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-   -   gold panning (http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=48994)

Prospector-Baron 01-01-2010 11:13 PM

gold panning
 
I am looking for someone to go gold panning with. I live in Southern Alberta, close to the mountains. I have all the equipment that I need and I don't like going by myself as it can be dangerous. I also would like to talk to like minded people who also enjoy prospecting.

drenalinjunkie 01-01-2010 11:19 PM

Heya Prospector-Baron!! I would love to go panning!!! Do you have some areas in mind?? I have no equipment and only limited knowledge but would love the experience! I am in Calgary.
junkie

troller4 01-02-2010 09:44 AM

Just getting into the panning. Have spent most of my time, until now, working with my metal detector. Have pans and a ton of books from my grandpa, just need a place to start now :D:

honda450 01-02-2010 09:58 AM

Panned near Likely, Wells, Barkerville found small traces nothing to brag about. The amazing thing there was how these gold seekers changed the courses of creeks years ago and the amount of rock they moved all by hand. Very historic area if your ever up in that country, its worth a visit. :wave: Still lots of active claims up there so be careful where ya pan.

thumper 01-02-2010 12:37 PM

Fisherville - near Ft Steele in the E Kootenays is open for anyone to pan. That's the 1863 gold-rush site that the original Dewdney Trail led to - it's an interesting historic site now.
You can usually find a little bit of gold there.

Bushmaster 01-02-2010 03:37 PM

Way back in the day....we panned for and found sign in both the Red Deer and N. Sask rivers....

greylynx 01-02-2010 09:18 PM

The guys with those tiny sluicers powered by lawn mower engines do a pretty good job of extracting platinum in Terwilliger Park in Edmonton. You can always get gold flakes down there.

troller 01-03-2010 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greylynx (Post 471292)
The guys with those tiny sluicers powered by lawn mower engines do a pretty good job of extracting platinum in Terwilliger Park in Edmonton. You can always get gold flakes down there.

I thought there were special laws concerning where and how you sluice? I definitely could be wrong on this one, just thought I remember hearing it from someone?

Unregistered user 01-03-2010 02:14 PM

Gold Creek in Kikomun (sp) prov park s.e. B.C. is a public panning preserve, you can pan to your heart's content but no sluice boxes. You'll find gold easily, it's where the prospecting course from Mount Royal took us. Don't forget if you're prospecting with a reasonable expectation of making money now or in the future, you will be able to claim some or all of your expenses, it's worth talking to your tax accountant.

bruceba 01-03-2010 02:41 PM

Now when you find it like this you don't need a pan. I will tell you we never found another trace from were this was found all the way to the top of the stream. I think it was planted to try and start a gold rush.:lol: It's been over thirty years since I aquired this and I've had one eye on the ground ever since.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...reme/gold1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...reme/gold2.jpg

FishBrain 01-04-2010 12:02 PM

so what do you do if you find gold? I mean, how do you get it extracted from the rock?

Swiper 01-04-2010 06:48 PM

Hi Baron
 
I have that same problem so i have invested in hiking gear also but man is it hard to find a person to go panning. I live in Airdrie, AB for 4 years now. I also to alot of metal detecting which is pretty cool also. I have some really neat gear for panning.

Scratch 01-04-2010 07:37 PM

The north sask has a LOT of flour gold - but the effort required to extract even the smallest amount is significant. If you're looking for an income - the other side of the rockies is where you need to be.

If you're content to spend time in pretty places with gravel - then you can always find gold.

If you want to sluice at all - you need a placer mining permit. $50 a year, and you must declare all finds, and weights as you are required to pay a percentage to the crown at certain increments.

We usually pan to concentrate, remove that to home, extract gold and return the concentrates. Look at upstream corners and eddies where silt gets deposited.

If you get to spend time in BC - be VERY aware of the claim status of ANY piece of ground you stop to pan / prospect.

ghostguy6 01-04-2010 07:52 PM

Are any of you the one thats always panning by Legends?

tuecer 06-09-2011 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prospector-Baron (Post 470579)
I am looking for someone to go gold panning with. I live in Southern Alberta, close to the mountains. I have all the equipment that I need and I don't like going by myself as it can be dangerous. I also would like to talk to like minded people who also enjoy prospecting.

hi there i live in the crowsnest pass, i have gold panned before and am looking for a hobby outdoors. i am 34 years old and love the idea of finding gold and the history that goes with it.are you any where near the crowsnest?

