Prospecting & Detecting
Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico
February 2019 by Chris Ralph
While a large number of locations have yielded some placer gold, most of the state’s placer production has come from a few productive districts.
What is a Valid Mineral Discovery?
One of the greatest opportunities afforded to the citizens of our country is the right to stake and hold mining claims on federal lands. One doesn’t need to be a lawyer to stake mining claims, but a little bit of knowledge about mining claim laws can be helpful.
A Few Tips and Tricks for Beach Mining
When you think about the extremes to which a miner will go to get a little gold, it occurred to me beach gold could be "easy pickings."
A Prospecting Adventure in Mexico
There you’re expected to be personally responsible in making decisions, and yes, it can be costly. When you are responsible for your own life, you live life more, and with it you certainly risk more.
Gold in Unlikely Places
Detectors have been around for decades now. And with thousands of them swinging, many of the best or at least most likely nugget places have seen a swinging coil. The part that amazes me is that so many nuggets still get pulled out of these seemingly pounded places.
It Pays to Know Your Bedrock
On our last trip, we brought ropes and went down the first waterfall forty vertical feet, only to be confronted by a second, sixty-foot-high, overhanging waterfall that emptied into a slot canyon.
What Equipment Do I Need?
Getting started in prospecting often requires the purchase of some equipment, but one can spend as little as $10 and be finding gold or spend thousands and also be finding gold—yet you will probably have many more opportunities and possibilities with more and better equipment.
Sold: 87-Ounce Nugget
A gold prospector in central Victoria, Australia stumbled across an 87-ounce gold nugget in early February 2015, after his wife told him to head outside to get some air. He had given up smoking a few weeks prior and was getting a bit “grumpy,” she told him.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Do I need something other than a fire assay for PGMs?
• Ask The Experts - This low-grade ore is not worth processing
• The Hunch
• Resurrecting An Old Hard Rock Mine—A Series of Small Victories
• The Basics of Exploration Leases and Contracts—Part I
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: A Long Hike
• Mutiny on The Mason
• Who Jumped Whose Claim First?
• The Value of Evidence
• Over The Divide: Charles "Chuck" Cushman
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
