California State and US National Gold Panning Championships

November 2018 by Don Robinson

This was two days of gold panning, with just over 250 gold panners trying to win a medal to show they were one of the best of the best.

Backwards Find

July 2013
I furiously started pulling material out of the side wall and putting it in my scoop. It didn't take long to discover that the source of the scream was from a one-ounce chunk...

The Hill of Gold

February 2018

I was amazed and surprised, and I took a moment to admire how beautiful this coarse chunk of gold was. It later weighed exactly one-half ounce.

Prospecting Research

August 2013
These are just some of the ways I have been able to find new spots to metal detect for gold.

Prospector's Guide to Rock Breaking and Blasting

December 2016
The holes were overloaded with explosives, but I didn’t know it. I was just a green mining engineer fresh out of school and told to watch as the experienced miners set the charge.

Fountain of Youth Gold

May 2011
Across and downstream of our operation was a large pile of huge boulders. It was logical to think that water forces may have deposited gold in and around these boulders. We moved our dredge over and started pulling the rock pile apart.

Modesto, California Man Finds 18-Ounce Nugget

October 2016
Oscar Espinoza considers himself an amateur gold prospector, but the gold nugget he recently found puts many seasoned prospectors to shame.

Sampling Placer Stockpiles

August 2013
Sampling other people's stockpiles or dumps has some inherent risks that sampling undisturbed ground does not have.

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