Dust1n 06-09-2011 08:43 PM

look for areas on google where mines were before go to the headwaters of a creek near by and pan for gold in the pools beside fast water. iv got my share of gold but no big ones.
dip
shake
pick out big rocks
wash
shake
swish and
repeat
till you find gold
gol is very heavey and more dence then rocks so after shaking your pan of water your gold will be rght at the bottom

pophouseman 06-09-2011 10:26 PM

Metal detection
 
If you have any interest in doing some serious metal detection, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwdfsWW8KCs

this guy found over 1 000 000 $$$ worth of gold nuggets walking around Australia with a metal detector.

Cattle Dog 06-09-2011 11:56 PM

Bruce: that rock was not worn down, it had anglular edges: surely that means it came about either by backhoe, pickax, or explosives, in my opinion.

Five years ago i went to Dawson City, Yukon, and panned right at the Klondike origional claim
(there is a small acreage with the creek running through it that the town or the chamber of commerce owns, and lets tourists try to pan for free). And i did not find so much as a single miniture flake. But i carry a gold pan in my truck.

Was told by a fellow that the metal gold pans are too cold; they have modern plastic pans now.

DonDon 07-19-2011 11:19 AM

I haven't gold panned or sluiced for about 10 years but I used to do well in the North Sask River by Devon, by Deer creek bridge, by Pine Island (not the island itself since it is a protected historic site, old fur trader fort) and a couple other spots on the river. I've found it in certain washes around Norgeg. The battle river has some in spots but I've not spent enough time with research there to make much hay. I have a pretty effective little dredge and a micron seperator from GoldFinder out of St. Albert I use. Or just a couple plastic pans to check.

There is only flour gold that I know of in Alberta. Usually in the top 2 inches of the bars if it is at Devon because of all the dredging that went on. There is a neat old dredge rotting on the banks of the Sask river by Frenchmans Butte from the big ol' dredging operation from long ago that's worth studying. Rough your pan up a little with fine sandpaper before you use it. Flour gold floats due to waters surface tension. Using liquid dish detergent in your dredge will increase your take four fold. Look at it under a scope and you'll see the float gold is very tiny platelets which gives it a lot of surface for its weight compared to if it was a ball.

I can get about an ounce a day if you average it over 5 days in spots on the river. 1 hour to map the dig out with a gold probe. 7 full hours no breaks included (9 hrs with breaks) of shovelling each day. Empty the dredge and flush the moss every 1 hour. Every time you stop the water or cause a burp in the flow you loose a large portion of the gold in your dredge. Be smooth. Don't waste you time shovelling everywhere. The pay deposit in most areas is usually about 2-3 feet wide and 10 to 50 feet long. 1 foot away there is basically nothing. Mapping it is the most important thing.

I had a sluice tray I made 10' long by 20' wide a long time ago. I covered it with aluminum rifflers and miners moss. It cost me $5000 back then. I put it in the river at an ideal spot that would carry sand over a hard pan area at a pretty uniform depth and water speed in an area I regularly found signs of gold but could never collect a lot in a day. There was never anyone there and in a really hard to acess area. :shark: I covered half of it with baseball sized rocks, (probably a thousand of them) and left it for 3 months. Ilifted the whole thing out, cleaned and sluiced the material and got 6 oz gold from it. I did this twice with the same result then the third time did something completely idiotic and anchored it in a groove in the hard pan where I thought it was protected in the fall with the thought that I could leave it there and empty it twice a year. Obviously the sheet ice tore it out in the spring and I never saw it again. :angry3:

This is a great hobby not a way to reliably make money. You'll make a lot more with the same effort working construction. Plus if you're ****ed at your boss (in this case yourself) you can immediatly throw him in the river and go fishing for an hour. :shake: :character0053: Top that.

bruceba 07-19-2011 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cattle Dog (Post 972342)
Bruce: that rock was not worn down, it had anglular edges: surely that means it came about either by backhoe, pickax, or explosives, in my opinion.

Cattle Dog the exact origin of this rock I have yet to read up on. It was originally owned by a man named Jack Fisher who came to Canada in the late 1800's. My father met him in the mountains in S.E. BC in the late 40's early 50's. My father worked as a Geoligist scouring the southern half of BC. He met Jack way back some where in mountians and shared many a camp together during the following years. Old Jack had one son ( his only living relative ) who had come with Jack to Canada. Jack's son was killed in a shaft accident in the early 40's. All Jacks worldly keeps were left to my father. A Sterling Silver tea pot, 2 cups and a serving tray. Along with several samples of the gold he had aquired plus the most valuable collection Old Jack packed everywhere he went, his daily diaries. Jack had kept a daily diary from the day he set foot in Canada until the day he died. There are faded pages and worn out bindings but it still facinates me to turn the pages and step into his boots for even a couple minutes a week.

