Prospecting & Detecting
Uncovering the Find of a Lifetime
December 2014 by Chris Ralph
• The 75-ounce Butte County nugget is the largest found in California since the 156-ounce Mojave nugget in the 1970s...Customizing Your Dredge
I am going to suggest dozens of ways you can increase suction power, dredge to greater depths, and improve recovery methods in your sluice box.
Using Geologic Publications to Discover Collecting Sites
I understand that a person without geological knowledge could be daunted reading a geological publication. You can pick out the good stuff from a geological publication without a lot of geological knowledge.
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.
What Have You Got to Lose?
It’s accepted knowledge that wet methods will recover more fine gold than dry methods and processing the gravel as a whole will get more gold than only using a metal detector. The question is how much more?
Using Vegetation and Soil Conditions as Prospecting Aids
Wouldn’t it be great if you could know if there is gold in the ground without setting foot on the ground? Well you can, to a certain extent, if you can recognize mined ground from unmined.
What's Left Behind
I love to see old-timer workings while I am out detecting for gold. For one thing, it assures me that gold came from there. Second, it tells me gold should almost certainly still be there.
Becoming a Successful Detectorist
During my adventures I’ve learned a few key best practices that help me to consistently find gold nuggets with my detectors. You can apply many of these best practices to any type of prospecting. These best practices are really common sense; however, they are easy to neglect.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• Ask The Experts
• Suction Dredging Battle Escalates
• Guinea Africa: Gold, Ebola, and a Monkey Barbecue
• Finding Gold in Tailing Piles
• Small-Scale Processing of Hard Rock Ores
• 2014 Index - Annual Tables of Content
• Why Did This Silver Mine Close? - Pt III
• Get The Lead Out!
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
Free:
Hundreds Rally in Support of PLP Octoberfest Fundraiser
