Prospecting & Detecting
What Equipment Do I Need?
October 2014 by Chris Ralph
Getting started in prospecting often requires the purchase of some equipment, but one can spend as little as $10 and be finding gold or spend thousands and also be finding gold—yet you will probably have many more opportunities and possibilities with more and better equipment.
Key to Successful Prospecting: Confidence
The one undeniable truth in prospecting is that the more time you spend in the field, the more gold you will find. Here are a few keys I use to help build my confidence.
Metallic Trash—Scourge of the Prospector
I had been busy representing the Prospecting and Mining Journal this spring, but prospecting season finally arrived and I’ve been out digging for nuggets—I’ve even found a few. I know a number of prospectors who are armed with new metal detectors and headed to the hills to look for that precious yellow stuff.
Desert Prospecting Yields More Than Just Gold
This wash was not far from where I once dug a half-ounce nugget, so I knew there was gold in the area.
4 Keys to Successful Nugget Hunting
Lots of prospectors are trying out nugget detecting for the first time and finding out that it isn’t all that easy. In fact, in my opinion, metal detecting for nuggets is perhaps the most difficult form of prospecting that one can take on.
Detecting Clay Seams
Because the old timers were so good at locating the better paying deposits—most of them along clay seams in this particular area—it makes good sense to try and locate these clay lines at old mining sites.
Forrest Fenn Treasure Chest Finally Found?
Fenn posted photos of what he claims is the long-hidden chest and its contents after it was found, though some believe the whole thing was a hoax because he refuses to identify the finder.
The Highs and Lows of Drywashing
We were met with a plethora of mechanical problems with the dry washer and even a few with the excavator that were at times frustrating, but we were in this for the long haul, so we needed to solve these problems and move forward.
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