Prospecting & Detecting
Practical Advice for Milling Hard Rock Ores
July 2020 by Chris Ralph
The problem is that extracting gold from hard rock is often a lot more difficult than processing placer gravels. Still, there is some very high-grade ore out there in many old mining areas.
What's In A Name?
The names attached to these areas came about from many sources. Many are easy to see why the name was given while others had a more contrasting note to them.
Strategies for Detecting Heavily Pounded Areas
The problem is every other nugget hunter and drywash prospector had the same idea. As a result, you can spend days, weeks, and even months detecting these areas and not find a single nugget.
Pinpointing for Gold
This rock had been with a family for many years and they were cleaning up an old workshop that had lots of minerals and miscellaneous “ore” samples.
Metallic Trash—Scourge of the Prospector
I had been busy representing the Prospecting and Mining Journal this spring, but prospecting season finally arrived and I’ve been out digging for nuggets—I’ve even found a few. I know a number of prospectors who are armed with new metal detectors and headed to the hills to look for that precious yellow stuff.
Prepping Your Gold Detecting Spots
All bedrock cracks that appear to be wide and deep should be cleaned out completely, and if you cannot clean it out thoroughly then you should break the bedrock apart…
Underwater Reclamation
Working underwater certainly has its challenges, but since I wanted to learn how to blast underwater, I just needed to dive in headfirst and take charge of the operation.
The Underground Mining Adventure Continues
Our group of independent miners have been busy crafting a uniquely designed ladder/ore cart track from the bottom of an 85-foot mine shaft in a historical hard rock mine.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Can GPR be used for lode prospecting?
• Ask The Experts - How do I extract gold from pyrite?
• Ask The Experts - Should I dig faint sounds with no indicator bars while detecting?
• Ask The Experts - Should the detector sound on iron and nickel in a gold area?
• Hard Rock 101: Micro Blasting
• Sluicing and Detecting Downstream
• Tips and Tricks
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: Does Caliche Grow?
• 10 Keys to Prospecting Like A Pro
• Polymetallic Skarn Deposits
• Speed Prospecting for Hard Rock Gold
• Forrest Fenn Treasure Chest Finally Found?
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
