Prospecting & Detecting
Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Tangling With A Desert Monster
November 2021 by Bob Schall
It all occurred when Gus and I returned to a remote placer gold area where we had previously found really good gold. The problem was that it would take about an hour to walk through the desert to get to it.
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.
Critical Minerals: Titanium
The metal is expensive, not because it is rare but because of the expense to produce and work it. The minerals mined for titanium are all oxides, unlike many base metals that are mostly mined as sulfide minerals.
Clues for Detecting Ancient River Channels and Flats
The gold in this area can get quite large. Most of the pieces are about half a pennyweight on average.
Coprolite—A Prospector's Tale
Gold nuggets come in all forms, but I never expected that dinosaur nuggets would too, and at a decent price.
Hunting for Hardrock: The Basics
Exposed veins and outcroppings can be a great source for gathering good gold ore for processing. Veins and outcroppings do require a lot of work to free the ore from its earthen grip, but this labor can be very rewarding.
The Gold Of Horseshoe Bend
And we eventually reached gold. It was a winding crevice of beautiful white quartz lined with small nuggets and loaded with fine gold. There were flakes and small granular pieces—there had to be a hundred or more.
Tips and Tricks: A Dredging Tip for Clearing the Tailings Pile
After a short time, the tailings pile can get very large, and can actually block the downstream end of the sluice box.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - What is “flotation” and what type of assay do I need?
• Ask The Experts - Easier way to break down compacted clays?
• Ask The Experts - Where can I get geological maps?
• Ask The Experts - Is there gold under the old cobble piles?
• Ask The Experts - Can you help me understand the gold deposition in this area of Wyoming?
• Building A Portable Gold Mill
• Cherry-Picking for Gold Nuggets
• Using A Blasting Machine in Rock Breaking
• Another Prospecting Adventure: Coulterville
• Seven Important Attitudes for the Successful Prospector
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
