Prospecting & Detecting
Dry Washer, Wet System or Metal Detector?
April 2016 by Jeff Snyder
I love to dry wash old nugget patches found by detector operators, and I have found my fair share of gold dry washing those areas. I have also found a few nuggets using a detector on the bedrock exposed by dry washing the patches.
Confluence Placers
Confluences of placer streams are well known as concentration sites for heavy minerals. The basic reason is that...
Old Patch, New Detector
I have been detecting the area on and off since I discovered it. Every time I bought a new detector it was the first place I went to.
Searchers' Dreams
The story began in a southern Arizona mountain range...
That First Nugget
After getting all the gear together we headed up the old road that led us to an old ground sluice site. George and Kaleb were using lightweight VLF (very low frequency) detectors. I carried a newer technology unit that is just a tad coil-heavy in the front.
My Lucky Thirteen Nuggets
Even with my favorite top-of-the-line gold detector there were several false digs. Many of the hot rocks gave a solid signal that was too much like a nugget to ignore. After trying several tests I just dug everything because it is better to be safe than leave a big, deep nugget for a more diligent gold hunter.
Cold Water Gold
It was June 2011, and my wife Fran and I with Grandson Lucas and good friend Ernie Cruz were attempting to get to our gold mining claim on the Middle Fork of the Feather River about ten miles from Quincy, California. Rain had poured down in the previous few days and the road in a large number of low places was under water. Following two hours of slugging through the mud...
Tyrie's Roadway Nugget
I will have to admit, I actually was brought to tears just thinking about what I had just done. I knew the gold was there, but I never thought I would be so fortunate to find such a prize nugget.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• Multiple Use Lands, Symbiotic Relations and Conflict Resolution
• Enrichment of Mineral Deposits by Weathering—Part II
• Vendors Announced for Gold Prospecting and Mining Summit
• The Tombstone Silver-Lead District, Arizona
• Sold: 87-Ounce Nugget
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
How to Stake Your Own Mining Claims—Part II
• MMAC & PLP Update
