Prospecting & Detecting
Residual Placers: An Often Overlooked Gold Source
December 2021 by Chris Ralph
Because the forces of erosion and gravity tend to carry lighter materials like quartz away more easily, the heavy minerals like gold or silver will tend to be concentrated in the general area around the vein outcrop. These concentrations are what make residual placers so attractive.
Companion Gold
Easing around the bedrock ledges and rock hopping, Terry and I came out into the open and were looking at a nice run of bedrock.
Hunting for Hardrock: The Basics
Exposed veins and outcroppings can be a great source for gathering good gold ore for processing. Veins and outcroppings do require a lot of work to free the ore from its earthen grip, but this labor can be very rewarding.
Rediscovering Placerville, California
Several areas came to mind, but each was eliminated for one reason or another. One that seemed to be hanging on was the old historic mining town called Placerville.
Proper Placer Sample Processing
...your sampling procedures should not be designed to catch gold your mining technique will never recover.
The Mole
My wife Dorothy has always enjoyed tent camping. She thought she was really roughing it at established campgrounds until I convinced her to take a trip with me to drywash for gold in a remote corner of an arid desert wilderness...
Falcon Fanatic: Journey of a Novice Detectorist
My first day using my pinpointer I detected an area where the fellas’ big guns had swooped in and cleaned up all the “big gold” and I got over sixty tiny pieces of gold.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Will a rare earth magnet work for finding gold deposits?
• Ask The Experts - Any at home tests for platinum/palladium?
• Ask The Experts - Should I use headphones or go without?
• USFS OKs Exploratory Drilling in Eastern Idaho
• Gold Basin & Mass Wasting
• How Far To The Gold?
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Warm Buttocks and Frozen Assets
• The Joys of Desert Prospecting
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• A Short History of Hydraulic Mining in California
• An Early Christmas Gift
• PLP Update