I have been prospecting and mining for gold both as a hobby and as an occupation for nearly 30 years and in my opinion it's a blast! From the deep green forests to the rolling sagebrush hills, few people see as much of America's wide open spaces as I do. I kick around kooky little old towns in the middle of nowhere. I visit historic sites where the pioneers of the west toiled for years to extract precious metals from the ground. As fun as that is though, finding your own gold, either as a nugget or in solid hard rock is a special experience that's hard to equal.

School kids in California learn how James Marshall accidentally discovered gold nuggets while constructing a water powered sawmill in the Sierra foothills. The excitement resulting from Marshall's discovery was a fire that ignited gold and silver rushes all across the western US. Well known is the story of O'Reiley and McLaughlin who accidentally discovered the Comstock Lode silver bonanza while working a small deposit of placer gold, tossing away a blue-black waste that later turned out to be rich silver ore. A century ago, Jim Butler, while traveling from his ranch in central Nevada, noticed some quartz vein material. Being a good prospector, he collected a sample, but he thought so little of his find that it sat on his porch for months before it was tested. That sample became the first of many rich discoveries at Tonopah. I could write a whole book telling the stories of these individual prospectors who, whether intentionally or by accident, found rich deposits of gold and other valuable ores. These finds have had no small impact on the development of our country - historically millions upon millions of ounces of gold have been recovered from deposits found by individual prospectors.

The gold prospecting world is basically divided into two halves. They are placer gold and hard rock gold. Hard rock is gold, which remains in the original solid rock in which it formed. Northern Nevada is extremely rich in gold, mostly as these primary hard rock type deposits. The hard rock, open pit mines of Nevada have produced nearly 100 million ounces since their discovery in 1960. Although a few small operations still exist, hard rock mining is usually done on a large scale. The main problem for individuals interested in hard rock gold deposits is high capital costs for the equipment to crush and process hard rock ore in order to extract the gold from its solid rock enclosure. Because of this, many prospectors who look for hard rock gold seek to sell their finds to large companies that possess the resources to develop them.

Any gold that has weathered out of its original rock matrix, be it a quartz vein or another source is called placer gold. Once it is freed from the vein, any accumulation of that gold is called a placer deposit. There are several different kinds of placers depending on how far the gold traveled, its origin, etc. The four most common types of placer deposits are: 1) Residual - where the original vein has weathered, but the placer gold remains more or less "in place" and still within a few feet of the original source; 2) Eluvial - where the gold has traveled a short distance down from the source, but has not made it into streams and other drainages - these are often called hillside placers; 3) Alluvial - Where the gold has made it into area streams and rivers. These placers are sorted by running water and usually the gold lies mostly on or near the bedrock; 4) Beach placers occur where small gold particles make it all the way down river to the ocean. Wave action can concentrate the heavier fraction of the sand, producing black sand layers containing fine gold.

Because of the comparative ease of recovering gold from placer deposits, most individual prospectors start out seeking placer gold nuggets and flakes. Some later progress to an interest in hard rock deposits, but most still start out looking for flakes and nuggets of free placer gold. Once you find your first gold, you won't have much trouble seeing what kept the old pioneer prospectors going under such rugged conditions. It's always great when you come up with your own gold, and the excitement is real. There is no doubt in my mind that gold fever is a condition that actually exists. In my experience, staring too closely at gold nuggets or thinking too much about the quest to find them often causes it. Luckily, it's an enjoyable condition with few, if any, harmful side effects. Prospecting for gold is a hobby that's easy to fall into.

It doesn't necessarily cost a mint to get into prospecting. It can be as simple as purchasing a gold pan for $10 and grabbing a bucket and the garden spade from the garage. On the other hand, there are many great gold saving products available to the modern prospector. Some allow the modern prospector to accomplish things no old timer could ever dream of. From metal detectors, to portable suction dredges, to dry placer machines and other gold recovery devices of all types, many significant improvements have been made in small scale prospecting equipment. There certainly is no problem finding ways to spend as much money on good equipment as you would like - lots of great stuff is available. Most individuals start off small and purchase more advanced equipment as they get more involved in the hobby.

So whether its searching for the next million ounce ore deposit or just finding a small gold nugget you can call your own, rest assured, it is still possible. For those who enjoy hunting, hiking, fishing, off road exploring or any of the other many outdoor hobbies so many folks participate in, prospecting may be something you would be interested in. For just about any outdoor enthusiast, it's worthwhile to know a little about gold deposits - because the next big find may be yours!