Prospecting & Detecting
Following Clues to a Hidden Gold Deposit
March 2012 by Don Robinson
Many years ago I was in the American Canyon. I remembered a few details about a placer deposit there, so we decided to make a trip down and re-check some of these old workings.
Trash! A Hindrance Or Hot Spot For Hidden Gold?
I love it when I am in the middle of a high trash area and all the ferrous bars go away, the screen number goes to a three or an eight, and the meter is forty to a hundred. I don’t know for sure that I have found gold, but it narrows the odds down.
Small-Scale Processing of Hard Rock Ores
Depending on the ore and if significant sulfides are present, a hard rock miner may be able to get away with simply using a flux to digest the other minerals that may be present.
Thinking Outside The Creek
Imagine for a minute the year is 1850. You’ve read and heard that gold was discovered in California and the creeks are so rich you can just scoop it up with your hands.
The Dredge Report
As a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, I’m not allowed to talk about specifics in the court-ordered negotiations currently underway in San Bernardino. However, I do want to let you know we are making progress…
The Hunch
The mysteries of this spot were only just starting to develop. There is nothing but very bland granite-type rocks here, meaning no bold, favorable indicators.
California State and US National Panning Championships
Over 200 panners competed in this two-day event to decide who was the best of the best.
Detectors: Past, Present and Future
Detectors were invented long before I was born, but it was in the 1960s when they started to become an item popular enough to power a fledgling industry. The key development was miniature transistor technology replacing the old fashioned tube technology of the 1950s, making lightweight, affordable detectors possible.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask the Experts: Set up a small portable operation or send the ore to a custom mill?
• Ask the Experts: Who manufactures the diagonal vibrating table?
• Ask the Experts: Do "corners" need to be in place on the ground for a claim to be valid?
• Ask the Experts: Tantalite in an African nation -- is it worth pursuing?
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• How to Melt Your Own Gold
• Judge Tosses Lawsuit Against Tucson-Area Mine
• Salted Mining Properties—How to Properly Evaluate a Claim
• Fine Gold Panning Without Using Mercury
• Australia Produces World's Largest Gold Coin
• Fells Flat Gold
• Colorado Considers Gold & Silver Currency
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Revised Dredge Regulations Published for California—Pure Garbage
• Xmet Aims for One Million Ounces
