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How to Pan for Gold With Instructions

Panning for gold can be very fun and sometimes very rewarding. When panning for gold you are basically re-creating on a small scale in your gold pan the movement of the river. There are stories of people finding up to 90 ounces of gold in one pan, which would be worth more than $100,000 at today's rates. These cases are rare but you can still have fun and learn a new hobby by following a few simple steps.

Things You'll Need

Gold pan
Suction pipette

Instructions

- 1
  Find a place near a stream where gold has been found before to make your trip more likely to be successful.
- 2
  Add about four handfuls of material, like rocks and sand, from near the stream edge to your gold pan.
- 3
  Submerge your pan containing the materials in the stream. Move the pan slowly in a circular motion in order to get the lighter materials, such as sand, to exit the pan. Do this until about half of the material has left the pan.
- 4
  Lift the gold pan out of the water and tilt slightly to the side. Continue to move the pan slowly in a circular motion until all of the water is gone from the pan. When there is no water left in the pan, dip the pan into the stream to get more water, take the pan out of the water, and continue to move slowly in a circular motion until almost all of the material is gone out of the pan.
- 5
  Separate materials such as sand from the gold using the suction pipette. If you did not find any gold, do not get discouraged. Keep trying and start back at step one.

Rocks & Minerals