Gold Panning

Gold panning is how most people start looking for gold, and for good reason. It needs very little gear, the basics are easy to pick up, and it gets better with every pan you wash. This page covers what panning is, why it works, what to bring and where you are allowed to do it. The guides listed below take you through each part step by step.

What is gold panning?

Gold panning is washing creek gravel in a shallow pan until only the heaviest material is left in the bottom. If there is gold in the gravel, that is where it ends up. California's state geologists call panning the simplest way to separate gold from stream sand and gravel, and the method most beginners use first.

The gold you are after is placer gold: loose flakes, specks and the odd nugget that water has worn out of the rock and carried downstream. Panners call each speck they find a "color".

Why does panning work?

Because gold is very heavy. Pure gold weighs a little over 19 times as much as the same amount of water, while ordinary sand and gravel weigh only about two and a half times as much. When you shake a pan full of wet gravel, the gold works its way down to the bottom and the light material rises to the top, where you can wash it off.

Gold also does not rust or tarnish, so a flake that has sat in a creek for a very long time still shines in your pan. That mix of weight and toughness is why gold collects in stream gravel in the first place.

What do you need for gold panning?

The one thing you cannot skip is a gold pan. Official sources give a range of sizes, from about 14 to 18 inches across, in metal or plastic. Plastic pans often have ridges called riffles molded into one side to help hold gold.

After the pan, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management suggest a basic kit in their guide to recreational gold panning. It starts with a small shovel and a classifier, which is a screen pan with half inch holes that sifts out the big rocks. Add a 10x magnifying lens for checking small grains, tweezers for picking up gold, and a few small glass vials to keep it in. Their list also includes a small magnet for pulling magnetic black sand out of your pan. Creek water is often cold, so rubber gloves and rubber boots round it out.

That magnet step is where our black sand magnets come in. In a normal pan, our magnet pulls up all the black sand we see, which leaves far less to pan through when you are looking for gold.

How do you pan for gold?

In short: screen your gravel, fill the pan about halfway, shake it under water so the gold sinks, then tilt and swirl to wash the light material over the edge. Keep going until only a little dark, heavy sand is left, then look for gold in it. Our guide How to Pan for Gold walks through every step, including the most common beginner mistake, which is hurrying.

The dark sand you end up with is black sand, and it is a good sign that you kept the heavy material. Our page What Is Black Sand? explains what it is and why it follows gold.

Where does gold settle in a creek?

Gold drops out wherever fast water slows down. Good places to try are below rapids and small falls, in deep pools, on the downstream side of big boulders, on the inside of bends, and at the upstream end of gravel bars. Gold also sinks through the gravel until it hits bedrock or a layer of clay, so cracks in bedrock can work like the riffles in your pan.

The Forest Service and BLM point out that low water is often the best time to look, because more gravel is exposed. In Alaska, where their guide was written, that means spring, early summer and just before freeze up.

Where can you go gold panning?

Often on public land, but you must check the exact spot first. There is no single national map of open panning areas, and the Bureau of Land Management says it does not keep one. Here is how the main kinds of land usually work.

Bureau of Land Management land

The BLM treats hand panning as casual use, the kind of light activity that normally needs no special permit. That only holds where nobody has claimed the minerals, and some areas have their own rules. The BLM's mining claim information packet asks you to contact the local field office before you go.

National forests

Most national forests allow recreational gold panning without a permit, according to the Forest Service's policy on collecting and panning. There are exceptions. Some wilderness areas are closed to panning, and a few eastern forests ask for a letter of authorization first. Call the local ranger district to be sure.

National parks

Mostly no. The National Park Service generally does not allow gold panning in its parks. Whiskeytown in California and a few units in Alaska are rare exceptions, each with tight limits.

State parks and state land

Rules change from state to state and park to park. As one example, South Yuba River State Park in California allows panning by hand and pan only, with a daily limit on how much material you take and no selling what you find. Check with the park or your state's land agency before you dig.

Can you pan on a mining claim or private land?

Not without permission. A mining claim gives the claim holder the right to the minerals on it, and the BLM and Forest Service both say you need the claim holder's OK before you pan there. Any gold found on a claim belongs to the claim holder. Claims are not always marked on the ground, so check the BLM's claim records for the area before you start.

Many gold bearing creeks were patented long ago, which means they are now private property. You always need the owner's permission to pan on private land, and that includes crossing it to reach public land.

Can you keep the gold you find?

Usually yes, on public land that is open to panning. The Forest Service says gold found on national forests can normally be kept. The big exceptions are gold found on someone's claim, which is theirs, and parks that limit how much you take or forbid selling it. When in doubt, ask the office that manages the land.

How do you pan safely and leave the creek in good shape?

Dig only in the loose, open gravel of the active stream, not in the banks. Banks can be unstable and collapse. Put rocks back where you found them, since small water insects live underneath them, and try not to wash mud into the water, because silt can smother fish eggs. Fill any holes you dig, and leave old relics and artifacts where they lie, because federal law protects them.

Spring runoff is cold and fast, so take care at the water's edge and dress in warm layers. Stay out of old mine workings. The BLM warns that flooded pits and open shafts are the leading dangers at abandoned mines, and that a mine with no warning sign is not a safe mine.

Will you get rich panning for gold?

Almost certainly not, and the official sources are honest about it. California's state geologists estimate that only about 1 in 1,000 people who prospected in the western United States ever made a real strike, and most old gold creeks have been worked over more than once. The Forest Service puts it plainly: you probably will not get rich, but you may well find some color.

That is the real reward for most panners. Finding your first flakes in the bottom of a pan is a thrill that does not wear off.

Who is behind this Field Guide?

California's state geologists say panning is best learned from someone who has done a lot of it. Our Field Guide is written with Randy DeNucci, who has panned for gold since he was 13, more than 55 years. He started as a boy with his grandmother, with nothing more than a metal pan, a spoon and a knife.

Where should you start?

If you have never panned before, start with our step by step panning guide. Once you are getting black sand in the bottom of your pan, How to Separate Gold from Black Sand shows how to get the gold out of it. Every gold panning guide we publish is listed below.