How to Pan for Gold in Alaska
With gold prices climbing each day, gold prospecting and panning is quickly growing in popularity as an enjoyable and sometimes profitable outdoor activity. All it takes to find gold is time, effort and luck. You don't need a permit for recreational gold panning in the national forests of Alaska as long as you use only a shovel and a pan. There are commercial gold panning sites where you can pan for gold if you have only a day or two to devote to the quest, and there are also professional prospecting and mining adventures you may wish to join if you plan to devote your time to prospecting during your stay in Alaska.
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Things You'll Need
- Shovel
- Prospecting pan
- Pipette or eye dropper
- Small bottle with lid
- Waterproof boots
Instructions
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1
Consult state geological records, maps, assay offices and locals to find areas where gold has been found in the past. There is no point in working a stream where no gold has been found before.
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2
Find a running stream with rocks and wood on the banks. Since gold is about 19 times heavier than water, the metal will stay on the bottom of the stream, and often gets caught in tiny indentations in rocks or stuck in pieces of wood.
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3
Dig a shovelful of dirt from the upstream (source) side of a rock and put it into your pan. Gently put the pan under the water and move it in a circular motion, allowing the lighter bits of silt to slosh out of the pan. Don't be too vigorous or else you may allow tiny bits of gold to leave the pan with the silt. Continue this "sloshing" until you have about half the dirt you began with in your pan.
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4
Hold the pan out of the water and while tipping it slightly to one side, swirl the water and dirt, allowing small amounts of the lighter silt to slosh out of the pan with the water. When the water is gone, dip the pan in the water again and continue the gentle swirling until almost all the dirt has left the pan.
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5
Use the pipette to squirt some water into the pan to move any dirt away from tiny flakes of gold you see. You can use the pipette to suck up any gold flakes you find and put them in your bottle. If you don't see any gold, try the process again. If one spot on the stream is not revealing any gold, move to another location and keep panning.
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Tips & Warnings
Black flies and mosquitoes are thick in Alaska, so pack some insect repellant.
You may also pan for gold on public rights of way, such as near bridges that cross streams where gold has been found.
If you are not inside a national forest, check to make sure you are not panning on someone's claimed property.
