We discussed
Gold panning equipment
in another section but there's a slew of basic equipment that would be helpful
to get you started in recreational prospecting. Now, this section is not about
rockhounding even though the two hobbies share some similar equipment, and it
does not pretend to cover anything about metal detecting treasure hunters -
even though some folks do use detection equipment to help find placer gold
deposits. We are talking about
the hand tools
, gizmos and whatnot that you would use to help you find gold and profit from
it.
This site is called Pick and Pan because those are two items of very basic
equipment you can use to get started. You will find it useful if you also have
small vials and labels for them. When you find any quantity of gold you would
want to be able to store it along with some data. A notebook can help you
correlate a specific vial's contents to a time, date and location so you know
where you'd like to look again.
Getting your gold from the pan into a liitle vial may look like a good way to
lose some, but with a
snuffer (or sipper) bottle
, it is a simple matter to transfer your finds to vials. See the video here,
supplied courtesy of
BlackCatMining
that shows you the simple steps to pick up every flake and get it all safely
into vials.
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Did you know that you can "Train at Home"?
If you'd like to get a feel for how to pan for gold, what it feels like to
separate the gold from the surrounding dirt - you can try a bag of
Gold Concentrate!
That's right. 1½ pounds of actual gold bearing material to work with
that is guaranteed to contain gold. You
may
even recover more than this sample cost you.
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Along with a sturdy pick to dislodge likely sample materials, a small rock
hammer is helpful and a PaleoPick too, which is like an extra large rock
hammer. Sieves will help you sort through materials and
a full set of classifiers
(different screen mesh seives) is ideal. A jewelers loupe to magnify your
finds is a pocket sized tool you'll find yourself using more than you might
think. An underwater viewer is another goodie that can save you hours of trial
and error; it lets you get a clear view of the bottom and examine fresh
sediments to see if there could be worthwhile material before you even unpack
your gear.
Books to help you learn techniques
may be helpful and there are also books that help you find where to look,
several volumes actually for various states and different parts of the US. In
some areas, the dirt is so iron-rich that you may want to use special magnets
to keep it out of the material you're checking.
Specialized digging tools help you loosen soil above and below the water level
and tweezers for handling specimens carefully come in handy. As you get more
involved in this hobby you will find
more specialized equipment
which we will cover in another section, but these are the basics, almost
neccessities to get you started. Happy hunting!
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