Prospecting & Detecting
It's Not Always El Dorado
November 2020 by Ray Mills
This was “pocket” country. All around were “pockets” that had been hand dug by old and new miners.
The Hill of Gold
I was amazed and surprised, and I took a moment to admire how beautiful this coarse chunk of gold was. It later weighed exactly one-half ounce.
Why So Much Gold in Nevada?
Nevada produces about 75% of all the gold mined in the US. This means that all the other 49 states combined only produce 25%, and this includes California, Alaska and Arizona.
Drywashing Arizona Gold
His findings were not exaggerated—after running 82 buckets of gravels in two days we had a remarkable 27.8 grams of gold!
Study Confirms Mercury Levels Safe in California's Gold Country
While the Water Board documented the selenium levels in fish and noted they exceed the levels of mercury, they have yet to acknowledge the numerous scientific studies that show selenium effectively neutralizes the effects of mercury.
Cherry-Picking for Gold Nuggets
We have a location where nuggets over an ounce have been detected over the past twenty years. This location is a small hilltop on which an ancient river channel once flowed.
Potential Gold at Old Hydraulic Sites
So why would a modern-day prospector want to learn about a method of mining that was banned by the courts more than a century ago?
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