Prospecting & Detecting
The Life of an Independent Prospector
July 2012 by Jonathan Porter

Q&A With Detector Designer Dave Johnson
...it’s been a little known secret that one man was involved in designing many of the most respected very low frequency (VLF) nugget detectors on the market. Dave Johnson has designed gold-oriented detectors for Tesoro, Whites, Fisher and others for more than 25 years.
Ophir—Possibly the Best Kept Secret in Alaska!

Gold in the Slate Creek Basin

Strategies for Detecting Heavily Pounded Areas—Pt II
Look around for areas where you don’t see detector holes or drywasher piles and try your test hole at these spots to determine depth to bedrock.
Sulfides and Intergrain Gold Wire Nuggets
...these nuggets have not traveled far from the lode because the golden wire lattices would have been torn apart or flattened during weathering of rock and deposition by violent stream action.
Selecting A Low-Risk Region To Explore, Mine or Invest
“The evidence is clear—mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract precious commodity investment dollars...”
Searchers' Dreams
The story began in a southern Arizona mountain range...
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Gold Depositiion and Gradients of Placer Streams—Part II
• Gold in Guyana—Part I: Porknocking on the Puruni River Road
• That Something Extra
• Prospecting for Copper Ores—Part II
• Metallic Trash—Scourge of the Prospector
• Gold Mining Boom in the Carolinas
• California Suction Dredging Update
• Mine, Baby, Mine!
• Hecla to Reopen Lucky Friday Mine
• Nova Scotia Shows It's Serious About Jobs & Mining
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices