Residual Placers: An Often Overlooked Gold Source

December 2021 by Chris Ralph

Because the forces of erosion and gravity tend to carry lighter materials like quartz away more easily, the heavy minerals like gold or silver will tend to be concentrated in the general area around the vein outcrop. These concentrations are what make residual placers so attractive.

Detecting: Small Creek Yields Good Gold

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Most of our gold recoveries have been in the cracks of the bedrock. Hot rocks in the form of dikes cross the creek at various locations, causing us to skip those areas.

Sharing Gold Fever with a Friend

May 2020

While sitting there, I wondered if I should go over the hole again. I did and got a louder signal that turned out being about another twelve inches deep.

The Underground Mining Adventure Continues

January 2019

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.

Rediscovering Placerville, California

February 2011
Several areas came to mind, but each was eliminated for one reason or another. One that seemed to be hanging on was the old historic mining town called Placerville.

Detector Prospecting Accessories

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One of the first things to consider but that many people ignore is ergonomics. Prospecting for gold can involve long hours, often for days or weeks on end.

Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion

April 2014
Oleophilic means "affinity to or attracted to oils," and this includes gold an diamonds.

Detecting A Trashy Area

March 2022

Some prospectors would have assumed it was another shotgun shell, but in this case it was 17.6-pennyweight nugget!

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