Prospecting & Detecting
My First Gold Patch
March 2020 by Matteo Oberto
After finding little specks and occasionally little nuggets all season, I had finally reached something economical and interesting! This had never happened before along the Pellice Valley in Italy.
How Rich Must My Ore Be?
How rich does a hard rock ore have to be for it to be worthwhile to process and extract the gold?
Bedrock
I am going to break bedrock down a bit and explain my view of the varying scenarios I come across in the field.
Better Worse:
December 2022Desert Gold Hunting Boo-Boo's And No-No's
Attention to Detail - Part II
Ditches almost always started in the high country and contoured the mountainsides, making a long drop, usually many miles away, to the goldfields. There are ditches in Trinity County that originate at seven and eight thousand feet in the Trinity Alps that carried water almost thirty miles.
Hidden Value in Old Tailings
The 15 rare earth elements were discovered long after the gold rush began to wane, but demand for them only took off over the past 10 years...
Mining In The El Paso Range of Southern California
While none of the historical mining camps are active, the area is still a hub of activity for the modern prospector, and claims still blanket the hills and gulches.
How to Find Prospects That Others Missed
Every year I go through this and every year it becomes more difficult to find new territory that is available for us to prospect. Is there anywhere that hasn’t been worked?
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts -- How do I find the owners of patented property?
• Ask The Experts -- Is it worth going after these rare earth minerals?
• Ask The Experts -- Will a land mine detector work for gold?
• How to Turn Your Gold Finds Into Cash
• Caught Between A Hard Rock and A Rare Earth Place
• The Potholes—California’s Oldest Known Mining District
• Sampling for Success—Part I
• Over The Divide: Annie Carol Robinson
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: If the RV’s a Rockin’, Please Come a Knockin’
• The Mid-Winter Nugget
• Gold In The Midwest—Part III: Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas
• Trump Proposes $1.5 Billion to Fund US Uranium Production
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
• Melman on Gold & Silver
