We met up south of Greensboro with Robert of Eureka Gold Panning. He spent the day teaching us how to locate color in the streams of the Piedmont. He showed us how to properly place a sluice and the unexpected places one might look for gold in a streambed.
After several hours of panning, we took the cons and the mats back to his place for cleanup. He modelled his recovery panning techniques (involving a drop of Jet-Dry as surfactant and a rare earth magnet to clean up much of the black sand). He also showed me how to use Google Earth to search for defunct mines within a state — and recommended sampling anywhere downstream from a former mine.
We ended up with some nice color and some know-how!
Exchequer of Words 
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