Prospecting & Detecting
Iron Minerals, Your Detector and Gold
January 2013 by Chris Ralph
It’s worthwhile for the prospector using a metal detector to know a little bit more about the association of iron and gold as well as how iron minerals affect your metal detector.
Proper Placer Sample Processing
...your sampling procedures should not be designed to catch gold your mining technique will never recover.
Dry Washer, Wet System or Metal Detector?
I love to dry wash old nugget patches found by detector operators, and I have found my fair share of gold dry washing those areas. I have also found a few nuggets using a detector on the bedrock exposed by dry washing the patches.
Prospecting After Winter Storms
So, how much rain does it take to cause a major movement of gravels in a stream and redistribute the gold? The technical answer is enough water to move the bed load of the river.
Gold Placers in Italy
Gold is a fairly widespread mineral in the Italian Alps and in the Northern Apennines. It is found both in primary mineralization and in past and recent floods.
Chasing Float Gold—The Starry Night Wash
The sun was beginning to set, which put the light at just the right angle against the hillsides to where I believed that I spotted a very small dig and tailings pile up the hill near the top of the second wash.
Scams, Scammers and Schemes
Gold mining has received many black eyes from many scams, scammers and schemes throughout the years. Unscrupulous scammers have swindled naive people for millions of dollars in the past and will, no doubt, continue into the future.
Resurrecting An Old Hard Rock Mine
There were nice sections of vein material at the end of several drifts, like they just stopped work one day and walked away.
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The Bawl Mill
• From the Editor
• Ask the Experts
• The Robinson Mine—Big Things Happen Here
• Forty-Six Nuggets
• Customizing Your Dredge
• Small Miner Beats Forest Service in Court
• Using Vegetation and Soil Conditions as Prospecting Aids
• Prospecting for Diamonds
• Green Valley Reconnaissance
• Gold Pour Signals Revival in the Mother Lode
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices







