Butte, Montana—The Richest Hill on Earth

December 2017 by Chris Ralph

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day exploring around Butte, Montana and was amazed by the amount of mining that has taken place there. The old-timers called Butte “the richest hill on earth” and had pretty good reasons for doing so.

The Significance of Nuggets in Placers

January 2016
Chances are better that both types of gold did not come from the same source. Let's look at the probable conditions to cause two types of gold in a placer.

Gold Refining In The Ancient World

March 2015

One thing that stood out for me is that Agricola was very specific about the type of metal or wood in the implements and vessels that were to be used.

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.

Prospecting for Silver Deposits

August 2015
In some ways, silver is the forgotten precious metal because it straddles both the world of precious metals and jewelry, while having many important  industrial applications like a base metal. The price of silver reflects both the precious metal investment demand as well as the industrial demand.

Enrichment of Mineral Deposits by Weathering—Part I

March 2016

The exact minerals formed in the concentrated supergene deposits depends much on the type of country rock around the deposit and the chemistry of the deposit itself, but if conditions are right, this process will form some rich patches of bonanza ore, in some places valued at thousands of dollars to the ton.

The Goldfield Mining District, Nevada—Part II

July 2017

The majority of the gold produced in Goldfield has come from ores that are close enough to the surface to be oxidized by the air. This oxidized ore is normally a soft, shattered, earthy material usually stained yellow to brown by oxides of iron.

Sierra County Gold—Part I

December 2013
...this county contained some of the richest placer ground found in all of California and still produces some pretty impressive finds to this day.

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