Gold Panning Equipment

Here's a few tips on how to pan for gold for beginners.  First, the equipment you are going to need is a gold pan, some dirt and water(preferably moving water in a ditch or creek,etc), and some lead bullets(such as pellets for a pellet gun).  You can pick up a gold pan in our store.  For dirt, get you some good bank dirt along a ditch, canal, lake or stream.  If you don't have any of that nearby, most dirt will do; bank dirt just mirrors the real thing a little better.

First take the little pellets and smash them to thin disks with a hammer.  These lead disks will simulate gold nuggets since lead has a similar density as gold they will stay at the bottom of the pan.  Mix a few into your dirt and take a fist size full of wet dirt and put it in your pan.

Once you are ready, you need to get on the side of a moving water source or use a large mouth bucket filled with water.

The trick to gold panning is to get a good swirling motion.  Gently move your elbows, not your wrists, in elongated imaginary circles.  Each time you swirl the water around once, let a little water and dirt spill out of the gold pan.  Not too much.  Keep the pan slightly tilted at an angle.

Every so often break up the clump of dirt in your pan,  and continue to swish.  It's a careful process, and eventually you will get to the bottom of the pan.  If you did it correctly you will see the little lead nuggets we made  in the pan, sticking out from the dirt.  Carefully remove the pellets and count how many there are to see if you lost any.  If you did, get you another load of dirt and keep practicing until you master it.