Turning rocks into money

Have you wondered what is involved in finding a new mineral discovery and turning it into a mine? Professional prospectors, geologists, mining engineers, financiers, investors and other professionals think about that process on a daily basis.  The process often starts with a prospector and involves many other people and companies over the course of time.   

The Prospector

We are a stubborn group - us prospectors, we keep walking the hills, the ridges and the valleys seeking out signs of minerals and looking for the next new discovery. Today was a good day and tomorrow will be a better day, is the thought that guides us in our quest and helps to keep us intrigued and searching both the known and unknown areas of terra firma for something new and hopefully valuable. 

Stubborn willpower is the fuel keeps the prospector working and motivated when the challenges continue to pile up and results for efforts are often slim at best. Professional prospecting is demanding and difficult work. It calls for many days or months of hard effort with minimum results, however once we make a discovery the pain of the past is removed and replaced with renewed optimism. A sense of accomplishment and achievement takes over filling us with energy and determination to grow our new found discovery into a mine.

The Exploration Work

Once that new discovery has been made, the next step is to get down to further exploration work designed to gain a better understanding of the nature, size and value of the mineral discovery. This is the first stage of advanced work generally requiring financial and technical support from outside people and companies, unless you happen to be a very wealthy prospector. To truly gain wealth from a mineral discovery requires that it be mined at a profit.

In order to turn the rocks of a discovery into money and wealth also requires that a great deal of time, study and expenditures are necessary before the decision can be made to start mining. This delineation process could take years and depends upon many circumstances including economic conditions such as price, supply and demand for the mineral, the amount of minerals present and the cost of liberating the mineral from the rock.

To help us better understand the process of turning Rocks into Money, I link to a 3 part video series from Brent Cook, taped on site at a gold property in the Yukon Canada. In these videos he quite accurately describes important work activities and the evaluation process required to begin to understand a mineral deposit.  

Brent Cook is an independent exploration analyst with over 25 years of experience in both property economics and geology evaluations. As a seasoned geologist, Brent's knowledge spans all areas of the mining business from the conceptual stage through to detailed technical and financial modeling related to mine development and production. More on Brent Cook https://www.explorationinsights.com/pebble.asp?relid=92

The videos are found on YouTube  

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 

There above provides a good introduction to the “turning rocks into money” process. From this we can certainly understand that the process is complicated and that one good assay result is not enough to create a mine. It takes much more than a single outcrop  to create a mine and it often takes much more than press releases to turn a discovery into a profitable mine.

Happy Prospecting.

Copper and Gold Property For Sale or Option

High Grade Copper Gold Property

Mine Prospectors Corporation (MPC) has available for sale or option a 1225 hectare property located in the central Newfoundland area. The property contains several mineral occurrences with historic showings of over 19 grams / ton gold and copper DDH intersections of 1.74% Cu over 3.5m, 1.25% Cu over 3.2m, 1.6% Cu over 2.0m and 2.93% Cu over 1.5m. Zinc, Silver and Lead showings also exist. This property has strong potential for future gold and base metals discovery.

MPC feels that this property has evidence of high grade gold and copper that will generate new interest at today’s metal prices. It is located in geology similar to historic and present day mines in the region and it is situated in an area with excellent access in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which is ranked among the top ten mining regions of the world.

The Ghost pond property has mineral occurrences and geological aspects that justify further and more detailed exploration effort using modern methods and models.  Past work indicates the existence of mineralization with good metal values over a widespread area as seen in historic diamond drilling results and surface sampling noted is past reports.

Renewed exploration effort is taking place in the region and new mine development is ongoing for both precious and base metals within reasonable distances from the property. The Ghost Pond Property remains yet to be fully tested and all indications are that it represents a land holding that offers considerable potential for new mineral discovery.

Visit www.mineprospector.com for details on this and other mineral prospects.

Mining Strategist Doug Silver Believes There Are At Least 3,000 Million Ounce Gold Deposits Still Out There

RENO, NV - As gold miners and explorers moan and groan about the decline of major gold deposits in the world, former International Royalty Corp CEO Doug Silver asserts that at least 3,000 gold deposits currently exist globally with 4.9 billion ounces of gold reserves and resources.

In a presentation to the Geological Society of Nevada 2010 Symposium in Sparks, Nevada, Wednesday, Silver–whose passion for research and statistics burn as bright as ever even after selling IRC to Royal Gold for millions and millions-estimates that 638 of those deposits or 22% are endowed with at least one million each of contained ounces.


His research has revealed that 89% of the known gold ounces in this world reside in larger gold deposits. Of those ounces, 40% are measured and indicated resources, 31% are proven and probable reserves, and 29% are inferred resources. One third of them are open pit mineable and one third are located underground.
And, despite the declarations of major mining company CEOs and geologists that the days of really big gold discoveries are waning, Silver’s research has revealed the number of major gold discoveries has been increasing. In fact, the number of million-ounce-plus gold deposits discovered globally has been steadily increasing since the 1920s, he asserts.

