Prospecting & Detecting
Ten Detecting Tips for the Savvy Desert Prospector
July 2021 by Chris Ralph
Prospectors who specialize in nugget detecting are especially interested in this special desert type, as it produces nuggets that are close to the surface of the ground and therefore more suitable to be found with a detector.
Huge California Nugget A Hoax
Sanders claimed he used ground-penetrating radar to survey his private property in Nevada County, California, and uncovered the chunk of gold with a backhoe when he was following up on one of the anomalies found by the radar.
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.
A Generous Lesson on Detecting Bedrock
The signal I was hearing was coming from a vertical bedrock crack on the bank of the creek. I removed my backpack, took out my crevicing tools and started to clean out the crack when I saw a glint of gold.
Nevada's Lithium Boom

The Potholes—California’s Oldest Known Mining District
Every time we prospected here we found gold, sometimes some really coarse flakes, but no large nuggets (yet).
Are You Being Followed?
These “people”—and I use that term loosely—worked together with others. What was happening to me was like scenes out of the old James Bond movies.
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