History & Geology
Rock and Formations of the Mother Lode Gold Belt
October 2015 by Chris Ralph
The faulting, folding and shearing that occurred in the Mother Lode belt has created zones of structurally weak rocks or contacts between different types of rock, which has been favorable for the deposition of gold bearing ores.
Large Gold Deposit Types
It is not necessary to have a PhD in geology, but you need to know the basics, so that’s what I am going to try to dig into here—the understandable basics of these gigantic gold deposits.
The Significance of Nuggets in Placers
Chances are better that both types of gold did not come from the same source. Let's look at the probable conditions to cause two types of gold in a placer.
Critical Metals: Antimony
I’ve been taking a look at the mining and uses of a number of critical metals in series of articles, and it’s time to take a look at antimony.
A New Look at Old Mines
Exploration companies are actively looking for properties with profitable potential, even if the ground was once cast off as too low in grade to be economically viable. This is especially true in states that are reasonably friendly toward...
Surface Indications Of Quartz Adularia Epithermal Deposits
I am going to keep to the basics of surface indications and visual clues in the rocks and minerals themselves that help me find gold-bearing veins in this classification of deposits.
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.
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.
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