“We’ve creating phenomenal value for our companies and our shareholders,” Silver said. “We’ve done very well.”

Read More Link To Full Story

As prospectors and explorers we need to be optimistic. Doug Silver certainly has the credentials to be able to talk on the subject of Gold Exploration. I cannot argue one way or another on the figures but I  feel that his words are encouraging. There are indeed new world class gold deposits being discovered and explored, whatever the number is, there is certainly opportunity. Let us research and Let us go out in the hills and search for some new gold.

Happy Posting
This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a  prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Richard Russell: You Won't Recognize America By The End Of The Year

Richard Russell, the famous writer of the Dow Theory Letters, has a chilling line in today's note:

Do your friends a favor. Tell them to "batten down the hatches" because there's a HARD RAIN coming. Tell them to get out of debt and sell anything they can sell (and don't need) in order to get liquid. Tell them that Richard Russell says that by the end of this year they won't recognize the country. They'll retort, "How the dickens does Russell know -- who told him?" Tell them the stock market told him.

He says to get out of all stocks but not gold stocks and get cash or gold preferably bullion.

Just as for years I asked, cajoled, insisted, threatened, demanded,
that my subscribers buy gold, I am now insisting, demanding, begging my subscribers to get OUT of stocks (including C and BYD, but not including golds) and get into cash or gold (bullion if possible).
If the two Averages violate their May 7 lows, I see a major crash as the outcome. Pul - leeze, get out of stocks now, and I don't give a damn whether you have paper losses or paper profits!

Read more: Link to Full Story

 Happy Prospecting!

Trading in Gold and Silver

When we think about trading in gold and silver today we usually think about the buying and selling of these metals for investment purposes in a regulated exchange setting and/or hopefully profits from stocks in mining companies etc. but not for the purchase of every day items like groceries

In years gone by gold and silver were often traded for other goods and services including food and drink. If Joe citizen had beef Jane citizen could bring in some silver and get a nice beef roast.

With the concern in financial markets, rising unemployment, government over spending, inflation and currency devaluation of recent times, people are looking for alternative means for trade in their everyday life. I often wondered when we would see the rebirth of trading gold and silver for everyday goods and necessities.

The video below makes me think that the rebirth of direct trading with gold and silver may have started

First Grocery Stores Begin To Accept Silver

Happy Prospecting and Happy Trading!

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a  prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

The Canadian Gold Exploration Hotspot is Manitoba

The first question that comes to mind with a headline like this one is - Why should Manitoba be seen as a Hotspot for Gold Exploration in Canada? The answer can be found by doing a little due diligence on the area and in review of recent news from companies exploring in the province.

Over the last couple of years there have been numerous announcements of the high grade gold discoveries being made in Manitoba. Some of these new discoveries and the resulting ramp up in exploration in the Rice Lake Gold Camp was presented in the recent gold search post titled  Gold in Manitoba - New gold camp emerging in the Rice Lake area

These recent gold discoveries due to their grade, size and frequency have "in my opinion" placed Manitoba among a select group of gold exploration camps (areas) in Canada and perhaps even worldwide. Most of these new discoveries have been made by one company, San Gold Corporation, and it can be said that they have nearly single handed been responsible for the rejuvenated gold exploration in region. The discoveries are large, high grade and more importantly they continue to be made.

The result of announcements of new high grade gold discoveries is that there has been a sizable increase in the number of companies now involved in gold exploration in Manitoba, there is a marked increase in the amount of exploration dollars being spent in the area, while there has been a recent increase in demand for mineral claims.

In recent times there have also been many news releases made by exploration companies relating to the acquisition of  new or additional mineral properties in the province and numerous companies have now "locked up" prospective ground in the Rice Lake Gold Camp and other areas of Manitoba.

As the manager of a Prospecting and Exploration Service Company I can report that we have also witnessed  an increased interest in acquiring mineral properties and prospecting services from numerous exploration companies.

Once we wade through recent news and begin to understand the significance I feel that it isn't a long shot to think that Manitoba is a gold exploration hotpot.

Happy Prospecting!

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a  prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

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Gold in Manitoba - New gold camp emerging in the Rice Lake area

On Friday April 22 2010, San Gold Corporation made an announcement via a news release with the title

"San Gold Drills High Grade in New RL East Zone including 4.9 meters of 319 g/tonne". 

Part of this news release reads as follows:

Dale Ginn, CEO of San Gold Corporation (SGR: TSX-V) (SGRCF: OTCQX) is pleased to report exceptionally encouraging results from underground exploration drilling following up on the recent discovery of multiple new zones beyond the eastern extremities of the Rice Lake mine (see press releases dated Jan 25 and March 31, 2010).

