By Lwazi Raul
It has been years since the Department of Culture sports and Recreation in Mpumalanga has been honoring and gathering a number of panners in the country yearly where they pan for Gold,in one old town, Pilgrim’s Rest.
The sport was established in the town (Pilgrims Rest) in 1997 since then it has been having a number of participants from young and old, all fighting for gold.
It all started as a competition where it had to showcase on how people used to mine for gold in the olden days, how ever it all turned to be a beautiful sport to many which has been recognised international.
Participants receive a gold pan and a bucket full of sand in which a predetermined number of gold nuggets are hidden. Only the judges know how many nuggets there are in each bucket. Participants enter pools of water and start washing the sand away to find the nugget.
Panners are penalised for lost nuggets.
Pilgrim’s Rest was one of the first two towns in the country where gold mining began in the late 1800s.
The Department of Culture Sports and Recreation is expected to receive a number of panners this week, where winners will be honored. The event is expected to be a Three day full event where MEC Thandi Shongwe is expected to officially do its opppening on Thursday the 7th October.
