Prospecting & Detecting
Thinking Outside The Creek
March 2015 by Shannon Poe
Imagine for a minute the year is 1850. You’ve read and heard that gold was discovered in California and the creeks are so rich you can just scoop it up with your hands.
Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion
Oleophilic means "affinity to or attracted to oils," and this includes gold an diamonds.
Deep Nuggets From The Strange Little Patch
I began detecting at the bottom of the gully and started making my way upstream. About mid-way there was a nice, flat stretch for about ten feet.
What Equipment Do I Need?
Getting started in prospecting often requires the purchase of some equipment, but one can spend as little as $10 and be finding gold or spend thousands and also be finding gold—yet you will probably have many more opportunities and possibilities with more and better equipment.
The Value of Old Patches
Nuggets make for the best memories and this patch was just adding to mine. In the hours of daylight I had left, I worked from that nugget to the bottom of the patch, collecting eight more nuggets.
Forty-Six Nuggets
This past summer, a two-week adventure in Alaska and other gold prospecting trips turned out to be some of my greatest life experiences.
Continuing Hard Rock Exploration
We had been picking away at it, but the going was mightly slow. Why not use some explosives to advance a little quicker?
A New Prospecting Spot
Once indicators start showing up along or below a contact I start to get excited. When I have shale, and outcroppings of diorite with iron-red, gritty soil and some clay thrown in, I really get lightheaded. I may be a mile away from the nearest diggings but that’s okay. I just found a spot that could provide some nice nugget hunting.
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