Prospecting & Detecting
Dealing With Hot Rocks and Mineralization
January 2021 by Chris Ralph
What about all that noise coming from the ground? What is a prospector supposed to do about that?
It Pays to Know Your Bedrock
On our last trip, we brought ropes and went down the first waterfall forty vertical feet, only to be confronted by a second, sixty-foot-high, overhanging waterfall that emptied into a slot canyon.
Our Readers Say
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?
Mud Men: Pocket Miners of Southwest Oregon—Part I

Moving The Big Rocks

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.
Gold Placers of Southern California
I grew up in Southern California, and found my first nugget there, so I know my way around. Because there is good gold there, I thought it might be helpful to take a look at the many placer gold opportunities found in the southern part of the state.
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The Bawl Mill
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