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Prospecting

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Business

   Prospecting is the act of physically searching for minerals, fossils,
   precious metals or mineral specimens, and is essentially analogous to
   fossicking.

   Prospecting is synonymous in some ways with mineral exploration which
   is an organised, large scale and at least semi-scientific effort
   undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable
   ore deposits, however prospecting is increasingly restricted to
   describe the activities of the amateur and hobbyist who search for
   small quantities of ore or mineralisation.

   Prospecting is increasingly a hobby or vocation undertaken as a form of
   relaxation and diversionary activity by modern people however in the
   past prospecting was the only way new mineral deposits were found.

   Prospecting is quite intensive physical labor, involving a considerable
   amount of traversing (traditionally on foot or on horseback), panning,
   sifting and outcrop investigation, looking for tell-tale signs of
   mineralisation.

Old prospecting methods

   The traditional methods of prospecting involved carefully and intensely
   combing through the countryside, often through creek beds and along
   ridgelines and hilltops, often on hands and knees looking for signs of
   mineralisation in the outcrop. In the case of gold, all streams in an
   area would be panned at the appropriate trap sites looking for a show
   of 'colour' or gold in the tail.

   Once a small occurrence or show was found, it was then necessary to
   intensively work the area with pick and shovel, and often via the
   addition of some simple machinery such as a sluice box, races and
   winnows, to work the loose soil and rock looking for the appropriate
   materials (in this case, gold). For most base metal shows, the rock
   would have been mined by hand and crushed on site,the ore separated
   from the gangue by hand.

   Often, these shows were short-lived, exhausted abandoned quite soon,
   requiring the prospector to move onwards to the next and hopefully
   bigger and better show. Occasionally, though, the prospector would
   strike it rich and be joined by other prospectors and larger-scale
   mining would take place.

   In most countries in the 19th and early 20th century, it was very
   unlikely that a prospector would retire rich even if he was the one who
   found the greatest of lodes. For instance Patrick (Paddy) Hannan, who
   discovered the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie, died without receiving anywhere
   near a fraction of the value of the gold contained in the lodes, the
   same story repeated at Bendigo, Ballarat, Klondike and California.

The Gold Rushes

   In the United States and Canada prospectors were lured by the promise
   of gold, silver, and other precious metals. They travelled across the
   mountains of the American West, carrying picks, shovels, gold pans, and
   whatever else they would need. Other prospectors searched canyons and
   mountain peaks, hardly leaving a rock unturned while looking for
   wealth. The majority of early prospectors had no training and relied
   mainly on luck to discover deposits.

   Other gold rushes occurred in Papua New Guinea, Australia at least four
   times, and in South Africa and South America. In all cases, the gold
   rush was sparked by idle prospecting for gold and minerals which, when
   the prospector was rarely but spectacularly successful, generated 'gold
   fever' and saw a wave of prospectors comb the countryside.

Modern prospecting

   Modern prospectors today rely on training, the study of geology, and
   prospecting technology.

   Knowledge of previous prospecting in an area helps in determining
   location of new prospective areas. Prospecting includes geological
   mapping, rock assay analysis, and sometimes the intuition of the
   prospector.

Metal detecting

   Metal detectors are invaluable for gold prospectors, as they are quite
   effective at detecting gold nuggets within the soil down to, depending
   on the acuity of the operator's hearing and knack, perhaps 3 feet.

   Magnetic separators may be useful in separating the magnetic fraction
   of a heavy mineral sand from the nonmagnetic fraction, which may assist
   in the panning or sieving of gold from the soil or stream.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospecting"
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