Prospecting & Detecting
Mineralization, Ground Balance and Metal Detecting
May 2022 by Chris Ralph
The right ground balance setting for the conditions you are working is critical. If your detector isn’t set properly, you will lose depth of detection, sometimes to an extreme degree.
Persistence Leads to Over a Pound of Gold
I have figured out over the years that the winning combination is hard work, persistence, knowledge, and a little luck. This leads me to describe one of my best finds ever, a “honey hole” of placer gold, if you will.
Arizona Prospector Rescued from Mine Shaft
“I heard him hollering down in the hole as soon as I got there,” he said. “I was just glad to see him alive.”
The Coolgardie Gold Mining Camp of Southern California
The area was mined intermittently from around 1900 to 1915, but was also mined in the late 1800s, with a total output valued at about $100,000, which is around $9.5 million at the current gold price.
High Sierra Gold
Join Cal on an adventure in the Califonria high Sierras!
Q&A With Detector Designer Dave Johnson
...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.
Mass Wasting & Gold Deposits
Not all of these slides and debris flows will produce results, but if you search for these while prospecting in your gold producing areas, then you can increase your odds of finding new gold.
Habits, Procedure, and Where Is The Gold?

Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts - How are gold veins formed?
• Ask The Experts - Is there gold in Monterey County, California?
• Ask The Experts - Can you explain NMR and satellite imagery?
• Ask The Experts - What other indicators are there besides red soils?
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Warning Signs
• What To Do With All That Gold?
• Proposed 100-Mile Road in the Yentna Mining District
• All About Trommels and Screens for Placer Gold Recovery
• Judge Orders FBI to Produce Records on Civil War Gold Hunt
• Strategies for Detecting Heavily Pounded Areas—Pt II
• Auburn, California
• Old Water Channels Provide Important Clues
• The Mystery of the Grand Summit Mine
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free: