Prospecting & Detecting
Pot Hole Gold
January 2012 by Tom Leftwich
It was early in the 2008 season on the Mokelumne River near Pine Grove, California. Considering the potential for high water through the month of June, my wife Fran and I set our sights on investigating some of the pot holes in...
My Lucky Month of March
My wife Maureen and I spend part of our winter season in the Quartzsite, Arizona area. One fine March morning, we left our RV camping area at approximately 10am in search of that elusive yellow metal with our metal detectors.
Beach Mining for Placer Gold
What I saw was a beach area that was just completely covered in black sand. Rubbing my hands close together like a kid in a candy store, I could not wait to get set up.
Alaskan Gold Adventure
In Chicken I had my first experience with the famous Alaska blue clay, sometimes called the blue layer. The blue layer is where the best fine gold was to be found.
Hunches, Choices and Guesses
When you approach a location, even if you've been there before, you should consider all the factors and conditions present at the site. This includes both natural and man-made factors.
Fall Drywashing—Just the Right Time of Year
I could see lots of quartz, both loose on the hillsides and in the numerous small prospect diggings. There was a small gold rush here more than a century ago.
Detecting the Fringe Areas
One prime example is an area that I have talked about in many of my articles. This is a very large area and I will actually describe its location again.
The PIGMI—a DIY Crevice Tool
I’ve had great success using it to gather gold from crevices. I’d like to share the design with all of you gold miners reading this article and hope that you get as much satisfaction building and using it as I did.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Southwest Alaska Gold Project Progresses
• Good Assays and Bad
• Where to Find Gold in Indiana—Part II
• Who is a Qualified Person?
• Time Well Spent
• Reality of the Klondike
• NWMA Show
• River Dredging vs. Creek Dredging—Part II
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices







