What exactly is involved in Gold placer mining?

Placer mining specifically refers to gold mining methods that are used when collecting gold from alluvial deposits (beds of silt, and other minerals that are swept down a river or stream into a deposit). There are a number of methods by which one can mine for alluvial gold deposits (or placer mine). The first and most popular method of placer mining is called "panning". This technique involved taking a large pan and filling it with the river deposits of minerals and soil, and then adding a large amount of water. The sifter then clears out all the minerals and dirt that float with the water by swirling the pan around, and finds the gold that has been left behind. It is considered a poor method of commercial mining since it is labor intensive and quite slow. However, it is an effective way of searching an area for traces of gold. Metal detecting is another way of gold placer mining. This method involves the use of a metal detecting machine that is portable and hand held. As the machine operator wanders around, the machine will beep if it detects metal substances up to a meter below the surface. A third method of Placer gold mining is called gold sluicing. Sluicing involves the use of a special box called a sluice box. Early sluice boxes were made out of heavy planks of wood, but modern sluice boxes are made out of light weight aluminum or other metals. These boxes are long open boxes that feature upright ridges (riffles) placed throughout the length of the box. They are placed in a shallow river or stream with water flowing through it, which allows for large quantities of mineral-laden dirt to be sifted quickly. The dirt is picked up by the water and travels through the sluicing box, the gold dropping down into the riffles, and the rest of the minerals and dirt being carried off by the water current. The last method of gold placer mining is called "dredging" and within the category of dredging, there are twotechniques. The first technique is called surface dredging. Surface dredging is basically a pump operated sluice box. The sluice box rests on shore or floats atop the water while a suction pipe suctions deep dirt and spills it out to be sifted in the sluice box. A second dredging technique is called underwater dredging. Underwater dredging requires that the entire dredge be underwater and that it be operated by an underwater diver. This makes underwater dredging a rather unpopular method.

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