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.

Q&A With Detector Designer Dave Johnson

September 2011
...it’s been a little known secret that one man was involved in designing many of the most respected very low frequency (VLF) nugget detectors on the market. Dave Johnson has designed gold-oriented detectors for Tesoro, Whites, Fisher and others for more than 25 years.

Mom Finds 3.72-Carat Yellow Diamond

September 2019

“Much of the ground where Ms. Hollingshead found her diamond is made of unweathered volcanic rock. When it rains, flowing runoff often leaves loose gravel, and sometimes diamonds, on the surface in these areas.”

Using Structural Clues to Locate Buried Placer Channels

April 2014
They must have assumed the paystreak was spotty and had been mined out, so they never mined as close to the side of the valley as they should have.

Forty-Six Nuggets

January 2013
This past summer, a two-week adventure in Alaska and other gold prospecting trips turned out to be some of my greatest life experiences.

Finding Gold in Tailing Piles

December 2014
Old mine workings and tailing piles can represent opportunities on many levels, from the chance to simply find a nugget on up to the commercial reworking of the old tailings for profit.

Wild and Scenic River Prospecting—North Fork of the American River

September 2012
Today it is getting tougher and tougher to find a place to prospect. There is one significant haven left for the small miner...

Revisiting Old Haunts

October 2019

I had some success following this premise this summer, finding a few nuggets in places I think I overlooked in the past.

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