The Goldfield Mining District, Nevada—Part II

July 2017 by Chris Ralph

The majority of the gold produced in Goldfield has come from ores that are close enough to the surface to be oxidized by the air. This oxidized ore is normally a soft, shattered, earthy material usually stained yellow to brown by oxides of iron.

Benches and Fossil Placers

March 2013
Unfortunately for us mortal humans, we have a poor perspective on geologic time. When we look at a landscape such as a stream valley, we see it only in two, or at the most, three dimensions. We have poor comprehension of the valley’s fourth and most important dimension—time.

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...

Using Vegetation and Soil Conditions as Prospecting Aids

January 2013
Wouldn’t it be great if you could know if there is gold in the ground without setting foot on the ground? Well you can, to a certain extent, if you can recognize mined ground from unmined.

Mineralized Faults and Contacts in the Search for Gold

January 2016

Fault zones and rock contacts are important because the vast majority of gold and silver deposits, as well as those of many other metals, are formed by hot, mineralized water solutions.

The Heavy Minerals in Your Concentrates

June 2016
The fact that mineral deposits can contribute specific types of heavy minerals is why the analysis of the heavy mineral concentrates in the streams of an area can be an important prospecting technique for finding undiscovered mineral deposits.

Gold Rush Continues in Africa

March 2015
…some miners are doing exceptionally well… with a few obtaining amounts estimated in the millions of dollars.

The Bawl Mill

March 2016
• Do as I say, not as I do...
• By the numbers...

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