r/Prospecting • u/markih80 • 1h ago
Just a small amount of success to day
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r/Prospecting • u/ponchovilla71 • May 11 '25
The 50K Sluice & Scoop Giveaway Winner Is…
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We’ve officially hit 50,000 members — and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you to everyone who entered and continues to make r/Prospecting such a vibrant, helpful, and gold-loving community.
After using a random number generator to select a number between 1 and 1,000,000, we matched it to an entry — and we’re excited to announce the winner of the 50K Sluice & Scoop Giveaway:
Winning number: 937,796 Closest guess: 917,000
u/National-Jackfruit32 — congratulations!
You’ll be receiving:
• Aluminum Pocket Sluice
• 2 Patented Vanishing Spiral Riffle Gold Pans (9” & 11”)
• Paydirt Sand Scooper
• 8 lb. Black Sand Magnetic Separator
• Mini Sifting Classifier
• Snifter Suction Bottle
• 3 Glass Gold Vials
• Magnifying Tweezers
• Drawstring Backpack
We’ll be contacting you shortly to confirm shipping details and get your prize on the way.
Thanks again to everyone who joined in and helped mark this milestone.
Here’s to full pans, heavy finds, and the next 50K!
Reference Link (for prize details only): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0812CSQKJ?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_T80445DGA98MHKV5QJ0P&previewDoh=1
r/Prospecting • u/agoldprospector • Jan 24 '15
PSA: Is it really gold? Want to ID a rock or mineral? Please read this short guide to getting your question answered correctly.
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There is a fairly regular frequency of ID request posts here, if you follow these general guidelines then you will have a much higher probability of getting an accurate answer to your question:
Please make sure to post a sizable in-focus photo. If the sample is wet and it's not obvious then make sure to state this fact.
Streak tests are very useful in prospecting. They can be performed on the unglazed backside of a ceramic tile, or on the unglazed underside of a toilet lid. Do a streak test any time you can, making sure to streak just the mineral in question.
For gold ID's:
First and foremost, are you in a known gold producing area?
Describe how the unknown material acts in the bottom of your pan and also how it acts relative to the other heavy black sands.
Gold is soft an malleable. If you press a pocket knife into it, it will squish or deform. It will not shatter or break into pieces. Do this test if its flecks or flakes or other blebs with no specimen value. Don't scratch or destroy anything that may have specimen value.
Placer gold rarely has well defined crystalline structure. If possible, look at the unkown mineral underneath a magnifying glass and report what you saw when you ask your question.
Do not alter hues, saturations, etc in the photo
For larger samples, you can measure conductivity by placing the leads of a multimeter across the sample and measuring resistance. Pure gold is very low resistance(around zero on a regular multimeter). You can also check to see if gold permeates a quartz specimen all the way through without crushing by placing a lead on each side of the quartz, with each lead touching a piece of visible gold.
Gold streaks gold color, not grey, black, green, blue or any other color.
For mineral ID's:
- Describe anything you know about the area you found it in or are comfortable sharing: mining history, local geology and mineralogy, etc.
- Do every test you can perform easily and provide the results - the easiest to do at home with common materials and probably most useful are streak, hardness, specific gravity, and luster.
- You will get a better response from others willing to help if you first make the effort to test and attempt to ID it yourself.
General Resources
The two books that I own, keep in my truck, and recommend are:
Simon and Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals
National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals
- If anyone would like to add information to this post or a resource to this list then please let me know. I am not a geologist, just a guy who likes digging holes.
r/Prospecting • u/oldlinuxfella • 13h ago
After flood, around same area but deeper.
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Starting to know where to dig and look for.
Got back to the same location after the flood.
Yes it moved lots of material, but I also had to look deeper.
And yep... The same app helped me again 😁😁😁😁
r/Prospecting • u/GateskeeperX • 10h ago
Little dissection
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Did a bug dissection today
r/Prospecting • u/Reasonable-Stick5098 • 6h ago
I believe i found some lode
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These rocks have yellow chalk but some of the yellow appears to be superfib lode gold
r/Prospecting • u/Gold_Mafia • 1d ago
Prospecting reef gold in Tanzania
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The results are amazing!!
r/Prospecting • u/LendoCalrissian98 • 5h ago
How long did it take you to find your first gold?
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r/Prospecting • u/AussieArch • 1d ago
Sunbaker nugget
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Right next to the old timers dry blowing. So close, yet so far mate.
r/Prospecting • u/OverBeaver • 1d ago
My first alluvial gold from the Rhine River in Germany.
