Prospecting & Detecting
Prospecting and Mining Old Mine Sites
December 2016 by Alex Dolbeare
In some places valuable ores can be found within the waste material of mine dumps, sorted ore piles, and detrital vein matter at the surface. Though many of these old mine sites can be an excellent source of gold, not all are created equal.
Northwestern Alaska Mineral Resources
Gold and jade are actually only minor mineral resources for the Northwestern Alaska region as a whole. Modern prospecting has focused more on base metal than precious metal resources.
Prospector's Guide to Rock Breaking and Blasting
The holes were overloaded with explosives, but I didn’t know it. I was just a green mining engineer fresh out of school and told to watch as the experienced miners set the charge.
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.
Just Another Ordinary Weekend
There was no evidence that anyone else had ever worked this gully with the exception of some old sample piles near the foot of the ravine.Detecting Old Pocket Diggings
Looking around, I could tell that this was an old hand-digging. As I walked around the perimeter of the digging I could see shovel and pick marks scratched on the clean, hard clay and bedrock.
Small-Scale Miners Rock the Mining World
With the high price of gold, there are many new prospectors out in the hills all over the United States, and while we would all prefer to be finding those larger nuggets, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes all that is available is nothing more than a few small flakes. The truth is, new prospectors are sprouting up all across the planet—especially in the developing nations.
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.
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