Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Fill up a large trough of water with about five to 15 gallons of water (depending on the trough size) near where you are digging up the gold ore. Use a bucket to fill the trough so that you have about 3 to 4 inches to the top of the water inside the trough.
Shovel some gold ore into your pan but do not overfill. Most prospectors work with about five pounds of gold ore in their pan to begin. Separate larger stones from the rest of the gold ore first.
Carry the pan to the large trough of water. Place the pan on top of the water like you're trying to make it float. With both hands on the pan at nine and three o'clock, tip the front of the pan into the water and collect water to fill the pan.
Lift the bottom of the pan out of the water. Hold the pan level and move the pan around counterclockwise to agitate the gold ore with the water. Attempt to wash away dirt from stones and from things that are hard inside the gold ore.
Tip that pan forward and let the largest stones fall into the trough. Dip the pan at this angle into the trough collecting more water to fill the pan. Hold the pan flat above the water and agitate again, moving the pan clockwise and counterclockwise to promote the heaviest bits of gold ore to sink to the bottom of the pan.
Repeat the dip and swish routine until you have removed all of the largest materials from the gold ore in the pan. The material that is left in the bottom of the pan is black sand. It should be clean of mud and dirt and consist of the heaviest materials that you started with, including gold.