Is panning for gold a physical process?

This process is continued until only heavy “black sands” (such as ilmenite, magnetite, and pyrite) and gold remain. The material is dried and the gold removed (perhaps after using a magnet to remove some of the black sand). Panning is slow, backbreaking work, but in experienced hands there is little or no loss of gold. read more

Yes, it is. Panning for gold is strictly a physical sorting of particles by size and density, there are no chemical changes involved. read more

Gold panning, or simply panning, is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts especially because of its low cost and relative simplicity. read more

Panning gold is basically simple, once you realize that you are doing the same thing that the river does when it causes gold to concentrate and deposit during flood storms. The process basically consists of placing the material that you want to process into your pan and shaking it in a left to right motion underwater to cause the gold, which is heavy, to work its way down toward the bottom of your pan. read more