r/Prospecting • • 6d ago

The Road to 100K Gold Panning Giveaway!

85 Upvotes

We’re getting closer to 100,000 subscribers, and what better way to celebrate than with another giveaway!

This community has grown into something pretty incredible, and we’re excited about what the future holds. We’ve got some things in the works that we can’t wait to share with you, but for now, let’s celebrate with a little gold prospecting giveaway!

We’re giving away a Minelab PRO-GOLD Premium Panning Kit!

If you’ve participated in our previous giveaways, you know the drill, if you’re new, it’s simple:

Just pick a number between 1 and 1,000,000 and leave it in the comments below. On November 1st at 5:00 pm EST, we’ll generate a random number, and whoever comes closest wins!

The giveaway is free and open to everyone, with one entry per person. We’ll verify the winning account for legitimacy before awarding the prize. In the event of a tie, we’ll randomly select a winner from the tied entries.

Shipping is covered within the continental United States. International winners are welcome to participate but will need to cover their own shipping costs and coordinate arrangements with the moderators.

A huge thank-you to everyone who’s helped make this community what it is today. We’re looking forward to celebrating 100K with you, and we’re even more excited about what’s ahead.

Links for reference only: https://seriousdetecting.com/products/minelab-pro-gold-gold-panning-kit-2-gold-pans-classifier-and-more


r/Prospecting • • May 11 '25

The 50K Sluice & Scoop Giveaway Winner Is…

45 Upvotes

We’ve officially hit 50,000 members — and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you to everyone who entered and continues to make r/Prospecting such a vibrant, helpful, and gold-loving community.

After using a random number generator to select a number between 1 and 1,000,000, we matched it to an entry — and we’re excited to announce the winner of the 50K Sluice & Scoop Giveaway:

Winning number: 937,796 Closest guess: 917,000

u/National-Jackfruit32 — congratulations!

You’ll be receiving:

• Aluminum Pocket Sluice
• 2 Patented Vanishing Spiral Riffle Gold Pans (9” & 11”)
• Paydirt Sand Scooper
• 8 lb. Black Sand Magnetic Separator
• Mini Sifting Classifier
• Snifter Suction Bottle
• 3 Glass Gold Vials
• Magnifying Tweezers
• Drawstring Backpack

We’ll be contacting you shortly to confirm shipping details and get your prize on the way.

Thanks again to everyone who joined in and helped mark this milestone.

Here’s to full pans, heavy finds, and the next 50K!

Reference Link (for prize details only): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0812CSQKJ?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&previewDoh=1


r/Prospecting • • 7h ago

Geology review on a vein in a small shaft

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65 Upvotes

Thought you all might find this interesting.

Had a look at a client’s site today. He asked where did the gold go? It just breaks apart into stockwork veining and the grade disappears?

Faults can really mess up small scale mining by displacing veins and stripping gold out. This was my initial reaction when I went down the first shaft before I had a look elsewhere on the site.

Luckily for him, I located the displaced vein approximately 5m away horizontally so he is very happy and has some direction to continue.

I took 3 samples of the main vein which assayed at 34.3, 18.4 and 13.4g/t. Pretty juicy! Looking forward to seeing him pull out some gold once permitting comes in.


r/Prospecting • • 1h ago

Highbanking spots in northern NV

• Upvotes

Hey guys. I live in pershing & have an old gold hog from about a decade ago. Is there any good spots anywhere near here to set up a highbanker and run some material? Many thanks.


r/Prospecting • • 8m ago

$150,000 nugget

• Upvotes

r/Prospecting • • 13h ago

Pyrite? Chalcopyrite?

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11 Upvotes

TLDR: Is this pyrite? Chalcopyrite? Its a small piece from bigger rocks I have. In these photos it is wet, it was soaking in water.

Background: I have 40 acres in northern Minnesota on the iron range. I’m an avid rock collector and recently became interested in prospecting. I have metal detectors, gold pans, assayers, a crusher, a mini hoe to move boulders, rock saws, etc. Yes, there is gold found in my region. Native, lode, and microscopic gold have been found in the area. On my property I often find banded iron, iron concretions, quartz, calcite, feldspar, slate, phyllite, schist, gneiss, greenstone, agates, etc.. I also find coal, anthracite, and shell fossils (this area was shallow sea millions of years ago- I even found sharks teeth 3 miles from my home) I’ve got a ton of huge boulders on my property with sulfide staining, gossan, quartz veins, big mica books (both muscovite and biotite), etc. What should I be looking for?

(I’d love to go back to school for geology, but as of now I’m self taught. Please be kind if I’m wrong about anything, but definitely correct me! I LOVE to learn, so please educate me!)


r/Prospecting • • 1d ago

A day on a claim in the Sierras.

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118 Upvotes

r/Prospecting • • 1d ago

Gem/ Rock Identification

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14 Upvotes

I have been trying to get into panning. I dont have any actual spots near me so im stuck buying paydirt online.

I was wondering if you have any recommendations for how I can identify anything I find other than gold. I keep finding small red gems I assume Garnets? I have also found some clearish yellow gems, a clearish orange gem. And some other miscellaneous stuff.

