Simple Rules of Gold Geology: Comparing Epithermal and Mesothermal Deposits

July 2017 by Chris Ralph

Geology is a science of general tendencies with frequent exceptions, not one of hard and fast rules that are always true and never vary. For almost every well-accepted rule of gold deposits, I can point you to a number of important exceptions.

Sulfides and Intergrain Gold Wire Nuggets

March 2018

...these nuggets have not traveled far from the lode because the golden wire lattices would have been torn apart or flattened during weathering of rock and deposition by violent stream action.

Perception of Mining vs. Reality

May 2015

Many modern mining companies have taken to making a special effort to ensure the goods and services they need are supplied as much as possible out of the local economy.

Gold in Quartz

February 2016
Because quartz and gold may be deposited together across a considerable range of temperatures, not all quartz veins are the same, and there are several different types of gold-quartz deposits.

Gold Circle (Midas) Gold District

May 2021

Many prospectors thought that Nevada was all prospected out following all the rich discoveries of the 1860s and 1870s, and what was there to be found had already been found.

Alaska's Cripple Creek Mining District

November 2011
If developed with metal detecting in mind, this virgin ground could be a bonanza for nugget hunting.

Gold Deposition and Gradients of Placer Streams—Part I

June 2012
When placer miners from the gold rush era began experimenting with the slope of their sluices, they must have pondered the ideal slope for trapping gold in a creek bed too. Logic suggests the same is true for streams...

Ask The Experts

June 2015
Sulfides and oxides—what's the difference between the two?

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