These zones, collectively known as RL East display remarkable widths as well as grade and are hosted within structures that trend upwards toward the high grade 007 zone near surface. Drill hole #28-10-53 cut 121 g/tonne (3.53 oz/ton) over 13.3 meters (44 ft) and included an extremely high grade segment of 319 g/tonne (9.30 oz/ton) over 4.9 m (15.9 ft) containing coarse visible gold. Drill hole #28-10-80 encountered 5 individual zones within a wider mineralized section of 50 meters (164 ft) grading 4.8 g/tonne (0.14 oz/ton).

Dale Ginn, CEO,  also stated; “San Gold mine geologists have produced one of the most impressive intersections ever within Rice Lake. Taking into account that this is exploration drilling outside of known Rice Lake mine extents, these results are truly remarkable. The mining team’s efforts are demonstrating that this mineralized system is linked to our new surface zones and that our geological model produces results at depth as well as near surface.We look forward to closing this gap and taking a broader approach to a mineralized system that is fast becoming much larger than a collection of individual deposits.”

Full San Gold April 22, 2010 Press Release

San Gold has had additional and remarkable success in finding awesome gold deposits in "other" new reaches of the historic Rice Lake Mine and to the date the company has also discovered new rich gold deposits closer to surface. These near surface deposits include the Hinge Zones and 007 discoveries all of which returned high grade gold intersections from drilling. The Hinge zone discovery has already been developed into the latest mine and the company has also begun underground development towards the new 007 deposit. To get a better understanding of the spectacular gold discoveries made by San Gold in the last few go to their news page on their website http://www.sangoldcorp.com/index.php?id=55

Gold discoveries were first reported in the Rice Lake greenstone belt early in the 1900's and close to 2 million ounces have been extracted to date from mines of various sizes in the area. The new discoveries being made in recent times certainly indicate that much more gold exists in the region than has been mined to date. In fact the record pace at which new discoveries are being made and are being put into production, in my opinion, strongly indicates that we can expect to see many more ounces being "proved up" in the future.

From following the Rice Lake and San Gold developments, one thing is certainly clear to me -  that the beliefs, efforts, dedication and years of hard work by the San Gold Executive Chairman,  Mr Hugh Wynne ( local businessman / prospector)  is paying off in golden colored spades. Mr Wynne played a key roll in assembling the land package, assets  and professional team of what is today San Gold Corp, it can be said with confidence that Mr Wynne has also played an important part in shaping the future of the region and perhaps gold mining as whole in the Province of Manitoba. I feel strongly that Mr Wynne and the entire San Gold team should be nominated for high rewards and recognition at the next PDAC convention.

The Rice Lake Area and the South Eastern Manitoba Region in general has certainly not yet seen the exploration effort or expenditures in its history that its neighbor the Red Lake District of Ontario has seen, however there is strong evidence that it now can boost about grades that equal or exceed the best that the Red Lake Gold Camp has produced.

Just a short time ago on a visit  throughout the Rice Lake greenstone belt I came to realize that at least six different companies are presently drilling or recently completed diamond drilling in the area. There may be more, but there at least six companies actively exploring for gold . San Gold is "chomping away" and continuing the largest drilling program in the history of the area while Strike Point Gold, Wildcat Exploration, Cougar Minerals, Bison Gold and EagleRidge Minerals Ltd have exploration programs ongoing or have recently completed drilling on properties in the area. San Gold and these other active companies are contributing the finances, resources and effort required to finally start unlocking the gold potential of the area.

There is good reason to believe that a new and exciting Gold Camp is now emerging for want of a better name I call it the "Rice Lake Gold Camp".

As a prospector I very much enjoy seeing the new gold camp develop.

Happy Prospecting

This post was made at www.goldsearch.blogspot.com by Robert Freeman

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a  prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Mineral Propsecting Outlook 2010

We never know for sure if any year will be good, bad or excellent for the prospector making a living. But there is information available and news to watch for that may help us get a better feeling for the business outlook. Staying in tune with the times and keeping up with the latest industry news and trends, has to play an important and ever increasing part in the prospecting business today. If one is serious about success we need to remain informed of trends and the opportunities that they could bring.

My thoughts on the 2010 outlook are presented below in short form.

As the demand for minerals increases so should the prospecting effort to locate promising discoveries that could lead to eventual deposits of economic importance. Increased demand for minerals often results in increased demand for new properties. This adds a stimulus to the prospecting profession and helps relight the dream of finding mineral showings of value or the next mine.

2010 should be a good year for the prospector that is seriously looking for a diversified mix of minerals including Rare Earth Elements, Precious Metals, Base Metals, and Industrial Minerals etc especially if he or she has a good portfolio of properties some or all of which may be of interest to larger exploration and mining companies.

