Prospecting & Detecting
Paperwork Guy—A Cautionary Tale
April 2013 by Steve Herschbach
I recently grew complacent, and it caused me to make a mistake that resulted in the loss of a mining claim. It brought my mining plans for the summer to a complete halt.Route Planning Using GPS
My intention was to end this discussion with waypoints and routes, then I found USGS maps of the Plainfield Quadrangle.
Rediscovering Placerville, California Part II
To get to the gold, the miners had to remove the shale pieces and stack them on the sides while sluicing the remaining material through their boxes.
A Generous Lesson on Detecting Bedrock
The signal I was hearing was coming from a vertical bedrock crack on the bank of the creek. I removed my backpack, took out my crevicing tools and started to clean out the crack when I saw a glint of gold.
Ganes Creek After The Flood

Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground
The excavator or backhoe has become the tool of choice for testing placer ground. These machines are the best way to explore and sample a placer deposit if the ground is not too wet or frozen and bedrock is not beyond the reach of the machine.
Resurrecting An Old Hard Rock Mine
There were nice sections of vein material at the end of several drifts, like they just stopped work one day and walked away.
Looking for that Hidden Placer
I detect in a wide array of situations. I like to search for places that no one has been to. I really like to find areas that have never been worked at all.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask the Experts - processing plants that can extract rare earth metals
• Ask the Experts - what does MDB&M stand for?
• Ask the Experts - proper mining claim procedures
• The Hughes Creek Placers, Montana
• Benefits of a Detecting Partner
• Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground
• Hard Rock Milling: A Matter of Scale
• ICMJ Online Forum Now Available
• Detecting For Gold—Are You Up For It?
• A Trip Down the Yukon River
• Selenium, Mercury and Suction Dredging—Studies Contradict CA State Water Resources Board
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices