Prospecting & Detecting
California: The Land of Big Nuggets—Part I
December 2017 by Chris Ralph
The nugget sat there in plain sight, though it was covered in dirt, while hundreds of people had passed that way every day.
Prospecting Underground: Use Caution
In underground placer work, the contact point of the bedrock tunnel and the gravel is a very weak point and always has to be timbered. The bedrock here is thin, fractured, and the gravels loose from many years of oxidizing.
Underground in the Original 16-1 Mine
These days they employ the use of metal detectors and carefully scan the shattered rocks, hoping to hear that sound we detectorists love to hear.
A Model Mining Operation
After he excavates the ore down to bedrock, he goes over the bedrock with a metal detector to ensure he didn't leave any gold behind before he backfills the area.
Ask the Experts
Setting up a gravity dredge
Pocket Gold
Once a seam is found it can be traced for miles in either direction. While you are tracing a clay line, you are looking for indicators. The indicators that I look for are ironstone, hematite, different color clays intermingled with the clay line, and a very iron-rich, brown gritty soil.
Is It Time for a Change? New Ways to Find More Gold
The old report I read indicated all they ever did was dig some trenches and take samples. It sounded to me like a good place to take my metal detector...
Prospecting on the North Yuba
The research I did for “Gold in the Slate Creek Basin” (September 2011 issue) found me chasing a channel out of the LaPorte territory headed towards the old mining town of Brandy City, California.
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The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts - Looking for help smelting gold
• Ask The Experts - Chlorine bleach and vinegar makes a deadly combination
• Ask The Experts - Were there insufficient values to continue mining at this site?
• Watch Out for Split Estates When Filing Your Claim
• Detecting the Fringe Areas
• Butte, Montana—The Richest Hill on Earth
• Conrey Dredge No. 4—Part II
• Gold Detecting Strategies for Hydraulic Mines and Debris Flows
• New Technology for Extracting Lithium To Be Tested in Nevada
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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