Small Mining Operations
Our Readers Say
December 2015 by Staff
The Summer of ‘81
When it was all setup and running, you had everything coming off the dredge riffles into the boil box. At the hole section, some of the water got sucked down and pulled a lot of black sand and over heavies…
Proper Placer Sample Processing
...your sampling procedures should not be designed to catch gold your mining technique will never recover.
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Setting up a gravity dredge
Gold Placers of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

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.
Libby, Montana Prospectors Keep Tradition Alive
Located 23 miles south of Libby, the land surrounding the Libby Creek area has been of interest to prospectors since the early 1860s, when it was home to up to 600 miners working at a camp known as Libbysville.
Sampling for Success—Part II
The first and most important thing of the sampling process is to try to be as unbiased as possible. There is a natural tendency to select rock that looks the best—even unconsciously.
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The Bawl Mill
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• Time to File Claims in Southern California
• Colorado Disputes Key Part of EPA Mine Report
• Picking Our Way Through Bedrock
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• Melman on Gold & Silver
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