the miner s reference information on prospecting for gold

panning,quot; is the simplest and most commonly used and least expensive method for a prospector to separate gold from ...

Chris Ralph39;s Gold Prospecting Encyclopedia: Information on ...

Placer nuggets are the goal of many prospectors. This section contains loads of information, including information about historic placer mining methods, large nuggets, how nuggets form, famous placer districts, and more. Miners Reference Pages Gold Mining can get a little technical, and it just seems to foster a lot of questions.

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on a shoestringquot; have been depressingly small. First of all, the placer miner must know where placer deposits are located and he must have the technical knowledge to extract the gold. Additionally, he must face problems of land ownership, water supply, and water pollution, all of which have grown in complexity with the population. The costs of labor and equipment are relatively high now, although this may not seem significant to an individual mining a small deposit. Secondhand equipment may become available at relat...s, but the richer deposits were soon exhausted, and interest turned to the West. The earliest production of any note in the West was from the Old and New Placer Diggings near Golden, Santa Fe County, N. Mex. These deposits were worked as early as 1828. A few other deposits were mined in the succeeding years until the first discovery of major importance, that of James Marshall on January 24, 1848, on the American River at Coloma, Calif. This discovery was a major factor in the rapid settlement of the West and triggered the first of the great gold rushes in the United States. Because of the lure and excitement of gold mining, prospectors spread throughout the West and in subsequent years many more rich placer gold deposits were found. A selected listing of discoveries subse... in California) and certain river bench deposits are examples of gold bearing gravels that have been subjected to a number of such events, followed by at least partial concealment by other deposits, including volcanic materi...
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Staking Claims on Open Lands
Instructions on staking claims and filing for patents can be obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. In addition to Federal regulations, individual States also have certain requirements pertaining to the location of claims on public lands. Information on these requirements is available from the State agency that deals with mining. Claims for mining can only be staked on lands of the public domain. Lands in areas generally subject to location for mining, such as National Forests, may...
Problems With Water Rights, Water Supply, and Stream Pollution
The need for a good, dependable, and plentiful supply of water increases geometrically with the scale of operation in placer mining. Panning gold requires very little water and can be done in a small tub if necessary. At the other extreme, the hydraulic monitor, once in use, employed large flows of water under high pressure, and sluicing at a large operation could consume virtually all the water that might be available. One thing the placer miner must keep in mind is the seasonal nature of st...
Who Can Advise You
There are many sources to which the novice placer miner may turn for information. Probably the first should be the particular State agency dealing with geology, mining, conservation, or development. Universities with geology or mining departments will have knowledgeable people who can be consulted. A readily accessible source of information is the reference section of your public library. Professional engineers and consultants may be contacted through professional organizations or directly, b...
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Gold Prospecting How to Find Gold in the United States

Prospect Where Gold Has Been Found Before. The lack of outstanding success in spite of the great increase in prospecting during the depression in the 193039;s confirms the opinion of those most familiar with the occurrence of gold and the development of gold mining districts that the best chances of success lie in systematic studies of known productive areas rather than in efforts to discover ...

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