Detecting: Getting Away From The Heat And Into The Gold

August 2020 by Ray Mills

Within a very few minutes, I had my first nice sounding target. It turned out to be a nice earring-size gold piece that was about a half a gram.

Wild and Scenic River Prospecting—North Fork of the American River

September 2012
Today it is getting tougher and tougher to find a place to prospect. There is one significant haven left for the small miner...

Give That Club Claim A Chance

August 2015

My first trip to the claim was the tip-off that there might be larger gold to be found. I brought my puffer drywasher and my dad to a local prospecting club outing that was held at the claim.

A Great Day On The Feather River

August 2015
Mike and Machael dug in just downriver of that boulder pile and right away found good color and a few small pickers.

Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground

April 2013
The excavator or backhoe has become the tool of choice for testing placer ground. These machines are the best way to explore and sample a placer deposit if the ground is not too wet or frozen and bedrock is not beyond the reach of the machine.

Detectors Versus Pans

November 2010
Mike scored the best with a total of one-half ounce of gold nuggets. Tom, Brian and Greg each had pieces in the one and a half pennyweight range. The rest of us had small gold and nothing like these three.

Digging It Dry

October 2016
I believe dry washing is an underappreciated prospecting method. There are plenty of places where there is some pretty decent gold to be had, but the spot is a long way from any water and dry processing may well be the best way to go.

Sierra County Gold—Part II

January 2014
...we will continue our examination of the rich streams and mining districts, and then take a look at some of the big nuggets that have been found here.

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