walking buffalo 07-19-2011 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruceba (Post 1016532)
Cattle Dog the exact origin of this rock I have yet to read up on. It was originally owned by a man named Jack Fisher who came to Canada in the late 1800's. My father met him in the mountains in S.E. BC in the late 40's early 50's. My father worked as a Geoligist scouring the southern half of BC. He met Jack way back some where in mountians and shared many a camp together during the following years. Old Jack had one son ( his only living relative ) who had come with Jack to Canada. Jack's son was killed in a shaft accident in the early 40's. All Jacks worldly keeps were left to my father. A Sterling Silver tea pot, 2 cups and a serving tray. Along with several samples of the gold he had aquired plus the most valuable collection Old Jack packed everywhere he went, his daily diaries. Jack had kept a daily diary from the day he set foot in Canada until the day he died. There are faded pages and worn out bindings but it still facinates me to turn the pages and step into his boots for even a couple minutes a week.

That diary needs to be scanned and copied, even shared with the public some day (with a bit of editing, I imagine) ..... ;) :cool:

goldust 08-27-2011 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonDon (Post 1016500)
I haven't gold panned or sluiced for about 10 years but I used to do well in the North Sask River by Devon, by Deer creek bridge, by Pine Island (not the island itself since it is a protected historic site, old fur trader fort) and a couple other spots on the river. I've found it in certain washes around Norgeg. The battle river has some in spots but I've not spent enough time with research there to make much hay. I have a pretty effective little dredge and a micron seperator from GoldFinder out of St. Albert I use. Or just a couple plastic pans to check.

There is only flour gold that I know of in Alberta. Usually in the top 2 inches of the bars if it is at Devon because of all the dredging that went on. There is a neat old dredge rotting on the banks of the Sask river by Frenchmans Butte from the big ol' dredging operation from long ago that's worth studying. Rough your pan up a little with fine sandpaper before you use it. Flour gold floats due to waters surface tension. Using liquid dish detergent in your dredge will increase your take four fold. Look at it under a scope and you'll see the float gold is very tiny platelets which gives it a lot of surface for its weight compared to if it was a ball.

I can get about an ounce a day if you average it over 5 days in spots on the river. 1 hour to map the dig out with a gold probe. 7 full hours no breaks included (9 hrs with breaks) of shovelling each day. Empty the dredge and flush the moss every 1 hour. Every time you stop the water or cause a burp in the flow you loose a large portion of the gold in your dredge. Be smooth. Don't waste you time shovelling everywhere. The pay deposit in most areas is usually about 2-3 feet wide and 10 to 50 feet long. 1 foot away there is basically nothing. Mapping it is the most important thing.

I had a sluice tray I made 10' long by 20' wide a long time ago. I covered it with aluminum rifflers and miners moss. It cost me $5000 back then. I put it in the river at an ideal spot that would carry sand over a hard pan area at a pretty uniform depth and water speed in an area I regularly found signs of gold but could never collect a lot in a day. There was never anyone there and in a really hard to acess area. :shark: I covered half of it with baseball sized rocks, (probably a thousand of them) and left it for 3 months. Ilifted the whole thing out, cleaned and sluiced the material and got 6 oz gold from it. I did this twice with the same result then the third time did something completely idiotic and anchored it in a groove in the hard pan where I thought it was protected in the fall with the thought that I could leave it there and empty it twice a year. Obviously the sheet ice tore it out in the spring and I never saw it again. :angry3:

This is a great hobby not a way to reliably make money. You'll make a lot more with the same effort working construction. Plus if you're ****ed at your boss (in this case yourself) you can immediatly throw him in the river and go fishing for an hour. :shake: :character0053: Top that.

Hey Don don,
How do you go about mapping the area and what kind of probe do you use? Do you need instruments like gold detectors to map it? Which brand do you advice. Thanks in advance. :)

Toirtis 08-27-2011 10:42 PM

With gold at $1800/oz, and expected to hit $2200+/oz within the next year, I may be digging out the old gold pan myself soon.

Kim473 08-28-2011 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonDon (Post 1016500)
I haven't gold panned or sluiced for about 10 years but I used to do well in the North Sask River by Devon, by Deer creek bridge, by Pine Island (not the island itself since it is a protected historic site, old fur trader fort) and a couple other spots on the river. I've found it in certain washes around Norgeg. The battle river has some in spots but I've not spent enough time with research there to make much hay. I have a pretty effective little dredge and a micron seperator from GoldFinder out of St. Albert I use. Or just a couple plastic pans to check.

