To find natural placer gold you must first learn to use a gold pan properly. Secondly, you have to read mining reports from your area to understand where you stand the highest chance of striking gold. Thirdly, you need to learn some basic geology to be able to read rivers and landscapes for gold. 

I know that getting started with gold mining and prospecting can be a daunting task. I remember my own first futile attempts at panning my local river.

So, to try and make things easier for you, I have created this guide to help untangle the most common questions newcomers to this hobby have.

I hope that you, after having read this guide, have the knowledge to get started mining and prospecting yourself!

This guide will teach you:

• What Equipment you need
• Metal Detecting VS Gold Panning
• How to pan for gold
• How to identify real, natural gold
• Basic Geology and Gold Indicators
• And much, much more!

But before all that, let’s briefly answer four of the most common questions beginning prospectors have.

How Hard Is It To Find Natural Gold?

Finding natural gold is not an easy task, even for experienced prospectors. Gold is one of the least common elements in the earth’s crust, with a concentration of just around 0.004 grams per ton. While this might seem discouraging, gold concentrations will be substantially higher in some locations.

To be completely honest, you should not expect to make a living prospecting for gold. Few manage to find the amounts that are required to make a decent salary, and even fewer can do it with a consistency that allows them to have a somewhat steady paycheck coming in every month.

Most prospectors I know of see gold mining as a hobby, and regard any money they make a bonus. Gold prospecting indeed is a wonderful hobby and has let me enjoy many peaceful moments out in nature.

With that said, you definitely can find enough gold to make it all an enjoyable and even perhaps  profitable venture.

For more information on this topic, see the following articles:

• How much money can you make gold panning?
• Can You Make a Living Panning for Gold?
• Is Finding Gold Really That Hard?

Where Does Natural Gold Come From

Even if all gold originates from gold veins in rock, we still make a distinction between two types of natural gold. The two types are:

• placer gold
• hard rock gold.

Hard Rock Gold

Hard rock gold, as the name suggests, is gold that’s contained in hard rock, typically below the surface.

The veins containing the gold were created when hot acidic solutions capable of dissolving gold ran through cracks and fissures towards the surface, where they cooled down and deposited the gold. 

Due to the heavy machinery required for extraction, hard rock gold isn’t very popular with hobby prospectors. However, this doesn’t prevent it from being the most common type of gold mined by big mining companies.

Placer Gold

Placer gold is gold that has broken loose from the main lode. In other words, it’s hard rock gold that’s been exposed to erosion and weathering, which has freed up the gold previously contained in the rock.

Placer gold is the by far most common type of natural gold worked by hobby prospectors, regardless of whether they use a gold pan, metal detector, or more advanced and bigger equipment. It’s also what we are going to focus on in this article!

Placer gold tends to travel downhill as it’s subjected to heavy rains, and often enough it ends up in a river that can transport it for thousands of miles downstream. This is why so much gold has been found and is found in rivers. Essentially, they work as large natural concentrators, bringing in and gathering gold from countless locations along their course.

In other drier locations, the wind constantly blows off the light materials while the heavy gold stays put at roughly the same spot. With time, this creates desert placers that can be recovered with a metal detector.

For more in-depth information about placer gold, I recommend my longer article that describes the various types of placer gold in more detail.

Gold Nuggets Vs Fine Gold: What Can You Expect?

Many people dream of finding their own gold nuggets when heading out there looking for gold. And while gold nuggets are still found today, it should come as no surprise that they’re very rare.

Most of the natural gold found by prospectors today is the form of fine gold, such as gold dust and flakes of gold. Only 2% of gold found today is in the form of gold nuggets, which really demonstrates their rarity.

As a prospector, most of the gold you are going to find will be very fine gold. Most of the easily accessible nuggets were simply taken by the old-timer, who naturally didn’t care that much for the fine gold which was harder to retrieve.  That was especially the case considering the methods used back then were much less sophisticated and less fine-tuned compared to those we have today.

If you want to learn more about gold nuggets, I have a couple of articles I think might interest you:

• How Rare Are Gold Nuggets? (Gold Nugget Rarity Explained)
• How Pure Are Gold Nuggets?
• Can You Find Gold Nuggets Anywhere?
• How to invest in gold nuggets

Where Are You Allowed To Prospect For Gold?

This is perhaps the most commonly asked question by new prospectors, and on a general level, the answer is quite straight forward.

You are allowed to prospect on most public lands unless they have been claimed by other prospectors. A claim can be filed by a prospector who finds gold, and simply gives him or her exclusive rights to the minerals on that spot. You are not allowed to pan for gold on private land unless you have permission from the landowner.

It’s important to remember that even though most public lands are open to prospectors, there are exceptions. Areas with special designations, like natural parks, are some common examples, and rules do vary quite a lot between parks. 

Another thing to keep in mind is larger mining equipment like suction dredges often require a special permit, or are explicitly banned. Most hand tools, like gold pans and sluice boxes, however, tend to be allowed in most locations.

Gold Mining Equipment

The first step to getting out there finding your own natural gold is to get the right equipment. And while some vendors might want to make you buy some really fancy equipment, I will tell you right away that you don’t need to spend much to get started.

To be frank, you just need a good gold pan to get started. However, investing in some more tools will make your life as a prospector much easier.

Here are some things you might want to consider getting in addition to a gold pan.

• A shovel or spade
• Vials: Perfect for storing small gold
• Classifier: Basically, this is a big sieve that fits on top of your gold pan to remove large rocks and debris. In short, this makes the panning process much easier and more efficient
• Snuffer Bottle: Really nice for picking up gold quickly and effortlessly!

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Most new prospectors simply purchase a gold panning kit that gives them everything they’ll need at a cheap price. Be sure to check out my full list of the best gold panning kits in case you’re interested in getting one for yourself!

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Sluice Box: The Perfect Upgrade

A sluice box is a narrow box/channel equipped with gold traps, that’s placed in a flowing creek or stream. Once the material is poured into the sluice, the gold will get caught in the gold traps, while the sands and gravels exit the sluice with the escaping water.

Many prospectors start out with a gold pan but then choose to get a sluice, which in many ways is the perfect upgrade. In short, a sluice box lets process many times more material than a gold pan. Gold pans are seldom used as production tools but are used mostly for prospecting, which is an important distinction:

• Prospecting is the act of heading out with the purpose of discovering gold deposits, but not necessarily working them.
• Gold mining is the act of actively trying to retrieve the gold from those locations you discovered when prospecting. 

With that said, virtually every gold miner and prospector uses a gold pan at some stage of the gold recovery process. When used together with a sluice box, the gold pan is mostly used to clean up the concentrates of sand and gold you get from running the sluice. 

Here are two articles on sluice boxes that might interest you:

• Best portable sluice boxes
• How to use a sluice box

Metal Detecting Vs Gold Panning for Natural Gold

When electronic prospecting became an option back in the ’80s, the metal detectors available on the market were a far cry from the ones we have today, both in terms of price and usefulness. With time, metal detectors have improved substantially and become much cheaper and effective tools. Today, many newcomers are headed straight for metal detecting in the belief that it’s the by far best approach to find natural gold. 

Now, I would argue that gold panning still is the better option for a beginner. When comparing metal detecting to gold panning, it quickly becomes evident that the former requires much more training than the latter. Gold panning has the benefit of being incredibly easy to get a hang of, and generally, gold is easier to find in rivers as well.

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Advantages of Gold Panning

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 1. It’s Cheap

A gold pan doesn’t cost many dollars and will last for many years to come. Even a gold panning kit, which is a better purchase for somebody just starting out, won’t cost you that much!

2. Everyone Can Learn Gold Panning!

Gold panning isn’t hard to learn if you just spend some time with it. Some good instructions, like those I’ve published here at prospecting planet, will teach you the basics in minutes!

 3. Finding Gold in Rivers Is Easier!

In normal cases, the concentration of gold in the earth’s crust is so small that it isn’t economically feasible to recover. In order to become so, it must first be concentrated, be it through internal or external geological processes.

Finding gold in rivers gets easier because the constant flow acts to concentrate materials by weight. Thus, gold, which is among the heaviest elements, will pile up on certain locations in the river, creating much more easily recoverable streaks and pockets of gold.

When also considering the fact that a river will pick up gold from the entire length of its course, you might start to realize how effective a gold concentrator a river can be!

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Disadvantages of Gold Panning

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1. Processing Limitations (Con)

Regardless of how much you love a gold pan for its high recovery rate and simplicity, you still cannot escape the fact that it is fairly limited with regards to the amount of streambed material it can process.

Due to its low processing capacity, a gold pan is seldom used as a production tool, Instead, panners usually upgrade to a sluice box when they want to work more material.

2. Water is needed (Con)

Obviously, you need water to be able to pan gold effectively. This can and does pose an issue in dry, desertous areas devoid of most kinds of sources of water.

People in such parts usually go for metal detecting or dry washing. For instance, Arizona is famous for its gold nuggets, of which many today are found with metal detectors. In case you’re interested to learn more, I have published an extensive resource listing over 20 gold locations in Arizona that perhaps could be of interest to you!

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Advantages of Metal Detecting

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1. More Land Open For Prospecting! (pro)

The old-timers didn’t have access to modern metal detectors, and consequently missed a lot of the gold hidden underground. With the help of a metal detector, you can go after these deposits that were never discovered.

In contrast, the small scale mining operations of the gold rushes of the 19th and 20th century were mostly focused on river gold.

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Disadvantages of Metal Detecting

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1.It’s Harder (Con)

Many newcomers have the mindset that gold suddenly becomes easy to find if you just get yourself a metal detector. As you might have started to suspect, this is not the case!

When looking for natural gold with a metal detector, you have access to MUCH bigger areas than a gold panner has, of which only a few places will contain gold. You could say that knowing where to look becomes even more critical when metal detecting, even though it’s important to note that it’s by no means an easy task in either case.

In addition, you’ve got a piece of technology that requires some proficiency to be used in a correct and useful manner.

2.It’s Expensive (Con)

Even budget metal detectors will set you back at a couple of hundred dollars. If you’re just starting out, that’s a quite hefty price to pay for something you’re not sure you will get to use that often!

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Metal Detecting Vs Gold Panning: Which Is Best for you?

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Unless they live in an area that’s totally devoid of rivers and running water, I always recommend beginners to start with gold panning. It’s so much easier, and besides, knowing how to handle a gold pan is a skill you will find useful regardless of your chosen prospecting style!

How to Find Natural Placer Gold With a Gold Pan

Having covered the main differences between gold prospecting with a gold pan and metal detecting, we are now going to take a closer look at the whole process of using a gold pan.

In case you’d like an even more detailed guide, I would recommend taking a closer look at the following article: complete guide to gold panning : A step by step guide.

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Phase 1: Learn How To Use a Gold Pan: It’s Easy!

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To be honest, a gold pan isn’t that hard to operate, and you will get the hang of it quite quickly if you just pay attention to the instructions.

The panning process works by leveraging the high weight of gold relative to other materials. Simply put, the gold will sink to the bottom when shaking the pan, which then lets us remove the surface layer consisting of the lightest gravels and sands. After a couple of runs, only the heaviest materials, including gold, will be left in the pan for us to retrieve. 

So, here is the whole gold panning process condensed into 5 steps. You may also watch the instructional video below.

Step 1: Collect and sift the Streambed Material

First of all, you need to collect the streambed material. While this is quite straight forward, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

• Use a classifier: You don’t want big rocks, pebbles, and debris when panning. It will make retrieving the gold harder, as bigger rocks require you to use much more force when panning to have them removed. Besides, it takes up a lot of space that could have been taken up by gold-bearing sands and gravels. 
• Don’t fill up the pan entirely: The gold pan becomes much easier to handle if you don’t fill it up completely. 
• Break up lumps of clay: If there is clay in the streambed, make sure to break up any eventual lumps with your fingers. Also, make sure that the pebbles and rocks are completely clean. Otherwise, you risk throwing out gold caught in the lumps. 

Step 2: Submerge the pan underwater with its content

The next step involves submerging the pan underwater and shaking the pan back and forth in a rather hefty manner. This is to ensure that the gold falls to the bottom of the pan, where it hopefully will remain as we carry on with the panning process.

Shake the pan for around 10 seconds before heading on to the next step.

Step 3: Tilt the pan and submerge it underwater

As the surface layer of the material now should be completely devoid of gold, we want to flush it out of the pan.  To do this, you:

1. Tilt the pan slightly away from you
2. Submerge the pan underwater so that all the sand and gravel is underwater. 
3. Lift up the pan while simultaneously moving it slightly away from you. This will cause the water inside the pan to rush out of the pan, taking the surface layer of light sands with it. Remember to keep the pan tilted at the same angle throughout the move. This step could take some practice to get right.
4. Repeat the above steps a few times to remove more of the surface layer.

Step 4: Repeat!

Now you need to repeat steps 2-3 until there is around half a cup of material left. 

You will often notice that the sand gets darker and darker the longer you continue to pan. The darker sand is generally referred to as black sand and is among the heavier elements in the streambed. Thus, gold is generally associated with black sand, and the latter is often considered an indicator of the former.

Step 5: Get the gold out of the black sand

This is the exciting part!

Now you should have very little material left in your pan, hopefully with some gold in it. To separate the gold from the black sand, you do the following:

1. Gather all the sand in the far end of the pan. 
2. Make sure to have enough water to just cover the bottom of the pan. 
3. Shake the pan gently to once again make the gold fall to the bottom, holding the pan slightly tilted away from you.
4. Then start to gently swirl the water around the pan. The gold, which is the heaviest material in the mix, will mostly stay in place, while the lighter black sands will get grabbed by the swirling water to a larger extent. 

When You’re Done, make sure to save your black sand concentrates for further processing. 

Spending the cold part of the year extracting gold from black sand concentrates you dug during the warmer part of the year indeed makes an enjoyable pastime.

To learn about the different methods of getting out the gold from black sand concentrates, check out my full guide on separating gold from black sand

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Phase 2: Learn to Look for Gold in the Right Locations

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There is an old adage that goes that ” gold is where you find it”. And while it sometimes can be hard to know why gold is found in certain locations, you can be sure that there is a reason.

Now, heading out to your nearest river or creek without performing any research might be fun, but it’s unlikely to yield good results. 

To increase your odds of actually finding gold you’re better off looking for gold where it has been found before. In the past, the old-timers scoured the country and subsequently focused on the locations that proved to hold the greatest amounts of gold. And although much of the easier gold has been dug up, there is plenty to be found.  Especially considering that the occurrence of gold in one location suggests that there might be deposits nearby that haven’t been discovered yet.

So how do you know where gold has been found, Well, here are some good sources of information to look into:

• Government reports: There are many state government reports carried out by the USGS that contain loads of useful information about known gold deposits in many states.
• State Reports: Geological surveys and mining reports were often carried out on the state level as well. When compared to government reports, these tend to more detailed. 
• Old mining town newspapers and history books: It’s not uncommon that you can pick up some valuable tips from studying old mining town newspapers and history books. While they seldom disclose the exact location where gold was found, they are worth looking closer into to get a general idea about gold-bearing locations in the surrounding areas. 

Tip: Become a GPAA Member

Being new to prospecting can be hard, especially when it comes to finding gold-bearing spots. Long stretches of the most gold dense rivers in the country have already been claimed up, and finding some for yourself often requires a lot of time and effort out in the field.

Becoming a member of Gold Prospectors Association of America is a really inexpensive shortcut. As a member, you not only get to know other like-minded people but also get to prospect on the gold-bearing claims held by the club. 

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Phase 3: Learn to Read Rivers For Gold

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It should be noted that gold deposits are quite spotty even in locations with a lot of gold. Gold deposits tend to gather in the form of paystreaks or as small pockets of gold in cavities and cracks in bedrock. In short, this has to do with the fact that gold is so heavy, which causes it to take a path different from that of other lighter materials. 

Now, as a prospector, there are many signs you can use to tell where gold is likely to be found. Usually, such places are where the water current slows down enough to give the gold a chance to fall to the bottom and deposit

Here are three of the most common spots that prospectors pay extra attention to:

• Inside Bends: The water along the inside bend has to cover a significantly shorter distance to cover the turn than the water running along the outside bend. Thus, it will slow down and give the gold a chance to deposit on the inside bend. 
• Behind Boulders: As expected, a large boulder will create a zone behind it where water flows much slower, allowing the gold to settle
• In moss: Believe it or not, but moss works really well for finding gold. Just like the mattings people buy for their sluice boxes, moss will capture a lot of the gold that comes up its path. If you find moss in a gold-bearing river, you may want to sift it out to see what it holds!

My article on reading a river for gold is the perfect resource for those who wish to learn much more on the subject.

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How To Find Natural Placer Gold With a Metal Detector

Metal detecting is one of the hardest methods of finding gold, especially for a beginner with no prior experience. I would recommend that you first make an attempt at gold panning.

However, If you still want to use a metal detector, I will simply refer to my guide to metal detecting for gold.

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5 Important Gold Indicators

As a prospector, you will benefit greatly from learning some common gold indicators that help you understand where the gold actually lies hidden. And although there is no way to cover all the various gold indicators or combinations thereof in one article, these 5 gold indicators will definitely help you in your endeavors!

Iron Staining and Black Sands

Iron in the form of pyrite or other minerals is commonly found together with gold. Being so reactive, it tends to rust quickly in its pure form and stain nearby rocks and gravels. 

Black sands are also made up of iron to a large extent. Gold is usually found together with black sand, even if far from all black sand contains gold. 

Quartz

Quartz is formed by the same geological processes by which gold is deposited in the earth’s crust. The acidic waters that dissolve gold deep inside the earth also dissolve silica, which is the main constituent of quartz. As the acidic waters rise through the earth’s crust they finally cool off, release the gold and silica, and form gold deposits and quartz. 

However, it should be noted that quartz is one of the most abundant elements on earth, while the opposite holds true for gold. In short, this means that many quartz veins contain no gold whatsoever.

Still, finding quartz in an area known to have a lot of gold is a good indication.

Similar Favorable Rock Types Nearby

If I could tell you that gold is found in one or a couple of different rock types, that would certainly make it all much easier. Unfortunately, the favorable rock type of one area may very well be different from that of another area. 

The favorable rock type that’s typically associated with gold in a specific area is often mentioned in mining reports. Once again researching will help a great deal!

Once you know the favorable rock types in an area, you could look up areas known to produce good gold and explore the nearby surroundings. The chances are that the favorable rock will remain the same there as well. 

Geological Contact Zones

The acidic waters that brought up the gold and quartz needed some room to advance through the host rock. As cracks and fissures often occurred in the contact zone between two rock types, this was often where the gold and quartz got deposited. 

Color Changes

In some locations, the acidic waters that brought up gold and quartz to the surface layer have bleached the host rock, giving it a lighter color. 

Desert Pavements

Desert pavement is formed when the wind removes the lighter sand and materials, exposing pebbles and bigger pieces of rock. Especially if there is quartz present in the mix, there is a chance that gold resides in the surface layer. 

How To Identify Natural Gold (Real Gold Vs Fool’s Gold

Identifying real gold is not a hard task if you just know what to look for. Gold is a really special metal with special properties that distinguish it from other gold-like minerals.

So, what should you pay attention to when trying to determine what you’ve found is real gold or not? Here is a list!

• Weight: Gold is really heavy, and if you find something that’s big enough to pick up between your fingers, it should feel heavy as well. 
• Color: Most gold nuggets or gold flakes are really bright, and nearly appear to shine even when not exposed to sunlight. 
• Shape: Most gold has at least somewhat rounded edges unless it has broken off the lode just recently. 

The best way of learning to identify natural gold is to see some real gold for yourself. For that purpose, buying a gold pay dirtbag is a really neat and convenient option!

Fools’ Gold Vs Real Gold

Pyrite, also called “Fool’s Gold”

There are a few minerals that often fool new prospectors into believing that they have struck gold when they haven’t. These are:

• • Pyrite: Often nicknamed “Fool’s Gold”, this is a mineral that has fooled many prospectors. Pyrite is much lighter than gold and will therefore move freely in the pan in a way much different to real gold. Its color tends to be brassy with a sometimes iridescent sheen, while gold usually has a warmer color. In contrast to gold, it will flash in the sunlight. Pyrite forms into cubic shapes, which together with striation are the two most common characteristics of the mineral. It will shatter easily when hit with a hammer.
  • Chalcopyrite: Chalcopyrite is very similar to pyrite, and the same tests used to identify pyrite can be used here as well. However, it’s more brassy and yellow which makes it easier to confuse with real gold.

Check out the video below to learn more.

Final Words

In this guide, I have tried to cram in as much information as possible in a manageable format. Of course, there is a lot more to learn not only about gold prospecting, but also about different types of gold, how to sell it, and how much it’s worth, only to name a few examples. 

Here are some articles I recommend to those who want to learn more:

• How to read a river for gold
• How to find pay streaks
• How rare are gold nuggets?
• Can you find gold nuggets anywhere?
• How to sell placer gold and gold nuggets!

Happy Prospecting!

If you have decided to upgrade from a gold pan to a sluice box you’re far from alone. A sluice box is one of the best upgrades you can make as it will help you process many times the streambed material compared to a gold pan. However, there is a lot to learn, and in this article, we’re going to look specifically at how to angle your sluice box for maximum performance.

A sluice box should be set with a 4-8 degree angle. Another rule of thumb is that the sluice should be angled to drop roughly 2 inches per foot of length. The exact angle depends on the size and weight of the material, the riffle design, and the speed of the current.

As you see, there is not a universally applicable answer as to what angle is the correct one.

However, it’s certainly not rocket science, and in this article, I will teach you some easy and simple tricks for setting the right angle for your sluice box.

Capturing Big Vs Fine Gold: Important Distinction

Before heading out there prospecting it’s always a good idea to make sure you have a general idea about the gold you are looking to collect, and more specifically, its size.

The reason is simple. Capturing bigger pieces of gold like gold nuggets is really easy.

They are simply so heavy that virtually any type of gold trap will do the job. It doesn’t matter if you run too much water through the sluice or put it at a bad angle. The gold will get caught anyway!

However, when it comes to fine gold, things tend to get harder.

Even if the density of the gold is just as high, every bit will be tinier and lighter. This makes the gold much more prone to getting grabbed by the water flow and later discharged out of the sluice. 

With that said, most gold found is fine gold. Only around 2% of the gold mined today is estimated to be gold nuggets, according to some figures. Thus, taking the time to get the angle right  is definitely a good idea!

Setting The Right Angle (and Water Flow)

It’s important to understand that the angle of the sluice box goes hand in hand with the speed of the water flow through the sluice. For instance, too slow of a flow can be compensated to some degree by increasing the angle of the sluice box itself.

