Prospecting & Detecting
Breaking Rock the Old School Way
June 2013 by Chris Ralph
Prospectors have many reasons why they might want to break rocks. These include dividing up a specimen too large to carry.Sampling Placer Stockpiles
Sampling other people's stockpiles or dumps has some inherent risks that sampling undisturbed ground does not have.
Volume is the Key to Success
While recovery rates are important, they must necessarily be secondary to the volume of material processed. Running more material at lower recovery rates is generally preferable to increasing the efficiency of the system.
Gold Deposits of Montana
Historically, Montana has been an important gold producer, in terms of both lodes and placers, and it still produces gold for the prospector today.
An Interview with Minelab Engineer Mark Lawrie
The design of metal detectors well-suited for prospecting is an interesting process and not necessarily an easy one to achieve. It is a combination that blends the desires of what prospectors would like, the requirements of sales people and dealers, with the science and physics of what the electronics can achieve.
Big Rock Gold
Fran, and I had made a practice of turning big boulders in gold producing areas to find some great rewards. Sometimes it was slow and frustrating, but in the end “We got the gold!”
Detecting Old Pocket Diggings
Looking around, I could tell that this was an old hand-digging. As I walked around the perimeter of the digging I could see shovel and pick marks scratched on the clean, hard clay and bedrock.
Dry Washing to Capture Fine Gold
There may be lots of smaller gold I cannot hear with a detector, but it looks just fine in my pan once it is out of the crevice.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• My Lucky Month of March
• Gold Rush in the Congo—Part II
• A Journey Into the Silver Peak Range
• Ancient River Channels of Trinity County
• Which Nugget Detector Should I Get?
• Liberty and the Phoenix Mine
• Confluence Placers
• Spanish Gold Ledge Still Producing Gold
• Nevada Mining Tax Cap Repeal Clears Committee
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• The Birimian Greenstone Belts of West Africa
