Prospecting & Detecting
Alaskan Gold Adventure
December 2016 by Amanda Fitzhugh
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.
My Introduction To Gold Prospecting
At the end of the day, Jerry showed me how to clean out the sluice box and then how to pan out the concentrates. As we finished panning, there it was—a little tiny smile of gold...
Using Structural Clues to Locate Buried Placer Channels
They must have assumed the paystreak was spotty and had been mined out, so they never mined as close to the side of the valley as they should have.
Metal Detecting Old Hard Rock Mine Dumps
The type of mine dump that is best for metal detecting are the ones that consist of mixed sizes of rock and are located near some sort of excavation, commonly a shaft or adit. Sometimes the piles located along a trench dug by the miners can be productive as well.
California State and US National Gold Panning Championships
This was two days of gold panning, with just over 250 gold panners trying to win a medal to show they were one of the best of the best.
Getting Started
He excitedly told me he was going mining and wanted to know where he should go, how to do it, and so on. After he calmed down, I got excited. “I need to go!” was my response.
Swing and a Miss
A very good baseball hitter might get a hit roughly one time out of every three at-bats, but for prospectors often the results are much sparser and it may take many trips before the prospector hits a home run.
Ask The Experts
Designing my own dredge...
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Our Readers Say
• Ask the Experts: What type of wetsuit do I need?
• Prospector's Guide to Rock Breaking and Blasting
• MMAC Update
• Pros and Cons of Big Detector Coils
• Prospecting and Mining Old Mine Sites
• Detecting Strategies for Heavily Forested Areas
• Mining Districts and Community Outreach
• Learning the Game and the Power to Change It
• Central Idaho Federal Employees Back to Work With Local Help
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
• Melman on Gold & Silver
