Gold Panning

Gold panning, or simply panning, is a form of placer and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts because of its cheap cost and the relatively simple and easy process involved although the success rate is comparably smaller compared to other methods such as cradle or a large extractor as the likes of the large extractors in 'The Pit', in Kargoorlie. It is the oldest method of mining gold. The first recorded instances of placer mining are from ancient Rome, where gold and other precious metals were extracted from streams and mountainsides using sluices and panning.