Prospecting & Detecting
Why Is The Gold On Bedrock—Or Why Is It Not?
January 2022 by Chris Ralph
Gold on the bedrock is a good rule of thumb, but not one that is 100 percent effective. There are plenty of exceptions. So, how does a prospector recognize those exceptions?
Talking Metal Detectors with Brent Weaver of Garrett
… I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Brent Weaver, Garrett’s chief design engineer to talk about gold-oriented detectors, how they work and how prospectors can get the most out of them.
Commercial Placer Mining: Alaska Style
There are currently about 170 commercial-scale placer operations in Alaska. Most of these are small operations with just a few people working; they are often family affairs that operate seasonally only during favorable weather.
Gold Rush in the Congo—Part II

Drywashing Arizona Gold

Gold: Is It Everywhere?
Gold, on the other hand, is super rare, and is one of the rarest elements in the earth’s crust. It averages only 0.000004 percent of the earth’s surface. That is four parts in a billion.
Follow the Line
Four nuggets, ranging from one to four pennyweight, had been found originally. All four nuggets were found in a line about ten feet apart from each other.
How to Research Prospecting Locations and Mining Claims
If you are interested in researching mining claims for any purpose, you will first have to decipher the BLM’s LR2000, a Rube Goldberg database seemingly designed by a 1980s Soviet-era computer hacker.
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The Bawl Mill
• Ask The Experts - Geophysics or drilling? Which is best for this project?
• Ask The Experts - How closely are black sand and gold related?
• Breaking Boulders With Explosives
• Colorado to California for Gold
• Historic Dredge Uncovered in North Carolina
• Setting Up A Placer Operation
• Grizzly Flats, California—Another Mother Lode Gold Rush Town
• Drywashing Without A Drywasher
• Late Fall Drywashing
• Melman on Gold & Silver
• Mining Stock Quotes and Mineral & Metal Prices