Panning for Gold

[3leggedturtle]

Has anyone panned for gold? It is a something that has interested me for about 5 years now. Curious as to what your experiences are.

[Mescalero]

Yes

[3leggedturtle]

Yes

Where, was it your main endeavor, or were you camping and it was something to do along the way?

[Mescalero]

Where I am now mining commercially for gold.

[3leggedturtle]

I was wondering about in stream and rivers.

[Les Staley]

Catch some of the Gold Fever shows on the Outdoor Channel.. you'll learn a lot by watching.. don't know if any are archived somewhere... depending on where you are, there's gold in them thar hills.. have found some fine dust panning in some of our local streams in Wyoming and North Idaho has good places.. will spend a little more time on it after I retire.... (soon, I hope).. meanwhile, don't quit yer day job... Les

[Pitchy]

We generally take our pans when we venture out west and fiddle around in the streams.
We usually find some flakes anyway and is fun.

[3leggedturtle]

Pitchy, you ever find any in Minnesota

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have also. In the 60`s I spent a summer in CA with my uncle and he got me started.
Together we found about $50 bux worth one weekend and that was back when it was
only worth about $39.00 an oz.
Much fun!!

[Pitchy]

Pitchy, you ever find any in Minnesota

Nope, they say there`s some up north but never heard of and finds.

[Rusty]

A few years back my wife and I were in Dahlonega where they say they had the first commercial gold mine in the U.S. When we were taking the tour there they told us that there is gold, at least to some degree in every state. I did some research on that when we got home and found that here in Fl there has been gold found up in the panhandle.

[Blaine]

Most anyone that tries can find color in the Cascades....Some even get permits, go large, and make some money. You can only dredge at certain times, and with certain size dredge. I'm too lazy to try that. A buddy ran a small dredge, lived, and breathed it for three years. He covered costs and managed to eat and pay bills...never got ahead. That would have been on the Little Naches, on the east side of the mountain.

[Mossyoak1957]

Has anyone panned for gold? It is a something that has interested me for about 5 years now. Curious as to what your experiences are.

Here is a quick lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrhsjVH_ ... r_embedded#!

[mack]

I panned a few flakes here in Maine on the Swift River a few years back. Kids loved it near as much as I did. I'd starve to death with cold wet feet if I had to depend on it!

[FatJackDurham]

Drop your expectations first of all. Panning is fun but hard work. You can dig up five or six 5 gallon buckets of dirt from a stream bed, pan it down, and expect three flecks of gold... maybe.

Here in Vermont, there was a gold panning expedition from the local jewelry store, and they actually rinsed out the roots and vegetation growing low along the stream for new deposits after the spring floods. Found some.

I find a lot of garnet in my gravel. I look at the "Black Sand" under a jewlers loop and you can see the red, yellow and green tiny crystals! Vermont does have gold, just not a lot. Mostly it seems that panning is best for prospecting, and once you find some flecs you are supposed to dig down to bedrock and sluice it.

I know a lot of people use metal detectors to find nuggets in the tailings of old mines out west.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has found more than a couple of flecks in a pan from a stream.

[Mescalero]

Yes.

[92&94]

I panned a few flakes here in Maine on the Swift River a few years back. Kids loved it near as much as I did. I'd starve to death with cold wet feet if I had to depend on it!

Yep, when I was about 10 years old I lost a bet with my dad that he could pan at least one flake out of a stream we lived near, down river a bit from Jackman. I thought gold panning was something that you could only do out west, turns out the old man knew a thing or two that I didn't

Background values for gold in igneous rock are maybe 3 ppb, so any stream draining an igneous mountain will likely have a flake or two if you know where to look for it.

Only thing I remember from the few times I've done it is that if you wonder if that little speck is gold, probably it isn't. No missing it when you get some color, nothing else looks at all like it.

[Mescalero]

Once you see the real thing, you will never make the same mistake again.
Parts Per Billion?????????????
I detect an MBA here.

[92&94]

Once you see the real thing, you will never make the same mistake again.
Parts Per Billion?????????????
I detect an MBA here.

Not me... just a former working geologist with a license to BS

Went to U of Arizona though, still a strong mining school even as late as I went through. NM Tech and Colorado School of Mines are still probably better ones though.

Lots of guys would get out of college and work until things slowed down again, then go get a masters. I did the first part, but instead of getting another degree I went and got a more steady, if dull, job.

[Mescalero]

So did I, nothing like paying the bills.

[Blaine]

So did I, nothing like paying the bills.

Know what professional tuba players say? "Want Fries With That?"

[92&94]

So did I, nothing like paying the bills.

Know what professional tuba players say? "Want Fries With That?"

I applied for a job flipping burgers at McDonalds once... interview was going well until I told the manager that I had a BS in geology. He said "Sorry, but all our geologists have masters degrees"

[Mescalero]

[.Dirty-.Thirty]

Post us a picture Mescalero of some gold ore you have.

[66GTO]

Post us a picture Mescalero of some gold ore you have.

Based on Mescalero's one word gold miner answers in this post, I suspect he will answer you with another one word reply "No." Gotta play it close to the vest if you've got a gold mine!

[Mescalero]

.Dirty-.Thirty,
Unlike other miners, I am not as 66 GTO suggests, I have no problem with pictures or amounts.
I do have to REMEMBER to take pictures, as there is a lot going on in a mining endeavor.

[Peter M. Eick]

As a professional Geologist/Geophysicists, I can say that yes I have panned for gold and have been successful at it. As others have pointed out it is a lot of work for not much reward if you hand pan. I found enough to make a few small things and some decent microscope samples.

In the end, if you are after money as a Geo, join an oil company and get paid to explore for black gold. You can then afford to go buy some gold if you want it.

Besides, my degree was more hard rock mining geology than placer deposits. The problem is there is not much demand for hard rock Geo's here in North America. It was sure fun learning about it though.

[gundownunder]

I did a bit of panning in the Victorian goldfields when I was a young'n. I found a bit of color, best I got was a nugget about 2 matchheads in size.
Panning is a good way to find where the gold is so that you can mine it with other equipment, but it's a danged hard way to get it out of the ground and into your pocket.