Prospecting & Detecting
A Good Start
July 2011 by Tom Leftwich
We split up in order to cover a larger area and found good color almost everywhere. The bedrock was shallow on both sides of the river, but the inside bend was where we concentrated our prospecting.Fountain of Youth Gold
Across and downstream of our operation was a large pile of huge boulders. It was logical to think that water forces may have deposited gold in and around these boulders. We moved our dredge over and started pulling the rock pile apart.
Alaskan Gold Adventure
In Chicken I had my first experience with the famous Alaska blue clay, sometimes called the blue layer. The blue layer is where the best fine gold was to be found.
Out of the Ashes—New Access to Gold
As I arrived at my detecting location, I got all my gear and headed up the trail. I had to stop and take in the devastation all around me.
Successful Rally for Suction Dredge Miners in Idaho
Representative Paul Shepherd stopped by, and Idaho County Commissioner Jim Chmelik dove with one of the dredgers so he could see for himself that no harm was being done to fish or their habitat.
Take a Kid Detecting
I thought things started off okay until I realized I had forgotten some of my gear and had to return to the house. My troubled start was not helped when my boy came up to me a few minutes after my return to show me his first nugget of the day.
The Value of Old Patches
Nuggets make for the best memories and this patch was just adding to mine. In the hours of daylight I had left, I worked from that nugget to the bottom of the patch, collecting eight more nuggets.
The Alaska Highway and Beyond
My first clean-up showed that my efforts were not in vain. There was considerable color with some good-sized nuggets in the riffle trap.
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The Bawl Mill
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• Ask The Experts—14-day camping limit
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Explosives and Mining
• Mother Lode Leaf Gold
• Dredging The Outside Bend
• WWII Vet & Prospector Still Going Strong
• Nevada Gold Value Up Along With Production
• 2011 National Mining Hall of Fame Inductees
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes & Mineral and Metal Prices
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Northern Gold Mining's Garrison Gold Property
• Wyoming's Billion Dollar Nugget—The Trilogy Ends
