Gold Panning Equipment

As you may have guessed, the most important piece of equipment you will need for gold panning is a gold pan. While early prospectors used metal pans, present day prospectors use plastic pans with built in riffles. Frying pans and hub cabs will do the trick too. You can find all the equipment you need at local miners' and prospectors' stores, sporting goods stores, and some hardware stores.

UMB and USFA Suggested Gold Panning Equipment:

• Gold pan (plastic with riffles or metal); 14-inch size is ideal.
• Shovel to loosen gravel from creek bottom
• Grizzly pan with 1/2-inch holes in bottom. It helps to separate the coarse gravel to speed up the panning process.
• Magnifying lens to identify materials
• Sluice box that is about three feet long. You can either build your own or buy one
• Tweezers for picking up gold (dry fingers work too)
• Small magnet to separate out magnetic black sand
• Small glass vials to hold your gold
• Rubber gloves to protect your hands from cold water
• Rubber boots to keep dry while wading in the creeks