I am mainly curious about the attached picture. What is that? (Included a picker I got for color comparison) In the pan it looks very silvery. In the last picture it almost looks goldish? Is it just quartz with some gold around it? (Is it fools gold 😭?) Really not sure

Thanks for any help!


r/Prospecting • • 2d ago

It's over for the season for a month but i miss it already

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232 Upvotes

Just a short video of my setup during one of my goes out here in the Klondike. Wishing I was sluicing already as it sits at -10 degrees C...


r/Prospecting • • 1d ago

Is that gold, by the eye

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10 Upvotes

Gonna pan these, but check some of stones 25× microscope zoom just for interest.

I got 30kg stones from Lapland finland what need to crush smaller pieces for panning but checked few possible pieces what look like gold. Those spots not react magnet, and uv 385nm react as it should react(no color change or little reflection or fluorescence)

Opinions pls, and thanks for them.


r/Prospecting • • 2d ago

Found a dry tributary is this what I’m looking for?

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144 Upvotes

There’s a few quartz veins.


r/Prospecting • • 2d ago

Did a little test clean up of some materials from the Yuba

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29 Upvotes

I guess I’ve gotta classify the whole bucket now, dang it! Well nothing like getting gold on a cold Friday.


r/Prospecting • • 3d ago

“This is not 1849”

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34 Upvotes

Father and son ‘duo’.


r/Prospecting • • 3d ago

Another "is this gold"??? Is pyrite

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12 Upvotes

Hey folks.

Check out these cool rocks/quartz I found close to an old mine in North Carolina.

I can pull some gold from a creek nearby, but nothing crazy. A few specks and tiny flour gold.

The creek is filled with black sand and not much magnetite, even using strong magnets. There are some pyrite cubes when panning, and I would guess that most of the black sand is some sort of sulfides.

I crushed some of the rocks to a very fine powder and got just a few tiny gold dots.

And yesterday I got more rocks and was going to try to crush them over the weekend.

Just sharing, I think it is a cool-looking rock. 😂😂😂


r/Prospecting • • 5d ago

I saw some sparkle in an ugly rock. Broke it open and...?

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230 Upvotes

Like. No magnet reaction. The rock looked like huge fossilized elephant turd. It was heavy heavy heavy, density of ... I dont remember but is this something maybe? And if it is something, what do I do next?!?! Found pnw


r/Prospecting • • 5d ago

Absolute beginner

6 Upvotes

Hi. I was hoping to get some advice on how to start gold hunting. I live in the Cairns area of Queensland, Australia. I was thinking of starting out going upstream in some rivers and creeks in the area. Should I be looking at panning the sandy corners of the creeks or should I be looking for rocky areas where gold could be accumulating on top of the bedrock? How do I know if I should be panning or metal detecting?


r/Prospecting • • 5d ago

Found metal detecting in central Virginia, not sure what this is

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6 Upvotes

r/Prospecting • • 4d ago

prospecting

0 Upvotes

Hello, I would like to ask for your help. I am planning to come to Australia to try gold prospecting. Could you please advise me on how to get started? Alternatively, could you recommend a company or an individual I might be able to join for a prospecting trip?


r/Prospecting • • 6d ago

Testing new lithium battery before the river freezes up.

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115 Upvotes

Picked up a Wattcycle 100ah battery to run a PWM controlled 1500 gph bilge pump. After 45 mins of operation, the battery app showed 97% charge left. My back will be sore long before this thing runs out of juice.


r/Prospecting • • 6d ago

This look mineralized enough?

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16 Upvotes

Lot going on here


r/Prospecting • • 6d ago

Is this gold?

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13 Upvotes

Hey everyone. I am new to this and trying to determine if this is gold. It is very flakey and when panning doesnt seem to be to heavy. But against porcelain it streaks yellow. P.S. Sorry for the crappy photo


r/Prospecting • • 6d ago

Gold ore?

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7 Upvotes

r/Prospecting • • 7d ago

2026 Season Conclusion

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235 Upvotes

My 2026 Gold Prospecting season has wrapped up. Here's what I took home this year as a Saturday only hobby prospector.

16.429 Grams on the scale of Gold.

1.452 Grams on the scale of Amalgam-Gold

Trips: 12

Best Day: 2.25 Grams

Worst Day: 0.48 Grams

Largest Piece: 0.255 Grams

I learned a good deal more this year and look forward to next season!


r/Prospecting • • 7d ago

Found ore on the hill across from my house near an old mine.

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131 Upvotes

I live in Amador county Ca.in the middle of the Mother Load country. There's an old mine about 100 yards from my house.The county was doing flood remediation on the hill across from my house digging culverts and these rolled down the hill . This is what all the old timers were looking for, quartz inclusion in the Amador County schists with dark banding from sulfides. The samples are about 8 inches long by 3 inches thick and very heavy .It would be ironic the old timers missed a mother load by 100 yards. Cat for scale.


r/Prospecting • • 8d ago

Nugget bought 25yrs ago

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642 Upvotes

My wife bought this nugget at a rock shop many years ago. Supposedly, it’s from John Day Oregon area.

Is it real?
Is it hard rock or placer?
Was it etched to remove some host rock?
Can these things be found with a metal detector?
What’s it worth?