With these changing times and technology advancements also comes increased opportunity for growth in the prospecting, exploration and mining fields especially for those folks that are able to search for and find minerals for which the demand is growing. Individuals and companies that can broaden their efforts to include a variety of target minerals should have a better opportunity for success.

While there is little doubt that the uncertain economic times of last year have had an effect upon the demand for new properties, there are indications that the demand is increasing. This can be seen in the press releases of numerous companies and announcements of new property purchases and or options. Rare Earth Element (REE) properties are becoming more of a focus and the demand for quality gold properties has also been on a steady increase. Let us not forget base metals, although maybe not as "sexy" to some there are strong indications that demand will remain strong.

Of course while we are looking into the future demand, we would do ourselves a disservice if we forget about industrial minerals such as magnesium or even aggregate deposits of value. Deposits of this category although far from being in the "stock market fashion or the latest buzz", are still very important to society and to economic advancement. Finding such deposits of good grade and tonnage certainly has and will always have value and can be very lucrative. Perhaps they are a harder nut to crack promotion wise and a harder sell to exploration companies, they are still a key resource to serious mining quarry companies and the eventual rewards of having one can certainly still be worthwhile.

Mineral Properties for Option - Gold - Lithium - Magnesium - Base Metals

The search for REE deposits has recently seen an upsurge as explorers begin to hedge their bets on the future demand for these types of minerals. Lithium or the 3 rd element as many refer to it is also the focus of increased attention.

Gold, Platinum group minerals, and silver are gathering serious attention once again due to potential shortages into the future and the recent increases in price for these metals.

Now that the spring and summer seasons are upon us, prospectors are once again increasing their efforts to examine new areas and revisit past mineral minds as is the tradition. With the new season and increased demand this should be a good year for the prospector.

This post is from Prospecting- The Search For New Gold

Happy Prospecting! Always do your home work and due diligence, learn to sell Popsicles to the people that want them, and be ready to fit the right buyer with the right property. Keep your powder dry and your axe sharp.  

About the author: Robert Freeman is a full time professional prospector with over 20 years direct hands on experience in the field. He manages a  prospecting and exploration company which provides mineral claims, mineral claim staking, prospecting services, field and logistical services, along with consulting property management and acquisition services to the mining industry. He founded or played a key role in the formation of several exploration companies and has created mineral exploration land packages in numerous regions of Canada for both public and private companies.

Going for the Gold with a Vision, a Backpack, a few Tools, Hard Work and Will Power

They say that prospecting gets in your blood, your thoughts and your dreams. Some claim that it is a profession that sets off a certain something that stimulates the Nero - receptors in the brains of otherwise normal individuals, making them fascinated and near obsessed with the idea of exploration and discovery.

While I can accept a little of that point of view and I have witnessed firsthand the antics of people with the “fever”, I feel that the naysayers are certainly not totally right. However, they may also not be totally wrong. There have been cases were a person falls in love with a certain property or a certain location, to the point were “bad ground” gets “loved to death”, usually at considerable expense of time and money and with much frustration.

The old saying “Gold is Where You Find It” can be very true, however carried to excess, some folks think they can find it anywhere and take longer to realize that where they are looking isn’t necessarily where the gold got emplaced and thus they have not found it. Gold of course is everywhere in minute amounts however the occurrence of gold in economic quantities is another matter. Discovering gold deposits of a quantity suitable for mining is not something that happens regularly, in fact many gold or other mineral discoveries never become mines. Often it takes years before even “high grade” discoveries become mines.

The would-be prospector has to realize a simple fact, if minerals were available everywhere in commercial minable quantities they would be worth far less and there would be little stimulus to go find the next new mine. Once we accept the reality that we need to look at many rocks before we find a big discovery, we can focus and narrow down our search to areas where the odds are better.

 Don’t get me wrong, successful prospectors experience success because the love their work and most will tell you that they learnt the hard way not to love a property to death, especially a property with slim chance for discovery. The trick is education, an education often obtained from the school of hard knocks, an education that empowers them to know when to move on to another target without selling the shop to explore the first one.

Over the course of time, more than 20 years, I have prospected both as a hobby and as a professional, often counting on it for my livelihood and today as my career. More than once I made the mistake of over exploring a property and in the early years I spent more than my year’s wages on a property that was nicely located but sadly of little economic value.  You could say that I got knocked in the head and the pocketbook at the school of hard knocks.

Perhaps by now you are asking; so where is the good and exciting part in all this? That is a question that each prospector will have to answer in his or her own way. I can only speak for myself and my experiences. I have been prospecting full-time or near full-time for the last 10years and part-time for many years prior to that, part-time to me was spending more than half my time in the field each year while working at another job or my other business. Some of my friends still call me one of those guys with highly stimulated nerve endings, but none of them continue to doubt the value of what I do.

