Ask The Experts

September 2015 by Chris Ralph

Customizing Your Dredge

January 2013
I am going to suggest dozens of ways you can increase suction power, dredge to greater depths, and improve recovery methods in your sluice box.

Hard Rock Milling: A Matter of Scale

April 2013
Most prospectors understand placer mining a lot better than hard rock mining and don’t realize the amount of work that goes into processing different types of hard rock ore.

The Heavy Minerals in Your Concentrates

June 2016
The fact that mineral deposits can contribute specific types of heavy minerals is why the analysis of the heavy mineral concentrates in the streams of an area can be an important prospecting technique for finding undiscovered mineral deposits.

Ask The Experts: Is there a safe DIY alternative to cyanide or mercury for extraction?

September 2016

Q: With safety as a given, what can the average miner, or Joe-blow greenhorn do to identify and extract some metals or minerals with off-the-shelf products or natural ingredients?

Gold Recovery with Centrifugal Bowls

July 2014
Centrifugal bowls are very efficient, and with proper operation they can consistently achieve gold recoveries above 95% with gold of about 50 mesh size.

Mining for Gold and Sapphires in Montana

April 2014
Fascinated by the sapphires—and the gold that occured with them—he was soon buying parcels of property and setting up his own commercial-scale gravel processing plants.

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.

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