gold panning

What is gold panning? 

 Panning for gold is the traditional exploitation of alluvial gold, or rather the search for gold in rivers. In Haute Savoie, it has been practiced for a long time. Known origin dates back to the Templars in 1100.

The equipment needed .

 The range of the prospector is essentially composed of a pan (It's sort of a Chinese hat in sheet), a sieve, a shovel, a bucket, to hold just the glitz and possibly a sluice (wash table).

gold panning

What principle is used ? 

The basic principle is to separate the gold from the rest gravel. To do this we use the large density difference between gold and the rest of alluvium. The density of gold is 19.3 against approximately 3 for sand. 

We must therefore raise the gravel sieved to recover the sand in the pan. Is immersed in the water pan and is executed quickly oscillatory motion. The water gradually leads out of the pan all the light materials. Only remain at the bottom heavy elements: iron, magnetite ... and any gold flakes! Gravel digging is also high in the river on the banks height. The flakes do not move in case of high flood. So they are often deposited at a higher level of water in normal times. Note that gold is and always appears bright stainless. Sometimes the flakes are simply covered with limestone which starts very easily. No chemicals are used. The sorting is done manually and glitter without mercury. Another common technique is to place a wash table directly into the rivers. Gravel is thrown on the table equipped with cleats, grooves or carpet. These elements have the role of trap leaving only the glitter escape the sand and gravel driven by water power. Once as a carpet, were used sheepskins. Sometimes just lying in the bottom of a river. These skins, after several passages of floods, were removed to recover the glitter "trapped" in their fleeces.

What rivers in search of gold? 

 In France there are many rivers gold. Haute-Savoie is found in Cheran, the Arve, the Usses in some streams etc ... Otherwise in the Ardeche, the Gave (Pyrenees), Let Ales in the Cevennes, the Doubs, the Rhone and many more ...

Cheran 

Cheran is a beautiful river which rises to 2163 m altitude in the Bauges (Regional Park) in Savoy, and empties into the Fier Rumilly in Haute-Savoie. It runs 50.8 km through more than 20 different municipalities. Its most spectacular and wild, is located on any portion Cusy between Marigny and St. Marcel. From there, its course is lost in the depths of a meandering corridor sometimes very narrow and towering cliffs. No hydroelectric dam, no pipe, no systematic pollution of large plants can disturb its balance. 

Where is this gold? 

 The alluvial gold of Cheran's Alpine home. It would have been extracted from the rock by erosion of glaciers now extinct, which covered the Bauges. The rare native gold veins were then scattered in very large quantities of moraines. Over time, all the light minerals has been removed or washed away by rivers or eroded. The gold, much heavier, has remained focused and made the deposits rich enough to make them usable. This notion Agreements dated nineteenth century. Even today, geologists suggest several different assumptions

The United States, what about the gold rush?

The United States is not to be overlooked in the production of precious metals and especially gold, they take second place on the amount provided annually in the global market. If at the time of the Gold Rush and the discovery of mines in California, the Americans were able to produce a large quantity of gold, it was not the case to the 80. The frenzy of researchers is a bit dull and the mines were exhausted. In 1995, the U.S. will re-emerge with about 350 tons of gold per year provided by new mines in Nevada. However, the great American continent does not stop the United States as there are other countries like Canada that happens to produce nearly 150 tons of gold annually. The large mines of Ontario and northwestern Quebec are not to be overlooked if one speaks of world production of gold. Finally, South America is no exception thanks to Brazil even if production does not reach a significant amount, with 75 tons per year, the mines of Morro Velho Mineracao placed South America in the rank major gold producers in the world.

gold rush

gold 

Of course the main question that we posed to a prospector for the amount of gold that harvest. If a river is gold, this does not mean that just dig randomly and orpailler. Gold occurs in concentration in a few places, depending on the flow of the river at times of floods and other unknown factors (!). Many hours spent on prospecting without satisfactory results.

When we find "the vein", you can expect to reap ten sequins on average per pan. These flakes are barely visible for the smaller and usually go up to 2 mm in diameter. It takes more than a thousand sequins to make a gram! Sometimes we find larger specimens but this is uncommon.

The largest nugget ever found in Cheran weighed 43.5 grams. Its discovery dates back to 1863 in Alby sur Cheran.

The index of purity of this gold is estimated at 975/980 for 1000 is 5.23 carats. That makes him one of the purest in the world. (965 p. In 1000 for Australia and 880 p. In 1000 for California.)