Prospecting & Detecting
Selecting A Low-Risk Region To Explore, Mine or Invest
August 2019 by Chris Ralph
“The evidence is clear—mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract precious commodity investment dollars...”
The Half-Mile Claim
We dug and extracted for two more hours. This time, as I dumped the concentrates, I saw a piece of gold three-fourths of an inch long and as big around as a pencil.
Summertime Gold Panning
I have smaller pans for cleaning black sand concentrates, big pans for taking large samples, pans with corners for pouring out materials, and pans with lots of special riffles. This variation is why I have so many pans—they each have their specialty.
What About Palladium?
Palladium may well be an underexplored element and therefore an opportunity for prospectors and geologists. This is because they are often less than obvious and other than the native metals, a chemical analysis of samples is required to identify PGM-enriched rocks.
Research Tools for The Modern Prospector
Much more information can be gained from that single source and gives you ideas on the gravels for dry washing or where the nuggets may lie for metal detecting
Using Geologic Publications to Discover Collecting Sites
I understand that a person without geological knowledge could be daunted reading a geological publication. You can pick out the good stuff from a geological publication without a lot of geological knowledge.
Continuing Hard Rock Exploration
We had been picking away at it, but the going was mightly slow. Why not use some explosives to advance a little quicker?
Give That Club Claim A Chance
My first trip to the claim was the tip-off that there might be larger gold to be found. I brought my puffer drywasher and my dad to a local prospecting club outing that was held at the claim.
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