I remember having only a Vision, a Backpack and a few Tools and relying on my hard work and willpower to first prove that I had what was needed to become a prospector and then prove that I could succeed in being one. Today the lessons I learnt in the hard knock school and the experience I gained, combined with some luck have created my career and have allowed me to live a life that I enjoy. There are still hard – times and there will always be new hurdles to jump, however those hard – times are fewer and the hurdles do not seem as high.

Recently I have witnessed the rapid advancement of a mineral exploration company that I helped to create and helped to provide with mineral properties. This was a major milestone for me and it meant the accomplishment of a vision I long held. I have also expanded my business to provide numerous companies with prospecting services and mineral properties of value at a professional level.

Over the years I have also staked, sold and optioned a “profitable” amount of mineral claims in many areas of Canada and I have made worthwhile discoveries due in part to remembering the lessons I learned early on.

Today I was in the field staking another mineral claim in Manitoba and enjoying teaching my girl how to use and axe to blaze a trail. So you see, once I got over the “fever” I learned that I needed to do research on the discovery history of an area, the geology, the geography, the infrastructure available and other features before I sold the shop to explore it in a serious manner.

Happy Prospecting

Rice lake Area Manitoba - Gold Exploration Continues

The Rice Lake Gold Camp situated in the southeast region of Manitoba, is one of the areas that has recently witnessed the discovery of exceptional new gold deposits. These new discoveries are large in scope and are being made with a truly amazing frequency. Back in January I blogged on the gold exploration and new discoveries taking place in the Rice Lake area of Manitoba. That post was titled High Grade Gold Discoveries Continue in Manitoba.

Since that time several companies have made announcements of increased exploration work at properties located in the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt, while San Gold Corp the active gold mining company in the region has continued to advance new discoveries made on it's Bissett area properties.

On March 18th 2010 EagleRidge Minerals Ltd announced that it would commence diamond drilling on it's wholly owned Hannes project. 

An Exert from the EagleRidge Press Release.

EagleRidge Minerals Begins Drill Program on the Hannes Gold Project in Southeast Manitoba

March 18th, 2010 - Pinawa, Manitoba

EagleRidge Minerals Ltd. (“ERM” or the “Company”, or “EagleRidge”) is pleased to announce that it has started a 1000 metre drilling program on the Hannnes Gold Project in the Rice Lake greenstone belt of southeast Manitoba.

The Hannes Gold Project consists of a claim package of 9403 hectares of claims in the western portion of the Rice Lake greenstone belt approximately 30 kilometres west of Bissett. The Company completed a Phase 1 exploration program during the summer of 2009 of field mapping, prospecting and geochemistry on the southern and western portion of the claim package where three gold showings were uncovered. Best gold values graded up to 6.1g/t. The field work in 2009 covered one third (1/3) of the property. The remainder of the property will be mapped and sampled during the 2010 summer exploration season. Further details are available from the Eagleridge website and from previous news releases on the Hannes Project.

A 1000 metre drill program will be carried out on the Gnomes Shear Zone and the Beaver Pond Zone. Drilling will be conducted by Bodnar Drilling of Manitoba using NQ-sized core under the direct supervision of Tim Tuba, P, Geo, (Exploration Manager, EagleRidge Minerals Ltd). Historical exploration in the region by other companies on the Gnomes Shear has traced the shear for 1200 metres with a thickness of 10-20 metres. Historically the best grades from surface channel sampling of the veins were 0.32 oz/ton Au over 3.7 metres and 0.72 oz/ton Au over 1.2 metres. The shear remains open on either direction and at depth. All past drilling was of a shallow nature. There is no record of drilling on the Beaver Pond Showing.

The purpose of this exploration program is to drill test the same structure but at a deeper depth. The greenstone belt region as a whole has benefitted from deeper drill holes which have encountered better gold mineralization at depth from that which was previously known from surface. It is expected that the drilling will be completed and results returned to the Company by the second week in April. On completion of the drill program, an independent technical report will be issued by the Company.

Click Here for full EagleRidge March 18th News release in PDF format

Happy Prospecting

Selling Gold Jewelry

Knowing the Value of Gold Jewelry Pieces

With the present high gold prices, many people are considering selling gold jewelry to raise some cash. While this is not a bad idea from broken or unserviceable jewelry, it may not be such a good idea for all your stuff. You might be better off selling unwanted pieces as jewelry, rather than sending it to the melting pot.

If you sell gold jewelry for its scrap value, you'll lose much of its retail value, perhaps 75% or more. The scrap price is based on the value of the metal alone and doesn't reflect the craftsmanship or any aesthetic or antique value, let alone emotional attachment you or family members may have to the piece. It’s a good idea to have it appraised before you sell it for scarp.

Of course some jewelry pieces like one earring with a lost mate or broken rings parts of bracelets etc. are pretty much scarp anyway and probably can only be sold as such minus any valuable stones of course. Garden variety class rings and wedding bands are sometimes better sold as scarp.