Now, getting the water flow right is really important in and of itself, as having too much water traveling through your sluice could severely reduce the gold recovery rate of your device.

If the flow is too fast, the finer gold will simply get lifted up by the water flow and escape the sluice at the back.

Similarly, if the flow is too slow, the riffles will get clogged with a lot of sand and pebbles which will practically make them useless as gold traps.

Just to give you an example, have a look at the diagram below. It shows the recovery rate of gold, categorized into three size classes, in different water flows. 

As becomes apparent, the recovery rate of fine gold goes down quickly if the flow speed gets too high. The coarser gold, while showing the same tendency, is much less affected by the flow speed. Again, this is because each individual gold bit is so much heavier. 

How Much Water Should you Run Through Your Sluice Box?

So, how water is enough? Well, here is a simple rule of thumb.

You should run a sluice box with as slow a flow you can without clogging the riffles, always leaving some matting visible between them. If there is white froth as the water flows over the riffles, it’s way too fast and will blow out most of the fine gold.

Another rule of thumb is that the flow should be fast enough for the material to move through the sluice rather fast. A few seconds usually is a good mark to strive for.

How to Get the Water Flow & Angle Right: Three Tips

To achieve the water flow described above, there are several things you can do:

1. Find a good spot: First and foremost you should try to find a spot in the river where the water flows reasonably fast. Put down the sluice at a reasonable angle (perhaps around 5 degrees), and observe the flow. If it looks alright, feed it some sand and gravel and see how it flows through the sluice.
2. Adjust the angle: Now you may try to adjust the angle of the sluice box to compensate for a too fast or slow flow. For instance, if the riffles are starting to clog up, you can increase the angle somewhat. However, the big adjustments should be taken care of by adjusting the water flowing into the sluice. 
3. Build a funnel: If the stream isn’t flowing quickly enough, you can always build a funnel of rocks that are heavy enough to not be moved by the current. Sometimes just placing a couple of rocks around the entrance of the sluice might do the trick, and provide just the extra water that is needed.

So, in summary, it’s all a balancing act between finding the right angle and water flow. And as long as the water isn’t flowing too fast and the riffles aren’t clogging up, you are probably doing a fine job.

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For more instructions be sure to check out my full guide to setting up a sluice box. 

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How To Capture More Fine Gold (5 Tips)

Most people who wonder about the right angle for their sluice box are looking to optimize their fine gold recovery. 

So, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about some other things you can do to make real noticeably improvements to the gold recovery rate of your sluice box.

Let’s begin!

1. Classify Before Feeding the Sluice

If you remember, I told you that you want the water to run as slowly as possible without clogging the riffles. Now, if you have a lot of big pebbles that go into the sluice, that will obviously require a faster flow to keep the riffles from clogging up.

This is why it’s always recommended that you use a classifier to sift out the bigger rocks, pebbles, and debris. As a result, you can run the sluice with a slower water flow, resulting in an increased recovery rate.

2. Use Expanded Metal Riffles

Some types of riffles are better than others when it comes to fine gold recovery.

Studies have shown that the expanded metal riffles result in higher gold recovery rates than normal, L-shaped, or Hungarian riffles.

3. Don’t Overload the Sluice

Although most sluice boxes are quite forgiving, you should not dump all your material at once. To ensure maximum gold recovery, all the sands and gravels must be given enough time to be soaked properly and turned into a slurry. Otherwise, much of the fine gold could flow right past the riffles and other gold traps.

4. Don’t Leave it running without adding new material

In many cases overloading also means that the sluice is left for long periods without any new material being added.

Just like in the case of overloading, this could lead to some of the finer gold getting lost.

Simply put, as the flow of water removes the lighter sand particles, the gold beneath gets more and more exposed until it risks getting flushed out of the sluice. 

5. Install Matting Below the Riffles

A good way of ensuring that any gold that falls to the bottom doesn’t float up again and escape the sluice, is installing mattings below the riffles.

There are several types of mattings on the market that will do the job, but in my experience, the so-called “spaghetti loop mattings” are the best.

Conclusion

Setting the right angle for your sluice box is not rocket science, but it requires some basic knowledge if you want to get it right. To summarize, you want the flow speed to be as slow as possible, while still being strong enough to swiftly move the material through the sluice.

In addition to setting the right angle and adjusting the water speed properly, there are several things you can do to increase fine gold recovery. Some of these include putting mattings below the riffles, opting for expanded metal riffles, and keeping a proper material feed rate.

Happy Prospecting!

A gold bar itself can be traced using the serial number imprinted upon it, linked to the refinery that made it. Certain minted bars are also sealed in packaging that includes a holographic identification chip. Although the physical gold bars themselves can be traced to their manufacturer, the gold’s origin cannot reliably be traced.

Gold is considered a smart investment and an easy way for banks to trade among themselves. This article will look at how the gold bar is made, why and how it is bought and by whom, and how gold can be traced in its various forms. We’ll also discuss where this tracing falls short once the refinery process begins.

The Manufacturing Process of Gold Bars

Gold is a precious commodity, and it is one of the few metals that won’t corrode or degrade over time. It also has various uses, with one of the simplest being the manufacture of gold bars. 

Cast gold bars are usually made directly from molten gold. Most refiners will use their own variations for the casting process, but the main goal of melting down gold and casting it into bars of specific weights and sizes will remain the same. 

Gold bars are manufactured by reputable, accredited government and private minting institutions. These include the likes of Credit Suisse, Perth Mint in Australia, the British company Johnson Matthey in the US and Canada, Asahi in Japan, and the Royal Canadian Mint. The more well-known the manufacturer is, the easier it will be for you to sell the gold bar later (source).

Cast Bars

Cast bars are roughcast by pouring molten gold into a mold and are generally not very shiny, differing in appearance depending on the pouring and cooling method. Some have an irregular appearance and may even look gritty.

Cast gold bars are usually stamped with a serial number, under 11 digits, and the manufacturer or refiner’s details. The London Bullion Market Association (LMBA) is the leading authority on the over-the-counter gold market 

Even though these bars tend to be less sleek and shiny in appearance, many gold bar purchasers actually prefer this type as it makes the bars look more natural and speaks to the long and impressive history of gold.

Minted Bars

Minted gold bars differ from cast bars in that they’re shiny and sleek and generally perfect. These bars also tend to be thinner and look more like cards than bars. The process for making them also differs from cast bars as they are either hand-cut or punched from a large, flat piece of gold. 

Some minted bars even incorporate artistic designs on their glossy exteriors, but the design, albeit aesthetically appealing, will have little to no effect on the value. 

For example, Johnson Matthey gold bars contain the distinctive Johnson Matthey logo of crossed hammers next to the initials JM, followed underneath by “JOHNSON MATTHEY ASSAYERS & REFINERS,” the fineness of the gold (assay), the weight in Troy ounces, and then a six-digit serial number when they have one at all (source).

Minted bars are often smaller than cast bars and, depending on their size and manufacturer, can be packaged in protective coverings that can be used to trace the bar back to its manufacturer. Coverings will not only protect the bar but also be printed with the refiner’s details, a serial number, and/or authentication number.

Occasionally, since it is packaged in protective plastic with a card displaying information, some of the minted bars include a hologram security feature, which is a chip, also called a Kinegram. These bars are usually known as Kinebars 

Tracing Gold Bars

Gold bars can be traced in one of two ways. For one, bars are stamped with serial numbers that can be traced back to their manufacturer. Secondly, some refineries also place their logo, mark, or some artistic design onto bars as a means of identification.

The Serial Number

Some of the smaller bars (below 1g) are impractical to stamp with a serial number and should, therefore, be sealed in protective packaging, which should then be stamped with a serial number. As an investor, you must keep a list separate from your gold that details all your serial numbers so that you can prove which bars are yours.

The Holographic Chip

Minted bars often incorporate serial numbers as well, but since they are packaged in protective cases, the refineries have started adding a holographic identification chip into the packaging. This holographic chip carries details of the gold bar and its refinery, and, in this way, it can be traced back to its manufacturer.

Tracing Gold

Image by Linda Hamilton via Pixabay

Although it is fairly easy to trace a gold bar back to its refinery or manufacturer, and even to its owner through using the serial number or the holographic chip, it is much more difficult to trace the actual gold to its original source mine. 

Although some less refined gold carries what is known as a “gold fingerprint,” a gold bar often does not because a refinery has melted it down.

Gold can be traced back to a particular source mine through analysis that pinpoints impurities. However, if the gold has been refined, these trace elements and impurities can be removed by the refining process, making gold almost impossible to trace back to its original source. 

As soon as gold enters into the smelting process, it enters the final point at which it is chemically possible to analyze and determine the mine of origin scientifically.

Additionally, the gold may have come from many different sources, and the history is muddled when it’s all melted together, giving an inaccurate indication of where it’s from.

Once gold enters the process where it is cast into items other than gold bars, such as jewelry or watches, the gold has undergone so many changes and mixes that it is virtually impossible to trace.

Unfortunately, there is also gold smuggled and illegally traded across the world. That is why refineries are cracking down on their security. Some add identifiers to the gold they produce to assure their buyers that it is ethically, responsibly, and legally sourced gold.

One refinery in Switzerland started taking high-definition photographs of the surface of their gold to assist in traceability. One of the mines in Scotland impregnated their gold with a chemical signature, making it easier to trace 

Of course, this is not done everywhere, and it adds to the overall cost, but it is one of the most significant aids in the fight against smuggled gold.

Buying Gold Bars

Image by istara via Pixabay

Although currency in the US has been backed by government decree rather than gold since 1971, gold is still a sound investment. Gold still plays an important part in our modern economy and has been successfully preserving wealth for thousands of years.

There are many ways to invest in gold, and buying the physical product is just one of them. However, as people generally like to see where their money is going, buying gold bars is fairly commonplace for those wanting to invest. 

Additionally, gold bars come in many shapes and sizes, with some small ones increasingly affordable to the layman.

Over the past decade, approximately two-thirds of all investment into gold was done by buying gold coins or bars. Additionally, many people sell gold bars over the years when needing extra cash on hand. That is why it is important to consider the size of the bars you’re buying before committing to the purchase.

If you’re buying large gold bars, when the time comes that you’d like to sell them, you’re liquidating a very large and valuable asset at once as you cannot break up a gold bar. That is why it is often the wiser choice to invest in several smaller bars instead of one big bar.

Unfortunately, gold is also susceptible to scams and forgery. Those interested in buying gold bars should always ensure that they are getting them from a reliable source. Gold scams are abundant where scammers try to con inexperienced investors out of their money.

Additionally, large crime syndicates often fraudulently stamp the serial numbers and logos onto gold bars to launder illegal or smuggled gold. Generally, professionals can determine if the serial number and refinery marks were forged, so this is often discovered, albeit too late.

Final Thoughts

Gold bars, also known as bullion bars, can be traced back to their original manufacturer or refinery by the serial number stamped upon it along with the refinery logo. Some minted bars even carry holographic chips that also act as a means of identification.

Although serial numbers help us trace gold bars, the actual gold in a gold bar is difficult to trace to its source mine due to the refining process and the fact that gold from different sources is often melted down together.

Nevertheless, gold remains a worthwhile investment for those interested in investing in one of the oldest yet most stable currencies in the world. 

Gold does not rust in salt water. Some metals, like iron and copper, will experience a chemical reaction to the salt water very quickly. Gold, on the other hand, does not go through the same chemical reaction and does not get flaky, reddish-brown spots, or turn completely green like other metals when exposed to salt water. 

