Prospecting & Detecting
Using Structural Clues to Locate Buried Placer Channels
April 2014 by Jim Halloran
They must have assumed the paystreak was spotty and had been mined out, so they never mined as close to the side of the valley as they should have.Ask the Experts
Setting up a gravity dredge
Metal Detector Testing Methods
It will not be any easier than on your table at home, and so testing a very small test target like the ballpoint pen can tell you immediately if a detector is suitable for looking for tiny gold nuggets.Understanding Skim Bar Placers
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.
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.
Old Mine Sites and New Technology
We’ve had two trips to the deserts of Nevada and explored mines and mill sites, hiked miles of ravines in California, and swung our detector coils over thousands of square yards of bedrock.
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.
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?
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• Finding Gold with a VLF Detector—Part I
• Creating Your Own Luck
• Over the Divide—Robert Michael “Mike” Corbley
• Continuing Hard Rock Exploration
• Recovering Fine Gold with Oleophilic Adhesion
• Detecting for Gold in Nevada
• Gold Deposits of the Ivory Coast
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices
