He digs up some promising-looking dirt from the riverbank and shakes it around in a special plastic pan.

The key is stratifying, getting the gold to go through all the way to the bottom.

And then wash that light stuff off the top.

After the price of gold shot up to an all-time record toward the beginning of this year and has been holding far above average ever since, Thomas says it's not just locals coming to Pan anymore.

We see a lot more people out here, a lot more people getting into it.