WELCOME TO THE FIRST TIP OF THE MONTH CONTEST!

Each month we will publish one or more tips about prospecting equipment, how-to techniques, where to locate those hard to find items, plans, or anything that is relevant to the recreational prospector or small scale miner. Our subscribers will get to vote on which one they like best. Sometimes those little improvements to your mining gear make all the difference!

You can participate by emailing us with your submissions for the contest. Submissions must not be copyrighted; or if copyrighted, have permission to use the item attached to your email. We will share them on this page and select a winner each month. First place will receive a prize that will vary from month to month.

This month's prize is a personalized, autographed copy of the June 2008 issue of ICMJ's Mining Journal featuring an excerpt from the upcoming book by  Ron "AuWhatFun" Kliewer, 'On becoming a DredgeMaster'.

Submit your TIPS, tricks and gear modifications here:  kliewer1@verizon.net

This month's TIP:

We're starting with the basics this time :

All about Gold's Unique Properties
         Gold, when found in its natural state, has from ancient times and still today, is prized above all other metals for its warm color, low hardness, high strength, and extreme resistance to corrosion. No natural acids can corrode or discolor it. It is one of the heaviest metals known, having a specific gravity of 19.3, meaning it is 19.3 times heavier than an equal volume of water. Quartz with which gold is usually found has a specific gravity of 2.64, which is the reason gold can be so easily separated by panning and other methods.
       Nearly all of the gold mined today is in small pieces that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Nuggets of gold are rare, and are found in very small quantities, most being only a few grains in size. Larger nuggets of one ounce or more are very rare. Rarer still is leaf and crystallized gold, and the rarest form of all is wire gold, usually seen only in museums.
       One of gold's most useful properties is it's low hardness of 2.5 and relatively low melting point of 1947 degrees F, which made it easily shaped and worked into intricate designs by craftsmen from the earliest times to the present.
       Since gold is so malleable and ductile it will bend but not break. An ounce of gold can be beaten into an ultra thin translucent sheet about 100 feet square or drawn into a fine wire over 50 miles long. Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity and is widely used in micro electronic circuits.
       The purity of gold is measured in Karats, 24 karat being pure, or 12 karat being 50% gold combined with some other metal such as silver, copper of a combination or of other metals. Gold is sometimes rated in terms of fineness, and 24 karat gold would be rated as 1000 fine.
       Worldwide the Troy standard is used for measuring the weight of gold.  

   1 Troy pound = 12 Troy ounces

   1 Troy ounce = 20 Pennyweights 

   1 Pennyweight = 24 Grains 

   480 Grains = One Troy Ounce