Information Update
No. 2 - Recreational Handpanning for Placer Minerals
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Revision Date: November 30, 2006
The Mineral Tenure Act provides that hand panning in a watercourse for placer minerals as a recreational activity can be carried out by an individual without the necessity of holding a Free Miner Certificate (FMC). Hand panning is a comparable activity to rock hounding and hiking.
Hand panning means to wash mineralized earth and gravel by agitation in a hand held pan so as to separate and recover those minerals or placer minerals having the greatest specific gravity. No equipment or tools other than a hand pan can be used in recreational hand panning.
Use of equipment such as a sluice box, rocker box, shaker and suction dredge is strictly regulated in British Columbia. Such equipment must not be used except on a valid placer title and then only with the approval of the District Inspector of Mines.
The only specific restriction in the Mineral Tenure Act governing where you may hand pan is the provision in section 9(2) which prohibits panning on a valid mineral or placer title unless the person has permission from the recorded holder of the mineral or placer title. However, other uses of the land may prohibit hand panning.
Hand panning should not be carried out:
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Within a park, unless permission from the park warden or agency responsible for the park is first obtained;
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On an Indian Reservation or Treaty Settlement Lands, unless permission is first obtained from the Band; and
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On private property without the owner’s permission.
