Gold pans are too light weight and have no handles at all. They wouldn't work to pan gold if they did have handles. It would foul up the twelering balance of them.
I guess it's a good thing we don't get those alligators up here. We do have those 12 inch lizards, but stomping a foot drives them away.
Did you know that an upside down frisby will kind of work as a sort of alright gold pan? The bigger the frisbee the better, and better for dry panning than wet panning.
It's also helpful to scuff up the soft plastic inside of the frisbee with stiff wire brush. Just scratch it up a whole bunch with that brush.