Prospecting & Detecting
How to Stake Your Own Claim—Researching Mining Claims
June 2017 by Chris Ralph
Once you have determined that the land is locatable, the next step in the claim research process is to determine if the land has already been claimed by a previous locator.
Gold Prospecting: For Better or Worse
We all love to see that first glimmer of gold when it peeks out from under the black sand in our pan, or feel the weight of a nugget in our scoop when we dig a good target. But sometimes things don’t go quite so smoothly.
Pros and Cons of Big Detector Coils
Years later I returned with a new detector with a smaller coil and detector technology more sensitive to smaller nuggets. I found my first nugget within five minutes. I had a second five minutes after that.
Buying a Mining Claim: Questions to Ask
At one time or another, many miners will look seriously at purchasing a mining claim...Usually it’s a significant financial commitment, so how do you know if you are getting a good deal?
A Gold Mine on a Washington Beach?
Bela and Barbara Kovacs began prospecting for gold about seven years ago as a family orientated outdoors activity. A welder by trade and lured by the simple fact that beach sands can contain small bits of precious metals, Bela decided a few years ago to build a sand sucking contraption that can sift the shoreline for anything worth keeping.
Take it to Bedrock
Picking the right spot to placer has to do with years of experience, and a little luck. The textbooks can tell you where it should be, but sometimes the rules just don’t seem to apply.
Trail to Treasure
We are both very experienced working this type of ground, and we quickly found the pay layer where we would focus our efforts. The bedrock has good gold, but so does the red hard pan.
Speed Prospecting for Hard Rock Gold
An online video gave me some ideas, and with a lot of trial and error I developed a reliable method of panning free gold particles down below 35 microns quickly and easily.
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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
• The Birthday Nugget Patch
• MMAC Update
• The Goldfield Mining District, Nevada—Part I
• Volume is the Key to Success
• Getting Started
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
