Prospecting & Detecting
Creating Your Own Luck
April 2014 by R. V. Larson
Now that you are actually going to be out there doing some prospecting, I may be able to help.My Lucky Month of March
My wife Maureen and I spend part of our winter season in the Quartzsite, Arizona area. One fine March morning, we left our RV camping area at approximately 10am in search of that elusive yellow metal with our metal detectors.
That First Nugget
After getting all the gear together we headed up the old road that led us to an old ground sluice site. George and Kaleb were using lightweight VLF (very low frequency) detectors. I carried a newer technology unit that is just a tad coil-heavy in the front.
Dry Washing to Capture Fine Gold
There may be lots of smaller gold I cannot hear with a detector, but it looks just fine in my pan once it is out of the crevice.
Desert Prospecting Yields More Than Just Gold
This wash was not far from where I once dug a half-ounce nugget, so I knew there was gold in the area.
Putting Together A Small Free Gold Mill—Part II
There are many smaller old hard rock mines out there—more than you might think. There are some small hard rock properties that are even open to be claimed if one does the right amount of research to find them.
Bedrock Nugget Hunting: Tools of the Trade
As a guide to those who are thinking of taking up this activity or those who currently practice this trade, I have created a listing of the primary tools and equipment I use when nugget hunting.
Successful Detecting Requires Attention to Detail—Part I
So much of gold detecting depends on attention to detail. Every gold area offers its own distinct geological markers and as prospectors we must pick up on those markers.
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• Finding Gold with a VLF Detector—Part I
• Over the Divide—Robert Michael “Mike” Corbley
• Continuing Hard Rock Exploration
• Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion
• Detecting for Gold in Nevada
• Using Structural Clues to Locate Buried Placer Channels
• Gold Deposits of the Ivory Coast
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
