Detector Brings New Life to An Old Lode Mine

August 2018 by Scott Harn

…it was immediately evident the previous owner had not been using a detector. During just a few months of working the dumps part-time, he recovered gold in quartz specimens valued in excess of $40,000.

Crushing Quartz in Calaveras County: A Placer Miner Learns New Tricks

June 2014
I had never run an impact mill before, but anything involving rocks, water and a big electric motor sounded great.

The Smell of Gold—Part I

June 2015
Some claim they can smell gold. This may be, but when I take a whiff of gold, I smell dirt, rotten eggs, garlic or just nothing: my nose is everything but sensitive.

River Dredging vs. Creek Dredging—Part I

December 2011
As I started walking down to the river one chilly morning, the mist was hanging over the calm portions of the water like a white cotton blanket. This scene got me to thinking about why the river was like that—the deep pools, boulder fields, gravel bars, the effects of how much water was moving at any given time along the watercourse—and most of all the relationship all these things have on where I will be able to find gold.

Gold Deposits of Montana

March 2013
Historically, Montana has been an important gold producer, in terms of both lodes and placers, and it still produces gold for the prospector today.

PLP Update: Back to The 'Swamp' on Behalf of Small Miners

July 2018

We spent the morning in a meeting with one of the higher-ups at the US Forest Service. I presented him with 412 complaints received from our readers, along with a summary of the complaints to make his job easier.

California State Panning Championships—Foresthill, CA Heritage Celebration

October 2013
Here's the kicker—for every lost flake there was a five minute penalty added to the time. Lost gold generally meant you didn't make it past the preliminaries.

Moving The Big Rocks

October 2016
The anticipation of finding out if the system of snatch blocks, shackles, chokers, anchor points, and the strap binding the massive slab of rock in the bottom of the river would even budge an inch was weighing on me. 

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