The price of gold is based on a troy ounce of 24-karat, or pure, gold. A troy ounce contains 31.1 grams, or 20 pennyweights. If the spot price of gold is $1,100 USD per ounce then 1 gram of 24 karat gold is worth $1,100 / 31.1 grams or $35.37 USD. Gold prices change often so use the handy chart on this page to check updated spot prices.

Gold less than 24K is discounted proportionately:

18K is 75% pure gold, 14K is 58.3%, and 10K is 41.7% gold.
Gold jewellery of 10K or more will have a karat stamp, you this to get an idea of the content and value of gold in a certain piece.

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Selling and Buying Gold Coins

Actual Gold in the form of metal is an investment that's both tangible and liquid. You can hold it in your hands; keep it in a safe deposit box or wherever you desire. Gold can be bought or sold easily and has been for hundreds of years.

Gold coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf, the Krugerrand, the America Gold eagle etc. can usually be bought and sold by going to a bank. Gold coins are one of the most popular forms of gold bullion available to the retail buyer.

These gold coins are made mostly or entirely of gold. For Instance, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coins are the world's most popular pure gold coin. Since their introduction in 1979, over 20 million troy ounces have been sold. As the first bullion coin to achieve the heightened standard of 9999 fine, the Gold Maple Leaf is available in five weights from one-twentieth of an ounce to one troy ounce. The Canadian mint our bullion products can be purchased through banks, coin dealers, foreign currency exchange offices, and brokerage houses worldwide.

Because these gold coins have face values they are money and thus can be bought and sold through banks etc. Obviously you do not want to sell a $50 1 oz Canadian gold Maple leaf for $50; you will sell it or buy it for the value of one ounce of gold at the time plus or minus handling fees.

Prices of gold and silver bullion products are based on international market rates which vary daily, as well as supply and demand. Be prepared for a reasonable premium to be charged over the daily spot quotations to cover manufacturing, transportation and distribution costs.

Getting a return of investments in gold follows the age old practice “ buy low sell high” meaning if you have gold that cost you say $700 per ounce 2 years ago and you sell today at say $1,100, you stand to make a $400 per ounce profit, in simple terms.

Remember in order to sell bullion coins minted with face values you do not have to send them to a scarp gold dealer. Take them to your bank first and get an opinion. Also, if you have rare or collector coins have, those evaluated by a good reputable coin dealer to get an idea of their value which could be much higher than the gold content.

Coming soon Selling gold Jewelry

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Mineral Prospecting in Newfoundland - North America

There is a great book called “Once upon a Mine” available online. The colourful history of mineral prospecting, exploration and mining in the pre-confederation days of the Colony – Republic of Newfoundland is presented in the pages of this book.

Incidents and happenings described in “Once upon a Mine” make for very entertaining reading at the very least. What the book actually brings to life is the true nature of early prospecting and hardnosed mine owners. It talks in much detail about hardships of early mining encountered at the hands of outside interests and brings to life the scams, conflicts, the greed and wheeling and dealing that took place in the pursuit of properties. This account of prospecting history also provides good insight into the nature of some of the best copper deposits discovered and how they became successful mines.

The history of prospecting in North America goes back longer in time than is generally recognized. In 1576 Sir Martin Frobisher examined the shores of what is assumed to have been Newfoundland's Trinity Bay , where he found a shiny heavy stone. This was in all likelihood Pyrite. Pyrite in that area is locally known as Catalina Stone after the name of the town where a great deal of pyrite can be found.

Up until 1949 Newfoundland was not a province of Canada. It was a part of the British Empire. That is why this post has Newfoundland – North America in its title. The overall history of Newfoundland is one that requires much more space that this blog permits. Suffice to say that it is a region of North America with remarkable history going back over 500 years.

I digress so back to the book. Here are some quotes from the book:

“Anthony Parkhurst returned to England in 1578 with pieces of copper and iron ore from the St. John's and Bell Island areas. On the strength of the Frobisher and Parkhurst discoveries, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took a Saxon ore refiner named Daniel of Buda with him to Newfoundland in 1583. Daniel, an energetic individual, retrieved an array of copper, iron, lead and silver ores from the Avalon Peninsula. Unfortunately, both Daniel and the samples disappeared a few months later in a shipwreck off Sable Island. A contemporary expedition member hinted that Gilbert lamented the loss of the ores more than that of the ship and men. Be that as it may, the hapless Sir Gilbert mourned but a scant 11 days before his own vessel sank north of the Azores on the voyage back to England.”

