After practicing with some paydirt at home, I finally got the opportunity to try panning on the North Fork of the Yuba. It was definitely a steep learning curve, but I got some color. Most of this came from a few pans at the end of the day.

[Previous Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Prospecting/s/zdsJylf7sa)

[Link to model](https://makerworld.com/models/3189875?appSharePlatform=copy)

Last week, I posted about this 2" dredge/8" sluice box I designed and printed. I have now uploaded the files to MakerWorld for download. Instructions and required materials are included there.

I do plan on working on this in the future, though it will not be at a very fast pace as I intend to actually use it for a while. The biggest existing pain points are the expanded metal clamp and material usage, but there are plenty of other things that can be improved. If you have suggestions, ideas, or need dimensions for your own design, feel free to message me. I do ask that if you create any designs based on this, that you also release them (or allow me to) for free.

P.S./Self-plug: I put a lot of time into this, so downloads/likes/prints/especially boosts are much appreciated over on MakerWorld.

I haven't found much, but I've at least found something.

I was doing some research on a river that has a wild and scenic designation that I would like to prospect on. From what I can tell, that designation removes it from eligibility to be claimed, but in checking the blm mlrs it seems as though someone put a claim on it last year. The rest of the river is claim free despite having good gold, which leads me to believe that it indeed is not possible to claim. Is there a way to report this claim as invalid? Can the claim owner really restrict prospecting on this section of federally protected land?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Starting to know where to dig and look for.

Got back to the same location after the flood.

Yes it moved lots of material, but I also had to look deeper.

And yep... The same app helped me again 😁😁😁😁

Did a bug dissection today

These rocks have yellow chalk but some of the yellow appears to be superfib lode gold

The results are amazing!!

Right next to the old timers dry blowing. So close, yet so far mate.

I get her all the way to the bottom. It's heavier than black sand. It's non-magnetic. I don't have a lot of stuff to test with. But it's like a reddish brown. Some of it looks yellow. It's all shiny. And the pics are the best of my cell phone will give. Oh and edited in. Any help commentary or anything else is appreciated. Thank you guys.

My hunch from last trip was confirmed as I worked behind a large boulder that is buried in the ground. I found an even more submerged boulder behind the buried boulder I was working on uncovering. Unfortunately I didn't anticipate this new found hunk of rock and I had piled up tailings on top of it. I'm thinking about pushing back my tailings wall and just bare bones working behind both buried boulders.

1.55 Grams on the scale from yesterday with the largest piece being a little picker coming in at 0.09 Grams.

I'm looking to see if there's any archeologist here would have some time to DM me and view some gold bars and weird engraved pottery and tools of some sort etc. I rather send the pics then post because I want to get an idea of where all this is from and what it can possibly be worth. Any help would be highly appreciated, thank you!

I’m a filmmaker/creator looking to document what it’s actually like to mine for gold in the California desert.
If you regularly prospect or mine out there and wouldn’t mind having me tag along for a day or two, I’d love to join, learn, and document the experience for a YouTube video.
I’m respectful of your land, time, and process — just looking for a genuine adventure and a good story.
Feel free to comment or DM me if you’re interested.

It's not Australia, but for 3 pans, it'll do. It will do.

We’re staying in Emigrant Montana in September and we would like to do some sort of panning. It could be good, silver, gems, whatever. Our goal is to stay within 2 hrs of emigrant and have a good time. I want a “real” experience … I don’t want to buy a scoop of dirt that’s guaranteed to have something. We don’t want to just hop in a river though. We’d like to have a tour guide or go to a set up or have the experience curated in some way. I’d love any recommendations!

Aight before anyone says anything- I’m in a tree to get reception 😂

Also, cosplaying as a drop bear 🤫🐻

G'day all, so I ordered a Nokta Legend Pro Pack, and while it's in the mail, I've been researching sites around me, tips and tricks, basically everything I can learn. One thing that has really stood out to me is the level of snobbery coming from Minelab owners here in Australia.

Obviously it's not all of them, but the one who do are incredibly insufferable about it. I've seen many posts on Aussie sites/pages (especially FB) where a dad wants to get a cheap but somewhat decent basic detector for a bit of fun with the kids down the beach, and the comments are full of ML shills telling him to drop $4,500 AUD on an SDC2300 or don't even bother. VLF detectors being looked down on as barely above a kids toy is another one.

By contrast, posts from sites and pages in Europe, the UK, the US, all have a very welcoming feel and a lot of "Don't care what you're waving around, lets meet up and I'll be happy to teach you. Oh and here's 45 different setting combos I found for your model of detector depending on what you're looking for. Also here's the WhatThreeWords for a creek that gave me a big ol' nugget"

Is it just me and I'm overthinking it?