Prospecting & Detecting
The Winning Hand
January 2017 by Tom Leftwich

Proper Assaying of Placer Samples
The whole purpose of sampling mineralized ground is to measure the values in a small volume of material that would be representative of a much larger volume of similar material. The key word is representative. Chemical and fire assaying will not accurately represent placer deposits by themselves.
Early Summer Mining in Wyoming
Old tailing piles extend for miles. There was still plenty of water flowing here, so WPA members set up highbankers at several settling ponds.
Sampling Placer Stockpiles

The Madonna Nugget

Route Planning Using GPS
My intention was to end this discussion with waypoints and routes, then I found USGS maps of the Plainfield Quadrangle.
Gold in The Midwest--Part I
Gold can potentially be found in all the glaciated areas of the Midwest, but to find it in any appreciable amount one needs to look to areas where the gold gets concentrated by more recent water flows.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts: Could you expand on your previous blasting article?
• Ask The Experts: Equipment to break up heavy clay
• Ask The Experts: “Energy” coming from black sand?
• Ask The Experts: Assay problem or recovery problem?
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Detecting Strategies for Heavily Forested Areas—Part II
• Early Winter Detecting in the Sierras
• Gangue Minerals - What Do They Tell Us?
• Mining Districts in Montana Get Organized
• Feds Deny Lease Renewals for Minnesota Mine
• Obama Administration Moves to Block Mining Near Yellowstone
• The Perfect Response
• MMAC Update
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
• Melman on Gold & Silver
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That First Nugget