Understanding Skim Bar Placers

September 2018 by Chris Ralph

Perhaps the most notable thing about skim placers is that they form on the top surface of gravel bars, as opposed to coarser gold placers where the weight of the gold particles allows the gold to settle down on or near bedrock.

Guinea Africa: Gold, Ebola, and A Monkey Barbecue

November 2014
Doubters be informed, yes, there is gold in Africa—lots of gold—and all the good and bad that comes with it.

Buyer Beware! Counterfeit Metal Detectors

August 2013
When I was recently in West Africa, I got to see and play with my first, phony, Chinese knock-off metal detector.

Divide and Conquer—Detecting Old Placer Grounds with Friends

February 2014
He no sooner had turned around and started moving when I hollered again that I had another nice one.

Prospecting for Gold at Green Valley

December 2012
In October, five of us decided to take an exploration trip into an area called Green Valley. This was perhaps ten miles upstream from where we had gone in September and the difficulty was access. One would think that based on the name it was an easily accessible area not far from a nearby town. This couldn’t be more wrong.

Is It Time for a Change? New Ways to Find More Gold

October 2017

The old report I read indicated all they ever did was dig some trenches and take samples. It sounded to me like a good place to take my metal detector...

Twenty Minutes on a Five-inch Dredge

September 2013
The first thing I realized was this was not a toy—this thing had power and I needed to really pay attention. I got into position, took a deep breath, and pushed that monster into the hard pack.

Revisiting the Rocker Box

August 2016
The first location we worked was a small, dry ravine cutting through many mineralized zones in an area where some hard rock mining had taken place in the past.

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