Did people use to pan for SILVER in river beds just like gold?

Question

I'm working on a short story, and I was wanting to make sure I had the details right! You always hear about panning for gold in streambeds and river beds, and I'm hoping it's the same for silver too! Thanks!

Answer 1

No.

Minerals that can be panned from stream and river beds are called placer minerals, and they have unique properties that make them recoverable as placer minerals. Placer minerals have high specific gravity, are resistant to mechanical weathering, and are resistant to oxidation. It is these properties that make placer minerals like gold, platinum, diamonds, magnetite (iron), scheelite (tungsten), ilmenite (titanium), and cinnabar (mercury) accumulate and concentrate in river/stream/beach gravels/sands because they are heavy and resist weathering and oxidation, and also makes them recoverable by simple gravity methods such as panning.

Silver and silver minerals such as argentite are heavy, but they are also soft and easy to erode (oxidize and break up into smaller particles), so you won't generally find concentrations of silver in stream and river beds.

Answer 2

No. The reason why gold is panned is because it exists in its elemental form naturally as it is an innert metal. Silver on the other hand oxidizes readily and is almost never found in its natural state.

Answer 3

Georock1959 is absolutely correct and very lucid in his explanation. I may further add that silver (sp.gr. 10.5) is not as heavy as gold (19.3) and hence does neither accumulate in the stream sediment as easily as gold, nor it is easy to pan it. Moreover, even when it is present in the panned heavies, it is very difficult to identify as it lacks the striking colour of gold or lustre of platinum.

Answer 4

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