Small Mining Operations
Mining for Gold and Sapphires in Montana
April 2014 by Chris Ralph
Fascinated by the sapphires—and the gold that occured with them—he was soon buying parcels of property and setting up his own commercial-scale gravel processing plants.
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.
Proper Assaying of Placer Samples
The whole purpose of sampling mineralized ground is to measure the values in a small volume of material that would be representative of a much larger volume of similar material. The key word is representative. Chemical and fire assaying will not accurately represent placer deposits by themselves.
Sampling for Success—Part I
All these decisions and more depend on the richness of a claim—something that is determined by sampling. But sampling isn’t cheap, and even collecting the samples can be more difficult than it appears on the surface.
PLP Update
All 28 groups listed agree that Section 402 of the Clean Water Act does not apply and no dredge miner should be asking a state or federal agency for such a permit.
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Centrifugal bowls versus jigs
The Challenge of Winter Dredging
Dredges actually do pretty well in freezing conditions. There are a few tips you should know, however.
21st Century American Gold Rush: Rare Earth Elements
The burning question I needed answered was why didn’t the deposit ever get mined of at least one of the valuable minerals? A couple of reasons have come to light.
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The Bawl Mill
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• Contrary to Rumors, Couple Will Keep the Saddle Ridge Hoard
• Finding Gold with a VLF Detector—Part I
• Creating Your Own Luck
• Over the Divide—Robert Michael “Mike” Corbley
• Continuing Hard Rock Exploration
• Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion
• Detecting for Gold in Nevada
• Using Structural Clues to Locate Buried Placer Channels
• Gold Deposits of the Ivory Coast
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
