This is the basis for metal detectors, anyway. Golden pieces should have been detectable (and movable) by magnets, provided there is magnetic field, strong enough.
Some calculations just how strong and what the whole structure should have been—are necessary. But it should have been possible to make some magnetic gadget for gold “panning”.
Gold occurs principally as a native metal, usually alloyed to a greater or lesser extent with silver (as electrum), or sometimes with mercury (as an amalgam). Native gold can occur as sizeable nuggets, as fine grains or flakes in alluvial deposits, or as grains or microscopic particles embedded in other rocks.
This is the basis for metal detectors, anyway. Golden pieces should have been detectable (and movable) by magnets, provided there is magnetic field, strong enough.
Some calculations just how strong and what the whole structure should have been—are necessary. But it should have been possible to make some magnetic gadget for gold “panning”.
Provided that gold is the only metal in your ore. That is usually not the case.
You are wrong here. Wikipedia has this to say:
See.