Most small-scale gold prospectors search for placer gold that is deposited in streams and rivers, but it can also be found in arid climates far away from existing water sources. Gold can be found using a variety of different methods. The most common way to recover gold in the water is by gold panning, but larger equipment can also be used to help prospectors recover more gold by processing more material. This page includes information on different gold mining methods.
Most of the gold mined in California and in rivers across the United States during the height of the gold rush was placer gold. During the 1840s through 1860s gold mining in the United States focused on rivers where miners recovered lose gold nuggets from river beds using simple mining tools such as sluice boxes. […]
When most prospectors buy their first gold pan, they instinctively go to the nearest creek or river to try it out assuming that is the best place to go. It’s not a totally bad idea. We all know that some rivers are very rich with gold. In fact some rivers in places like California, Idaho, […]
Gold prospecting is such an exciting as well as rewarding venture. In past centuries, the activity has huge impact on the lives of many people throughout the world. For most of us today, we prospect for gold as a recreational activity – a way to get out into nature. Then and now, the key to […]
Any placer miner worth their salt knows the importance of finding bedrock. To find any real appreciable quantities of gold in just about any circumstance you will need to get down to bedrock. What some prospectors don’t realize is that there are sometimes situations where a dense layer of material can act as a barrier […]
Hydraulic mining became the primary way to recover large amounts of gold by the late-1800s. While normal placer mining techniques like panning and sluicing worked well in the rivers, there were many areas with ancient river gravels that were high above the current water flow. These could only be mined profitably with hydraulic mining. Water […]
Gold is where you find it. I have found gold way down in the desert and I have found gold high in the mountains. There are plenty of gold districts that are well above 10,000 feet in elevation. Of course in many ways gold is the same wherever you find it. However, different environments require […]
There are literally tens of thousands of small mines and prospects scattered around the country. Not big mines; these are small diggings – often done by one miner – that are have been abandoned for a decade. It is a common belief among some people that you need to search around a big mine to […]
If you are a placer gold miner, then you will eventually figure out that you need to learn how to capture micro gold. I’m talking about the small stuff – the dust – the specks – those teeny-tiny little particles of gold that you can barely even see. Many prospectors take pride in their setups […]
The recovery of fine gold has always been a huge challenge for prospectors. The smaller a piece of gold is the harder it is to recover. Plus, how small does gold have to be before you realize that it just isn’t worth the effort to recover. As a result, many gold prospectors have avoided the […]
Placer mining and lode mining are very different. Whereas placer gold has been released from within the rock and is generally free from any significant matrix, lode gold presents different challenges. While gold may be present in ore, it must somehow be released for proper extraction. As a result, a number of machines have been […]
Sometimes miners can be a pessimistic bunch. I will acknowledge that some of it is warranted… you won’t get any argument from me that its harder to be a miner today than it was in decades past. More restrictions and regulations are frustrating, no doubt about it. And more generally, it seems like the general […]
The mining activities have over the years influenced many regions when it comes to economic developments. Alaska is certainly no exception where mining is concerned. In fact, mining was the main driving force that helped started growth to the state. Alaska houses one of the remote areas where some mining activities take place on Earth. […]
What is Glacial Gold? During the five major Ice Ages which occurred over millions of years, glaciers expanded far away from the north pole to cover a significant part of the earth. In North America the glaciers moved far enough south to cover most of the northern states in the US. During their travels, glaciers […]
Throughout the history of gold exploration, which really includes most of recorded history, many different techniques were created for separating placer gold from the surrounding gravel. One of the most famous old school methods, the rocker box, can still be used today, although it has mostly fallen out of favor… Like so many other famous […]
But Don’t Expect another Gold Rush… Everyone knows that the weather in northern California can be highly variable. Some years are continuous droughts with dry conditions and little moisture, while other years are record snowpacks in the Sierras and heavy spring flooding. Whenever the water level rises in those rivers, is seems that the various […]
