Prospecting & Detecting
Gold Placers of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
January 2014 by Steve Herschbach
The biggest obstacle is that like many streams on the Kenai Peninsula, high water during the summer months from snow melt and rain can make dredging nearly impossible. The best dredging is in the colder months of the year.
Good Assays and Bad
The high prices for gold and silver are exciting and certainly have revolutionized the prospecting and mining scene. New interest in gold and silver mining is springing up from every corner, from individual prospectors armed with gold pans to exploration and mining companies working to set up multimillion dollar commercial operations producing hundreds of thousands of ounces per year. The idea of getting riches from rocks is one that motivates a lot of folks all over the globe. It’s an exciting time, but this excitement brings out another side...
Gold Geochemistry: Where Does Gold Come From?
Prospectors often wonder why gold deposits in veins like it does. Why is one vein rich while another is barren, even though they are only a few hundred feet apart?
Highbanking for Gold
Pumps can be set up quite a distance away horizontally from the sluice, even hundreds of feet. It will work so long as there is sufficient water at the source where the pump is located. Vertical distance is more of a problem than horizontal distance; 30 to 40 feet is the maximum vertical climb for most pumps.
Underwater Reclamation
Working underwater certainly has its challenges, but since I wanted to learn how to blast underwater, I just needed to dive in headfirst and take charge of the operation.
More Tips on How to Find Gold with A Detector
When detecting an area that has been cleaned to bedrock and you have new trees growing, always make sure you get your coil as close as possible to the tree. Why?
Nome Offshore Dredging Creates Challenges
The Alaska state government has been trying to keep up with and maybe even stay on top of the situation by studying the problems associated with rapid growth and how to solve them.
Endurance Is Golden
Feeling through the mud, I felt the weight and shape of what could only be gold. Throwing my hand in the water revealed a sixteen-gram nugget oozing with character.
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