All Articles
Growing Pains of the Learning Curve
January 2009 by Jonathan Porter
We would all love to think that gold was as easy to find as the grinning guy in the glossy brochure makes it seem; after all, those nuggets are just laying around (on top of the ground in some cases) just waiting to be picked up by whomever wishes to make the effort. So why does it sometimes seem so hard?
Detecting Old Pocket Diggings
Looking around, I could tell that this was an old hand-digging. As I walked around the perimeter of the digging I could see shovel and pick marks scratched on the clean, hard clay and bedrock.
Forest Service v. Michael & Linda Backlund
On Tuesday morning, August 26, 2010, my clients Michael and Linda Backlund were forced to plead guilty to a charge of violating 36 CFR §261.10(b), which criminalizes maintaining a residence on Forest Service land without authorization “when such authorization is required.” This is a new regulation pursuant to which virtually anything, even a tent, is an unlawful “residence” unless authorized in advance.
Using Legal Subdivision
“Legal Subdivision” is a method used to describe various tracts of land, including most placer mining claims. Anyone wanting to research mining claims in order to find “open ground,” for the purpose of prospecting and/or locating a mining claim, will need to know how to use this tool.
Melman on Gold & Silver
What a month! One day we were keeping our eyes on the turbulent, hurricane-filled skies over Florida as the seemingly endless array of powerful storms continued on, then we were watching the televised Presidential debates, and all the while we were being inundated with a relentless barrage of stories regarding crude oil, gasoline and heating oil as their prices roared ahead with a vengeance...
Ask the Experts
Q: Would a mining company be interested in this area for just the magnetite?
EPA Chief to Reconsider Paying Claims Over Mine Waste Spill
“We feel that we can clean up an area that has been abandoned after 100 years of mining,” Lyon said.
Ask the Experts
• Reopening closed areas
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The Bawl Mill
• A Word From the Editor
• Reading A River: Finding The Paystreaks—Part II
• Placer Gold in the Ortiz Mountains
• Miners Discuss Struggles at NWMA
• Ask The Experts—Where to Take Sulfide Ore for Processing
• Ask The Experts—Where Would The Most Gold Tend To Be In This Deposit?
• East Coast Dredger Heads West - Part I
• Stillwater At Half Speed
• Elko County Has Highest State Median Income
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
• Pebble Deposit Reveals Mineral Potential







