Hi guys,I'm fairly new to prospecting and still learning to perfect my panning technique.Just wanted to ask you guys what your preferred method was once down to the last bit of material and for what reason.Ive noticed two ways people do it.One way is to swirl the pan to expose the gold and the other is to tap the side of the pan with one hand.
Panning
- Thread starter Gen1989
- Start date
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Swirl
I dont think this is in theright area fellas,.
Mackka
Mackka
Its support for people on the forum :lol:
Mucha betterraa ?
Panning .... something Id like to have a go at one day.
Spitting or pissing in the pan isnt an ideal process, neither is using your beer to wet it, so i might have to put it on the bucket list when i visit Victoria ................
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In 2097 ? :goldpan:
Spitting or pissing in the pan isnt an ideal process, neither is using your beer to wet it, so i might have to put it on the bucket list when i visit Victoria ................
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In 2097 ? :goldpan:
Yeah, but (in WA) you need to conserve water for important things like your 2 minute noodlesTathradj said:
tap and back wash - never swirl
Gen1989, The case of you posting in the wrong area is totally inconsequential, the fact that you are reaching out for knowledge is what makes you human and underpins the purpose of this great forum. You will soon familiarise yourself with the forum topics etc.
I first learnt to pan, when I was a 5or6year old from my Grandfather...he was a miner for a large part of his earlier days when a miner was expected to be capable of between 12 to 16 pans an hour! I KID YOU NOT!...And,the pans of those days were of metal and 18-20 inches diameter!...I still have the pan he used from way back then.To achieve that sort of rate it's important to remember 2 basic steps...as my old Pop explained.
1. know when the fines(clay,silts and sands) have been separated from the solid (ironstone, quartz,etc) that's a visual technique requiring plenty of water and vigorous agitation...as my old pop said. "When you can see all the pretty coloured rocks"
2.gOLD IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS BEING APP.20X The weight of water!..so when you can see clearly those ';pretty rocks'' all your gold is at the very bottom of your pan and will stay there unless you haphazardly up end your pan.Knowing that your gold is washed from the gravels and presuming you have your pan tipped forward at about 20-30degrees,all your heavy metals will be in the lower front at the base of your riffle system where the gold will concentrate. You can go ahead and wipe near to half of your contents(pretty rocks" straight out of the pan...aSSUMING YOU HAVE CHECKED FOR NUGGETS OF COURSE! from then on in it's a case of shake to consolidate the gold and pick out palm off or wash off the excess.Once your nearing the bottom lip of the first riffle in your pan..your paystreak should be by now,fully visible and the swirl action or tipping action,expertly done(through practice) will have you recovering almost every skerrick of gold,REGARDLESS OF WHICH WAY YOU ACHIEVE IT.
Good luck to you Rossco.
I first learnt to pan, when I was a 5or6year old
from my Grandfather...he was a miner for a large part of his earlier days when a miner was expected to be capable of between 12 to 16 pans an hour! I KID YOU NOT!...And,the pans of those days were of metal and 18-20 inches diameter!...I still have the pan he used from way back then.To achieve that sort of rate it's important to remember 2 basic steps...as my old Pop explained.1. know when the fines(clay,silts and sands) have been separated from the solid (ironstone, quartz,etc) that's a visual technique requiring plenty of water and vigorous agitation...as my old pop said. "When you can see all the pretty coloured rocks"
2.gOLD IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS BEING APP.20X The weight of water!..so when you can see clearly those ';pretty rocks'' all your gold is at the very bottom of your pan and will stay there unless you haphazardly up end your pan.Knowing that your gold is washed from the gravels and presuming you have your pan tipped forward at about 20-30degrees,all your heavy metals will be in the lower front at the base of your riffle system where the gold will concentrate. You can go ahead and wipe near to half of your contents(pretty rocks" straight out of the pan...aSSUMING YOU HAVE CHECKED FOR NUGGETS OF COURSE! from then on in it's a case of shake to consolidate the gold and pick out palm off or wash off the excess.Once your nearing the bottom lip of the first riffle in your pan..your paystreak should be by now,fully visible and the swirl action or tipping action,expertly done(through practice) will have you recovering almost every skerrick of gold,REGARDLESS OF WHICH WAY YOU ACHIEVE IT.
Good luck to you
Rossco.
Good advice from Rossco.
When you get down to the Gold and black sands I find it helpful to use a backwash with a little side to side shake.
You need to practice getting an equal amount of water on each side of the concentrates the top of the pan and applying a gentle side to side motion during the backwash. This mobilises the black sand so that it washes back leaving the gold at the top of the pan. You don't need a lot of water in the pan to do this. As you wash back the blacks use some taps to bring the gold back to the top of the pan and repeat the process until you have mostly gold at the top and the blacks are now at the bottom of your pan.
When the gold is fine put a drop of dishwasher rinse aid in to avoid little bits of gold whizzing around on the surface tension of the water.
When you have separated the blacks use the tap method to create a line of gold at the top of the pan to be sucked up.
You can easily repreat the process by bringing the blacks back to the top of the pan to get the tiny bits that walk back with the black sands the first time.
As you get better at it there will be less gold in amongst your backwashed blacks, but there will always be a little when the gold is very fine like at Oallen. How far you take the process is a matter of a cost benefit calculation.
When you get down to the Gold and black sands I find it helpful to use a backwash with a little side to side shake.
You need to practice getting an equal amount of water on each side of the concentrates the top of the pan and applying a gentle side to side motion during the backwash. This mobilises the black sand so that it washes back leaving the gold at the top of the pan. You don't need a lot of water in the pan to do this. As you wash back the blacks use some taps to bring the gold back to the top of the pan and repeat the process until you have mostly gold at the top and the blacks are now at the bottom of your pan.
When the gold is fine put a drop of dishwasher rinse aid in to avoid little bits of gold whizzing around on the surface tension of the water.
When you have separated the blacks use the tap method to create a line of gold at the top of the pan to be sucked up.
You can easily repreat the process by bringing the blacks back to the top of the pan to get the tiny bits that walk back with the black sands the first time.
As you get better at it there will be less gold in amongst your backwashed blacks, but there will always be a little when the gold is very fine like at Oallen. How far you take the process is a matter of a cost benefit calculation.
