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.

Nevada's Silver City Gold District -- Part II

May 2016

...this district has had a continuous life of gold mining and milling that spans 150 plus years, and it appears that it will keep pressing on for many more years of production.

Nevada's Silver City Gold District—Part I

March 2016

The name Silver City is quite ironic as it doesn’t really fit the area’s metal production. The area encompassing the Silver City district is a great, stand-alone gold district, where the production value of gold has been much more than that of silver. Since the initial discovery of gold-bearing veins in the mid-1850s, the area has been a center of continuous small and large-scale gold production.

The Rush to Treasure Hill

November 2012
There were some exceptional times in the far-flung history of the West. Rich finds of minerals that set men’s souls ablaze. From the rich gold fields of California, men who arrived too late to find riches went searching in every direction. The trail that we will follow leads east, past the shining silver district of the Comstock Lode.

Critical Metals: Lithium

February 2014
Prospecting for lithium deposits can take a number of different directions, because this metal can be extracted from a variety of geologically differnet sources.

Gold and Rare Earth Elements in New Mexico

August 2015
We import nearly all of our REEs from China, so it’s critical that we find and continue to develop domestic resources of these elements.

Picks & Pans: Gold Recovery in Placer Mining Operations

August 1999
Two of the major factors affecting the profitability of a placer mining enterprise are the relative efficiency of the mining equipment, and the rate and percentage of recovery obtained while conducting mining operations.

The Miner’s Switchback

May 2018

Common thought is the switchback slows the velocity of the rushing water and gold drops out from the cut bank to a fill gravel bar within or below the switchback. I am not going to disregard that model; however, I hope to improve upon it.

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