This article will explore why metals rust, how salt water speeds up this process, and why gold is not likewise affected.

Why Salt Water Makes Metal Rust

Image by Lucas Gruwez via Unsplash

A metal, like iron, is, by its nature, very reactive and has to be exposed to a combination of water and oxygen for it to corrode. Corrosion happens through the electrochemical process of oxidation. 

The metal does not need to be submerged in water for this to happen; simply being exposed to moisture, even if it is just in the air, is enough.

How Rust Happens

Corrosion, and specifically rust, happens to iron (Fe) when it is placed in an electrolyte — a medium that enables the flow of electrons. The iron is an anode that will lose electrons during a chemical reaction. 

These electrons will go to the cathode, another piece of metal that is not as reactive or a different spot on the iron itself. 

Water (H₂O) is a good electrolyte, so when water comes into contact with iron, it gains the oxygen (O₂) in water and loses electrons creating iron oxide. 

The final formula for rust by itself will be Fe₂O₃H₂O. The exact color of the rust will be determined by water’s nature that then hydrates this new chemical compound (source).

Salt Water Speeds Up the Process

Salt water, water containing sodium chloride (NaCl), is a better electrolyte than water without salt. The balance of chloride and oxygen in salt water determines the exact rate of corrosion. 

A chloride content of 3.5%, which is the average salinity of our seawater, creates the perfect environment because oxygen solubility is at its best, and the water is very conductive, i.e., carries the electron from the anode to the cathode very well (source).  

Why Gold Does Not Rust

For a metal to rust, it must contain iron. Without iron, rust (2Fe₂O₃) cannot be created from the combination of metal, water, and oxygen. However, other metals, like copper, silver, and gold, can corrode, which is a different process to rust.

Gold Properties

Gold is chemically unreactive. This means that it doesn’t react with oxygen, one of the most reactive elements, as iron does. This also means that gold doesn’t tarnish over time, as most other metals do.

Copper, for example, doesn’t rust, but it does tarnish to become a green or blue color if not properly cared for. 

The chemically unreactive property of gold, as well as its malleability and pliability, its low maintenance, and the fact that it is a great conductor, has made it a highly sought-after metal for many hundreds of years, and it was probably one of the metals used by humans to create highly sought after decorative items. 

Today, it is also used in electronics, dentistry, and aerospace industries. 

However, gold is so soft, malleable, and pliable that, in its purest form, it can easily be scratched. It must be combined with other metals, like copper, silver, or zinc, to create an alloy, and only then can it be formed into a usable object like jewelry or coins (source).

Gold Can Corrode

Although gold cannot rust and is unreactive, it is not part of noble elements’ family, meaning noble gasses. Noble gasses, like helium, are so unreactive that they are used in everyday life because of their non-reactivity. Gold, on the other hand, does react to certain other elements.

The only acid that can dissolve gold is aqua regia. It is used to purify gold and remove it from substrates. This acid is, of course, hazardous and should be handled with great care. Fortunately, it cannot be stored as the chemicals in the acid oxidizes very quickly, making the acid useless (source).

Gold can also react with chlorine gas to create auric chloride. This compound has no commercial use and is mainly used as a catalyst in organic synthesis. 

The conditions in which gold reacts to either chlorine gas or aqua regia is not something that you will come across at random, and, as a result, your pure fine gold should not be reacting, rusting, corroding, or tarnishing under normal circumstances. 

When Gold Items Tarnish, Corrode, or Rust

Image by Pixabay via Pexels

Any commercial gold item — be it bars, jewelry, coins — can potentially become tarnished, lose their luster, or show signs of rusting. This is because of the nature of those items and the fact that, even when items are said to be pure gold, they are usually still alloyed with other metals to improve the strength of the item. 

There are precautions you can take to always ensure that you are buying high-quality items.

Bullion

Gold bullion is the term given to gold bars, coins, and ingots that can be bought as an investment. If you are buying gold bars, for example, always buy from a reputable seller, and, even then, make sure to check the serial number, weight, and purity. 

Gold bars

All gold bars over a certain weight should have a serial number that identifies that bar. If the seller cannot or does not want to provide it, it is most likely either not pure gold or potentially illegal or smuggled gold.

The weight and purity of your bar will determine the price. An investment bar should not have a purity lower than 99.5%. At this purity, the likelihood of seeing any tarnish on the gold bar is little to none. 

Coins

Coins can be a bit of a different story. The two most popular gold coins, the American Eagle and the Krugerrand, both contain a fair amount of other metals. The American Eagle contains 3% silver and 5.33% copper. The Krugerrand contains 8.33% copper. The added metal makes the coin more durable. 

Although the gold content is less, the coin’s value can be proportionally higher than a gold bar due to its collectability.

On the other hand, coins like this can become tarnished if they are not stored correctly, and rust-like spots can appear as the other metals in or on the coin interact with the environment.  

When a coin becomes tarnished, or spots start to appear, it can be tempting to clean the coin. This is not recommended. Cleaning a gold coin can lead to the unwittingly damaging and devaluation of the item, so be sure to check out the

If one really wants to clean a gold coin, it is advised to allow an expert to perform the job and that you ensure the coin’s storage conditions are subsequently improved.

Jewelry

Gold jewelry can lose its luster and become damaged quite easily. As with bullion, this is because the gold is mixed with other metals or the piece is only gold plated.

Mixing the gold is especially important when making jewelry because the piece must cope with everyday wear and tear.

In jewelry, the composition of gold not only makes the piece more durable, but it also changes the color of the finished product. A mix of gold and copper, for example, creates a reddish gold, while gold and aluminum create a blue-tinged gold. 

The purity of gold jewelry is measured in carats — the higher the carat, the purer the piece. 

The mixed, or alloyed, gold in jewelry will dull or tarnish over time as it comes into contact with our skin and moisture in the environment. Further exposure to chemicals like chlorine in swimming pools, perfume, and hairspray will also have an effect.

This is even more true for gold-plated jewelry as the plating is incredibly thin, and it can flake as it becomes more and more damaged. 

In general, when you notice that metal has dulled or discolored, it can be washed with some water and non-phosphate washing liquid. Be sure to rinse the soap off completely, and then dry and polish the item afterward as a buildup of soap suds can cause it further dull.

Final Thoughts

Gold has been a valuable commodity for thousands of years, and not only is it a beautiful metal, but it is also not susceptible to rust in any type of water or moisture. Unlike iron, gold doesn’t react to oxygen; in fact, it reacts to hardly anything. 

This, and various other properties, make it an appealing metal to use in a number of industries. However, gold is also very soft and has to be combined with other metals into an alloy for its most common uses — namely, bullion and jewelry. 

The gold alloy in gold coins and jewelry can be corroded, tarnished, or dulled over time as the other metals react to the environment around it. The correct storage and careful cleaning of gold items can help to mitigate this.

Gold can be found in lakes but requires patience and timing to be collected. The waves entering the shoreline will constantly remove the lighter materials as they retreat, while the gold stays mostly in place. Lake placers are often temporary and constantly change together with varying wave conditions. 

While many of the things you need to consider when looking for gold in lakes are the same as when working a river, there are some important differences.

These have mainly to do with the type of equipment needed to capture the really tiny gold, and the temporary nature of lake gold deposits that calls for timing on the part of the prospector.

Read on to learn more!

How Does Gold End Up In Lakes?

Well, in short, you could say that there are two ways in which gold makes its way into lakes. Either it was transported by a river that flows into the lake, or it was deposited by glaciers that covered vast parts of the U.S many thousands of years ago.

Rivers

When a river flows through gold-bearing ground it will slowly erode the riverbanks so that all the gravels, sands, and gold present fall into the river. Since gold is so heavy, most of it will deposit at various places where the river current slows down. Some such locations include along inside bends and behind large boulders or other obstructions.

While most of the coarser gold, which is the heaviest, will get trapped and deposited before the river reaches a lake, the fine gold will be able to run the entire length of the river much more easily. Its smaller size means that it doesn’t weigh as much, and therefore is carried away much more easily by the current.

Further reading:

• How gold ends up in rivers
• What is placer gold?: Different types of placer gold deposits

Glaciers

Even though glaciers have had a quite large impact on where gold is found today, most prospectors don’t pay much attention to how glaciers have transported and affected gold deposits. As a matter of fact, glaciers once covered over 30 % of the total US landmass, and transported loads of rock and mineral!

Glacial placer deposits are quite different from alluvial deposits that form in rivers. They are much more scattered, and tracing the gold back to the original source like you would do in a river is much harder.

In simple terms, once the glaciers retreated several thousands of years ago, they would just drop all the rock at the spot, leaving patches of gold here and there. And as you might suspect, some of these locations were later turned into lakes.

To provide an example, most of the gold found today in the upper midwest and the Great Lakes were the result of glaciers transporting rocks and gold from north down south. 

How to Find Gold In Lakes

In contrast to the typical river placer type of deposit, lake placers are constantly on the move. In extreme cases, a beach in the right location could be shimmering with gold one day, only to turn barren the next day.

So, how does this happen? Well, the gold concentrations in most lakes are quite low, meaning that it would be futile to recover gold directly from the lake bed. This is where wave action concentrates the gold on the beaches, and makes the gold concentration high enough to be worthwhile for most prospectors.

As the waves wash the shore-line, they winnow away the lighter sand and leave the heavier materials, including gold, as streaks on the shore.

In some cases, especially after low water levels coupled with stormy weather and high waves, you can spot streaks of heavy black sands on the beach. It’s in these shallow streaks that most of the gold can be found.

The best conditions for collecting lake gold typically arise after stormy weather in combination with low water levels.

Step by step: Mini Guide

Here are some step by step instructions on how to find gold to clarify the content of the article:

1. Wait for the right conditions: Most prospectors wait for stormy weather to have produced waves that concentrate the gold in the form of streaks on the beach. It’s preferable that the water levels are low.
2. Collect the paystreaks: The paystreaks formed by wave action are generally very shallow, and collecting them typically involves just scraping off the surface layer. Be quick to head out before they disappear!
3. Process the sand: Use equipment specially designed to collect fine gold, like the ones mentioned at the end of this article!

Aways look up local rules and regulations for to your local area before collecting and processing beach sand!

Differences Between Lake and River Gold

Here are the two biggest differences between lake and river gold.

Shape and size

Although gold deposits in rivers and lakes originate from the same kinds of sources, they vary quite a lot with regards to their size and shape.

The gold found in rivers tends to be coarser than that found in lakes. This simply has to do with that bigger pieces of gold are heavier, and tend to get hung up in the various cavities and low pressure areas in a river before it flows out into a lake. Smaller gold, on the other hand, is picked up much more easily by the current, and more often makes it through the entire stretch of the river ending in a lake.

Another difference is that lake gold tends to have a more curled up shape as it’s constantly rolling along the sand bottom.

River Placers Don’t Replenish

As we mentioned earlier, the amount of gold that can be recovered from beaches varies quite a lot depending on the prevailing conditions. This also means that a prospector can visit the same site countless times and collect new gold every time if the conditions are right.

This is somewhat different from other types of placers. For instance, river placers will take many years to be replensished if the conditions are right, and dry desert placers are likely to take tens of thousands of years to once again produce gold.

Best Tools For Mining Lake Gold

As I have mentioned already, much of the gold found in lakes is really small and requires tools and methods that are finely tuned to capture even the tiniest specks. This means that you want to opt for equipment that specializes in fine gold and gold dust recovery.

Gold Cube

The perhaps best tool I’ve used for getting out that really tiny gold, is the gold cube. It’s a relatively expensive piece of equipment, but it really manages to capture a lot of the gold that would get missed using other more common methods.

Sluice Box for Fine Gold

Although the fine gold recovery rate of a sluice box might not be as high as that of a gold cube, it certainly is possible to extract some really fine gold with a properly set up sluice box.

Here are some of the things that are critical and should be kept in mind when setting up a sluice box for fine lake gold:

1. Pick the Right Mattings: Use mattings that are specially made for fine gold recovery. There are different models available, and combining different types could be a good idea.
2. Add Miner’s Moss: Miner’s moss is really effective for fine gold. Add it to the end of the sluice to see how much gold escaped the mattings!
3. Be gentle with the water flow: The water flow should be monitored carefully. If it’s too strong you risk flushing out all those small gold particles!
4. Disperse the sand evenly in the sluice: Gently feed the sluice so that all the sand gets soaked properly. Otherwise, you risk having the gold float right through the sluice!

For a list of suitable sluice boxes, be sure to check out my article on the best sluice box for fine gold

I also recommend that you take a closer look at my article on how to set up a sluice if you’re interested in learning more about the process.

Conclusion

Even if lakes are not overwhelmingly popular among prospectors, some of them do contain gold. Depending on the current and historical geology of the area, the gold has come either from rocks and gravels that were laid down by glaciers or from rivers that flowed into the lake. As a result, most lake gold is rather small, sometimes no bigger than the grains of sand themselves.

The amount of gold found by the shoreline varies with the size and force of the waves. In general, higher and more powerful waves will bring new gold to the shores, which is why many prospectors do a lot of their mining after stormy weather.

It’s recommended to use fine gold recovery tools that are specially designed to capture fine gold. The gold cube is a personal favorite of mine, but there are several other options on the market.

Happy prospecting!

Read on to get more detailed information about each tool in your new gold panning kit, and how to use them!

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If you yet haven’t bought a kit for yourself, I have written an extensive guide where I recommend the best gold panning kits on the market. You can find it here.

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Classifier

In simple terms, a classifier could be said to be a sort of sieve/screen that is usually made to fit on top of a gold pan or bucket. The main job of the classifier is to sort out larger rocks and debris so that they don’t interfere with the panning process.

Benefits of using a classifier

Here is how a classifier helps you achieve better results!

• Panning gets easier: When panning, you remove the lighter materials by submerging the pan into water, raising it,  and letting the water that escapes the pan carry the lighter materials with it. Bigger rocks will simply stay in the pan and require manual removal, which is time-consuming. A classifier screens out these rocks so that they don’t end up in the gold pan in the first place!
• More Gold: As the panning process can be carried out quicker, you will be able to pan more material and collect more gold. And as you throw away the larger rocks they will not interfere with the panning process, often resulting in a higher recovery rate.
• Less to carry: If you are collecting streambed material in a bucket and moving it to your panning location, having a classifier obviously means that you can toss away heavy rocks and only carry the valuable streambed material.

How to use a Classifier

To use a classifier, you just follow the steps below:

1. Place the classifier on top of the gold pan/bucket.
2. Take some gravel and pour it through the classifer net
3. Now only finer pebbles and sands will end up in the pan, while larger rocks stay in the classifier.
4. Before you remove the classifier and toss away its content, make sure that the rocks are clean from mud and dirt. If not, submerge the pan and the classifier underwater and give them a shake. That way you don’t risk throwing away any gold that might be contained in the mud or dirt.

Here is a video where the instructor uses several classifiers on top of each other, to separate materials of different sizes through several steps. However, the principle is exactly the same!

Gold Pan

As a prospector and small scale miner, your work will be centered around the gold pan. It’s lightweight, easy to carry, and can catch really tiny gold in the hands of a reasonably proficient user!

Today, most professional miners use a gold pan mostly to look for gold and explore new locations, or in the final cleanup process, when the black sands and gold are separated from one another. Gold pans are seldom used as a large scale production tools as they are pretty limited with regards to the quantity of streambed material they can process.

For the hobby prospector, however, they’re the perfect tool to get started with. And if you would find at a later stage that you want to upgrade your equipment, that’s easily done by getting yourself a sluice box, which will be covered shortly in this article as well.

How to Use a Gold Pan

Having a good technique when panning for gold will ensure that you lose as little gold as possible during the process.

Here is how you pan for gold in seven simple steps:

1. Collect the streambed material: Collect sand and gravel from the river and have them sorted through the classifier before they go into the gold pan. By reading the river for gold using basic geology, you can get a sense of where gold most likely to concentrate and focus your efforts on those locations.
2. Choose a good location for panning: The panning process involves submerging and raising the gold pan in water, which means that you need to find a place where the water is deep enough. Usually, around 8 inches(20 cm) will be enough. Also, try to pick a spot where the current is pretty calm so that it won’t pick up any gold as the pan is underwater.
3. Submerge the Pan and Work the Material: Now submerge the gold pan after you have filled it with sand and gravel. To avoid losing gold, the pan should not be filled above 3/4 of its capacity. Use your fingers to ensure that water makes its way all the way down to the bottoms of the pan, and break apart clumps of clay and dirt in which gold may be trapped if there are any.
4. Start Panning the Material: Now go on to shaking the pan left and right with a steady motion. This will make the lighter materials float to the top, while gold and other heavy elements find their way deeper and deeper towards the pan’s bottom. The pan can either remain submerged into the river or be lifted up with enough water to cover all of the material.
5. Tilt the Pan and Allow the Water to Sweep the Top Layer: Now tilt the pan around 30-45 degrees, and position it so that only the lower half is submerged underwater. Then lift up the pan in while simultaneously moving it slightly away from you, so that the water that escapes the pan removes the top layer. Any pebbles or rocks that are too big to get flushed out of the pan can be removed by hand.
6. Continue sweeping and shaking: Now go back to step 4 and shake the gravels so that the gold travels to the bottom of the pan. Then once again sweep the top layer. Repeat until you have around half a cup to one cup of material left.
7. Swirl With Water to Uncover the Concentrates:  Tilt the pan slightly and shake it gently to make the gold particles fall to the bottom. Add enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan, and then starting swirling it gently. The goal is to make the swirls remove the lighter materials until the gold finally emerges at the bottom. Since all the sands that have made it to this stage are really heavy, you need to proceed slowly and be careful so that the gold, which still is the heaviest element, stays where it is.

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The steps above are taken from my beginner’s guide to gold panning, which covers the whole process and much more in much greater detail.

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Below is a video in which Dan Hurd takes you through the steps shared above, in case you’d like visual guidance as well.

A Second Gold Pan: Clean-up Pan

Some of the popular gold panning kits include not just one gold pan, but two or in some cases three. What’s the point of having more than one gold pan, you might ask?

Well, some miners like to have gold pans of different sizes for different tasks. The most common distinction made is that between a regular gold pan and a finishing pan or clean up pan. The latter is also the most common gold pan to include in gold panning kits, in addition to a normal-sized pan.

The differences between the two typically boil down to that:

• Finishing pans have a smaller diameter.
• Finishing pans have more but smaller grooves

These differences make a finishing pan slightly more suited for catching really fine gold.

How to use a finishing pan

Finishing pans are used, as the name implies, to finish the panning process and get the gold separated from the black sand.

After having used a normal gold pan to concentrate the material into mostly black sand, you pour it over to the finishing pan to continue working it and getting the gold out of the black sand. The method used is generally the same as the swirling technique mentioned earlier. However, the smaller size and the small grooves will make catching the good much easier.

Vials

Once you have recovered some real gold you are bound to be excited, and probably want to store it in something that does justice to its beauty and luster. Vials are perfect for this, as they not only are transparent but also magnify the gold when filled with water. This is perfect when you’ve found small gold and still want to make something beautiful out of it.

How to easily fill up a vial with gold

Well, it’s all very easy. Just lick your finger and pick up the gold by touching it. Then, put your bring your on top of a water-filled vial so that the gold falls straight into the vial. Simple as that!

If you’re bringing vials out when prospecting it’s recommended to use plastic ones. In case of dropping a glass vial, you risk losing all the gold you’ve worked so hard for!

Snuffer Bottle

The snuffer bottle is a really convenient tool that can be used both for temporarily storing the gold you find, and to squirt black sands during the final stage of the panning process.

How to use a snuffer bottle

To suck up and store the gold, you just squeeze and release the snuffer bottle. The suction will suck up the gold, and the design of the siphon that extends into the bottle makes sure that no gold flows out.

Tweezers

In gold panning, tweezers are used to pick up small pieces of gold from your pan. And even though you could just use a wet finger to pick up the gold, tweezers are ideal for repositioning the pieces your working with, and they are appreciated by jewelers and prospectors alike.

Some gold panning kits will have a small magnifying glass attached to them, to make inspecting the gold easier. However, they don’t provide as great magnification as a jeweler’s loupes, which is the next item on the list.

Jeweler’s Loupe (Magnifier)

While some gold panning kits only come with a magnifying tweezer, others also include a jewelers loupe that offers greater magnification. This is very useful when examining black sand concentrates for tiny gold, or when trying to ascertain whether the glimmer you see in your pan is gold or something else.

Jeweler loupes generally provide a magnification of 10x, whereas magnifying tweezers tends to be 5x or even lower.

How to use a jeweler’s loupe

Well, just place it above the material you want to examine and have a look! It isn’t harder than that.

Sluice Box

Most times, a sluice box is something you buy after you have tried out gold panning for a while and want more effective gear.  However, some gold panning kits have taken everything one step further by including a small and portable sluice box, to help you drastically increase the amounts of streambed material you can process.

A sluice box can increase your production rate by a factor of 2-100 times, depending on how big it is. Basically, if the sluice box is big enough, the only limiting factor is how much material you manage to throw at it!

Now, sluice boxes that come with gold panning kits are generally quite small, but that also translates into it being portable and lightweight, which are very important qualitites for prospectors on the move.

How to use a sluice box

1. Find a spot with enough water flow: You want to have a steady flow of water going through the sluice. Try to find a place where the current is moving rather fast, without causing white froth on the surface. You also want the spot to be shallow enough for the sluice box to be able to stand without being completely submerged below water.
2. Level the sluice box and stabilize: Make sure that the sluice box is leveled sidewise so that all the riffles get roughly the same water flow. As to the position lengthwise, it should be angled around 5-7 degrees. Last but not least, add a big rock on top of the sluice to make sure that it stays in place and doesn’t float away.
3. Classify your material: Just as when operation a gold pan, you don’t want big rocks and debris to bounce around in the sluice and disturb the flow.
4. Feed the sluice box: Feed the sluice at a rate that enables the material to get soaked properly. Don’t dump all the material at once, as it will just make the gold run straight through the sluice without getting caught.
5. Rinse the sluice box and work the concentrates: Once you have run for perhaps an hour or so, you can choose to clean out the riffles and mattings to see what you’ve got. Use a gold pan to separate the gold from the black sands.

For more detailed instructions, make sure to check out my complete guide to setting up a sluice box.

How to Make The Best Use of Your Gold Panning Kit

To become a successful prospector it isn’t enough to just know how to use your equipment. Finding gold-bearing locations is even more important, as no amount of expertise, or expensive equipment for that matter, can retrieve gold from barren grounds.

To know where to take your newly acquired gold panning kit you, therefore, need to do some research. And perhaps even more important, to keep the spirit up during the difficult first times of not getting any gold, join a local mining club where you can exchange experiences and knowledge with beginners as well as seasoned miners.

