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Alluvial Fans
April 2002 by Edgar B. Heylmun, PhD
Alluvial fans are essentially dry land “deltas” which can be found in all climates. However, they are best developed in arid and semi-arid regions, where they may be many square miles in area. They are built up by outpourings of silt, sand, and gravel caused by seasonal run-off, as well as by boulders and cobbles carried by flash floods.Additional articles that might interest you...
Legislative and Regulatory Update
November 2017
- EPA ends "sue and settle"
- Sage grouse mineral withdrawal cancelled
The Half-Mile Claim
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We dug and extracted for two more hours. This time, as I dumped the concentrates, I saw a piece of gold three-fourths of an inch long and as big around as a pencil.
Prospecting With Limited Equipment
June 2002
There are situations where small-scale miners cannot use dredges or high bankers. This is when it’s time to join the ranks of the old timers and their use of hand methods. Back when a gold pan, pick and shovel and sluice or rocker box were the...

All About Pyrite
January 2015
Most prospectors learn early that pyrite is fool's gold...but the truth is it can be an excellent indicator mineral for gold and in many cases does contain small amounts of gold.

Melman on Gold & Silver
October 2004
The world received a sad reminder of just how dangerous and threatening terrorism has become as more than three hundred people—most of them children—died when Russian troops and police stormed a school that had been taken over by terrorist rebels from the breakaway province of Chechnya in the Russian city of Beslan. This act was followed almost immediately by the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Indonesia with nine dead in that attack. And, if mankind’s craziness wasn’t enough...
The world received a sad reminder of just how dangerous and threatening terrorism has become as more than three hundred people—most of them children—died when Russian troops and police stormed a school that had been taken over by terrorist rebels from the breakaway province of Chechnya in the Russian city of Beslan. This act was followed almost immediately by the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Indonesia with nine dead in that attack. And, if mankind’s craziness wasn’t enough...
Our Readers Say
January 2011
Suggestions for claim jumpers
Suggestions for claim jumpers
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