Prospecting & Detecting
Tips for Effective Drywashing
January 2011 by Ron Kliewer

Detecting Alluvial Bench Deposits

How to Stake Your Own Mining Claims—Part II
I’d like to offer some practical comments about staking and maintaining mining claims. Owning your own claim is the dream of many prospectors. I’ve made good money off my mining claims, both from the minerals I have found on them as well as from leasing out some of my claims to larger mining and exploration companies.
Prospecting Underground: Use Caution
In underground placer work, the contact point of the bedrock tunnel and the gravel is a very weak point and always has to be timbered. The bedrock here is thin, fractured, and the gravels loose from many years of oxidizing.
Mining Claims: Breaking All The Commandments
So, I took the plunge. I decided on the maximum I would pay for the claim, then placed my bid. A day later I received a congratulations e-mail that I was the high bidder, and oh, by the way, send us your money.
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.
Sunset Sunbaker
He began hiking my way and was as astonished as I was when he saw it. Another high five moment! It makes you wonder how long this gold had just been sitting there on the ground.
Exceptions to the Rules: Re-Thinking Prospecting Rules of Thumb
Looking at the exceptions to the basic rules is sort of an advanced prospecting discussion, but the readers of ICMJs Prospecting and Mining Journal are plenty able to handle it.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Our Readers Say
• Ask The Experts—Amalgamation
• China Gold Imports Increased 500 Percent in 2010
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• The Downieville Gold District
• Rattler's Gold
• Successful Gold Prospecting
• US Mint to Offer Other Precious Metal Coins
• The Business of Mining: Unlimited Possibilities With LLCs
• Silver Boom Prompts Idaho Mine Expansion
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes & Mineral and Metal Prices
Free:
Great Panther Silver
• Oregon Miners Take DEQ to Court, Again