Anyway, here are some more tips on how to make the best use of your panning kit, as well as on how to become a successful miner.

Learn Where Gold Has Been Found

Even though the old adage goes that “gold is where you find it”, you are very unlikely to find some just by searching on random locations. The best way to go about is to search in locations that have proven to produce gold in the past!

Research your area

In order to find good gold locations, you need to do your own research and get out there prospecting. Here are some good resources I recommend starting with:

• Old Mining Town Newspapers: Once new gold finds became common knowledge, you can be sure that they had them featured in the local newspaper! Just be aware that many places have might have been nicknamed, which can make them quite hard to find at times.
• Government and state reports: There are a lot of government reports from the USGS that contain loads of useful information about gold deposits in states across the country. While they are perhaps not as detailed as the local and state government reports, they are excellent when it comes to getting a general idea of the gold production in a state.
• MDRS Records: The MDRS is a database that’s maintained by the USGS, and contains various records of gold findings throughout the US. Some locations shared might not be available anywhere else, and with the GPS coordinates included, finding the site is really easy! MDRS can be accessed here

Join a gold mining club

The GPAA ( Gold Prospector’s Association of America) is the world’s largest gold prospecting organization in the world. By becoming a member you not only get to know other similar-minded people, but also get to prospect on their claims!

Conclusion

By reading this article I hope you have got a better understanding of how to use each tool that comes in your gold panning kit. If you want to know more about gold panning and prospecting, the following guides are great to start with!

• How to prospect for gold: A complete guide
• How to pan for gold: Beginner’s guide
• How to find pay streaks in rivers
• How to read rivers for gold

And lastly, if you don’t have a gold panning kit yet, make sure to check out my top list of gold panning kits.

Happy prospecting!

Gold nuggets are not pure gold as they are metal alloys. In simple terms, this means that the gold is mixed with other metals such as silver, copper, palladium, or iron. Most gold nuggets found in the US are 70%-90% pure. Australian nuggets are well-known for their high purity, which can reach upwards of 96% in some cases.

In this article, we’ll look at the various aspects of gold nugget purity. Among other things, you’ll learn:

• How to get an idea of what metals are present in a gold nugget
• How to test gold nuggets for purity
• How purity affects the value of gold nuggets

Let’s Get Started!

What Are Gold Nuggets Made Up Of: How to Tell

Gold nuggets are never 100% pure gold but are mixed with other metals, effectively becoming different types of metal alloys. A metal alloy simply is when two metals are mixed together.

To the untrained eye, every gold nugget will look quite the same. However, once you gain some experience and read up on how a nugget’s color changes with different metal contents, you will soon be able to determine their composition with at least some accuracy. For instance, a pale nugget is very likely to contain a lot of silver, while a reddish tinge suggests that copper is present.

Here are the most common gold alloys you’ll find in gold nuggets:

Silver

Being the most common metal found in gold nuggets, a gold alloy containing silver even has got its own name. An alloy containing more than 20% silver is called “electrum” and has a pale yellow or yellowish-white color. Over the years, many prospectors have found electrum only to toss it away, mistaking it for other less valuable metals. In some cases, silver and gold alloys could have a somewhat greenish tint as well.

Practically every gold nugget, regardless of purity, contains at least some silver.

Copper

Copper is the second most common metal found as an alloy together with gold. However, it seldom makes up more than 5% of the total weight of the nugget. Still, it will give it a somewhat reddish tinge.

Palladium

Palladium can sometimes be found in gold nuggets, although it’s quite rare. When palladium is alloyed with gold, it’s sometimes referred to as “prophesize” and will be of a slightly red color reminiscent of that found in copper or bronze. When present, palladium typically makes up between 5%-10% of the nugget’s weight.

Mercur

Most of the mercury found in gold nuggets comes from the times when old-timers used it to capture the fine gold in their concentrates, and then lost some of it into the river.

Iron

Iron is a very reactive metal, and will quickly be removed from the surface of most nuggets. However, some nuggets will still contain small traces of the metal.

What Affects the Purity of Gold Nuggets You Find?

So, as we have seen, gold nuggets can contain a variety of different impurities. What we haven’t discussed so far, is what makes some gold nuggets purer than others. Even in the same location, it’s not uncommon to see purity levels fluctuate quite a lot.

So, here are some of the main factors that affect the purity of gold nuggets:

Origin

It’s important to not forget that gold nuggets found in rivers could originate from very different locations along the stretch of the river. And if the purity between those locations varies greatly, so will the gold found downstream.

Size

Smaller nuggets are generally somewhat purer than bigger nuggets since there is less opportunity for other metals and impurities to continue to stay clung on to the gold. Simply put,  there is a larger surface relative to the weight of the nugget that can be refined as it tumbles downstream and gets exposed to water and gravels.

However, there are many exceptions to this rule, so don’t rely too much on it!

Time in river

Gold that has been present in a river for a long period of time is generally purer than gold that has just recently broken off a gold-bearing vein.  The reason is that the water manages to remove at least some of the reactive metals present in the gold. For example, it has been demonstrated that the surface of a nugget has the highest purity, while impurities increase towards its midpoint.

The exact spot

Less pure placer gold will be lighter and therefore deposit at slightly different locations than heavier gold of higher purity. For more information about how gold deposits in rivers, check out my guide to reading a river.

How To Test Gold Nuggets for Purity

There are several options available when it comes to determining the purity of a gold piece. Some could be as simple as just assessing the color of the nugget, while others are more advance and might include acids or even melting the gold down.

It’s important to note that it’s impossible to get a completely accurate number unless you smelt the nugget and remove all purities in the process. Even if you would perform a test with some of the most exclusive gold testing equipment out there, it would have a hard time giving you the right numbers. Unlike a piece of jewelry where the gold is mostly evenly distributed, the gold content of a nugget might vary depending on whether you’re testing the skin layer or its core.

Regardless, you wouldn’t want to smelt a gold nugget, as it would be less worth in its melted form. So how can you test a nugget for purity while still keeping it intact?

The easiest way of testing a gold nugget for purity is to observe its color. The richer and brighter the gold color, the higher the gold content is likely to be.

Obviously, this an approach that would require you have seen at least a couple of gold nuggets in the past, in order to be able to make a decent guess. However, there is a more scientific approach that can be carried out in the comfort of your own home.

Using a gold testing kit to test gold nuggets

The easiest way of testing gold purity yourself is to buy a cheap gold testing kit. They come with a couple of acids that are capable of dissolving gold of varying purities. You first scratch the nugget gently against the tile that comes in the package and put dots of acid onto the tiny gold streak that was left on the tile. By observing which acid was able to dissolve the gold, you can now get a good estimation of the purity of your gold.

Gold testing kits are really cheap and will last for a long time. Here is one I recommend.

Are Pure Gold Nuggets Worth More?

You might expect that a purer gold nugget will be worth more than a less pure one. Well, in some cases that’s completely right, but more often, the exact purity of a gold nugget is quite low on the priority list of an eventual buyer.

Most gold nuggets buyers are more concerned with the shape, weight, and rarity of a piece than its purity, as long as it’s within the normal range.

Of course, very pure nuggets are likely to be more attractive and be valued higher, which has to do not only with the higher gold content but also with the richer color and shinier appearance.

Locations Known For Their Pure Gold Nuggets

The purity of gold obviously varies a lot depending on where it was formed. And although this might give us some hint about what to expect in certain locations, there are significant variations present even within the same location.

This means that it’s hard to say that some states have much purer gold than others, even though it might be the case. The purity depends more on the exact geological processes that formed the gold, than the location. Just to name one example, gold that formed closer to the surface tends to be purer, as the lower temperatures made it harder for impurities to get into the gold.

Local Variations

To exemplify and show you how big the difference in purity could be within a region, I just wanted to bring up a study conducted by the University of Alaska. The study was carried out back in 1981 and includes over 41 mining districts scattered across six regions.

The study found that the purity of the examined gold in one district ranged from 56,7% up to 99,5%. However, while the lowest individual sample marked the floor of that range, the mean value for the same district was 78.9%. 

Australian Gold Nuggets Are Really Pure!

Australia is well-known for its big and pure gold nuggets that often reach purities upwards of 96 percent. Especially the Victoria District is famous in that regard and has yielded many of the world’s biggest nuggets!

The biggest nugget in the world,  the welcome stranger nugget, weighed in at 2,5020 troy and was retrieved by Richard Oates and John Deason in 1869 in Moliagul, Victoria.

Conclusion

• Even the purest gold nuggets are not pure gold but are made up of different types of natural metal alloys. The most common metals alloyed with gold are silver, copper, and palladium, which will all alter the color of the gold to some extent. For example, gold nuggets that contain silver tend to have a duller, whitish color, whereas copper will give it a slightly reddish tone.
• To get a general idea of the purity of a gold nugget, you can observe its color. A richer and shiner appearance generally means high purity. You may also use a gold testing kit.
• It’s hard to give a definitive answer as to what locations have the purest gold nuggets. However, although local variations can be significant, Australia is well-known for its big and pure nuggets.

Happy Prospecting!

So, how rare are gold nuggets? Gold nuggets are very rare, and it’s estimated that only around 2% of all gold retrieved today is in the form of gold nuggets. The two main reasons are that most gold nuggets were melted down before the ’90s and that gold regardless of its form is really rare. The rarest gold nuggets are crystalline nuggets.

In this article you will learn:

• Which types of gold nuggets are the rarest
• The REAL reasons why gold nuggets are so rare (There are several)
• Where and how to find them

Gold Nugget Types Listed By Rarity

Although gold nuggets are rare regardless of their shape, some are rarer than others. For instance, crystalline gold and quartz gold specimens with a significant amount of gold are rare. On the other side of the spectrum we have round and smooth placer nuggets, which are the least rare of all gold nuggets.

Size and weight are two other aspects that also reflect the rarity of a piece. Bigger gold pieces, regardless of their form, are rarer than small pieces and will obviously command a higher price.

Below I have made an attempt at listing some of the most commonly mentioned gold nugget types by rarity.

• Round, Smooth Placer Nuggets (Most common)
• Crystalline Gold
• Gold in Quartz Specimens
• Gold Nugget Crystals (Least common)

Do remember that the above list isn’t based on any particular source, but more on what I’ve seen and heard throughout the years I’ve been active. Nevertheless, I think it at least manages to provide a reasonably accurate overview.

Below you find more information about each type of gold nugget, including how much they tend to sell for.

Round, Smooth Nuggets (Placer Gold Nuggets)

The round and smooth gold nuggets are those that most people are somewhat familiar with. This is quite logical, considering that they are the most common gold nuggets you can find. In addition, their appearance also provides clues about their origin.

In simple terms, gold nuggets that lately have broken loose from the main lode are not round and polished but have much sharper edges. As soon as the gold is picked up by a river or stream, it will tumble against the gravels and sands, which will eventually break down the pointy edges and create the smooth surface we are used to.

The value of round placer gold nuggets is mostly based on size and weight, provided that it’s reasonably pure. Although prices vary greatly, below are some general guidelines as to what they can be worth:

Crystalline Gold Nuggets

Crystalline gold nuggets are the rarest form of natural gold and will command a high price among collectors.

Crystalline gold is gold that has just got released from the host rock, and that hasn’t yet been exposed to the elements. This creates the rough, pointy and crystallized surface that’s so attractive among collectors.

As to the price, each nugget has to be examined separately. The rarer and bigger the nugget, the higher the price.

