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.Where Should I Start?
Digging in the right spots will produce excellent results, like this group of nuggets taken by the author while metal detecting during the last few months. The biggest nugget is over an ounce.
What Have You Got to Lose?
It’s accepted knowledge that wet methods will recover more fine gold than dry methods and processing the gravel as a whole will get more gold than only using a metal detector. The question is how much more?
Early Winter Detecting in the Sierras
The mine site consists of river gravels from an ancient channel covering over 20 acres, and the place is covered with very large river rock and small tree overgrowth.
The Madonna Nugget
It was down deeper than I expected for surface trash. It wasn't until I was down six inches that the target screamed from my scoop.
Fountain of Youth Gold
Across and downstream of our operation was a large pile of huge boulders. It was logical to think that water forces may have deposited gold in and around these boulders. We moved our dredge over and started pulling the rock pile apart.
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.
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