Designing and Evaluating Placer Gold Recovery Plants

September 2014 by Chris Ralph

The Basics of Crushing and Milling Operations

February 2011
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 Oregon Claim

December 2010
When I started dredging a short distance downstream from that feature I realized that I was into a major paystreak and much of the gold was coming right out of the upper gravel. I could see the chunky pieces falling out of the gravel as they were pulled into...

Good Assays and Bad

January 2012
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...

The Highs and Lows of Drywashing

August 2016
We were met with a plethora of mechanical problems with the dry washer and even a few with the excavator that were at times frustrating, but we were in this for the long haul, so we needed to solve these problems and move forward.

Tips for Cleaning Gold Nuggets

June 2019

I pulled out the nuggets I had worked on previously and looked at the size of the wire basket that the items to be cleaned are placed into. It looks much like a miniature french fry deep fryer.

Dredging Tips From The Golden Rogue

September 2011
Everyone has a bucket list, and one of my items has always been to dredge and dive in a major river, Oregon’s Rogue, with the opportunity to find some chunky gold.

Extracting & Smelting Your Gold

February 2013
Unfortunately, not all the gold that we prospectors find is pretty, or appealing to the eyes. They are not all nice, bright, shiny nuggets with lots of character that carry high collector value.

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