I live in Wales 😀 and there's gold hereabouts. It takes some finding and as yet I have been unsuccessful. I haven't actually tried yet tbh but maybe I will one day. I'm sure that there are a load of rules about it to say I can't though. I've seen signs prohibiting panning in Coed y Brenin- blummin spoilsports!
MrsA found some in Canada when she was 17, a couple of small nuggets weighing in at a few grams.
A mate found some kayaking in Peru, it was enough to pay for the trip.
Me though, nothing.
There's gold in them thar hills!!! Has anyone here been successful?
I was always under the impression it was illegal (to keep it)?
Always tempted to take our wee boy to Tyndrum for the weekend with the tent to do a bit of panning. If we did find some it would be s good opportunity to turn him into a wee republican by explaining that he had to give his treasure to the king 🙄
There are YouTube videos by people looking for gold in the UK, so I'd guess that some sites are legal. Maybe watch them for tips on how to get started.
There are YouTube videos by people looking for gold in the UK, so I'd guess that some sites are legal. Maybe watch them for tips on how to get started.
Not sure thats quite the bench mark for legality 🤣
I don't think there is anything illegal about panning jist keeping your findings.
I've always thought this story was quite touching.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-29457190
There seem to be plenty of online resources to show you how to pan for gold.
Has anyone here been successful?
I used to spend a lot of time panning about 20 years ago, in various spots. My most success was up in Sutherland at the site of the gold rush in Kildonan Burn:
https://britishgoldpanningassociation.com/1869-kildonan-gold-rush/
I found a piece about as big as my little finger nail, very exciting!
Otherwise it's generally very fine gold, that you need a little pipette to suck it out of the pan.
The other piece of kit I found useful was a gravel pump to suck out the material from crevices in the river bed, where gold gets caught.
It's pretty hard graft, cold in the water, and hard on the knees! I reckon I am a bit past it now but occasionally get the urge...
Gold in Britain is pretty scarce, but yes parts of Scotland, including Perthshire, and further south around Wanlockhead, plus around Helmsdale, are your best bets.
Wales too in the area around Coed y Brenin true, there were gold mines there in the 19th cent.
England apparently parts of the Lake District though I never tried there.
Here in Ireland lots of good spots, including Wicklow Mountains and Sperrin Mountains.
But nothing beat Kildonan Burn.
Good luck!
I've always wanted to try this. The idea of wild camping coupled with maybe finding somethign shiny really appeals to me.
When i was at school we'd a chemistry teacher who went panning on his holidays with his family. They'd spend a fortnight and according to himself found a bit. Not enough to make them rich, but enough to pay for their holiday.
I remember he showed us a vial containing maybe a couple of ounces they found last trip.
Problem is i dont know where to go. It would have to be pretty remote so as not to attract unwanted attention.
That said i did hear that really far up north is popular, but being popular its likely to have played out.
Best of luck if you get this on the go. Mind and come and tell us how you get on 😀
i dont know where to go.
as far as I know the only place in GB that panning is permitted is Kildonan Burn, there is a little book to sign at the shelter by the road, and then walk up the burn and try your luck--it's a lovely spot, presumably a wild camp is possible as it is Scotland after all!
elsewhere technically you need permission from the land-owner, and use of sluices will be frowned upon for ecological reasons...
in Wanlockhead it used to be possible to get a licence to pan from the Buccleuch Estate:
https://www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk/visit/gold-panning/gold-panning-courses/
There seem to be gold panning holidays available, perhaps something like that would be a good starting point.
https://highlandholidays.com/gold-panning-holidays/
Has anyone here been successful?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50645322
And
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/26/britains-largest-gold-nugget-found-scottish-riverbed
I was looking for the link to news of a canoeing pal who in 2010/2011 picked up a rock to skim and thought 'that's heavy'....£8k nugget.
if some reading is required on where to go, try this:
https://archive.org/details/goldrocksgreatb01calvgoog
It takes some finding and as yet I have been unsuccessful.
Well keep trying.
I haven't actually tried yet tbh but maybe I will one day.
Ah.
