Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: When a Gold Prospector Goes to a Diamond Mine

July 2021 by Harry Griffin

As a gold prospector for the past ten years, I thought that I had a fair understanding of the steps necessary to find gemstones.

A Successful Trip Through Gold Basin

January 2016
This time we took the detectors. Roger had worked that spot very well and wanted to see if my new detector would uncover any gold he might have missed.

Following the Clues

May 2019

It took me awhile before I finally got a nice mellow signal. My nugget turned out to weigh in about two dwt (pennyweight). Over the next few hours, we all picked up a few more nuggets apiece.

Prospecting Underground: Use Caution

April 2011
In underground placer work, the contact point of the bedrock tunnel and the gravel is a very weak point and always has to be timbered. The bedrock here is thin, fractured, and the gravels loose from many years of oxidizing.

Detecting at the Sixteen to One Mine

December 2012
A while back I was given a very special opportunity to take my metal detector to one of the most famous gold mines in all of California, the Original Sixteen to One mine in Alleghany.

Placer Channel Sampling

July 2013
Sampling gold placers can be rewarding, but remember to treat the samples so you are not high grading or low grading your results. Learn the rules and apply them so your samples are accurate.

The Smell of Gold—Part I

June 2015
Some claim they can smell gold. This may be, but when I take a whiff of gold, I smell dirt, rotten eggs, garlic or just nothing: my nose is everything but sensitive.

Ganes Creek Hits 10 Years—Part I

May 2012
Find huge gold nuggets with your metal detector! That has been the promise, and for a lucky group of detectorists in the Ganes Creek “Pound Club” the reality of finding gold at Ganes Creek, Alaska.

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