Small Mining Operations
Conductive Minerals and Your Metal Detector
August 2014 by Chris Ralph
...most prospectors don't even think about the conductivity of minerals, but there are some that do conduct electricity to a certain degree, so metal detectors will respond to them.
Digging It Dry
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.
Critical Minerals Update
The critical metals are essential to the modern lives we lead. The prices of critical metals are moving up even faster than government published rates of inflation, with little sign of slowing down.
Dredging Do's and Don'ts
I’d start the day by crawling out of my dome tent, cooking up some Spam and eggs, and heating water for instant coffee on the Coleman stove.
Dredging Tips and Tricks: A Measure of Water Pump Efficiency
…as an academic argument, when mated to the appropriate engine, is the pump really moving water at the rate of 400 GPM?
Proper Assaying of Placer Samples
The whole purpose of sampling mineralized ground is to measure the values in a small volume of material that would be representative of a much larger volume of similar material. The key word is representative. Chemical and fire assaying will not accurately represent placer deposits by themselves.
Ask the Experts
Ore testing and other advice for starting up a mining operation.
Gold in Guyana—Part II: Process Optimization at Sacre Coeur Minerals' Lower Puruni Alluvial Mining Project
In Part Two of my two-part series I describe the mechanized alluvial gold mining operation on the lower Puruni River launched by Sacre Coeur Minerals in 2011.
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Bawl Mill
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• Ask the Experts
• A Model Mining Operation
• BLM Raises Location and Claim Fees
• I Finally Made It to Northern Nevada
• Clarification on Oregon's SB838
• Drilling for Ore
• Sniping for Drought Gold
• Successful Rally for Suction Dredge Miners in Idaho
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