Prospecting & Detecting
Hunting Down Paystreaks
April 2018 by Chris Ralph
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.
Determining The Optimal Crushing Size for Gravity Recovery
It’s not easy to figure out what is best without testing, and so a certain level of confusion has developed about how small the ore ought to be crushed.
Hunting for Gold in the Quartzsite Area of Western Arizona
Winters are a great time to explore the hills in the area of the Middle Camp, Oro Fino and La Cholla placers on the southern flank of the Dome Rock Mountains.
The Significance of Nuggets in Placers
Chances are better that both types of gold did not come from the same source. Let's look at the probable conditions to cause two types of gold in a placer.
Rediscovering Placerville, California
Several areas came to mind, but each was eliminated for one reason or another. One that seemed to be hanging on was the old historic mining town called Placerville.
Gold in Unlikely Places—And 'Eating Crow'
The red dot on the diagram points out where the gravels there were also carrying, but not as much color. The gold was sparse below the point indicated.
Nice Specimen Gold Recovered in Northern California
Each specimen is carefully examined to determine if it would be beneficial or not to use an acid treatment to reveal more of the gold.
Iowa Hill District
For the last two years we’ve held a hands-on prospectors training session in the Iowa Hill district of California’s Mother Lode country as a part of our Gold Prospecting and Mining Summit event. Because of this, I thought it might be good to take a look at the history, geology and opportunities that the Iowa Hill district still offers to the individual prospector.
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The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts - What Do I Look For and How Do I Sample?
• Ask The Experts - Prospecting Around Graeagle
• Deep Nuggets From The Strange Little Patch
• We’re Still Thinking About It
• Springtime Sampling In The High Desert
• How to Evaluate Mineral Claims—What to Know Before You Buy
• Dredging Safety: Don't Ignore The Warning Signs
• Russian Plane Spills 3 Tons of Gold on Runway
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
