Prospecting & Detecting
There's a First Time for Everyone
September 2014 by Gary C. Earle
...day one was like watching the Gold Rush television show. He furiously worked the nozzle in an up and down fashion that resembled Jack Hoffman sitting on a backhoe.
Detecting Nuggets—Overcoming New Challenges
Depth is not an issue unless the site is thoroughly cleaned of shallow trash, and it is far easier to isolate and remove targets using a small coil in a target rich location.
Determining the Amount of Gold in Rich Ores
This is just the type of specimen that could have been easily ignored by the old-time miners. It felt a little heavier in my hand than a chunk of quartz of that size ought to have been.
Mud Men: Pocket Miners of Southwest Oregon Part III
The amount of gold in the traces from the low-grade scattered veinlets may be much more than the traces from the small but rich pocket, at least until the pocket hunter closes in on the rich pocket. Further confusion arises if the prospector stumbles across a placer deposit on one of the higher peaks.
Hard Rock Milling: A Matter of Scale
Most prospectors understand placer mining a lot better than hard rock mining and don’t realize the amount of work that goes into processing different types of hard rock ore.
The Hunch
The mysteries of this spot were only just starting to develop. There is nothing but very bland granite-type rocks here, meaning no bold, favorable indicators.
The Unusual Forest Nugget Patch
This is the story of a nugget patch I’ve been working on that is a bit unusual. I won’t be telling you where it is located, but I will tell you how I found it and how I’ve worked it.
Bedrock
I am going to break bedrock down a bit and explain my view of the varying scenarios I come across in the field.
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