With that said, crystalline gold regularly sell for twice the gold spot price.  In some cases it’s not uncommon to see them go for 4 times the spot price or even more!

Gold Nugget Crystals (Crystallized Gold)

This is the absolutely rarest type of gold nugget and often falls under the crystalline gold nugget category.

So, what’s the difference between gold nugget crystals and crystalline gold?

Well, in simple terms you could say that gold nuggets crystals have much more prominent crystallized features, and often include several types of crystallization. This makes them rarer and more valuable, even if the distinction between the two types is often neglected.

The number of crystal types that can form are numerous, and since different crystal forms can show up in the same gold nugget, the total number of variations are endless!

Gold In Quartz Specimen

Crystalline gold forms inside open voids, where its growth is not hindered by the surrounding rock. Often times, these cavities are filled with quartz later on, which encloses the gold and acts as a protective layer against the elements.

Gold in quartz specimens are quite rare, and can often be sold for a quite large premium. Pieces that are made up mostly of quartz are sometimes valued as if they were entirely made up of gold.

Understanding Why Gold Nuggets Are So Rare: Top 6 Reasons!

There are many reasons behind the scarcity of gold nuggets beyond the most obvious ones. As a matter of fact, gold nuggets are becoming increasingly rare. The old times when a prospector could find a nice spot and capture numerous nuggets just with a simple gold pan are mostly gone.

Let’s dive right into the explanation!

Gold Is Rare!

This doesn’t need much explanation, but here are two facts that put it all into perspective:

• The concentration of gold in the earth’s crust is 0.0005 parts per million, which makes it one of the ten rarest elements.
• All gold recovered since the dawn of man would fit into a 70×70 feet big cube.

The Easiest Gold Has Already Been Found

The numerous gold rushes that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries took advantage of the fact that very little prospecting had been done up until then. Gold was more prevalent than it is today, which meant that it was easier to find. Gold nuggets, for instance, were much more common than they are today.

When you think about it, it’s quite logical that the big easy gold was taken first. It’s not only that it’s easier to find and pays more, but the methods used back then were not as refined as they are today. This in itself made fine gold recovery a less profitable and viable alternative.

This is also partly the reason why prospectors today can profitably work the old tailings left by old-timers.

Nearly All Nuggets Have Been Melted

Man’s predilection for gold nuggets is a quite new occurrence, at least at the scale that we see it today. Collectors are looking for rare nuggets to add to their collections, which drives up prices. Indeed, few prospectors would melt a nugget if they found one, but instead market and sell it to a collector.

However, not that long ago this was seldom the case. Nearly all gold nuggets that have been found historically, ranging from the finds made by the old Aztecs to the US and Australian gold rushes of the 19th century, were melted down. It wasn’t until the 20th century that gold nuggets and natural gold received the attention of collectors and prospectors, which in turn lead to increasing value and attractiveness.

For instance, the biggest gold nugget found in the world, the welcome stranger nugget, was hammered into pieces to be melted shortly after discovery. Quite insane by our standards, isn’t it!

Big Mining Companies Continue to Smelt Nuggets

Although most gold mining companies specialize in hard rock mining which doesn’t produce gold nuggets, those that mine placer gold seldom take the time to sort out gold nuggets and sell them.

To take advantage of the premium that gold nuggets will command, they would have to market each nugget separately. As you might suspect, this would draw attention from their main activity, meaning that their time could be spent better getting more gold out of the gound. Besides, selling gold nuggets takes much longer time than just selling it all to a refinery. Liquidity certainly is an important aspect to consider when you’re running a business!

Erosion

As pieces of gold get hammered by gravels and rocks in a river, bits will start to chip off. In other words, many nuggets are turned into fine gold or gold flakes if enough time is allowed to pass.

Need Stable Geological Conditions to Form

For gold nuggets to form there needs to be stable geological conditions. In short, gold forms as hot acidic solutions containing dissolved gold move up through the earth’s crust and then materialize in cracks and fissures. Only occasionally is the process stable enough to give the gold enough time to grow into nuggets.

Can You Still Find Gold Nuggets?

Yes, gold nuggets can still be found in the US. And although the lion’s share of the easily accessible gold was dug up by the old-timers, there is still loads left out there to get. In addition, you mustn’t forget that the modern world has invented tools that the old-timers couldn’t even dream of, and that opens up new, previously inaccessible land for prospecting.

The perhaps most notable invention and widely adopted prospecting tool is the metal detector. With its help, you can discover gold nuggets at new places where the old-timers didn’t care to look. For example, the so-called “hillside placers”, where gold has broken loose from the lode but not yet made it into a river were seldom discovered and worked by old-timers, since they were so hard to find. Although they aren’t easy to find today either, a metal detector makes a great difference.

My complete guide to electronic prospecting covers how to find gold nuggets with a metal detector.

Best States for Finding Gold Nuggets

In the same way that all states don’t have much gold for you to find, not all gold states have gold nuggets. Quite on the contrary, most gold comes as tiny placer gold and gold dust.

Here are four of the best states for finding gold nuggets!

• Arizona
• Nevada
• Oregon
• California

Australia

If you have been prospecting for any longer period of time, you are unlikely to have escaped the fact that a lot of big nuggets come from Australia. Some of the biggest nuggets found come from Australia, and the Western part of the country has proven especially productive.

Conclusion

Gold nuggets are really rare. As a matter of fact, at the moment only 2% of all gold dug by miners and hobby prospectors come in the form of gold nuggets. The rest is made up of finer gold and gold dust, which is especially true for bigger mining operations that often specialize in hard rock mining.

There are two main reasons why gold nuggets are so rare.  To begin with, nearly all gold found in the past has been melted down to create gold bullion or jewelry. Secondly, gold prospectors in the past focused mostly on the easiest gold, which included large gold pieces such as gold nuggets. And as the found gold nuggets were melted down, they haven’t survived to our days.

Happy prospecting!

So, is it a good idea to invest in gold nuggets?

Gold nuggets make a good investment in smaller numbers if held long term, and not for emergency situations that would require selling quickly. The reason is that gold nuggets are illiquid investments when compared to gold bullion, as they need to be sold to the right buyer to command a fair price.

There is a lot you need to consider before deciding whether investing in gold nuggets is the right move for you and your finances.

In this article, we will shed light on the critical aspects you need to consider, and also compare buying gold nuggets to investing in gold coins and gold bars.

We’ll also look at how to avoid getting scammed when buying gold nuggets. Many snake oil salesmen take advantage of inexperienced buyers, and you certainly don’t want to become one of their victims!

Gold as an Investment: Why It Makes Sense!

Before we look closer at gold nuggets specifically, I would like to give you an overview of the reasons why you should even consider investing in gold. Having a good understanding of the points raised below will help you assess whether investing in gold nuggets is for you, once we get to the coming parts of the article.

So, here come the most common arguments for gold as an investment!

Long History

Gold has retained its value for thousands of years and has been used as money for longer than any other currency! 

Gold is also widely considered one of the safest investments you can make, which has to do with its unique properties. For example:

• Gold doesn’t rust or tarnish
• It’s a finite resource and finding more keeps getting harder and harder.
• Gold is an element and can’t be created artificially

All of these factors have historically made gold a secure value holder that has withstood every demise of major currencies so far! Just have a look at the chart below.

Another closely related benefit is that gold generally doesn’t suffer from inflation, but keeps its value rather intact throughout time. 

To give you an example, the average price of a new car in the 1930s was $760, while the average car today will cost you $40,000! At the same time, the cost of a car as expressed in gold has been rather stable!

No Counterparty Risk

Holding physical gold means that you have a tangible physical asset that will always be there, which is very different from paper investments that always carry counterparty risk.

For example, investing in bonds means that the value of your investment is completely dependant on the government’s ability to pay its debt. And if it defaults, then your investment will be partly or fully lost. 

Liquidity

Since gold is accepted worldwide, there is a liquid marketplace that allows you to sell your gold at any time. In general, liquidity is a critical aspect to consider, as being stuck with an investment that only is worth something on paper practically makes it worthless. 

Diversification

Not keeping all eggs in one basket is a prudent tip that is well worth listening to. Although it varies greatly, many experts recommend keeping at least a small portion (5%-10%) of one’s free capital in gold.

Demand is increasing

The world population is growing, and as more and more people enter the middle class, demand for gold will inevitably rise, both when it comes to investment gold and jewelry.

If you want to learn about gold as an investment, I recommend checking out the video below:

Investing In Gold Nuggets VS Bullion: What Are The Differences?

When people say that they want to invest in physical gold, the first thing that usually comes to mind is investment gold, such as gold coins or gold bars.

Investing in gold nuggets is very different in several respects. Let’s look at the most important differences!

1. Gold Nuggets Are Not Pure Gold!

First of all, in contrast to bullion, gold nuggets are not pure gold but are to some extent made up of other metals such as silver and copper.

Most gold nuggets contain between 70%-90% gold, which means that the weight of a nugget can’t be directly translated to the current gold market price, like with bullion.

2. Gold Nuggets Are Priced Differently

Gold nuggets tend to not be priced after their actual gold content, as long as they are not sold to a refinery to be turned into bullion. In general, collectors are ready to pay large premiums for natural nuggets. The bigger and more unique, the higher the price tends to get.

Due to this, there isn’t a market price to go after, as every gold piece is unique and priced differently. Depending on how you see it, this either creates uncertainty or an opportunity to market your gold and sell it for more.

Later in the article, we’ll look at how nuggets are priced, and what traits that collectors will pay extra for!

3. It’s not a liquid market

In contrast to the world gold market where you can sell your gold at any moment, the situation is very different when dealing with gold nuggets.

In order to get a good price when selling gold nuggets of any sort, you have to market the gold pieces individually. And as if that wasn’t enough, you must also find a buyer who is ready to pay the premium you are asking for, which can take a long time.

This makes gold nuggets a very impractical investment form if you’re looking to buy more than a couple of them, as getting them sold can take quite some time.

SO, Are Gold Nuggets Good Investments?

At the end of the day, it all comes down to your own preferences. For instance, if you’re looking for a liquid investment that can be sold off at any time, then gold nuggets are definitely not for you. On the other hand, if you are more into collecting gold nuggets and holding them long term, then they could be for you! 

To make the decision easier, I have compiled a short list of pros and cons below:

Pros of investing in gold nuggets

• Can be sold for high premiums: Gold nuggets can be marketed and sold at a high premium. Basically, if you’re a good marketer and know your stuff about the gold, then you could sell it for a higher premium than you bought it for. 
• Rarity: They are rare, and will likely become even rarer. Most gold nuggets were melted down in the past, and today it’s estimated that around 2%-4% (numbers depend on the exact source) is in the form of gold nuggets. As they are becoming increasingly harder to find, together with an increasing world population and middle class, I find it reasonable to expect that owning them will prove beneficial long term. 
• More fun!: They are beautiful, collectible, and much more fun to buy and keep than bullion.

Cons of investing in gold nuggets

• Not standardized: When you buy bullion gold from a reputable vendor, you know exactly what you get. This makes the buying process much easier, quicker, and more secure. Gold nuggets, on the other hand, are always unique and must be assessed individually before a price can be determined. 
• Illiquid market: To get a fair price that adds a nice premium on top of the gold value of your nugget, you need to do some marketing. This takes time and is a far cry from the liquidity that owning gold bars offers.
• Requires more expertise: Unfortunately, there are many examples of how unscrupulous vendors have successfully marketed fake gold nuggets to newcomers. And even if the buyer you are looking to buy from is a serious one, it can be hard to know whether the asking price is realistic or not. 

