How to Recognize Hard Rock Gold Ores

September 2017 by Chris Ralph

I regularly get inquiries along the line of: “Hey, I found this rock, and I think it might be gold ore. How can I tell?” Prospectors are always on the lookout for gold-bearing rocks that may be the source of any nearby placer gold.

The PIGMI—a DIY Crevice Tool

April 2017
I’ve had great success using it to gather gold from crevices. I’d like to share the design with all of you gold miners reading this article and hope that you get as much satisfaction building and using it as I did.

Ask The Experts: Question about resolving a quitclaim error

October 2016

Q: I am in the process of filing an appeal with my lawyer, but am seeking more “expert” advice in the arenas of “mining claims” and BLM jurisdiction.

Ask the Experts

December 2013
Ore testing and other advice for starting up a mining operation.

Piggin' for Gold

May 2015
Take a look at the picture—it’s pretty simple and you can build it yourself.

Detecting Alone -- What to Look For

October 2014
I figure there are a lot of new people out there who have the same question. I will try to give some answers that hopefully will give you more confidence in finding your own spots.

How to Field Evaluate A Placer Property

January 2015
If there is misleading wording anywhere, it will be in the sample data and in reserve/resource estimates.

Putting Together A Small Free Gold Mill

May 2018

Most small-scale miners want to know how they can set up a system much more cheaply. The difficulty is in the balance of putting together a decent small-scale system at a reasonable cost.

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