Gold Prospecting Equipment

The prospector looks for trace amounts of ore minerals, for favorable rocks and for any alteration on the earth which can indicate any possible mineralization. Gold prospectors with some vision and adequate resources prefer geochemical testing of soils and rocks to the loaming technique. Geochemical sampling can identify and locate deposits with poor surface signatures, such as, when gold particles are present in insufficient quantities or coarseness to show up in a gold pan or concentrator. With this type of prospecting, samples are collected and sent to a lab where they are analyzed for several elements. Gold prospecting equipment is not complex and can be used without many problems. The basic equipments are metals detectors and gold pan. The geochemical is an important tool at the moment of finding important gold deposits.

Detectors with ground balancing are the best type of detectors for prospecting. Some models of prospecting detectors have better depth and sensitivity than many of the old types. They are most useful for detecting small nuggets, which would have been missed by the old detectors. Metal detectors will respond to any type of conductive or magnetic material. The metal detectors transmitting coil which produces a primary electromagnetic field. When a conductive object encounters a primary electromagnetic field, currents flow through the surface of the object, called eddy currents, each producing its own secondary electromagnetic field.

Reef prospecting involves locating gold bearing quartz veins. Most of the accessible reefs have probably been found by early prospectors and explorations; consequently, remote and poorly outcropping reefs are more likely to be found. Actually, in the short term, this form of prospecting is not as rewarding as metal detecting. Surface weathering of outcropping quartz reefs distributes gold away and downslope from the reef, resulting in the formation of alluvial and eluvial deposits. Consequently, it is possible to trace the alluvial or eluvial deposit upstream and upslope until the source reef is located. Often, the reef has been completely weathered away, leaving only alluvial and eluvial deposits.

The gold pan is most often used to find the richest gold bearing places, so that heavier equipment such as dredges, high-bankers and even simple sluice boxes can be brought in to work only the most promising materials. A most common error for novice prospectors to make is not doing enough sampling before setting up operations for the day. Take the time to find the best paying areas before lugging all your equipment in. You are going to be moving a lot of material so why not take a little time beforehand to make sure it is the good stuff.

Some gold is not readily distinguishable by the normal qualities of orange-yellow to light yellow metallic color and high malleability, where it occurs in a combined form with another element, such as tellurium. Upon weathering, such gold may be coated with a crust, such as iron oxide, and have a rusty appearance.

Because gold is relatively heavy, it tends to be found close to bedrock, unless intercepted by layers of clay or compacted silts, and it often works its way into cracks in the bedrock itself. Where the surface of the bedrock is highly irregular, the distribution of gold will be spotty, but a natural riffle like surface favors accumulation. Gold will collect at the head or foot of a stream bar or on curves of streams where the current is slowed or where the stream gradient is reduced.