view of print taken by the U.S. Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories, . Gold panning is a simple process. Once a suitable placer deposit is located, some alluvial deposits are scooped into a pan, where they are then wetted and loosed from attached soils by soaking, fingering, and aggressive agitation in water. This is called
stratification; which helps dense materials, like gold, sink to the bottom of the pan. Materials with low
specific gravity will rise upward, allowing these to be washed out of the pan, whereas materials with higher specific gravity, sinking to the bottom of the sediment during stratification, will remain in the pan allowing examination and collection by the prospector. These dense materials usually consist of
black sand with whatever stones or dense metal particles that may be found in the deposit that is used for source material. Because of the stratification process, gold panning is used in the
assaying process in which portions of paydirt (processed mining material) is analyzed for the amount of gold contained (parts per ton). Assaying is an important aspect of mining, especially for large commercial mining operations. Although gold panning is considered by many an outdoor
hobby, it is still a source of income for many who live in parts of Alaska. While an effective method with certain kinds of deposits, and essential for prospecting, even skilled panners can only work a limited amount of material, significantly less than the other methods which have replaced it in larger operation. Pans remain in use in places where there is limited capital or infrastructure, as well as in
recreational gold mining. In many situations, gold panning typically turns up fine gold dust.
Nuggets and considerable amounts of dust are occasionally found. Panning for gold can be used to locate the parent gold
veins which are the source of most placer deposits. ==Pans==