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Gold pan

Gold prospecting is the act of going equipped to find gold in rocks or in stream beds with a view to exploiting that discovery. As described in this document, this is taken to mean individual prospectors, as opposed to those trained and educated individuals working for mining companies. Up until the middle of the 20th century, gold prospecting was undertaken with the intent of securing an area to be worked exclusively with the intent of developing paying quantities of the metal. In the latter part of the 20th and 21st centuries it is more commonly used to describe recreational gold hunting as pursued by individuals, especially in streams and usually on the basis of no given authority (although there are exceptions). Professionals in the employ of mining compaines also seek deposits of economic value, usually different types of deposits, and in different areas.

Individual gold prospecting has been seen in many parts of the world including New Zealand (especially in Otago), Australia, South Africa, Wales (at Dolaucothi and in Gwynedd), in Canada and in the United States especially in western states but also elsewhere. The Department of Agriculture in the U.S. is now of the view that recreational gold panning and gold prospecting in the general national forest areas is permitted provided that no machinery or explosives are used, no waterways are diverted, and no permanent or semi-permanent structures are built.

Old workings in a drywash in southern Arizona.

In the UK, gold prospecting can only take place with the explicit permission of the Riparian owner and, even with such permission any activities that cause or permit pollution of a watercourse, even with re-suspended silt, could result in a criminal prosecution by the Environment Agency.

Gold lodes and placer gold in the United States and potential gold prospecting sites extends from near Montgomery, Alabama to Washington D.C.. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama have many gold mines and prospecting sites. These states were the main source of gold for 45 years before the California gold discovery. The largest true California gold nugget, known as the "Dogtown nugget," weighed 54 pounds troy (20 kg), and was found in Magalia, California. A 195 pound troy (73 kg) mass of gold mixed with quartz was also found.

This 156 ounce nugget was found by an invidividual prospector in the Southern California Desert using a metal detector.

• Gold Prospectors Association of America
• Placer mining
• Gold rush

• USGS article on gold prospecting