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.
Artisanal mining refers to the use of simple rudimentary tools and processes to extract minerals resources such as gold from the soils on a small scale. In most developing the mining industry is not well developed. This means that large scale sophisticated mining operations are not very common. Most of the mining in such conditions […]
Open-pit mining which is sometimes referred to as open cut mining, opencast mining or simply strip mining is a mining technique that extracts important minerals from a borrow or an open pit. There are two types of mining methods commonly used in large scale mineral mining; open pit mining and tunneling. Open pit mining is […]
Running a large-scale mining operation in the United States is getting harder and harder to do. The amount of permitting required to get a mine into operation is no small task. In fact, today most sizable mining operations are limited to just the large companies that have access to millions of dollars that are able […]
Using a standard sluice box is a great way to find gold. They are simple, lightweight, and can be used in most creeks and rivers to separate fine gold from sand and gravel. Most commercially-made sluice boxes are very good at catching and holding gold, but a few extra precautions can help you get more […]
It can be easy for gold prospectors to start thinking that it is not worth their effort to focus their efforts in areas that only seem to produce small or fine gold. The reasoning for this is that pieces of fine gold may take hundreds of pieces to account for the same weight as even […]
The business of buy and selling mining claims has gotten larger in recent years, particularly with the more recent increase in precious metal prices along with the renewed interest in mining due to several television shows. Many people make a living by simply “flipping” mining claims, in the same way that other people sell homes. […]
California and much of the western United States has been experiencing a drought for many years now. The last few winters in particular have been especially dry in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where some areas that generally get many feet of snow each winter have gotten literally none. This not only creates challenges for the […]
There are many different types of prospecting equipment that you can use to find gold. Choosing the best one will vary depending on the type of location that you are prospecting, the amount of material that you need to process, and your budget. Each of these prospecting tools can be the right choice depending on […]
Nearly all professional gold placer mining operations classify their gravel to maximize the amount of gold that they recover. Doing this step prior to running material through a sluice box allows for maximum retention of gold, especially the finer gold dust. Classifying gravel is the process of separating the aggregate material into consistent sizes by […]
Some of the highest concentrations of gold are found in ancient Tertiary gravel deposits. These are locations where a river once flowed millions of years ago, but is now located far from the existing river. The process of erosion essentially leaves the old river channel “high and dry,” stranding the gold far away from the […]
The gold mining industry that has evolved and diversified in the post-war, modern era has thrown open challenges to industrialists throughout the world enticing them to invest in operation of gold mines. Establishment of more and more gold mines provides opportunity of improved infrastructure, tax revenues and skilled jobs in the mining countries. The overall […]
Here’s a handy resource for gold miners around the world. Just click on any country below and it will give you more information about where to find gold there. We would LOVE your help in adding to this resource! If you have first-hand knowledge about areas to mine for gold in any of these countries, […]
Finding Gold in Quartz One way that gold prospectors look for gold is too try and locate its source, the place where to gold forms in the earth. In epithermal gold deposits, it is quite common for sizable gold veins to run through quartz rock, and these specimens can be located using a […]
Nothing gets a treasure hunter’s blood up like a good story of a lost lode of gold. Most of the western mountain states have legends of a “lost cabin mine” where a fortune in gold was found and then lost. There is a story of a lost cabin mine in Colorado, and one in the […]
Gold panning is a really fun hobby that is enjoyed by people all around the world. And it isn’t just hobbyists that use a gold pan to search for gold. Even experienced miners with a lifetime of experience with placer mining use them to quickly sample new areas and seek out concentrations of placer gold […]
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