Prospecting & Detecting
Proper Placer Sample Processing
November 2013 by Jim Halloran
...your sampling procedures should not be designed to catch gold your mining technique will never recover.How to Evaluate Mineral Claims—What to Know Before You Buy
Even though they have put down thousands of dollars, the buyers often stop paying on their claims part way through the process after they realize they’ve been duped, but the company just sells it again to another buyer.
Iowa Hill District
For the last two years we’ve held a hands-on prospectors training session in the Iowa Hill district of California’s Mother Lode country as a part of our Gold Prospecting and Mining Summit event. Because of this, I thought it might be good to take a look at the history, geology and opportunities that the Iowa Hill district still offers to the individual prospector.
The Hunch
The mysteries of this spot were only just starting to develop. There is nothing but very bland granite-type rocks here, meaning no bold, favorable indicators.
The Value of Old Patches
Nuggets make for the best memories and this patch was just adding to mine. In the hours of daylight I had left, I worked from that nugget to the bottom of the patch, collecting eight more nuggets.
Rediscovering Placerville, California Part II
To get to the gold, the miners had to remove the shale pieces and stack them on the sides while sluicing the remaining material through their boxes.
Gully Prospecting and Mining
This article is about our recent gold prospecting adventure, which has yielded over 20 ounces of specimen gold—with more to come.
Ask The Experts
• Making a noisy dredge more quiet
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The Bawl Mill
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• Using Sucker Guns to Find Gold
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