How to Pan for Gold in the Mojave Desert

Find a good location for panning. Gold maps of the Mojave Desert will indicate old stream beds and areas where prospectors have been successful in the past. Avoid places that have already been heavily panned.

Fill a plastic tub with enough water to submerge your gold pan. Place your screen over the pan.

Load the shovel with a scoop of gravel and sand. Dump the load onto the screen, and agitate it so the small pieces fall through the screen and into the pan. The screen will filter out larger rocks.

Set the screen aside. The pan should be between halfway full and nearly full of rocky material, depending on your preference.

Submerge the pan completely in the tub of water. Shake the pan, but not so vigorously that material spills out the sides. Gold is heavier than ordinary rock, so it will settle to the bottom as you shake the pan.

Lift the pan straight up out of the water. Slosh the surface water out of the pan with a gently rolling motion. This lets the water draw light material off the top. Don't pour material out.

Submerge the pan again, and repeat the shaking process. Lift out the pan, and slosh the water off the top. Continue shaking and sloshing until there's very little material left in the pan. If there is gold in the pan, it should become visible at this point.

Use a snuffer bottle to extract grains and tiny nuggets of gold. Store them in a separate bottle.