Gravity Concentration for Gold
To concentrate gold by gravity, move the entire gold pan in a circular motion at the same time as holding the pan under the water. You must do this firmly and strongly, but by no means let any of the contents slip back into the water (not yet, at least). At first, the water which is on top of the substance will start swirling, and then the complete contents of the pan will start rotating in a circular motion. At this point is where the heavier gold has a chance to start settling as the material becomes loosened and the state of liquid suspension is greater than before. Possibly after a speedy five to ten such vigorous motions, once the material has become thoroughly loosened, set the pan down and repeat Step Two in which you have discarded the larger rocks or debris. (Bear in mind to make certain that all rocks and other objects are methodically washed clean before you discard them.) You may perhaps want to do this somewhat quickly as long as you let the smaller rocks sift through your fingers right back into the pan. Repeat the previous swirling course of action.
At this point it is safe to start spilling off or letting the very top of the contents slowly spill over the downward rim of the pan. You must also point the "Gravity Trap" riffles in a downward direction, keeping it away from you, in the 12:00 position so as to have all the lighter, but thoroughly cleaned material to pass over them. What must be done is to continue the swirling motion (under the water) at the same time as you carefully let all the cleaned small rocks and sand continually spill over the lower edge of the pan. You may perhaps want to vary this to a side-to-side movement, or you possibly will combine the circular motion with the side-to-side movement. There is without doubt no procedure which is set because you will rapidly develop your own particular style after you become more confident and experienced in the experience of work. The most important movement is to tilt the forward edge of the pan every once in a while back in an upward direction towards yourself. This action causes the material to go back to the bottom, or to the center, of the pan. It also helps to get the gold and concentrates together, and keeps them buried under, and protected from, the loose overburden that is constantly being spilled off over the lower rim of the pan.
The side-to-side motion is perhaps best at this stage because the pan and contents in it are much lighter now. A small amount of panners will use a shuffling motion of fore-and-aft, perhaps combined with the technique that is from side-to-side. In spite of how you, in the long run, fit these various techniques for panning into your own particular technique, always bear in mind to let the gravity work for you, and not against you. By no means raise the pan's edge higher than the water unless the contents are absolutely covered with water. A few people will make their exceptional panning speed (and ignorance) obvious at the same time as they are spilling off tightly-packed damp sand, and are holding the pan high (and dry) in the air. The fact that the material is wet is definitely not enough, if it is not in a state of liquid suspension the gold cannot settle in spite of any kind of action of shaking. It will slide off together with the sand. You can substantiate this by catching the discards in another pan and re-panning it after such a wasted amount of time and effort. The "Gravity Gold Trap" riffles have managed to catch whichever gold was sufficiently deep to pass over them, but they had no control whatsoever over the gold that was mixed in the top sand and gravel being dumped.
The pan is still approximately one-fourth to one-half full at this stage. You must continue the circular or side-to-side motion, with maybe a very slight diagonal motion combined. Make sure to always be watching the contents. If you notice that the black sand is starting to show through the surf ace material, it is time to regroup and re-settle the contents once again. Tilt the forward rim of the pan in an upward direction, and bring the material back toward the center of pan at the same time as you continue the shaking movement. (Make sure the material is covered with water at all times.) Tilt the pan forward again at the same time as you are shaking it, and keep on spilling off the top layer of lighter sand and gravel that works its way to the top. The material which is heavier will settle speedily to the bottom while the lighter material will come to the top. Your only safeguard is to watch the material being spilled off closely. The moment that the black sand or heavier concentrates begin to show through, speedily bring the entire contents back to the center of the pan and repeat the shaking and spilling off all over again.
It is a good idea to note here that you have probably been awfully slow on your first try. This is well and good. It is recommendable to learn correctly, however slowly it takes you to learn. You will have much greater self-assurance the next time you do the process again. In point of fact, it would have been just about not possible for you to have lost any of the heaviest gold unless you on purpose became careless and shook the pan with a fore-and-aft bouncing movement. That kind of movement would have caused the gold to roll up and over the "Gravity Trap" riffles. The riffles would have not been permitted to do their job, very much the same as a sluice box would be if the person who is operating allows his sluice to become overloaded to the point that the gravel and the muck basically bounce on through. Despite the consequences of the kind of sluicing method or panning procedure which are being used, the material must be permitted to pass in contact over the riffles to allow the force of gravity to settle and trap the heaviest concentrates. It is easy for gravity to trap the heaviest gold in front of a sharp 90 -degree riffle design, with the condition that the gold has an opportunity to come in contact with the riffles by settling down through the gravel and sand. Otherwise, the lighter gold and at times even the heavier gold will just continue to roll along the same as debris and muck do on the bottom of a stream or river bed. This settling principle is the same one that permits the forces of gravity to trap gold in small cracks and behind large boulders in stream beds. An important fact is that smooth bedrock hardly ever has any gold trapped on its surface. Without doubt this is very true with smooth gold pans that do not have riffles. Only the expertise of a skilled operator and the knowledge of panning methods would make gold recovery achievable with smooth pans. The next few pans you will use will be much quicker, and in due course you will trim down the amount of time of this particular step down to only a few seconds. The weight of the gold which is heavier will force it to sink very speedily (if it is given a chance to do so), and the riffles of the Gravity Trap will without doubt put off all losses which could present themselves, even at the time of using methods of speed, if the riffles are permitted to work as they should.
By now you are supposed to have just about a couple to four cups of mixed concentrates and undersized gravel remaining in the pan. Bear in mind that all the way through this last stage you are supposed to have kept the pan under the water or in any case the portion or section of the pan that contained the substance.
