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Picks & Pans: Detecting Micro-Nuggets
May 2005 by Martin H. Milas
I like to play in a big sandbox called the Mojave Desert. I have different ways of getting my kicks. My particular delight is seeing, “How low can I go?” Blame it on too much sun, but there are days I don’t feel like drywashing.
California State Gold Panning Championships
This was a tough task and it required really fast speed and perfect gold recovery, with 210 gold panners competing to advance.
The Bawl Mill
• Snake fence upsets environmentalists...
• Job appointments based on credentials, not connections, says the governor...
Putting Together A Small Free Gold Mill—Part II
There are many smaller old hard rock mines out there—more than you might think. There are some small hard rock properties that are even open to be claimed if one does the right amount of research to find them.
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.
Detecting Basics: Lose the Bad Habits Not the Gold
I will make the assumption that when any of you take a detector in your hand and head out prospecting for gold you are probably anticipating finding some gold. That’s the general idea, right?
$100 Million Lost on Faulty ESA Listing
The Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, once seen as a costly impediment to development, is now viewed by the government as a critter that never really existed—and is no longer in need of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Montana's Virginia City Has Golden Legacy
The discovery of gold at Alder Creek, centrally located in Madison County, Montana, was unusually well documented, with the date and time placed at May 26th, 1863, at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. A group of six miners had been searching the area with little luck until the leader, Bill Fairweather, spotted an exposed area of promising bedrock. He dug up a shovel full of dirt and put it in Henry Edgar’s pan for washing. About the same time that Edgar was busy washing out the pan, Fairweather was poking around the bedrock with his pocketknife. Both spotted the color of gold at once.
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The Bawl Mill
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