Prospecting & Detecting
Customizing Your Dredge
January 2013 by Steve Sullivan
I am going to suggest dozens of ways you can increase suction power, dredge to greater depths, and improve recovery methods in your sluice box.
Finding Gold with a VLF Detector—Part I
The very first thing to find out...is if the detector has the ability to be ground balanced.
Beach Mining for Placer Gold
What I saw was a beach area that was just completely covered in black sand. Rubbing my hands close together like a kid in a candy store, I could not wait to get set up.
Trail to Treasure
We are both very experienced working this type of ground, and we quickly found the pay layer where we would focus our efforts. The bedrock has good gold, but so does the red hard pan.
Good Assays and Bad
The high prices for gold and silver are exciting and certainly have revolutionized the prospecting and mining scene. New interest in gold and silver mining is springing up from every corner, from individual prospectors armed with gold pans to exploration and mining companies working to set up multimillion dollar commercial operations producing hundreds of thousands of ounces per year. The idea of getting riches from rocks is one that motivates a lot of folks all over the globe. It’s an exciting time, but this excitement brings out another side...
Using Vegetation and Soil Conditions as Prospecting Aids
Wouldn’t it be great if you could know if there is gold in the ground without setting foot on the ground? Well you can, to a certain extent, if you can recognize mined ground from unmined.
Fine Gold Panning Without Using Mercury
The technique I will describe is a much safer alternative and it works. It’s a fine-gold panning technique that eliminates the need for mercury amalgamation of most placer samples.
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.
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The Bawl Mill
• From the Editor
• Ask the Experts
• Iron Minerals, Your Detector and Gold
• The Robinson Mine—Big Things Happen Here
• Forty-Six Nuggets
• Small Miner Beats Forest Service in Court
• Using Vegetation and Soil Conditions as Prospecting Aids
• Prospecting for Diamonds
• Green Valley Reconnaissance
• Gold Pour Signals Revival in the Mother Lode
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
