Prospecting & Detecting
A Third Generation Small-Scale Hardrock Revival
November 2019 by Ron Kliewer
One of his friends had 700 feet of small-gauge mine track and a hundred-year-old track bender laying out in his back 40; plus he also wanted to join the team. Perfect.
Understanding Skim Bar Placers
Perhaps the most notable thing about skim placers is that they form on the top surface of gravel bars, as opposed to coarser gold placers where the weight of the gold particles allows the gold to settle down on or near bedrock.
Paperwork Guy—A Cautionary Tale
I recently grew complacent, and it caused me to make a mistake that resulted in the loss of a mining claim. It brought my mining plans for the summer to a complete halt.
Rediscovering Placerville, California Part II
To get to the gold, the miners had to remove the shale pieces and stack them on the sides while sluicing the remaining material through their boxes.
Are Permits Needed For Highbanking In California?
...this contradicts the fact that mining claimants are considered landowners with exclusive rights to possess and use that claim, and miners have “riparian rights” on mining claims that do not require permitting.
Prospecting for Gold at Green Valley
In October, five of us decided to take an exploration trip into an area called Green Valley. This was perhaps ten miles upstream from where we had gone in September and the difficulty was access. One would think that based on the name it was an easily accessible area not far from a nearby town. This couldn’t be more wrong.
Weathering, Erosion and Placers
The big interest to prospectors thinking about the effect of erosion is not what might happen long into the future, but what they might find in the rivers later this summer when the water levels go down.
Tips on Crevicing for Gold
When everything is still dry, one of my favorite methods of prospecting is using a straw to blow out small cracks and crevices that dot the exposed bedrock along a stream.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Seeking advice on setting up an operation and the agreement with the landowner
• Montana Gold and Sapphires Revisited
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Respect the Angle of Repose
• The Summer of ‘81
• The “Chuck It Out” Nugget
• High Sulfidation Epithermal Deposits
• Gold and Silver Deposits of Bodie, California
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Crumb Hunting With A VLF Detector
• PLP Update