Not sure thats quite the bench mark for legality 🤣
I don't think there is anything illegal about panning jist keeping your findings.
The way I repeatedly see it stated is as 'technically anything you find belongs to the crown estate' but there don't seem to be any examples of the estate laying claim to anyones finds in the context of hobbyist panning.
I'd image if they asked for it and you refused then you're breaking the law, but the only reason to notice and ask would be if your activity extended beyond hobby/recreational anyway
Where there are estates that grant you permission to pan they in turn have a license with the crown estate to be able to offer that permission but the crown has apparently stopped granting any new licenses, out of concern for river ecology rather than them wanting to horde all the golds and jewelz.
Crikey, like I need another niche, leftfield hobby but it looks like I may have just found one!
Luckily, I'm not sure how practical, living in South Yorkshire, it would be so perhaps one up park.
Keep us up to date with your progress though. Fascinating thing to get into
Luckily, I'm not sure how practical, living in South Yorkshire, it would be so perhaps one up park.
There's some in Swaledale
Yup. Went to Australia last summer and went fossicking in Gympie QLD. Spent about 2 hours in ankle and knee deep water, having hired the pans and shovels from the local tourist office.
And I found a nugget!
I was hoping to sell it and pay off the price of the holiday, so I smuggled it back to the UK having shoved it up my ass.
I haven't weighed it in yet, but I'm thinking it may just be enough to pay for the wear on the soles of my shoes when I walked from the car park to the fossicking creek. But maybe not both ways.
Pic of the nugget attached. Shield your eyes in case you get blinded by the shininess.
Looking at the geological reports it seems that a tiny quarry above Machynlleth has gold in it. The very same quarry that I used to boulder in several times a week.
We cycled past it about a fortnight ago but I had forgotten about its auriferousness.
It is, but it's a bit public...
...whereas here is somewhat more private.
I seriously doubt that it would ever be economic to extract it though.
Did you hear about the non-binary gold prospector?
They made a fortune in them/their hills
You need to take a trans friend with you.
There's gold in them/their hills.
in Wanlockhead it used to be possible to get a licence to pan from the Buccleuch Estate:
Is a go on the ferris wheel included in the price?
Yup. Went to Australia last summer and went fossicking in Gympie QLD.
Crikey - living the dream there 😉
Hope you rode Victory Heights as well!
Sadly not! Riding was definitely out given my propensity for spannering myself.
We did go from Gympie to Tin Can Bay to feed the dolphins, then to Rainbow Beach for sand sledging fun.
Maybe I'll cash in the nugget to pay for our next holiday...
Mate does it in Bavaria.
He's very reluctant to say exactly where as he's had quite a lot of success. He's got a few spots that he keeps going back to after heavy rains and will spend two or three days hidden on a mountain digging and panning.
Although I'm not sure if it's panning. He's got a mini sluice with a rubber riffled mat.
We did it as kids at wanlockhead, one of the other kids got a wee flake then lost it at the last minute, howls of rage. Everyone else just got wet. Good times though.
I can definitely see the appeal, I got about 2 tons of used gravel from facebook and spent hours and hours riddling it into different sizes and washing it off, incredibly therapeutic. No gold though.
(in a similiar vein I've got a big box of old circuit boards scavenged from old scrap electrics in the garage, with the intention of scavenging things of value including gold out of. But I've never actually bothered doing it with anything other than big copper bits)
Yeah, why not head over to Dolaucothi as suggested above? You can practice gold panning at the National Trust site, as well as going into the workings.
Clogau St David’s mine is just above the Mawddach Estuary a bit west of Dolgellau and the old Gwynfynneth mine is not far from some of the trails in Coed y Brenin. There is a lot of gold (and some copper) in that area. Not necessarily in the rivers.
I remember driving along the lane on the other side of the A470 at CYB, it was 9-10pm, crossing a small bridge there was a guy in the stream, head torch on panning for gold, he could have been washing his post supper dishes but I'd doubt it
the other side of the A470 at CYB,
this might be useful for locating possible spots worth trying:
https://www.mindat.org/loc-23994.html
