Ask The Experts

January 2016 by Chris Ralph

Explosives and Mining

July 2011
Explosives used correctly will save you both time and money being one of the best and most productive tools you can use.

Testing Ores for Free Gold

December 2011
I get a number of questions from people about testing and treating hard rock ores. The simplest way, but also an expensive one, is to just have an assay test done by an independent assay firm. As an alternative...

Exploring Placers with Auger Drills

June 2014
Augers can be used effectively for placer exploration with certain limitations.

How to Field Evaluate A Placer Property

January 2015
If there is misleading wording anywhere, it will be in the sample data and in reserve/resource estimates.

Finding Gold with a VLF Detector—Part I

April 2014
The very first thing to find out...is if the detector has the ability to be ground balanced.

Hunches, Choices and Guesses

September 2013
When you approach a location, even if you've been there before, you should consider all the factors and conditions present at the site. This includes both natural and man-made factors.

Proper Assaying of Placer Samples

November 2012
The whole purpose of sampling mineralized ground is to measure the values in a small volume of material that would be representative of a much larger volume of similar material. The key word is representative. Chemical and fire assaying will not accurately represent placer deposits by themselves.

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