When I teach people about finding gold, I often explain that it is helpful to think of any river or stream that carries gold as being something like a sluice box.

After a short time, the tailings pile can get very large, and can actually block the downstream end of the sluice box.

This is the point where you might ask, “What do these types of contracts typically look like and how are they negotiated?” Well, that is the topic of this month’s article.

Rivers are not just random and accidental; streams and other drainages are what they are because of the forces of erosion acting on the bedrock.