What are the types of placer gold mining?
Placer gold mining is basically just picking up rubble and panning it or putting it through a slush box. (Just finding a gold nugget does not count, but that is a good indicated that is a good place to start looking for more!) There are two types. The first type is wet panning. You find a river or stream and just pan the gravel on the sides and bottom of the water. This is what they usually did in California as almost all the gold was found in conjunction with water as it was washed down stream from deposits high up in the mountains. This is the best way to go with the family. You can even buy little kits that come with a pan and some gravel with a slight amount of gold added that all you have to do is “add water.” The second type is called dry panning, which is a lot more work. This was what they usually did in Nevada where there was not much water. You go where there is water when there is a rain storm and pan the dry gravel. It is quite a bit harder to do as without water the gravel
