Field Equipment

Equipment is a general term used to elaborate on the hand operated tools that a small scale miner or prospector would be using in the field. I myself use a small variety of tools that is listed or suggested. The choice of tools that I use was determined by the weight that I would need to pack and the type of operations that I conduct as a freelance prospector.

This is what I use in the field. Most of these items, except for the shovel, pick, and buckets, fit neatly into the back pack on the left. The rock pick, folding shovel, axe and compass is secured to my belt. The small map compass, GPS, and jewelers lenses fit into my vest pockets. My test tools (hardness kit, streak plates, small drop bottles of diluted acid, sample bottles, funnels, and sniffer bottles) also fit into the pockets of my back pack. The metal detector breaks down and is attached to the outside of my pack along with the headphones and transducers. In the box of my truck I carry a generator, 50 gallon water boxes, sluice box and extension.

I also carry a small rock crusher that I attach to the hitch on my truck. It too is hand operated. This I use to break my samples into a finer material for analyses. The hand screens are used to filter out any precious metals. These specks of material could be in a sliver size state and could only be captured with a fine mesh screen. The finest mesh screen that I usually carry with me is 100 mesh. Once I sift out the material, the heavier samples go into the buckets (quartz etc.) and are then crushed later for any silver, or gold content. The finer material is then panned at the creek and some is saved for assay.

. I also carry a magnet to help remove some of the magnetite in my pans which leaves the heavier elements that I would siphon up with the aid of a sniffer bottle. There are other small items that I carry or use in my home lab. Too many to list here. Check out the equipment listed in the drop down section of the equipment heading or click on the pictures below and see what you may require for your personal tool list and happy prospecting.