What are the methods of prospecting?

Many miners use a gold pan and pan along streams and rivers that have a history of producing gold in the past.

Others use a dredge. A dredge sucks up the gravel at the bottom of a stream or river and runs the gravel over a sluice box to separate the gold from the gravel

Hard rock mining is another method but is very involved compared to other methods.

Highbanking isn't very common but you do see it occasionally. "highbanking" is a mining process where you pump the water up to where you are working instead of bringing the gold bearing gravel to the water. The object is to work a "bench" of gravel up on a hillside as efficiently as possible.

Another method of gold prospecting is to use a drywasher in the desert. This is a method where you look for gold without water in desert conditions.

Yet another method is to use a metal detector. this is very popular in Australia and has produced some large nuggets.

There are numerous other methods such as "heap leaching" but this covers most methods that quite a few miners use.