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Catching a bug with a fever. By Robert Biggs Being successful at prospecting isn't easy, an inexperienced prospector can be in the right spot they would want to be in and not even see or find any gold to amount to much at all. For the most part, the average prospector only deals with fine particles of gold and they can be hidden very well by mother nature. The amount you would have to find per day to make a decent wage is becoming more and more likely as the price of gold climbs. At $1600 per ounce a penny weight is $80. 1/20th of one ounce which is a very small amount of gold flake, of which is fluently found in vast areas rich enough to now make small scale mining profitable. The Earth is a complicated globe but semi predictable. Mother nature wasn't shy at where she wanted to place things, she was pretty much in a furry and merely swirled the minerals
throughout the planet in a multitude of repeating fractal fashions. So having "GOLD" in your area is highly likely. Governor Schwarzenegger had it right when he said "GO FOR THE GOLD ITS OUT THERE CALIFORNIA !" , but its in your area too and its out there waiting ! There are allot of rules and regulations that go with prospecting, so do not overlook any of them, especially about the time you want to get serious. trust me its worth knowing the perimeters at which one can operate safely. And YES all the good spots are claimed up....once you start doing your footwork in the field and in the appropriate lands office, looking at available areas to claim, you will have noticed most likely, that there are areas of available claiming and or prospecting on, between claims and adjacent to most claims, that are just as rich as they are. So don't fall for the "if you can find 1" one liner. The more you do your homework, the easier it gets. All claims should be posted with a valid claim form which has its legal description pointing to its corners which will aid you in your search for
an area unclaimed. If your unsure you can ask the appropriate agencies for help with the claim maps, in deciding whether or not your plan needs a permit and as well as but not limited to all claiming information.. In most instances the small scale miner does not need a permit, but always check first. Be safe and always follow respective prospecting etiquette. Were in this together and it works better if we could just all get along. First step at pursuing a high fever is picking a great "GOLD" recovery system for the removal of your gold from your material. A great recovery system is extremely important. Not to mention the simplest and cheapest one as possible, as well at first, then who knows prospecting can truly be a prosperous adventure. A "Gold" spiral wheel, the Blue bowl, A trammel, mineral jig and the concentrating table is a short list of some of the different varieties of concentrators that are nearly automatic "GOLD" concentrators. Everyone should acquaint themselves with the variety of everything to become comfortable with the system they choose. Links attached at the bottom for you to browse thru are a few I am recommending and there's allot of information out there with tons of videos so do a little research on line or get demonstrations at your local mining supply store before picking a system. One can also get a guest pass to participate at any group event, with almost all the prospecting associations. So if you know any of them, hit them up, The New 49ers, GPAA and The LDMA are just a few, they love to share knowledge to help you succeed ! Not to mention its also possible you might want to join one of these groups. For example; I'm picking the Spiral wheel for a recovery system. The wheel does require screening the material before processing it thru the wheel. Its simple easy to set up with minimal variables to control. It has its limits of the amount of material you can process, but, so does the small scale prospector. The wheel can extract your clean free gold hourly so you will know right away how your doing. Speed and quantity are factors but a sim-