All Articles
Drywashing and Detecting for Gold
October 2010 by Chris Ralph
It’s important to pay attention to where you dig, because just like any placer, the gold in dry placers is concentrated in certain spots. This is especially true when you are testing and trying to determine the potential of a placer area.California State Gold Panning Championships
The California State Gold Panning Championships are part of the Foresthill Heritage Celebration, which has increased in stature a lot this year. The addition and growth of the annual California State Lumberjack Championships to...
Border Silver
There is a sizable area that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border where native silver occurs in shear zones at relatively shallow depths. The district is in the low but rugged Pajarito Mountains, the highest point of which is 5,838 feet at Cerro Ruido, on the Mexican side. The deceptively rough terrain forced the first border surveyors, in 1855, to kill several mules and horses because of their injuries.
Melman on Gold & Silver
Sometime during the hippie days of the 1960s, the world became aware of the custom of chanting mantras. At that time, the favorite was the word “OM.” Well, the financial community seems to have recaptured the custom of chanting...
The Forms of Crystalline Gold
The largest and most perfect single gold crystals are nearly always in the form of octahedra. These large octahedral crystals often possess deeply recessed faces.
Melman on Gold & Silver
I hope long-term readers would agree that while your columnist does occasionally carry some arguments to an extreme length, I usually stay within the bounds of reason. I am pointing this out because I was struck by an economic vision a few days ago that could test those bounds.
It's Time to Get the Heck Out of China
We are at a crossroads; either we establish the mining, production and refining of rare earth elements here in the US or we remain subjected to the whims of the Chinese government.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Funds eliminated for federal land acquisitions
• ANWR leasing
• GAO scolds Fish & Wildlife
• Red Rock wilderness proposed again
• BLM websites still down
• Karuk lawsuit update
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Nevada Claim Holders Form Coalition
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• How to Handle Claim Jumping
• The Bingham Canyon Copper Mine
• Prospecting My Way Across Australia Pt I
• Recreational Mining in the Cache Creek Mining District, Alaska
• California and US Gold Panning Championships
• Melman on Gold & Silver
Free:
The Jenkins Mine Project Pt III -- Site Selection
• Update: Public Lands for the People