There is only flour gold that I know of in Alberta. Usually in the top 2 inches of the bars if it is at Devon because of all the dredging that went on. There is a neat old dredge rotting on the banks of the Sask river by Frenchmans Butte from the big ol' dredging operation from long ago that's worth studying. Rough your pan up a little with fine sandpaper before you use it. Flour gold floats due to waters surface tension. Using liquid dish detergent in your dredge will increase your take four fold. Look at it under a scope and you'll see the float gold is very tiny platelets which gives it a lot of surface for its weight compared to if it was a ball.

I can get about an ounce a day if you average it over 5 days in spots on the river. 1 hour to map the dig out with a gold probe. 7 full hours no breaks included (9 hrs with breaks) of shovelling each day. Empty the dredge and flush the moss every 1 hour. Every time you stop the water or cause a burp in the flow you loose a large portion of the gold in your dredge. Be smooth. Don't waste you time shovelling everywhere. The pay deposit in most areas is usually about 2-3 feet wide and 10 to 50 feet long. 1 foot away there is basically nothing. Mapping it is the most important thing.

This is a great hobby not a way to reliably make money. You'll make a lot more with the same effort working construction. Plus if you're ****ed at your boss (in this case yourself) you can immediatly throw him in the river and go fishing for an hour. :shake: :character0053: Top that.

You say you can get about an ounce a day. At about $1800 per ounce, you cant get that working construction. You must have been using a large sluice to get an once a day. One would think that at max you would get an once a month working a pan.
There has got to be a good spot some where on the NSR that all that flour gold originates from, but where? Could take a life time to find it or longer tho. I guess many of people have tried over the last 150 years.

maverickhunter 10-16-2011 09:39 PM

off topic but i am also looking for a partner or teacher to show me the ropes of panning/sluiceing. i live in edmonton, have a little experience in the field but a LOT of experience in the bush. dont have much equipment at all but have the $ to buy it. Just need to know what exactly i need to buy. not sure how to post my own thread or i would have lol. please reply, id love to hear ideas, locations etc. thx!

CdnVet0506 10-17-2011 01:14 PM

maverickhunter - I was in your boat a few weeks ago. I ended up just going down to the NSR at Prospector Point near Devon and watched, asked someone panning. They were very friendly and helpful... Usually one or two around to help. If I am down there I'd help to... May be there Wednesday evening if I am free.... no promises.... Always a little bit of flour gold in the pan:)

I'm currently limited to panning as I do it just for fun and although sluicing etc may be more profitable in the long run, just don't want to pay the licencing fee. Thankfully you can pretty much pan on any public land in Alberta. Unlike BC, I believe there are very little to any "Claims" to worry about

Youtube videos were helpful to.

Hope this helps

BeeGuy 10-17-2011 01:27 PM

Heya,

I carry a pan in my vehicle as well, mostly from my BC fishing and hiking/exploring days.

If anyone has a highbanker or sluice I'd be willing to do some shoveling for a day.

I don't expect there to be much in this part of the country, but if someone has the equipment and a lease I'll donate some sweat for a day.

~Calgary area. NSR and Athabasca are out of my range.

BeeGuy 10-17-2011 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maverickhunter (Post 1120373)
off topic but i am also looking for a partner or teacher to show me the ropes of panning/sluiceing. i live in edmonton, have a little experience in the field but a LOT of experience in the bush. dont have much equipment at all but have the $ to buy it. Just need to know what exactly i need to buy. not sure how to post my own thread or i would have lol. please reply, id love to hear ideas, locations etc. thx!

All you need is a pan to do some exploring. You won't get anything worth bragging about, but it's always fun to see some colour and spend a day exploring a river.

Gettin pretty cold to be sticking your hands in the river though.

Kexin 02-28-2013 03:59 AM

Hi i am also looking for a partner to dig some gold in calgary let me know if anyone interested my email is john_jiajia@hotmail.com

Orion1 04-15-2014 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prospector-Baron (Post 470579)
I am looking for someone to go gold panning with. I live in Southern Alberta, close to the mountains. I have all the equipment that I need and I don't like going by myself as it can be dangerous. I also would like to talk to like minded people who also enjoy prospecting.

I just read your message.....although belated and its 2014 now. If your still up to it e-mail @ gwkolankowski@gmail.com.....I used to do it 30 yrs. ago and with 2 of us going at it were taking in 1 oz. per day....but the other guy got gold fever and I had to stop. Oh I'm a retired geologist by the way. And I go fishing while "panning"....


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