How To
Successful Gold Prospecting
January 2011 by Chris Ralph
There are loads of new gold prospectors attracted by the current high prices, and so I thought it might be a great time to take a look at what makes some prospectors so much more successful than others.
Determining the Amount of Gold in Rich Ores
This is just the type of specimen that could have been easily ignored by the old-time miners. It felt a little heavier in my hand than a chunk of quartz of that size ought to have been.
Small-Scale Concentrating and Recovery Methods
The first step in my recovery process after milling the ore to the desired size is to table it. On this particular ore, I get good results milling it to minus 100 mesh.
Using Sucker Guns to Find Gold
...if you have a good, rich spot, hand-operated systems can produce some decent gold.
How Do I Recover Gold In Black Sands?
Prospectors deal with black sands in lots of different ways. I know that some prospectors worry about getting every speck of gold and save black sands in buckets until they have hundreds of pounds.
Determining The Optimal Crushing Size for Gravity Recovery
It’s not easy to figure out what is best without testing, and so a certain level of confusion has developed about how small the ore ought to be crushed.
Ask The Experts: Is there a safe DIY alternative to cyanide or mercury for extraction?
Q: With safety as a given, what can the average miner, or Joe-blow greenhorn do to identify and extract some metals or minerals with off-the-shelf products or natural ingredients?
Prospecting for Copper—What to Look for on the Outcrop
For the prospector, knowing what oxidized hydrothermal alteration looks like in the field is an important exploration tool.
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