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Gold panning is a skillful process that is used to separate small flecks and nuggets of gold from the surrounding sand, gravel, and dirt. When performed correctly, any gold sinks to the bottom of the pan where the base meets the side, where it can be recovered.

1. Fill your pan about three-quarters of the way to the top with gravel, and then find a place on the riverbank where the water is at least 6 in (15 cm) deep. If possible, find a rock to sit on while you pan, as this is less tiring than squatting.

2. First, submerge the pan and use your fingers to break up clods of earth and allow the contents of the pan to become saturated. Some mud and silt will wash away. Don’t remove any of the larger stones yet unless they are totally clean, otherwise you may throw away a nugget stuck to a stone.

3. Keeping the pan submerged, shake the contents from left to right; this breaks up the material even more and allows the heavier gold to sink to the bottom.

4. Sweep any clean rocks out of the pan with your hand, or raise the pan out of the water and tilt it down slightly away from your body to allow the water to pour out of the forward edge, taking the top and lightest layer of deposits away with it.

5. Scoop up a little more water and repeat steps 3 and 4 for several minutes until eventually you will be left with about half a cupful of the heaviest materials such as black sand and iron gravel (these are usually the darkest materials, apart from the shiny gold).

6. Use a magnet to remove the magnetic deposits (like the iron). Then add half a cup of water, tilt the pan forward, and shake from left to right, so the black material collects in the forward-bottom of the pan with any gold sinking to the bottom. Level the pan as you swirl in a slow, circular movement, to gradually brush away the concentrates to reveal the gold.

7. Use tweezers or wet fingers to collect specks of gold and place them in your sample pan or collecting bottle. Alternatively, place the entire remaining contents of the pan into a larger collecting jar for further sifting when you get home; this allows you to collect more gold on site, rather than waste precious panning time.