We of the well-informed today can scarcely appreciate the dubious view that most mining speculators from a century ago had of Newfoundland. Nor can we in this scientific era fully understand the jaundiced opinion that laymen had of geologists, mineralogists and their like. Prospectors were generally regarded as more eccentric than enterprising: one Scottish gold-seeker in Newfoundland was described to St. John's authorities in the 1860s as being a "poor demented creature who went about hammering at the cliffs but otherwise he appeared to be quite harmless." I do not think we are directly related- personal comment, R Freeman

James P. Howley, director of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland from 1883 to 1917, wrote in 1898 that:

"In the earliest stages of the Newfoundland mining industry, all sorts of drawbacks had to be encountered and overcome...mineralogical knowledge of the country, impossibility of procuring skilled labour except from outside...but beyond all a blind and unreasonable prejudice...which amounted almost to a prohibition of any attempt at mining enterprise...."

Howley, it seems realized that more than the elements where interfering in prospecting of the Island in what was then - a brave new world.

I present a section below describing the first real mining success in the new land, exactly as it appears in the book:

The overwhelming success of the Tilt Cove mine changed all this. As news spread of the immense profits being made by Charles Bennett and Smith McKay, prospectors and mining entrepreneurs began to converge upon Notre Dame Bay. When Bennett became Newfoundland's anti-confederate premier in 1870 and on 25 April 1872 abolished mining royalties completely, even the most reluctant speculators were stirred into action.

The subsequent rush for mining claims in Notre Dame Bay continued unabated for several years. Once an experienced mine expert staked a given property the surrounding territory was immediately blanketed by the claims of people knowing nothing of geology or minerals. Some claims were staked on non-existent land while others with alleged coastal frontage turned out upon survey to be situated miles inland.

Thus began the Notre Dame Bay copper boom. It peaked in the 1880s, died out with World War I and left in its wake over two dozen copper mines, the combined output of which transformed Newfoundland briefly into the world's sixth largest copper producer. During the boom years, literally scores of mining companies sprung up in and beyond Newfoundland for the sole purpose of wresting ore from the rocks of Notre Dame Bay. Local newspapers reported mineral discoveries with such frequent and cheerful exaggeration that, reading them, one has the feeling that mining ran a close second to weather in daily conversation.

A lot of those things described above sometimes happen today in the industry. Some remain the same; the rush to get in on the action when a new discovery is made, is one of them.

Here is a snippet about Betts Cove, a successful high grade copper mine discovered and developed. Much later it was also reveiled that the Betts Cove deposits also held gold (as did others). You have to read the book to find out that interesting story.

What Betts Cove lacked in refreshments it made up for in 'copper fever'. Copper formed the main topic of conversation. Everyone knew someone who had found a deposit guaranteed to become a mine. Prospectors wandered about town with ore-filled pockets willing, for a price, to conduct people to the original outcrop. Betts Cove even had a dog that retrieved pieces of discarded copper ore. He occasionally disappeared into the hills for days, leaving villagers convinced that he prospected for copper. Their assumption was not as far-fetched as it may appear, for some modern Swedish mining companies use specially trained German Shepherds to smell out sulphide minerals.

What is true in many mining regions is also true in Newfoundland and Labrador, the best place to find a new mine is next to an old one. To that effect many of the older mining areas of Newfoundland are experiencing considerable new exploration activity, some with excellent success.

This is getting long so here is the link where you can read the book, online at your leisure, thanks to the Wendy Martin and also others including Heritage Newfoundland and The Canadian Institute Of Mining And Metallurgy. It is worthwhile to check this out because it is a factual yet entertaining history of prospecting and mining in Newfoundland.

Once upon a Mine – Link to Full Contents


Happy reading and keep on propsecting!

-

Of Gold and Dollars

While browsing on YouTube I happened upon a video that covers the subject of Gold Verses the Us Dollar. The Author says that this is the first of several videos to show what is really happening to the economy of the United States and why the country is in a lot of trouble financially.

Here is the video embedded below. Have a look and of course form your own opinion.



It's early morning here and so far there are some indications that the price of gold may rise some today. Yesterday it was down below the $1200 per ounce mark again. But hey $1200 per ounce isn't so bad if you can get it out of the ground for say less than $600 / oz or lower. Placer and hard rock miners that have good grades and low production costs still stand to do very well producing gold.

Since 2000 gold has risen by near $600 per ounce while the supply seems to have dropped some, that should bode well for the months and years ahead.

As Always

happy Prospecting

High Grade Gold Discoveries Continue in Manitoba

Being a prospector with a keen interest in Manitoba Canada and the search for gold in the province, I spend time keeping up with the exploration news in the province. The Rice Lake Gold Camp situated in the southeast region of Manitoba, is one of the areas that has recently witnessed the discovery of exceptional new gold deposits. These new discoveries are large in scope and are being made with a truly amazing frequency.

My past posts about the new Manitoba gold rush include Rice Lake Manitoba is alive with gold explorers posted on Sept 19, 2009 and Spectacular High Grade Gold Found In Manitoba, posted on Nov 23, 2009. The exploration work talked about in those posts continues. Recently the area has seen considerable more exploration activity that has lead to even more new gold discoveries.

