(Panning for Gold) - 2003

The technique of gold panning involves a lot of patience and skill, but is easy to pick up after the first few attempts. When panning for gold, not everyone is luckily enough to come away with flakes of gold and nuggets are extremely rare. You are more likely to find small flakes. Baille an Or however makes an ideal day out for all the family whether or not you are lucky enough to find gold.

Buy the highest quality, strong plastic Gold Pans. Made by Estwing USA. These CLICK HERE

When gold panning, you should place a mixture of dirt and gravel sediment into the pan, about a ½ full. This gravel is best collected from the banks of the river where the sediment is finest. You will first need to remove any larger objects, (twigs for instance), and then gently let the river fill your pan with water.

Start to pull the pan backwards and forwards near the surface of the water, shaking it and tapping it against the heel of your other hand, tilt the pan furthest from you ensuring that the pan is held so that the ridges are away from you. Pull and slightly lift the pan towards you at a slight angle and let some sediment spill over the edge. This is a slow and gradual process, so you should try to avoid loosing too much sediment in one go. Repeat this process until you have almost no gravel in the pan and swirl it carefully round in a circular pattern. Any gold should sink to the bottom of the pan, whilst all other sediment separates to the sides.