Prospecting & Detecting
The Basics of Exploration Leases and Contracts—Part I
February 2019 by Chris Ralph
Let’s take a look at these important property aspects individually, because they all affect the value of a property and how much mining companies might or might not be interested acquiring it.
Grizzly Flats, California—Another Mother Lode Gold Rush Town
We chatted for a bit and then we had to take off, but I kept what he said in the back of my mind as we rushed out to some other gold-bearing place in the Mother Lode to feed our gold fever.
Gold Deposits of Montana
Historically, Montana has been an important gold producer, in terms of both lodes and placers, and it still produces gold for the prospector today.
A Golden Past
My mining partner Keith McBride and I spent a week in May working on a twenty-nine man crew split up into six teams at a couple of “pay to mine” mining camps.
Dry Washing to Capture Fine Gold

Pinpointing for Gold
This rock had been with a family for many years and they were cleaning up an old workshop that had lots of minerals and miscellaneous “ore” samples.
Critical Minerals: Titanium
The metal is expensive, not because it is rare but because of the expense to produce and work it. The minerals mined for titanium are all oxides, unlike many base metals that are mostly mined as sulfide minerals.
Highbanking at the 144
My third sample location proved to be my last and most interesting. I needed to look no further.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Do I need something other than a fire assay for PGMs?
• Ask The Experts - This low-grade ore is not worth processing
• Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico
• The Hunch
• Resurrecting An Old Hard Rock Mine—A Series of Small Victories
• Gold Prospecting for Better or Worse: A Long Hike
• Mutiny on The Mason
• Who Jumped Whose Claim First?
• The Value of Evidence
• Over The Divide: Charles "Chuck" Cushman
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices