Gold Prospecting and Panning: Where, How and What Rules

Finding gold starts with knowing where it has been found before, and most of these articles are about places: rivers and creeks in the US, fossicking areas in New South Wales and Queensland, goldfields in Western Australia, and panning spots on Vancouver Island and across British Columbia. Alongside them sit the rules that decide where you can dig, from California’s panning restrictions to fossicking licences.

Weekend panners will get the most from the location and gear pieces, which cover metal detectors, the batea and the basics of working a pan. Prospectors thinking about something more serious can compare placer claims for sale in Alaska, the Yukon, California, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho, and read how exploration methods and remote sensing narrow down targets, including in Africa and Mauritania.