How to Clear Sandstone From Gold Deposits

Deposit the gold-rich gravel and stone in your gold pan. Pick out the largest sandstone rocks, so the gold and gravel will be easier to sift.

Submerge the pan shallowly under the water -- while keeping hold of it. Shake the pan from side to side, allowing the water to wash away the silt and the lightest sandstone dust. Work your hands through the gravel and get the entire content of your pan wet. Allow the sandstone dust, silt and dirt to float and wash away in the water current.

Lift the pan -- though keep it underwater -- and shake it from side to side, roughly enough to unsettle the contents, but gently enough so none of them slop out of the pan. Allow the rocks -- which will likely be made of lighter stone, such as sandstone -- to rise to the top of the pan's gravel. Pick the rocks out of the pan. Search the rocks for gold dust while doing so; if gold dust is on a rock, set aside the rock until after you've finished the sifting process.

Tilt the pan as though you're going to pour the remaining dirt, rock and gold into the water. Shake the pan backward and forward -- very gently -- and allow the water to wash away any sandstone dust and lighter sediment. Make a sweeping motion with your hand to sweep away the lighter material, until only the heaviest materials -- gold and the stone it's attached to -- are left in the pan (roughly 1 tbsp. of dirt, gold and stone).

Fill the mini-gold-concentrator's bucket with water. Place the mini-gold-concentrator's removable dish and sieve, attached to its lower settling pan, in the bucket. Fasten the bucket closed using wingnuts. Place the remaining dirt, gold, and stone into the mini-gold-concentrator's top dish. Shake the bucket so the water spins inside it, in a circular motion. Allow the smaller particles to run through the sieve into the settling pan, where the lighter materials -- such as sandstone -- rise above the bottom of the settling pan because of the agitation, and are swept aside by the mini-gold-concentrator's blades.

Allow the gold and heaviest minerals -- which will not include sandstone -- to settle in the retention bowl within the bucket. Collect the gold and heavy rocks from the retention bowl.

Clean the gold nuggets using liquid soap and a toothbrush.

Place the sandstone rocks that contain gold dust, that's not in an attractive (i.e., nugget) form, in a dolly mill to crush it. Run the resulting sandstone powder and gold dust through the mini-gold concentrator in just the way you ran the gold-rich gravel through the mini-gold concentrator to collect the gold after panning.