seriousdetecting.comAnswer
Apr 22, 2026 - 03:56 PM
Gold panning is done by hand — you agitate the pan to wash lighter material over the edge while gold settles to the bottom. It is ideal for sampling new ground and testing whether a location is productive before committing more time and equipment. A sluice box uses running water flow through a riffle-lined box to process larger amounts of material continuously, recovering gold from the riffles periodically. A sluice processes significantly more material per hour but requires a water source and fixed setup. Most productive prospectors use a pan for sampling and a sluice for producing from established ground.