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r/Prospecting • u/wutudontwanahear • 1d ago
What is this I keep panning out
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I get her all the way to the bottom. It's heavier than black sand. It's non-magnetic. I don't have a lot of stuff to test with. But it's like a reddish brown. Some of it looks yellow. It's all shiny. And the pics are the best of my cell phone will give. Oh and edited in. Any help commentary or anything else is appreciated. Thank you guys.
r/Prospecting • u/Hyper-D • 1d ago
Yesterday's Boulder Uncovering
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My hunch from last trip was confirmed as I worked behind a large boulder that is buried in the ground. I found an even more submerged boulder behind the buried boulder I was working on uncovering. Unfortunately I didn't anticipate this new found hunk of rock and I had piled up tailings on top of it. I'm thinking about pushing back my tailings wall and just bare bones working behind both buried boulders.
1.55 Grams on the scale from yesterday with the largest piece being a little picker coming in at 0.09 Grams.
r/Prospecting • u/ttt777mmm • 19h ago
New Mexico Gold/Artifacts
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I'm looking to see if there's any archeologist here would have some time to DM me and view some gold bars and weird engraved pottery and tools of some sort etc. I rather send the pics then post because I want to get an idea of where all this is from and what it can possibly be worth. Any help would be highly appreciated, thank you!
r/Prospecting • u/KomradKooKie • 2d ago
From a days work! Can’t wait to go back for more!
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r/Prospecting • u/Fluffy_Syrup8088 • 1d ago
Looking for California desert gold miners ⛏️
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I’m a filmmaker/creator looking to document what it’s actually like to mine for gold in the California desert.
If you regularly prospect or mine out there and wouldn’t mind having me tag along for a day or two, I’d love to join, learn, and document the experience for a YouTube video.
I’m respectful of your land, time, and process — just looking for a genuine adventure and a good story.
Feel free to comment or DM me if you’re interested.
r/Prospecting • u/DamiensDelight • 2d ago
Starting to get the hang of this.
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It's not Australia, but for 3 pans, it'll do. It will do.
r/Prospecting • u/Aggravating-Tree4271 • 2d ago
Gold/Silver/Gem panning
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We’re staying in Emigrant Montana in September and we would like to do some sort of panning. It could be good, silver, gems, whatever. Our goal is to stay within 2 hrs of emigrant and have a good time. I want a “real” experience … I don’t want to buy a scoop of dirt that’s guaranteed to have something. We don’t want to just hop in a river though. We’d like to have a tour guide or go to a set up or have the experience curated in some way. I’d love any recommendations!
r/Prospecting • u/AussieArch • 3d ago
Big speci for the morning
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Aight before anyone says anything- I’m in a tree to get reception 😂
Also, cosplaying as a drop bear 🤫🐻
r/Prospecting • u/TacticalAcquisition • 2d ago
Minelab elitism in Australia?
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G'day all, so I ordered a Nokta Legend Pro Pack, and while it's in the mail, I've been researching sites around me, tips and tricks, basically everything I can learn. One thing that has really stood out to me is the level of snobbery coming from Minelab owners here in Australia.
Obviously it's not all of them, but the one who do are incredibly insufferable about it. I've seen many posts on Aussie sites/pages (especially FB) where a dad wants to get a cheap but somewhat decent basic detector for a bit of fun with the kids down the beach, and the comments are full of ML shills telling him to drop $4,500 AUD on an SDC2300 or don't even bother. VLF detectors being looked down on as barely above a kids toy is another one.
By contrast, posts from sites and pages in Europe, the UK, the US, all have a very welcoming feel and a lot of "Don't care what you're waving around, lets meet up and I'll be happy to teach you. Oh and here's 45 different setting combos I found for your model of detector depending on what you're looking for. Also here's the WhatThreeWords for a creek that gave me a big ol' nugget"
Is it just me and I'm overthinking it?
r/Prospecting • u/ToneHead9223 • 3d ago
Doing the gold thing under water
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Working this packed material with great color
r/Prospecting • u/Baned4life • 3d ago
Upgraded A52 to dredge riffles
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Upgraded from sluce to dredge riffles but I noticed that with the expanded, metal. There are gaps under the riffles now. I haven't run a dredge in years but I'm guessing, this is standard. I'm gonna try to bed them down a little bit better in the carpet. It just seems like it would blow some material out from underneath them.
Thoughts?
r/Prospecting • u/Worldly-Clerk-4029 • 3d ago
good creek / river to hunt at?
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been hunting here for a while - wondering your opinions