Gold panning is supported and practised by people from all races, genders and ages and is not expensive to get into as little equipment is needed and no special physical attributes are required other than enthusiasm and passion.

Fortune hunters from across the country flocked to the sleepy tourist town to try their luck at gold panning. Each competitor received a regulation gold pan and a bucket of sand in which a number of gold nuggets were hidden.

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The winner was the one who panned out the most nuggets in the shortest time. The number of nuggets in the buckets of sand is only known to the chief judge and participants are penalised for lost nuggets.

The panners fought not only for national honours and bragging rights, but also for the coveted opportunity to represent South Africa at the 2020 World Gold Panning Championship to be held in the Czech Republic.

Sibongile Nkosi, culture, sport and recreation spokesman, said, “Gold panning is a sport steeped in history and tradition and offers us a chance to promote social cohesion, as the tournament attracts people from all racial backgrounds.”

Gold diggers of the 1870s retrieved the alluvial gold from stream beds by means of panning and sluice boxes. This tradition lives on at Pilgrim’s Rest in the form of demonstrations to the public and the annual National Gold Panning Championships.

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Gold panners competed for three days, displaying a diversity of gold panning skills and techniques. The competition involved panning out buckets of sand against time, with penalties awarded for lost gold nuggets.

The “Pikkies” class was well represented and despite their petite size, these children obviously knew their gold from their grit.

The winner, Pillar Maphanga, managed to find all five nuggets seeded. She said she could not wait to compete and that she had spent hours practising.

Willow Harris came second in the same class and was very excited to get a prize.

“I love gold panning and think everyone should do it every day.”