Prospecting & Detecting
Diary of a Diamond Prospector
April 2017 by W. Dan Hausel
I couldn’t wait to get started. With no field budget, an assay budget of $100/year, a 1975-Ford Bronco that was a road hazard, a gas card, a topo map and full support of the director, I headed to the State Line district near Tie Siding along US Highway 287 to begin mapping kimberlite.
Preparing For The 2021 Mining Season
On my final prospecting day of 2020, I went up to a spot where I had found gold years before and had my best day of the year—four nuggets for nearly one-quarter-ounce of gold.
Evolution Of A Desert Wash Plant
The water instantly dropped though the screen, leaving a pile of mud behind! I was so excited that I replaced it with a 150-mesh screen, and the same thing happened!
Finding Gold With A Simple Sluice Box
…the sluice is a normal first step up from a gold pan for many prospectors. They are simple to use, easily portable, can capture a lot of gold, and can process gravel 10 to 20 times faster than a person can pan…
Ask The Experts
Problems finding gold with a detector
A Great Day On The Feather River
Mike and Machael dug in just downriver of that boulder pile and right away found good color and a few small pickers.
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.
Pinpointing for Gold
This rock had been with a family for many years and they were cleaning up an old workshop that had lots of minerals and miscellaneous “ore” samples.
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• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts: Is an XRF gun useful for prospecting and mineral identification?
• Ask The Experts: Is this deposit worth working?
• Ask The Experts: Can a long range locator probe detect gold in quartz?
• Weathering, Erosion and Placers
• The PIGMI—a DIY Crevice Tool
• The Ups and Downs of Nugget Hunting
• Epithermal Gold and Silver Deposits
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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