Best Gold Nuggets To Invest In

One thing you must make clear for yourself before heading out buying gold nuggets is whether you want to invest or collect nuggets:

• Investing: When investing, for most people, the objective should be to get as much actual gold for your money as you can. That is, you want the premium added on top of the actual metal scrap value to be as low as possible. This will make the gold easier to sell at a later stage. 
• Collecting: This is very different from a collector who is most concerned with the rarity and uniqueness of the gold, and often will be ready to pay many times the metal value if the gold is special enough.

The best gold nuggets for investors, with the above in mind, are small, round, and polished nuggets, which are the most common kind of nuggets, and therefore usually command a quite low premium.

Why Small Nuggets Are Better

By buying small gold nuggets you not only get more actual gold for your money, but they will be easier to sell at a later stage as well. Most people are not prepared to pay the high premiums that big nuggets would command, and frankly, many don’t even have that money to spend!

With all this said, buying a big and expensive rare piece of gold is by no means a bad investment. Just as you paid a large premium for it, you can ask the same when deciding to sell. The only problem, once again, is that those buyers can be harder to find.

Fine Placer Gold Is Another Option

With the above in mind, investing in fine placer gold can be another option if you are not that concerned with the physical appearance of the gold.

Fine placer gold has the benefit of being much easier to sell, as you mostly pay for the gold content itself. You can generally expect to both buy and sell it for about 70%-85% of the current gold spot price.

For more information on how to sell gold, I recommend checking out my complete guide to selling placer gold. Even though it’s not strictly about buying gold, it contains a lot of information you might want to know before buying gold from someone yourself!

How Much Are Gold Nuggets Worth?

So, if you have decided to invest in gold nuggets, it’s time to look at little closer at how they are priced, and which ones that typically sell for really high premiums.

Here are the four main factors that will determine the value of a gold nugget.

Size

The bigger the gold nugget, the rarer it is, and the higher the premium tends to be

Usually, it’s reasonable to expect a gold nugget up to half an ounce to sell for up to 40% more than its gold value. Similarly, gold nuggets between 0,5 -1 ounce could command prices between 50% – 80% higher, while nuggets above 1 ounce generally go for at least double the gold price.

Shape

As mentioned earlier, the round and smooth nuggets are generally the least valuable, since they are among the most common types of nuggets. This is because most of the gold found by hobby prospectors has been concentrated by a river, in which the gold has been polished against sands and gravels to create the even surface we are used to.

Crystalline gold nuggets, on the other hand, are especially attractive to investors and can yield a quite hefty premium upwards of 5 times the metal value, if sold to the right person. As you see in the image, crystalline pieces have much sharper edges, which means that they are unlikely to have been in a river for an extended period of time. Most of the time they have laid protected inside the rock, which explains how the crystalline structure has managed to survive and not get hammered flat by the elements.

Another thing to note is that Quartz specimens that contain a high percentage of gold can often be sold for the same price as normal gold nuggets.

Origin

Gold nuggets that come from well-known locations, such as the mother-lode in New Carolina, or the Yukon, tend to be worth more than those found in less famous locations. In some cases, it’s because collectors are looking for a specific gold shape that is known to only exist in a certain location. Other times it might simply be the location itself is so famous that the gold becomes more attractive.

Purity

As long as the purity is within normal limits, buyers are generally not that concerned with the purity of the gold. However, it’s important to note that a purer gold nuggets will have richer color, which could very well impact how much some buyers will be ready to stretch for it.

For instance, gold of low purity often contains a lot of silver which results in a duller and less attractive color.

Buying Gold Nuggets: How to Avoid Getting Scammed!

When buying gold nuggets, be it online or in person, it’s critical to take in that there are people who will fool you if they can. Especially the online gold nugget industry has seen and still sees vendors that use questionable methods to market their gold. And of course, there have been many cases of outright fraud where buyers have been sent fake gold.

Here are some tips to help you avoid getting scammed:

Buy from trusted businesses or individuals

The best way of not falling victim to scammers is to buy from a seller with a long track record and/or an established business. Even if a seller on eBay or similar sites has a lot of reviews, you should not trust them. Reviews are easily made up, either by paying for them or by deceived customers that are unknowing of having been tricked!

Get to know what gold looks like

Regardless of whether you’re meeting up with the buyer in person, or make the purchase online, you should also make sure that you know what real gold looks and feels like.

If you haven’t seen real gold yet, I certainly recommend that you go and see some, if that’s an option. Gold has a very special luster to it that’s hard to replicate with other metals. Someone who has dealt with real gold just a couple of times should be able to tell if it’s real or not

Of course, another key property of gold is the weight! If a gold nugget feels light when you’re holding it, it should definitely raise suspicion!

Don’t buy it if you’re unsure!

Well, this is a simple one. Never go through with a purchase if you’re doubting the seller or the authenticity of the gold. Put mildly, scammers are not that interested in dealing with dissatisfied customers and will offer no help once you find out!

If you want to test the gold before buying it, you could kindly ask the buyer if you’re allowed to test the gold for purity using a simple acid test. It’s a quick and cheap way of removing any suspicion.

Never Buy Gold Without a Specified Weight

One shady tactic used by some sellers online is to take a photograph of the nugget with no object for reference. This may make the nugget look big, while, in reality, it weighs no more than a few tenths of a gram. Always look up the weight of the nugget, and if it isn’t specified, don’t buy it!

Conclusion

Investing in gold nuggets can be a good idea if you want something more unique than the typical gold bar or gold coin. I personally prefer gold nuggets over bullion not necessarily because they are a better investment, but more because of the fact that they are unique, collectible pieces of gold.

However, if you are looking to hold physical gold purely as an investment, it’s better to go with bullion. Gold nuggets are quite illiquid assets and can’t be sold immediately at a fair price point, would the need arise to quickly get some cash!

Happy prospecting!

As a new gold panner, it would be realistic to expect to make an average of 0,5 – 1 gram of gold per day. If the gold spot price is $1800 per troy ounce, and you can sell your gold for 70% of spot value, you would make $630 to $1260 dollars per month.

An experienced miner could expect to make perhaps 2 grams per day on average,  but it’s important to note that it’s an average and not a daily production number. Even the most experienced gold panners will have days when they find no gold whatsoever. In contrast, other days they might strike some really rich and well-paying pay streaks that drag up the average for months to come.

Let’s look closer at how much money you can make gold panning, and what you can do to increase your chances of actually

Setting Realistic Expectations

Unfortunately, many new to gold panning have got a rather skewed perception of what amounts of money can be made gold panning. Many people believe you just have to head out to the nearest river or stream, start panning, and retrieve the gold in masses.

The truth is that gold panning is a rather laborious way of making money, and might not be worth it for many people. 

However, most hobby prospectors who head out into rivers and creeks also do it for the fun of it, and to have an excuse to spend time outdoors. In addition, becoming part of a gold mining club is a really nice way of getting to know new people and becoming part of a community.

Several panners I know see prospecting as a recreational activity but still try to finance their outings with the gold they find. It keeps them motivated and turns it into a game, which makes the whole experience a little more fun.

You Can Still Make Money Gold Panning!

From the discussion above it might seem like gold panning for money is an activity doomed to fail. That’s certainly not the case.

There are individual gold panners who do make nice money. However, most of them either:

• Focus on crevices: A gold pan is very limited with regards to the amount of gravel it can process. Therefore, some prospectors turn to clean out crevices in the bedrock where gold concentrations can be extremely high. I’ve heard about several gold panners who make some serious money using this method.
• Use other equipment: Many panners use other gear to speed up their production rates. Again, the gold pan is just too slow to let you make significant money if you don’t happen to strike really rich deposits on a regular basis. We’ll look at such a tool in just a bit!

In addition, making several grams per day requires skill and knowledge about the geologic conditions of your area. You don’t need to be an expert, but you have to least understand the basics of how gold deposits in rivers, and some basic geology. This is covered in my guide to prospecting, as well as in my article explaining how to read rivers and streams. 

How to Make More Money Gold Panning

When wanting to make more money from gold panning, you are looking to find more gold and perhaps get a better price for it. Here are three solid tips that I hope will be valuable to you!

Buy a Sluice Box

Gold pans are great prospecting tools that are owned and used on a daily basis by virtually every gold miner. However, as a production tool, it won’t take you very far. For that purpose, a sluice box is a much better option.

A sluice box is a narrow plastic channel made of plastic or aluminum, equipped with riffles and/or mattings that capture everything from gold nuggets to fine gold. The device is submerged into the river so that water flows through the sluice, trapping the heavy gold while lighter materials pass right through.

Sluice boxes are lightweight, portable, and relatively cheap, and the fact that they let you process many times the streambed material compared to a gold pan makes them an ideal choice for most prospectors.

If you want to get one for yourself, do check out my guide to portable and light sluice boxes!

Research before heading out there

By researching a location thoroughly before heading out there, you will make sure that you’re as prepared as you can be, which in the end will result in more gold in the pan!

Now, the situation with regards to lands available to gold miners has changed a lot since the gold rushes of the 19th century. Many of the rivers that are known to yield good gold have been claimed up, meaning that new prospectors often will have to venture to less profitable locations where there are no active claims, or seek out more remote places that yet have not been fully explored.

In addition, most of the easy gold was taken by the old-timers. And although we have much better and more efficient equipment than before, the days of heading out into rivers retrieving gold in masses are mostly over. Not saying that it was always the case before! It was not!

In order to find good gold locations, you need to do your own research and get out there prospecting. Here are some good resources I recommend starting with:

• Old Mining Town Newspapers: Once new gold finds became common knowledge, you can be sure that they had them featured in the local newspaper! Just be aware that many places have might have been nicknamed, which can make them quite hard to find at times.
• Government and state reports: There are a lot of government reports from the USGS that contain loads of useful information about placer gold in states across the country. While they are perhaps not as detailed as the local and state government reports, they are excellent when it comes to getting a general idea about the gold production in a state.
• MDRS Records: The MDRS is a database that’s maintained by the USGS, and contains various records of gold findings throughout the US. Some locations shared might not be available anywhere else, and with the GPS coordinates being included, finding the site is really easy!MDRS can be accessed here

Sell to the right person!

Finding the right buyer for your gold is essential to get a fair price. While a pawn shop might pay 40-50% of the gold spot price, a local dealer specialized in placer gold can pay up to 85%! That’s a massive difference right there!

If you have happened to find gold nuggets or other beautiful gold pieces, they can command en even higher price. The right buyer may very well pay several times the gold scrap value!

If you want to learn more about to whom you should market your gold, I recommend checking out my complete guide to selling placer gold.

Conclusion

Making a good living from gold panning is very hard, and few manage to find enough amounts of gold to be able of supporting them and their family. The easiest gold has already been recovered by the old-timers, which makes prospecting harder for those of us who want to give it a shot today!

However, with new tools such as metal detectors and sluice boxes, we can find the gold that the old-timers missed. Indeed, some people are still making a living mining for gold today, and it should be remembered that some rivers that were rather depleted of gold 100 years ago have now been replenished to some extent, as the river current continually brings more gold to those previously depleted spots.

If you want to learn more about prospecting and gold panning, I have several guides that I think will be of interest to you:

• How to prospect for gold: A complete guide
• How to pan for gold: Beginner’s guide
• How to find pay streaks in rivers
• How to read rivers for gold

Happy prospecting!