Specific Gold Prospecting Gear Recommendations

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Beginner’s panning kit: I go with Garrett because too many of the others include pans you’ll eventually toss aside in favor of something better. Garrett makes a whole line of well designed, popular pans (I mention one below which isn’t in the kit but is a nice addition.) Check out the Garrett kit here. Side comment: here’s a great video from Dan Hurd on gold panning. Skip to the 5-minute mark to see him start the panning process if you are impatient lol!

Gold Pans: For use in the field, I like the Proline Professional pan, or the Garrett Supersluice pan. The Proline Professional 14” is lighter weight which is nice but the green one is a bit too light green colored to see small gold easily, so I go with the black instead. Grab one direct from the manufacturers here. The wide smooth bottom of that big dark green Garrett 15″ pan does an impressive job letting you see the smallest gold, even out in the field. And it’s tough enough to take anything you throw at it…or throw it at! You can even sit on it, but don’t. You can buy the Garrett by clicking on the image:

For finish panning, I prefer something much smaller.  I use several inexpensive black 10” pans at once (see separate article on finish processing your cons below). These are small enough that you can finish pan with one into a Garrett Supersluice pan filled with water. Any smooth bottom black or dark green pan like this one or this one will do the job. Or maybe even better, this one includes a bunch of vials and a tweezers for just $0.26 more!

In-stream Sluices: I recommend sluice without metal riffles. My favorite used to be something from the Angus Mackirk line but those are no longer available in the US (only Canada). After some testing, I got a Dream Mat multi-sluice which I absolutely love. It seems to hold onto the gold better than the McKirk when water levels vary and is almost as quick to clean out. It can also be run with unclassified material without losing gold – which is the “holy grail” of sluices as far as I am concerned! Making the switch to the Dream Mat sluice feeding unclassified material has increased my production by quite a bit. Here is the link to get a Dream Mat for yourself. Also, here is a link to the exact sluice I bought and now run regularly: 8×38 Compact Combo Mat Sluice Don’t feel compelled to buy the same one of course, they make lots of great sluices.

For higher water-flow conditions, I favor the Grizzly Goldtrap line of sluices, but they can be tough to find these days since they don’t really seem to be in production. If your favorite spot consistently has a lot of flow and you can’t find a Grizzly Goldtrap, I suggest getting a larger Dream Mat product, such as this one. But, whichever one you choose, use this discount code KS$5

By the way, I also use this Dream Mat in my Gold Cube along with the standard-issue vortex mats.

Highbankers: There’s really only one standout in the crowd – the Gold Cube. Add the trommel topper to it and you have the easiest operating, most efficient one-person mining operation around. Set up right on the gold in the stream, use only 1200-2000 gallons per hour (trust me, that ain’t much, so your battery lasts a long time) and catch really fine gold. They say “cube it or lose it” for a reason. Use this link to get one: https://goldcube.net/ or read more about the Gold Cube and its various accessories here: https://findinggoldincolorado.com/using-a-gold-cube-in-colorado/

Drywashers: In 2016 I switched from a big Keene 151 (worked fine but far too big for 1-2 people) to the very backpack-able Whippet Drywasher. At under 15 pounds (including the battery!) its exceptionally easy to get to the dig site, even if you have a long hike from the road. Being a battery operated, puffer-style machine its quiet and pleasant to work around for hours. With a hopper which holds almost 5 gallons of material, it’ll keep up with you as you dig! Finally, the precision design means it catches much more fine gold (-50 mesh and even the -100 mesh which almost all other drywashers miss) than the big Keene I used to run. Expensive, precision made, light weight, worth it! http://www.whippetengineering.com/ for more info. One caution, this is a small, artisanal manufacturing shop, they usually have several months of orders backlogged…so if you order, be patient!

Finish Processing Gear: Take a look at this post on what to use and how to do your finish processing of your concentrates without fancy equipment. https://findinggoldincolorado.com/finish-processing-your-concentrates-after-a-day-of-digging/

Guide Books: Check out all of our books to help you find gold in Colorado https://findinggoldincolorado.com/fgicbooks/.

Also, if you get cold feet in the river put these on over your socks before you put your boots or waders

on. These socks are made of Polar Fleece and cut to fit over your boot socks, as shown in the picture. I love them so much; I bought two pair – they are amazing! Click the image to jump to them on Amazon  https://amzn.to/3TdyJfc

Finally, consider joining the Facebook group ‘Finding Gold in Colorado’ to join the community of Colorado oriented gold prospectors and adventurers. Get your questions answered, advice found, and prospecting buddies arranged too!

This site costs money to keep up. The only way it pays for itself is shopping referrals. If you appreciate the info here, please click thru one of my Amazon ads the next time you want to shop online. It won’t cost you anything extra and it keeps the site going: www.findinggoldincolorado.com/shop-here/

What I suggest avoiding:

• Hungarian riffle-based sluices such as the Keene A52 (requires classifying, heavy, more difficult to run well – finicky). If you already have one of these, consider swapping out the guts with Gold Hog or Dream mats.
•  Estwing pans (nice shape but too flimsy)
•  Pans with small bottoms (a wide bottom is easier to pan with)
• Fancy gear meant to make finish processing of your concentrates easier. None of the fancy tools is as quick or effective as a good gold panner. Practice until you are good, watch some YouTube videos and scroll back up here to read my article on finish processing your concentrates the cheap and easy way!