How to Pan for Gold: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
Panning is the cheapest way to start looking for gold. Learn what gear you need, where to dig in a creek and the exact shaking and swirling motions that keep gold in the pan.
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Panning for gold works because gold is heavy. If you shake a pan full of wet gravel the right way, everything sorts itself by weight and the gold drops to the bottom. The rest of the technique is just about washing the light material away without losing what has settled.
It takes a few sessions before it feels natural. Most beginners lose gold by being too careful in the wrong places and too rough in others, so this guide focuses on exactly where to slow down.
What you need
You can start with very little:
- A gold pan. A 14-inch plastic pan with riffles (the ridges on one side) is the best choice for beginners. Green or black plastic makes gold easy to see, and plastic does not rust or hold grease the way steel can.
- A classifier. A sieve that sits on top of a bucket or the pan. A half-inch or quarter-inch screen removes big stones before you start, which makes panning much faster.
- A small shovel or trowel, and a crevice tool or old screwdriver for scraping bedrock cracks.
- A snuffer bottle to suck up fine gold, and a small glass vial to store it.
- A bucket, and waterproof boots if you will be standing in the creek.
Where to dig in a creek
Gold drops out wherever water slows down. Before you dig, watch how the stream moves during high water, or look for signs of it such as piled-up debris and flood lines on the bank.
Good places to try:
- the inside of bends, especially at the head of a gravel bar,
- behind large boulders, where the current swirls and slows,
- cracks in exposed bedrock and the gravel sitting directly on top of it,
- below small waterfalls and rapids, where heavy material collects in the plunge pool,
- around tree roots and moss at the waterline, which can trap fine gold during floods.
Dig down as deep as you can. Gold keeps working its way downward through the gravel, so the material closest to bedrock is usually the richest.
Panning step by step
1. Fill and classify
Shovel material through your classifier into the pan until it is about three quarters full. Pick out any remaining large rocks by hand, but rinse them over the pan first in case clay is holding gold to them.
2. Soak and break up the clay
Put the whole pan under water and work the material with your fingers. Break up every lump of clay and moss. Clay is the most common reason beginners lose gold, because it holds flakes and carries them out of the pan.
3. Shake hard
Keep the pan level and just under the surface, and shake it vigorously from side to side for 20 to 30 seconds. This is the stratifying step: the gold sinks through the gravel to the bottom. Do not be gentle here. A good hard shake does most of the work.
4. Tilt and wash the top layer
Tip the pan forward, riffles facing away from you, at roughly 30 degrees. Dip it in the water and use a gentle forward-and-back motion so that small waves carry the top layer of light gravel out over the lip.
5. Repeat: shake level, then wash
After every few washes, bring the pan back to level and give it another shake to resettle any gold that may have moved up. Then tilt and wash again. Repeat until only a cup or two of material is left.
6. Work down to black sand
As the material gets smaller, slow down and use less water. You will end up with a layer of heavy black sand, mostly magnetite. Gold sits in and under it.
7. Reveal the gold
Leave a little water in the pan and swirl it slowly in a circle. The black sand will spread out and any gold will appear as a yellow tail at the back of the sand. Use the snuffer bottle to pick it up, and empty it into your vial.
Practice tip: buy a small bag of paydirt or put a few pieces of lead shot or small fishing weights in a pan of ordinary gravel. Pan it at home until you can recover all of them every time. Lead is lighter than gold, so if you keep the lead, you will keep the gold.
Common beginner mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Skipping the clay breakup | Clay balls carry gold out of the pan | Work every lump apart under water before shaking |
| Tilting too steeply | Waves wash out the heavy layer along with the light one | Keep the angle shallow and the waves small |
| Not re-shaking | Gold climbs up and gets washed off with the gravel | Return to level and shake every few washes |
| Panning in fast water | Current pulls material out unpredictably | Pan in calm, shin-deep water or a tub |
| Digging only the surface | Top gravel holds little gold | Dig down toward bedrock |
How much gold can you expect?
Be realistic. In most recreational areas, a good day of panning produces a few small flakes or "colours", not nuggets. Panning is mainly a way to find spots worth working with a sluice box, and to learn how gold behaves. Our guide to where to find gold in a creek will help you pick better spots. The real reward for many people is the time outdoors and the moment the first flake appears.
Check the rules first
Before you dig, find out who owns or manages the land. Some public land allows casual panning with hand tools, other areas are covered by mining claims, and some rivers are closed to protect fish habitat at certain times of year. Local land offices, prospecting clubs and park rangers can tell you what is allowed. Always fill in your holes and leave the bank as you found it.