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.
The Basics of Crushing and Milling Operations
In processing gold, silver and other valuable ores, the minerals containing the values, such as metallic gold, silver-bearing sulfides or other minerals, must be freed from the surrounding host rock before those valuable minerals can be captured.
The Basics of Exploration Leases and Contracts—Part I
Let’s take a look at these important property aspects individually, because they all affect the value of a property and how much mining companies might or might not be interested acquiring it.
Reality of the Klondike
I saw gold this summer. The kind of gold that I haven’t seen since ‘81. The kind of gold that rattles in the pan. The kind of gold that would start a stampede—even in 1898.
Finding Gold in Tailing Piles
Old mine workings and tailing piles can represent opportunities on many levels, from the chance to simply find a nugget on up to the commercial reworking of the old tailings for profit.
Small-Scale Concentrating and Recovery Methods
The first step in my recovery process after milling the ore to the desired size is to table it. On this particular ore, I get good results milling it to minus 100 mesh.
Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground
The excavator or backhoe has become the tool of choice for testing placer ground. These machines are the best way to explore and sample a placer deposit if the ground is not too wet or frozen and bedrock is not beyond the reach of the machine.
Dredging The Outside Bend
This stringer was where it was not supposed to be, and it contained nuggets that were not supposed to be there.
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• Clarification on Oregon's SB838
• Drilling for Ore
• Sniping for Drought Gold
• Successful Rally for Suction Dredge Miners in Idaho
• Over the Divide
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