All Articles
New Study on the Formation of Nuggets—Part I
December 2007 by Chris Ralph
Geologists have long realized that the vast majority of gold in typical quartz veins is in the tiny, dust-size range, a lot smaller than the gold nuggets found by placer miners. This is common worldwide in many, many gold districts.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Voters say "yes" to mining in Alaska
• Colorado cyanide ban case presented
• New small-scale regulations released in Washington State
• Colorado roadless areas
A Unique Prospecting Method
In 1948, I lived alone in the Cerrillos Mountains south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the Tom Payne Mine. When lead and zinc metal prices suddenly took a nosedive, our ore and concentrate shipments from the Payne to the ASARCO smelter...
Spanish Silver in Arizona
When Spaniards entered what is now Arizona, they encountered diggings made by Opata Indians. The Opata Indians, who now live and mine in the northeastern part of the state of Sonora, Mexico, were one of the few Indian tribes that was...
Why Is The Gold On Bedrock—Or Why Is It Not?
Gold on the bedrock is a good rule of thumb, but not one that is 100 percent effective. There are plenty of exceptions. So, how does a prospector recognize those exceptions?
Drywashing Alluvial Placers
Portable, hand-operated, bellows drywashers have been used for over a hundred years to recover gold in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada. Drywashers were considered a last resort over...
Hard Rock Milling: A Matter of Scale
Most prospectors understand placer mining a lot better than hard rock mining and don’t realize the amount of work that goes into processing different types of hard rock ore.
ICMJ Online Forum Now Available
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The Bawl Mill
• Searching for a Paying Hardrock Deposit
• Kings Valley Project Hopes to Meet Lithium, Uranium Demand
• Over the Divide —Ronald Richard "Ron" Wendt
• Small-Scale Mining with a Dozer and Detectors
• Alaska and Nevada Continue to Lead the Pack
• Silver Bonanza in the Sierra Madre; The Glorious Past of Batopilas—Part III
• Looking Back
• Landowners See Potential Gold Mine in Uranium Ore
• Feds Raid “Liberty Dollar” Headquarters
• Melman on Gold & Silver (2007 Year in Review)
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
