Ask the Experts

August 2013 by Chris Ralph

How to Beat the Heat--and The Bedrock

October 2018

The pit was a classic one—exposed shale bedrock with all the material being washed out one end of the pit. Within a few minutes I had a nice mellow signal that was in open ground.

Highbanking on the Feather River

December 2010
A number of visiting gold miners were quite impressed with our operation and the amount of gold we had recovered in only three hours. No one usually likes digging and slugging buckets all day long, but we actually began to enjoy it after a few good...

Extracting & Smelting Your Gold

February 2013
Unfortunately, not all the gold that we prospectors find is pretty, or appealing to the eyes. They are not all nice, bright, shiny nuggets with lots of character that carry high collector value.

An Alaskan in the Lower 48

July 2013
Our destination was some old hydraulic workings where the old miners had washed literally mountains of material away to expose gold in ancient river channels.

Nevada's Lithium Boom

March 2017
When prospecting for lithium, after confirming for macro attributes through research and field work, including examination of surface geology, the main tool is an accurate lithium assay.

Using Google Earth and Other Maps

November 2012
Last month, one of our readers requested an article regarding the possible use of Google Earth for prospecting research. It was a good idea, so here it is.

Which Nugget Detector Should I Get?

June 2013
The most commonly asked question in metal detecting is, “Which metal detector should I get?” People worry a lot about not getting the right machine. They do not want to waste their money and their time with the wrong metal detector.

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