Prospecting & Detecting
Getting Started
June 2017 by Gary C. Earle
He excitedly told me he was going mining and wanted to know where he should go, how to do it, and so on. After he calmed down, I got excited. “I need to go!” was my response.
Fall Drywashing—Just the Right Time of Year
I could see lots of quartz, both loose on the hillsides and in the numerous small prospect diggings. There was a small gold rush here more than a century ago.
How to Research Prospecting Locations and Mining Claims
If you are interested in researching mining claims for any purpose, you will first have to decipher the BLM’s LR2000, a Rube Goldberg database seemingly designed by a 1980s Soviet-era computer hacker.
Dry Washer, Wet System or Metal Detector?
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.
Detecting for Gold—Finding Nuggets Where You Least Expect Them
Many friends have come up to my locale to detect for gold. I am writing this article hoping that it may help anyone who uses a detector to prospect for gold nuggets.
Contrary to Rumors, Couple Will Keep the Saddle Ridge Hoard
Some media outlets have speculated the hoard of coins came from a theft at the old US Mint in San Francisco that was reported in 1901.
The “Chuck It Out” Nugget
This was no ordinary nugget. It had not traveled very far from its nearby source, and that did mean a lot, as we were searching for the source of several such nuggets found during a gold rush that occurred in 1859.
Volume is the Key to Success
While recovery rates are important, they must necessarily be secondary to the volume of material processed. Running more material at lower recovery rates is generally preferable to increasing the efficiency of the system.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts: What indicator rocks should I be looking for in northern Nevada?
• Ask The Experts: What to do with scheelite
• Ask The Experts: Small-scale drilling
• Quartzsite Gives Up Some Big Gold
• Prospecting After Winter Storms
• How to Stake Your Own Claim—Researching Mining Claims
• The Birthday Nugget Patch
• MMAC Update
• The Goldfield Mining District, Nevada—Part I
• Volume is the Key to Success
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
