I frequently get asked, "What should I look for when I am out prospecting that will tell me there are good amounts of gold present in the ground?"

All these decisions and more depend on the richness of a claim—something that is determined by sampling. But sampling isn’t cheap, and even collecting the samples can be more difficult than it appears on the surface.

This new map-based tool is far superior to the old version with lots of potential layers and information that a prospector can use in research.

Most small-scale miners want to know how they can set up a system much more cheaply. The difficulty is in the balance of putting together a decent small-scale system at a reasonable cost.