If you are not in a known gold producing location, but want to do some practice panning to get accustomed to it, and acquire some skills before going out into the field, you can practice in your own backyard. Use a washtub to pan into and some diggings from your garden (or wherever) to simulate streambed materials. I recommend that you throw in some rocks and gravel along with the dirt so that it takes on an actual streambed consistency. Take some pieces of lead, buckshot or small lead fishing weights, cut them up into various sizes ranging from pellet size down to pinhead size, and pound some of them flat with a hammer. This puts the pieces of lead in the same form as the majority of gold found in a streambed--flake form. They will act in much the same way as will flakes and grains of gold. Leave a few of the pieces of lead shot as they are so that gold nuggets can also be simulated.
When panning into the tub, place a few of these pieces of lead into your pan, starting off with the larger-sized pieces first. Keep track of how many pieces of lead you use each time so that you can see how well you are doing when you get down to the bottom of the pan. Practice panning in this manner can be very revealing to a beginner, especially when he or she continues to put small and smaller pieces of lead into the pan as progress is made.
If a person is able to pan small pieces of lead successfully, then he or she will have no difficulty whatsoever in panning gold (higher specific gravity) out of a riverbed. And, who knows? You may end up with gold in your pan--right out of your own backyard! It wouldn't be the first time.
When panning into the tub, place a few of these pieces of lead into your pan, starting off with the larger-sized pieces first. Keep track of how many pieces of lead you use each time so that you can see how well you are doing when you get down to the bottom of the pan. Practice panning in this manner can be very revealing to a beginner, especially when he or she continues to put small and smaller pieces of lead into the pan as progress is made.
If a person is able to pan small pieces of lead successfully, then he or she will have no difficulty whatsoever in panning gold (higher specific gravity) out of a riverbed. And, who knows? You may end up with gold in your pan--right out of your own backyard! It wouldn't be the first time.
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