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.

Tips for Effective Drywashing

January 2011
Back in October I read with great interest Chris Ralph’s article on the use of a metal detector while drywashing, and I wholeheartedly agree—I wouldn’t even consider going drywashing without using a metal detector in conjunction...

Prospecting With a Detector: Lessons Learned

November 2012
That is the course and intention for this article—to wander through some of the lessons I have learned in my thirty-two years of metal detecting and prospecting.

River Dredging vs. Creek Dredging—Part I

December 2011
As I started walking down to the river one chilly morning, the mist was hanging over the calm portions of the water like a white cotton blanket. This scene got me to thinking about why the river was like that—the deep pools, boulder fields, gravel bars, the effects of how much water was moving at any given time along the watercourse—and most of all the relationship all these things have on where I will be able to find gold.

A Few Methods for Sampling Hardrock Deposits

June 2014
With a little homework and a methodical approach to sampling, a prospector can determine if a deposit is worthy of more of an investment...

Digging It Dry

October 2016
I believe dry washing is an underappreciated prospecting method. There are plenty of places where there is some pretty decent gold to be had, but the spot is a long way from any water and dry processing may well be the best way to go.

Detecting Wet Ground Yields More Fun Than Gold

June 2019

We all continued over to another location at the top of a massive placer operation. Arriving at the draw, I showed everyone where gold had been found before and we all began detecting.

Common Mistakes of the New Detectorist

August 2013
Detecting is not very complicated and the rewards can be tremendous. The difference between success and fruitless toiling can be remedied by a few small adjustments and a whole lot of perseverance.

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