluidize' and then gravity does it's thing with the heavies dropping out. Same thing in a dryblower...or .."dry gravity concentration'....the air and vibration creates the environment for the gold to drop out. Once you understand the basics of gravity separation you can pan with a shovel....or anything else for that matter.

....with respect if you meant that "The water has no bearing on the SG of gold" then I think you have contradicted your opening comment by your description of how wet gravity concentration works

peace

 

[Goldtalk Leonora]

Hi CAsper,

We could be talking about the same thing from different angles???

Ok...so as I understand it (and I'm often wrong!) SG is the ratio between the weight of a substance and the weight of an equal volume
of water at 4 degrees C. What I meant is that whilst water is used to calculate the SG of gold it has no bearing on the SG itself...it will be what it will be.

 

[20x]

The difference in fall effects on a flat piece of paper to scrunched up in air is massive.
Scrunched up paper = shotty gold.
Flat paper = fine thin flour gold.
Shape/surface area changes things..
So has my panning technique and the above video isn't how I pan.

 

[20x]

One of that blokes vids he creates a vibrating sluice..

Have a think about that and this topic...

 

[Geehi]

Get a good plastic pan or 2 , Garrets are perfect, the Minelab blue ones are ok, best to get off on the right foot. Those black ones are ok but deep set riffles are better. You can grab some leadshot and pieces to practice technique at home when you cant get out.

I think you might be referring to the black pans shown being used by most of the the kids in the video...the ones with raised riffles.

The last kid shown in the video is using the same pan as the bloke doing the video.

It's an Australian-made pan....it has deep recessed riffles....I've been using them for years and they work a treat.

The crowd who make them in Melbourne only sell wholesale to retailers.....Beechworth Gold in Beechworth and Prospecting Supplies in Melbourne stock them.....the OP will have to check with appropriate retail outlets in his State....or he could ring the company that makes them on (03) 95875783 to find an outlet.

Here's a link to the pan at Prospecting Supplies:

http://www.prospectingsupplies.com.au/products/120-15-aussie-gold-pan.aspx

Works a treat, and Australian made....couldn't be better

 

[casper]

Get a good plastic pan or 2 , Garrets are perfect, the Minelab blue ones are ok, best to get off on the right foot. Those black ones are ok but deep set riffles are better. You can grab some leadshot and pieces to practice technique at home when you cant get out.

I think you might be referring to the black pans shown being used by most of the the kids in the video...the ones with raised riffles.

The last kid shown in the video is using the same pan as the bloke doing the video.

It's an Australian-made pan....it has deep recessed riffles....I've been using them for years and they work a treat.

The crowd who make them in Melbourne only sell wholesale to retailers.....Beechworth Gold in Beechworth and Prospecting Supplies in Melbourne stock them.....the OP will have to check with appropriate retail outlets in his State....or he could ring the company that makes them on (03) 95875783 to find an outlet.

Here's a link to the pan at Prospecting Supplies:

http://www.prospectingsupplies.com.au/products/120-15-aussie-gold-pan.aspx

Works a treat, and Australian made....couldn't be better

I am a fan of "drop riffle" sluices (I have a couple of MacKirks) and the black pan being discussed works similarly, and that's why I have one of them too! Part of my panning method is frequent sharp tapping whilst fluidizing and agitating to assist stratification of the washdirt. The tapping works to achieve what the vibrating wet sluice does.

 

[20x]

Get a good plastic pan or 2 , Garrets are perfect, the Minelab blue ones are ok, best to get off on the right foot. Those black ones are ok but deep set riffles are better. You can grab some leadshot and pieces to practice technique at home when you cant get out.

I think you might be referring to the black pans shown being used by most of the the kids in the video...the ones with raised riffles.

The last kid shown in the video is using the same pan as the bloke doing the video.

It's an Australian-made pan....it has deep recessed riffles....I've been using them for years and they work a treat.

The crowd who make them in Melbourne only sell wholesale to retailers.....Beechworth Gold in Beechworth and Prospecting Supplies in Melbourne stock them.....the OP will have to check with appropriate retail outlets in his State....or he could ring the company that makes them on (03) 95875783 to find an outlet.

Here's a link to the pan at Prospecting Supplies:

http://www.prospectingsupplies.com.au/products/120-15-aussie-gold-pan.aspx

Works a treat, and Australian made....couldn't be better

I am a fan of "drop riffle" sluices (I have a couple of MacKirks) and the black pan being discussed works similarly, and that's why I have one of them too! Part of my panning method is frequent sharp tapping whilst fluidizing and agitating to assist stratification of the washdirt. The tapping works to achieve what the vibrating wet sluice does.

I've never done the tap the top of the pan thing, but I will incorporate that into something new I'm thinking about..

 

[Goldtarget]

Yeah you guys caught me refering only to the thumbnail in reference to black pans.

Next time Im out to grab a new one Ill track down an Aussie made if available though, thanks for the info.

 

[gragagan]

When I first started there was a youtube video by wal'n'liz which proved to be very helpful. It was basic panning or something. Explained it in a simple, straightforward manner all the steps and what they are meant to achieve (classifying, stratifying etc). One of the big takeaways for me, was not to take your time being super careful trying to get 100% of the gold. Unless you're not worried about the finding gold part and are happy swirling dirt in a pan. If a pan takes 30 mins to do, you're not going to get many done in a day, especially if you're prospecting new areas. Do them fast, but dont rush it. Eg it might take 5 mins to get 90% recovery, and 10 mins to get to 95%. Is it worth taking twice as long for an extra 5%. Could've done another pan in that time, and got another 90%.
I dont find too much difference between pans, riffles (raised or set in) dont really do much, except the really fine riffles which I avoid because they clog up easily which can allow the gold to slide out. The angle of the side of the pan makes a bigger difference to me. And the colour, I like black.
And the swirling / tap back or whatever at the end of the panning. It's a pet hate of mine when people take ages to "reveal" the gold. Just hurry up and get it over with. It takes me 10 seconds max to separate the gold from the black sand / fines. I've done a lot of practicing with beach gold. Beach gold is very fine, and very flat, which makes it "light". There can also be lots of it (lots of particles that is). It's impossible to properly separate it all from the fine black heavies, you'd be there forever and still not get it done. So over time I started using a technique of swirling the pan towards me for a bit, then tilting it away while stopping the swirling. Only takes a few seconds, and reveals about half the gold. Remove gold with a snuffer and repeat. With regular creek gold this method reveals all of the gold 9 times out of 10. It does take practice. Quick and easy.