History & Geology
What Are Those Rocks In My Pan?
June 2011 by Jim Halloran
The placer mineral identification key is designed to answer this question. It attempts to recognize all the minerals in your gold pan concentrates.Butte, Montana—The Richest Hill on Earth
I recently had the opportunity to spend a day exploring around Butte, Montana and was amazed by the amount of mining that has taken place there. The old-timers called Butte “the richest hill on earth” and had pretty good reasons for doing so.
Silver and Base Metal Deposits of the Pioche District
The areas that were mineralized with the bedded ore were huge and vast tonnages were indicated, although they had no idea at the time.
Researching Mineralized Areas
There are a load of ways to do research, and I’m going to talk about how I do it—maybe you’ll get some ideas that will work for you, too.
The Struggle to Reopen Alaska's Largest Gold Mine
The historical AJ mine, located east of Juneau, Alaska, was considered the largest gold mine in the state at one time. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris struck gold there in 1880, and it has been more recently known as a tourist destination.
Gold, Quartz & Chalcedony—Part II
The specific gravity of chalcedony is 2.58 to 2.64. This is slightly lower than coarsely crystalline quartz because of slight porosity in chalcedony. Being so light, it will easily wash out of a gold pan.
Sierra County Gold—Part I
...this county contained some of the richest placer ground found in all of California and still produces some pretty impressive finds to this day.
The Golden Streams of Butte County, California
Even though these were some of the earliest placer deposits to be worked, there is still plenty of gold left today—it just takes more work to recover. Knowing about the old locations where gold has been found is the first step to success.
Subscription Required:
The Bawl Mill
• Dredge Mining—Current Situation in Idaho
• Fault Zones and Prospects
• "Gold Rush: Alaska" in the Porcupine Mining District
• Wyoming's Billion Dollar Nugget—The Trilogy Ends
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes & Mineral and Metal Prices
Free:
Gold Prospecting and Mining Summit
• Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Hands-on at Iowa Hill
• Good Research and Bad Luck
