Methods of Placer Mining

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Attention, all you latter-day Sourdoughs. There’s still “gold in
them thar hills,” and this book, by gold miner Garnet Basque, teaches
the fundamentals of one way of mining it. Placer mining is the art of
recovering gold from stream beds and/or loose soil in a cost-effective
manner. Some of the nuggets are so tiny, they are worth less than 1/2000
of a cent each, but even with pickings as slim as that a living can be
made if the right placer rig is used in the right spot by a
knowledgeable gold miner.

Basque’s first book—the Gold Panner’s Manual—was published for
novice treasure hunters. This second book takes the reader to the next
level—what to do when the pans consistently show color (gold) and it
seems worthwhile to make a larger investment in time and equipment. The
mining rigs Basque describes range from homemade and extremely low-tech
to professionally made outfits that can cost thousands of dollars, but
all are within the price range and operational abilities of the
“serious” weekend amateur.

Basque’s writing style is informal, his text informative, as he
relates the fascinating history of placer mining methods in the last
century. Although Victorian-era Rockers, Toms, and Puddling Boxes have
given way to state-of-the art Dry Washers and Hydraulic Concentrators,
the principals have remained the same. Dozens of illustrations and a
list of gold-mining equipment manufacturers support this fine
introduction to modern placer mining.