Prospecting & Detecting
Find of a Lifetime
May 2013 by David Obester
My metal detecting hobby began about ten years ago when I bought a used metal detector for about $300. I got it specifically to look for meteorites. It was pretty much worthless, not user friendly, and I did not find anything with it.
A Good Start
We split up in order to cover a larger area and found good color almost everywhere. The bedrock was shallow on both sides of the river, but the inside bend was where we concentrated our prospecting.
Modern-Day Claim Jumping
We soon found that our discovery post and other claim markers were gone and replaced with new posts and a notice of location with an earlier date than had been on our notice of location.
Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico
While a large number of locations have yielded some placer gold, most of the state’s placer production has come from a few productive districts.
Ask the Experts
NOI or POO for small backhoe
River Dredging vs. Creek Dredging—Part I
As I started walking down to the river one chilly morning, the mist was hanging over the calm portions of the water like a white cotton blanket. This scene got me to thinking about why the river was like that—the deep pools, boulder fields, gravel bars, the effects of how much water was moving at any given time along the watercourse—and most of all the relationship all these things have on where I will be able to find gold.
Sulfides and Intergrain Gold Wire Nuggets
...these nuggets have not traveled far from the lode because the golden wire lattices would have been torn apart or flattened during weathering of rock and deposition by violent stream action.
From Vietnam to Wedding Bands
It’s a common symptom of gold fever for miners to be very hesitant to let go of gold they’ve found or even have it made into jewelry. I confess, I suffer from the same incurable disease!
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The Bawl Mill
• Gold Rush in the Congo
• All About Quartz—Part I
• Over the Divide
• Your Guide to Prospecting in Alaska
• Shallow Water Crevicing Can Bring Big Rewards
• A Father and Son Prospecting Adventure
• Home Office Deductions
• Advantages of Modern Prospectors
• Searchers' Dreams
• Gold in Unlikely Places
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
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