Prospecting & Detecting
A Father and Son Prospecting Adventure
May 2013 by Joe Chmiel
As I write this, I am still on a rush from taking my 9-year-old son, Jeffrey, prospecting for the first time this past weekend. It’s not that he hasn’t been along on numerous outings before: this is the first time that just the two of us went out for a day of drywashing and detecting under the desert sun.Time for a New Approach: Detecting Float Gold
The first pieces found were in a spot that most gold hunters would not even detect, right in the middle of a downslope meadow.
Chasing Float Gold—The Starry Night Wash
The sun was beginning to set, which put the light at just the right angle against the hillsides to where I believed that I spotted a very small dig and tailings pile up the hill near the top of the second wash.
Prospecting for Pegmatites
…in some cases pegmatites have produced individual mineral crystals that are enormous, attaining lengths of over 40 feet long, and many of the world’s largest mineral crystals are examples that were found within pegmatite deposits.Underground in the Original 16-1 Mine
These days they employ the use of metal detectors and carefully scan the shattered rocks, hoping to hear that sound we detectorists love to hear.
Ganes Creek After The Flood
Doug told me that there had been a 100-year flood that took place in October of 2013 and it washed out part of the mile-long landing strip. It also washed a large, wide gully down below and above the camp.
Arizona's Youngest...and Oldest Prospector
I started with, "Hey, Rusty, tell me about the time..." and that was all it took.
Dredging Therapy
The big moment finally arrived. With Norm suited up, I pulled the motor to life and felt instantly better. There’s really something relaxing about the sound of a dredge running—they don’t sound like anything else.
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