There's just something out there in nature that draws a man or woman to hunt for GOLD! 

If you are new to prospecting or just looking around trying to get a feel for what is actually involved then you came to the right place. 

    Before I get into the different methods of looking for gold, there is a piece of information I need to pass on to you.  If you do your research and are willing to get a little dirty from time to time you WILL find gold,  Not only here in the Souteast -  but in just about every state .  I will not promise you that you are going to hit the Motherload or get rich off of propecting, but if you look at it as a hobby you will become very rich with information and will probably run into some very good friends along the way. 

     If you are new to prospecting I would recommend talking to a few folks who also share your same interest and already have some knowledge on the subject.  The best place to start is by posting messages on the website Forum.  There are no silly questions and everyone had to get started at one time.  Shoot!  Just read my "About Me" page.  I got off to a rough start, but now I feel pretty proficient in finding gold.

     You see, being a propsector invites you into a place not known by many people today.  The people I am talking about are the hard-working, red-blooded Americans who don't mind leaving their computers behind for a few days, getting a little muddy, or manning a shovel for hours on end to have a little fun and find gold.  I will be straight out honest with you and tell you that prospecting is not easy.  If it was everyone would be doing it.

Panning 

     The gold pan is the most trustworthy piece of mining equipment known to mankind.  Is it the simplest way to get started and definitely the cheapest.  All you will need is a little dexterity, a small shovel, the pan, and a creek to get you on your way. 

     Plastic gold pans are light in weight and have ridges along the inside lip of the pan that prevent gold flakes from being sloshed out. These pans are available from many rock and mineral shops and from various suppliers of treasure-hunting equipment. Other helpful items of equipment include a shovel or scoop to dig into gravel, a classifier to remove large pebbles and debris from the gravel before it is panned, and a small vial or pill bottle in which the gold flakes can be saved. This vial or "keeper" is most efficient when partiall filled with water. A knife point, tweezers, an eyedropper, or a sucker bottle work well to remove flakes from the pan for transfer to the keeper. Panning techniques vary widely and each experienced panner develops a special technique.

     All methods utilize two processes--sizing and gravity concentration. Fill the pan about half full of sand and gravel and then submerge it beneath the water. Knead the material with your fingers in order to break up lumps of clay that can then be washed out. This step is important because gold flakes will adhere to the clay and can be washed out of the pan with lighter material. With the pan still submerged, begin agitating it back and forth with a rotary motion. This technique will size the material, causing the coarsest gravel to rise to the top. Scrape off the upper layer of gravel and discard this material. Repeat this procedure several times.

     The next step in the panning procedure uses gravity concentration and separates the heavy gold and other minerals from the much lighter fragments of quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments. Begin by agitating the pan with a rotary motion and with the lip of the pan tilted slightly forward. This can be done with water in the pan, but it need not be submerged. After a minute or two of this agitation, dip the lip of the pan below the water surface and, with a forward and upward motion, wash off the lighter weight, upper layer of sand. This procedure can be speeded up by scraping off some of this upper layer with the fingers. After repeating this procedure a few times, all that will be left in the pan will be a small amount of light-colored quartz and a heavy concentration of dark sand (composed primarily of magnetite, ilmenite, and garnet). By placing a small amount of clear water in the pan and giving it a gentle swirl, the dark sand will tail out across the pan. If any gold flakes are present, they should sparkle amongst the black sand.

Sluice Box 

     The sluice box is the next step up in the food chain of prospecting equipment and is still affordable for the beginner, but you will need a shovel to move the material and a gold pan for your clean-up.  I also recommend a small plastic tub for your concentrates.  Running a sluice box is very simple but can yeld higher payouts.  A very good panner can run maybe 20 to 40 pans of material an hour, but with a sluice box you can run 60 to 100 pans of material an hour and possibly even more depending on the size of your sluice and the amount of flowing water you have to work with. 

