Prospecting & Detecting
Search Coils and Techniques
May 2014 by Ray Mills

Placer Gold Deposits of Utah
The placer deposits of Utah occur in two distinct types of environments. These are 1) placers found adjacent to, and derived from, gold, silver and base-metal deposits; and 2) placers found in major rivers and derived from unknown, distant sources.
Talking Metal Detectors with Brent Weaver of Garrett
… I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Brent Weaver, Garrett’s chief design engineer to talk about gold-oriented detectors, how they work and how prospectors can get the most out of them.
Indicators and Hillsides
The placer gold shows up in ground sluice areas, hydraulic pits, secondary channels and hillside diggings. It is coming down the hillsides from an ancient channel left high and dry millions of years ago.
Turning Hobby Mining into Business Mining
The first thing a person should do is seriously consider whether they want to go mining as a hobby or a business, and the tax implications of the choice.
Detecting: Getting Away From The Heat And Into The Gold
Within a very few minutes, I had my first nice sounding target. It turned out to be a nice earring-size gold piece that was about a half a gram.
Excavator Testing Wet Placer Ground
The excavator or backhoe has become the tool of choice for testing placer ground. These machines are the best way to explore and sample a placer deposit if the ground is not too wet or frozen and bedrock is not beyond the reach of the machine.
The Rest of the Story—Detecting With Ray Mills
Ray followed up by detecting the same area and I was happy to see that he did not find any good targets in the same line. So far so good.
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