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How to pan for gold: a step-by-step guide for beginners

By Raquel · Updated 20 October 2026 · 3 min read

Panning is the oldest and simplest way to look for gold: water, gravel and patience. Here is how to do it properly and what you can really expect to find.

What gold panning is

Panning means washing river sand and gravel in a wide, shallow dish, the pan, so that the water carries away the light material and the heavy material stays at the bottom. Because gold is about 19 times denser than water, it stays down with other heavy minerals. It is the same principle that makes gold collect in river placers, as we explain in how gold nuggets are formed.

What you need

• A gold pan of about 35 to 40 cm, ideally plastic with riffles, which hold the gold.
• A classifier (sieve) to remove large stones.
• A small shovel and a bucket.
• Tweezers, a magnifier and a small vial of water to keep what you find.
• Wellies and patience.

Where to look in the river

Gold settles where the water loses strength: on the inside of bends, behind large rocks, in cracks in the bedrock and in the gravel lying just above it. The fine surface sand usually holds little; it is worth digging down to the deeper gravel.

The technique, step by step

1. Fill the pan about three-quarters full with classified material.
2. Submerge it and break up any clumps with your hands.
3. Shake it from side to side, firmly, for a few seconds, so the heavy material sinks.
4. Tilt it forward and, with gentle circular movements, let the water wash off the top layer.
5. Repeat shaking and washing until only a handful of dark sand is left.
6. Check the bottom: with a little water and a slow swirl, gold separates from the black sand and shows its yellow colour.

That black sand is mostly magnetite, a heavy mineral that travels with gold. Finding it is a good sign: it means you are panning where heavy minerals collect.

What you can expect to find

To be honest, almost everything found by panning is specks and flakes of gold weighing tenths or hundredths of a gram. A one-gram nugget is an exceptional find that many prospectors never see. If something golden flashes as you turn it and feels light, it is probably mica or pyrite; see gold vs pyrite.

Before you go: the rules

Recreational panning is regulated differently in every country and region. In many places you need permission from the water authority or the landowner, and it is banned in protected areas. Check first, use hand tools only and leave the river as you found it.

In some places panning is almost a tradition, such as Tankavaara in Lapland, which has hosted the World Gold Panning Championship; we tell the story in Lapland gold. And if you would rather own a nugget without spending the day in the water, every week we auction nuggets from Alaska, Australia and Lapland with their exact weight and macro photos.

Written by Raquel, Gold Nuggets Minerals

Raquel selects, weighs and photographs every nugget we sell. Gold Nuggets Minerals S.L.U. is a small company in Zaragoza, Spain, specialising in native gold. On Catawiki we have sold more than 120 nuggets, with 100% positive feedback and the Top seller badge.