Gold Prospecting & Record Keeping

Rec ord Keeping: Accurate, systematic records must be kept for proper placer evaluation. As an example, data that must be recorded on a log sheet when churn drilling a placer gold deposit includes:

1. Name of property
2. Location
3. Date
4. Drill-hole line number
5. Hole number
6. Hole collar elevation
7. Time (the time is given for each bailing. A summary of time consumed in drilling, pulling, moving, repairs, etc.)
8. Depth of the drive shoe for each sample interval
9. Depth of pumping for each drive or sample interval
10. Total hole depth
11. Core rise in the pipe for each drive
12. Core left in the pipe after pumping, i.e., the plug thickness
13. The length of core removed
14. Volume bucket measurement
15. Classification of colours (count the number of No. 1, 2, and 3 colours)
16. Estimate the gold weight based on the colour count
17. Formation (note the visible physical characteristics of the formation being drilled)
18. Depth and nature of overburden
19. Labour used
20. Depth of the pay gravel
21. Depth to bedrock
22. Nature of bedrock
23. Thickness of pay zone
24. Diameter of the drive shoe
25. Theoretical volume of core removed
26. Volume of core removed
27. Weight of gold recovered in milligrams
28. Fineness of gold
29. Drive shoe constant used in calculations
30. Value in milligrams, grams or cents per cubic meter (cubic yard)
31. Price of gold used in calculations if cents per volume are used
32. Signature of the driller, panner, and helper
33. It is essential that detailed records are kept as they will be used to determine the value of the deposit as well as to determine its minability. Information included in the drill logs will also be used in selecting a mining method.