Geology

Alluvial Mining Methods

As it is my opinion that deep alluvial mining methods in Victoria and in the Murray Flats in New South Wales are practically in their infancy, and considering that we, the old school, of alluvial miners, who have thirty or forty years’ experience to guide us, must in the natural order of things hand over the management … Read more

How to Measure the Density SG of Rock: A DIY Prospector Tool Rule

The determination of specific gravity dates from such antiquity, and the various published methods of determining it are so numerous, that one may well be skeptical as to the value of a new means of obtaining so well-known a quantity. I make no claim to any great novelty for the little device here described, the … Read more

Gold in Granite & Plutonic Rocks

A recent paper by Prof. George P. Merrill, Curator of the Department of Geology of the U. S. National Museum, Washington, upon ” An Occurrence of Free Gold in Granite,” describes an interesting instance of the dissemination of this noble metal in the substance of granite of normal composition believed to be from Sonora, Mexico. … Read more

Plans How to Make a Hanging Compass

In working brown iron-ore mines on the system employed at Longdale, namely, stoping from the top down, the usual procedure is to drive a succession of upraises from the lowest adit to the highest, or to the top of the deposit, as the case may be. These upraises are usually driven 120 feet apart, along … Read more

List Minerals Containing Phosphoric Acid

The occurrence and distribution of phosphorus is one of the most important questions with which the steel-maker has to do. Large sums are invested in processes for the removal of this element from ores before they come to the blast-furnace, and much greater sums in freeing the pig-iron from it. Mechanical engineers are becoming more … Read more

Gold Prospecting Methods

  The modern gold prospector has advantages that to some extent make up for the increased difficulty of finding ore deposits. One advantage is greatly increased knowledge about the geologic factors that localize ore deposition. The search for new deposits has become a complex undertaking, and the prospector should be as well-informed as possible. The … Read more

Prospecting for Minerals

Prospectors have made a tremendous contribution to the development of this Nation’s mineral resources. Since the time of the earliest settlement, the need for iron for tools and guns, lead for bullets, and copper for utensils has prompted a search for sources of these metals. The lure of gold and silver provided the impetus for … Read more