Prospecting & Detecting
Carr Fire Gold
April 2019 by David Obester
After burning more than 350 square miles, the Carr Fire near Redding, California, was finally out. Luckily our home was spared, and I had the opportunity to go metal detecting in burned areas previously too overgrown to access.
Give That Club Claim A Chance
My first trip to the claim was the tip-off that there might be larger gold to be found. I brought my puffer drywasher and my dad to a local prospecting club outing that was held at the claim.Practical Advice for Milling Hard Rock Ores
The problem is that extracting gold from hard rock is often a lot more difficult than processing placer gravels. Still, there is some very high-grade ore out there in many old mining areas.
The Highs and Lows of Drywashing
We were met with a plethora of mechanical problems with the dry washer and even a few with the excavator that were at times frustrating, but we were in this for the long haul, so we needed to solve these problems and move forward.
Understanding Skim Bar Placers
Perhaps the most notable thing about skim placers is that they form on the top surface of gravel bars, as opposed to coarser gold placers where the weight of the gold particles allows the gold to settle down on or near bedrock.
Hard Rock 101: Breaking Rock—Part I
What do you do when you’ve located a promising deposit of gold or gemstones, but it’s trapped in solid rock?
My Great Nevada Adventure
…with renewed determination and a belief in success, I did finally find a nugget. It was there waiting under a bush not 50 feet from my truck.Proper Spacing of Placer Sample Sites
The zone of influence of each sample must be carefully considered when deciding how far sample sites should be spaced from each other.
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