     To get started, find a nice flat, somewhat angled downstream and set your sluice in place.  Put a large rock on top of it to keep it from floating away.  I highly recommed taking a 3 or 5 gallon bucket with you and buying a 1/2 inch or a 1/4 inch classifier to remove all the larger rocks before running the material throught he sluice.  You will recover more gold and the sluice will be more efficient. 

     Normally you want your sluice to have one to two inches of drop per foot.  Measure the length of your sluice and adjust your drop.  This will allow for the water to more through it and carry the light materials away and hold onto the heavy black sands and gold.  If your material just sticks in the box and does not wash out, try lowering the bottom end of the sluice a little more or build a small rock eddy to funnel more water into the sluice.   

     After running your sluice for what you determine to be a sufficient amount of time, remove the large rock and gently pick up your sluice and empty it into your plastic tub.  It's up to you whether you want to pan it now or take it home to you.  

Highbanking

     Highbanking is similar to running a manual sluice box and should be set-up in the same manner.  The only real difference is the highbanker will have a gas powered engine and pump to supply the water necessary to wash the material through the sluice.  The advantage of a highbanker over a manual sluice is that the highbanker can be setup on the creek bank or near to your prospecting location and can process a significant amount more material.  The highbanker comes in two different versions.  The first is simply just the highbanker unit with pump and motor.  This version is for shoveling the material into the hopper from the creek bank or creek.  The second version, highbanker/dredge combo comes with the necessary hoses and nozzle to convert the highbanker into a 1 to 3 inch dredge.  This will allow you to suck the material up out of the creek or river versus shoveling the material into the hopper and/or use it as just a highbanker.  Either version will drastically increase the amount of material you can run versus the manual sluice.     

USEFUL INFORMATION

1. Troy Pound (0.37kg):
   A mass unit is used to measure precious metals. There are 12 troy ounces in every troy pound. One troy pound is equal to 373 grams.

2. ---

Troy Ounce:
The traditional unit of weight for precious metals and gems.
1 troy ounce = 480 grains
1 troy ounce = 24 scruples
1 troy ounce = 20 pennyweights (North American jewelery trade)
1 troy ounce = 1.097 ordinary ounce
1 troy ounce = 8 drams
1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams.
1 troy ounce = 120 carats
1 troy ounce = 155.52 metric carats (diamonds / precious stones).
3.75 troy ounces = 10 tolas (Indian sub-continent)
6.02 troy ounces = 5 taels (Hong Kong)
12 troy ounce=1 troy pound
14.583 troy ounce =16 avoirdupois ounce (1Pound)
32.15 troy ounces = 1 kilogramme (Kilo)
32,150 troy ounces = 1 metric ton (1,000 kilos)
1000 troy ounces = 31.1 kilograms
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3. pennyweight (dwt):
   The pennyweight was the weight of a silver penny in medieval England.
   It is no coincidence that there were 240 pennies to the English pound.
   240 silver pennies were equivalent to a pound of silver.
   The word sterling applies both to the English pound and to the standard
   purity of silver.
   1 pennyweight = 24 grains (dwt) (1 old time French penny)
   1.55 grams=1 pennyweight (dwt)
   20 dwt=1 troy ounce
   240 pennyweights = 1 pound troy
   24 grains=1 dwt
   1 pennyweight =.05 troy ounce
   1 gram=.643 pennyweight
   

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4. Gram:
   1 gram =.03215 troy ounce
   1 gram =.643 pennyweight
   1.555 grams = 1 pennyweight (dwt)
   1 gram =0.00267923 apothecary or troy pound
   1 gram =0.00220462 avoirdupois pound
   1 gram =0.0321507 apothecary or troy ounce
   1 gram =0.564383 avoirdupois dram
   1 gram =0.257206 apothecary or troy dram
   1 gram =0.6430149 pennyweight
   1 gram =0.771618 scruple
   1 gram =15.4324 grains
   1 gram =1x10^-6 metric ton
   1 gram =1x10^-4 myriagram
   1 gram =0.001 kilogram
   1 gram =5 metric carats
   1 gram =1000 milligrams
   1 gram =1x10^6 microgram
   1 Gram = 5 Carats