Panning

Panning animation.

Panning is a method to acquire native copper ore nuggets from sand and gravel . This can be useful early in the game, as it offers a slow, but safe alternative to scavenging the surface for stray nuggets, and can also yield other helpful resources. On average, 34 blocks of sand/gravel and 22 minutes are needed for the 40 starting copper nuggets.

Requirements

Players may pan gravel , sand or bony soil blocks. Gravel and sand can be found on the surface, while bony soil is found around or under ruins. Each block can be panned eight times. Bony soil uses a different drop table, meaning that panning bony soil may give players items that they cannot get from panning gravel or soil. Panning bony soil may drop early candles .

Note: Even though Muddy Gravel has the word "gravel" in its name, it cannot be panned.

The primary tool used in panning is the wooden pan. This is created by crafting one log (any wood except kapok) with a knife in the crafting grid.

Process

In order to pan a block, players must perform the following steps:

1. Place the pan in the hotbar and equip it in the active hand.
2. Place the block to be panned (the "target block") nearby.
3. Fill the pan while aiming the crosshairs at the target block.
4. Stand in water.
5. Wash the pan while standing in water and wait until the pan is empty.

Any items recovered from the process will transfer to the player's hotbar or inventory. Items that do not fit in the player's inventory will drop to the ground at the player's feet, despawning after 10 minutes.

During the entire panning process, players can remain standing in water. The target blocks can just be placed on the land or in the water nearby.

Panning depletes hunger .

Panning a whole block (in its 8 stages) takes around 40 seconds, this means a player can pan a stack in around 45 minutes, or around 90 blocks an hour. Opening the inventory and using the cursor to right click on the block and then right click on the water is faster and requires less attention. Panning can be semi-automated using mods or scripts.

Notable Items

From panning sand/gravel, you can commonly receive loose stones (corresponding to the local rock layer), flint , and copper ore nuggets . Rarely, rusty gears , metal scraps (which can be used to create scrap weapon kits ), metal parts , decorative clothing , temporal gears , and tuning cylinders .

From panning bony soil, you can commonly receive bones , flax fibers , and flint and copper arrowheads . Rarely, rusty gears , candles (which can be used to create lanterns ), gemstones , lore books , decorative clothing , temporal gears , and tuning cylinders .

Books, or decorative clothing can be sold to traders for more rusty gears.

Panning drops

These drops are listed in order of probability, with the most common drops at the top and the rarest drops at the bottom.

Gravel or sand

Drop	Rate	Blocks on average	Amount in 64
None	1 in 1.61	1	318
Loose stone (layer specific)	1 in 5	1	102
Nugget, native copper	1 in 6.67	1	77
Flint	1 in 9.09	1	56
Blue clay	1 in 33.33	4	15.36
Quartz chunk	1 in 33.33	4	15.36
Clear quartz	1 in 40	5	12.8
Nugget, sphalerite	1 in 50	6	10.24
Flint arrowhead	1 in 50	6	10.24
Copper arrowhead	1 in 100	13	5.12
Flint spear head	1 in 100	13	5.12
Rusty gear	1 in 166.67	21	3.07
Copper spear head	1 in 250	31	2.05
Nugget, native gold	1 in 250	31	2.05
Rough lapis lazuli	1 in 500	63	1,02
Metal parts	1 in 500	63	1,02
Metal scraps	1 in 500	63	1,02
Bony ribcage	1 in 1000	125	less than 1
Bronze armlet	1 in 1250	172 (2,5 stacks)	less than 1
Temporal gear	1 in 2000	250 (4 stacks)	less than 1
Nugget, cassiterite	1 in 5000	625 (10 stacks)	less than 1
Tuning cylinder (Cultured Tavern)	1 in 5000	625 (10 stacks)	less than 1
Tuning cylinder (Quirky Tavern)	1 in 5000	625 (10 stacks)	less than 1
Golden necklace	1 in 10000	1250 (20 stacks)	less than 1
Bronze gem necklace	1 in 10000	1250 (20 stacks)	less than 1
Silver chain	1 in 10000	1250 (20 stacks)	less than 1
Silver diadem	1 in 10000	1250 (20 stacks)	less than 1
Gold coronet	1 in 10000	1250 (20 stacks)	less than 1

Bony soil

Drop	Rate	Blocks on average	Amount in 64
None	1 in 1.15	1	445
Bone	1 in 3.33	1	154
Flax fibers	1 in 6.67	1	77
Flint arrowhead	1 in 10	1	51
Copper arrowhead	1 in 20	3	25,6
Rusty gear	1 in 40	5	12,8
Bony ribcage	1 in 50	6	10,24
Candle	1 in 66.67	8	7,68
Rough emerald	1 in 100	13	5,12
Rough peridot	1 in 100	13	5,12
Nugget, native gold	1 in 100	13	5,12
Nugget, native silver	1 in 100	13	5,12
Copper spear head	1 in 100	13	5,12
Rough diamond	1 in 142.86	18	3,58
Lore book (Tobias)	1 in 285.71	36	1,79
Lore book (Research)	1 in 285.71	36	1,79
Lore book (Diaries)	1 in 285.71	36	1,79
Lore book (Jonas)	1 in 285.71	36	1,79
Lamellae (Copper)	1 in 500	63	1,02
Metal Chain (Copper)	1 in 500	63	1,02
Bronze armlet	1 in 625	78	less than 1
Temporal gear	1 in 1000	125	less than 1
Tuning cylinder (Cultured Tavern)	1 in 1666.67	208 (3,25 stacks)	less than 1
Tuning cylinder (Quirky Tavern)	1 in 1666.67	208 (3,25 stacks)	less than 1
Golden necklace	1 in 2500	313 (5 stacks)	less than 1
Bronze gem necklace	1 in 2500	313 (5 stacks)	less than 1
Silver chain	1 in 2500	313 (5 stacks)	less than 1
Silver diadem	1 in 2500	313 (5 stacks)	less than 1
Gold coronet	1 in 2500	313 (5 stacks)	less than 1

Video Tutorials

This panning tutorial was made for version 1.13, but is still relevant for version 1.18.