Lara Martínez, vice-counsellor of tourism, Sergio Martínez, deputy mayor of Tineo and César Castaño, president of the cultural sports association of ‘Barciaecus’ Goldpanners, have presented the Third World Goldpanning Championshipat the Principality of Asturias' Fitur stand. This important tourism fair in 2014 declared the competition as a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest in Asturias.
Navelgas, the emblematic Asturian town known as Valle del Oro, located in the municipality of Tineo, is preparing to host more than 600 gold panners from all over the world in a unique setting from 3 to 9 August, consolidating itself as a global benchmark in this sport.
The Asturian town has traditionally been the key economic and service centre for the region. In 2003 it received the Exemplary Town of Asturias Award from the Princess of Asturias Foundation, for preserving traditions and natural resources, highlighting its success in reviving gold panning, giving international projection and dynamism to the region. It has also been recognised as having three festivals of national tourist interest.
The sports and cultural ‘Barciaecus’ Goldpanners Associacion (founded in 1997) are in charge of all the preparations for this great event. The president of the association, César Castaño, explains that "over the last 20 years, the sport of gold panning in Navelgas has done nothing but grow and has turned the town into the epicentre of gold panning in Spain. For this new edition, we will have 37,200 gold nuggets and 4,650 small tubes to contain this precious treasure. We are very much looking forward to again provide the best gold panning world championship in history, just as the last one was, with regard to organisation and staff... staff of whom I am very proud and have a lot to thank for".
What does the competition consist of?
The competition is governed by the rules of the WORLD GOLDPANNING ASSOCIATION and takes place at the NAVELGAS ARENA by the river, with a number of different categories in which participants can compete individually or in groups.
For each category, the gold panners face several rounds in which they have to fight their way to the final. Participants have a bucket of sand weighing between 10 and 20 kg in which a certain number of gold nuggets have been placed. This number is known only to the judges and varies between 5 and 20. Participants also have a pan and a small tube to store the nuggets they find. Competitors stand in boxes with water, where they have to wash the sand to look for the gold, in a time that usually varies between ten and twenty minutes.
Each round consists of approximately 15 participants. Before starting, the pan is washed and the gold nugget tube is prepared by removing the stopper and filling it with clean water. When all the sand in the bucket has been washed, the competitor must close the tube with the stopper and hold up the pan for the judges to record the time taken. Competitors who do not hold up their pan when they have finished are disqualified.
The ranking is based on the time taken, with the fastest time being the first. In addition, a penalty of 3 minutes is applied for each nugget lost. Once all the sand is washed and the nuggets found have been placed in the tube, the participants ask for their time and show the tube with the nuggets to the judges. The results are published when all the times and all the nuggets found by each participant have been counted.
About Navelgas
Navelgas, with a population of around 300 inhabitants, and located in the north-western quarter of the council of Tineo, or ‘Cuarto de los Valles’, has traditionally been an important economic and service centre in this Asturian region. It is the second most important town in the council, surpassed only by the municipal capital itself. The wealth of heritage in this area, although little known, is excellent, with numerous mansions and small palaces that allude to a stately past.
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