San Gold Corporation, a Manitoba gold Miner and Explorer, has today, again released news of Impressive gold exploration results that include gold values of 1.07 oz/ton over a length of 40 feet obtained from diamond core drilling. At the same time, San Gold’s Rice Lake Mine continues to evolve with Higher Production Grades and Significant New High Grade Discoveries – including mining face samples of 909 g/t over 3m (26.5 oz/t over 10 ft). See San Gold press Release of Jan 20, 2010.

This news follows that published previously by San Gold on Nov 23, 2009 where they release news on drill core assays of 1787 g/tonne Gold over 2.1 meters at their New “007” Discovery. See San Gold press release of Nov 23 2009 for full details.

Discovery of gold deposits with values like those reported by San Gold Corp not only make for good mining, the numbers are such, that one would think that there is potential to create a new Gold Camp, or in this case, greatly enlarge an existing one.

The gold grades reported out of Rice Lake remind me of the discoveries and grades that made the Red Lake Ontario Gold Camp famous and lead to the discovery of gold deposits that created one of the highest grade and lowest cost gold mines in Canada. Considering that the Red Lake Gold Camp is just across the boarder, it isn’t a far reach to think that similar rocks in Manitoba have equally good discovery potential.

So what does this news mean to a prospector? For starters it means simply that not all the good stuff has been found and that less successful past exploration work doesn’t necessarily mean new gold deposits cannot be found. Heck in the case of San Gold past operators may have walked or driven over the areas of the new high grade finds, yet never unlocked the gold.

During the past few years my partner and I have staked mineral claims in and around the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt and I consider myself to be fortunate to have done so. Some of those properties have been sold to other better equipped exploration companies and exploration programs have recently commenced. This of course is great for a prospector; the claims get worked at a much larger scale, allowing us to work a few claims of our own.

Happy Prospecting

2009 the best year yet for gold companies

2009 turned out to be a great year for gold companies. Gold experienced a spectacular rise in price and financing activity was up more than 6 times that of 2008. 2008 was a dismal year in the industry.

According to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Curran, during 2009 there were 151 separate deals that raised over $18.6-billion for North American gold companies, that he says was the most ever raised in a 12 month period.

Mr. Curran also broke down where the money went and what it would be used for. Not surprisingly, more than two-thirds of the cash went to larger-cap gold producers ( Barrick Gold Corp. alone raised more than $5-billion to terminate its hedge book).

But the small-cap companies had plenty to smile about as well, and Mr. Curran is most interested in their financing activities. He calculated that they raised $6.36-billion in 141 deals, proving that there was plenty of money available for exploration (54% of those transactions were earmarked specifically for exploration). There were many small deals, as 58% of the transactions involved amounts less than $25-million.

But while most of the small-cap transactions were related to exploration, construction rose to the top when it came to how proceeds are used. It accounted for about 43% of that total, while exploration was 20%.

Smaller amounts were earmarked for feasibility studies, investment and acquisitions. However, the largest deals in the small-cap space involved acquisitions.

Link to story at Kelowna.com

2009 was also a great year for gold discoveries with many companies announcing news of new finds, increased resources and/or commencement of mining operations. 2009 also brought news of takeovers and acquisitions of smaller companies by the larger players.

Given the continual uneasiness in the worldwide economy and the potential for further complications, 2010 could turn out to be even better.

Happy Prospecting!

Gold in Manitoba – Where to find it

The easiest way to find Gold in Manitoba is to visit a mine. But chances are that the owners will not want you poking around on their claims and they will most certainly not allow you to take away any gold – that is unless they let you buy it! None the less there is gold at the mines in Bissett, Lynn Lake, Herb Lake, Snow Lake, and in the discoveries near Red Sucker, Beresford and Island Lakes and at other locations. Gold that has been found by prospecting, plenty of work and in most cases has cost considerable sums of money to explore in detail and develop.

Although you cannot take gold from a known claim or mine, you can still learn something about how to find some of your own by studying how others have found gold and using what you have learned when you go prospecting.

If you are determined to prospect for gold, then the best place to start is by reading. There are publicly available Mineral Occurrence Files, geological and geochemistry information, past mineral claim work assessment files, company press releases, publicly available files on geophysical surveys and a host of other data available that you can become familiar with to use in guiding your activities. You also need to obtain a prospecting license, without it no claims for you.

Finding a minable gold deposit is not easy, while there is good information to help guide you, there are no sign posts that say dig here! Your success is going to be measured by your work effort and by your savvy, no work no zeal no gold.

In the most productive Gold areas of the province you will have to go out in the bush and stake a claim on ground not already claimed, and you do so by physically erecting marker posts and making a boundary through the bush, across bogs and swamp and over rock outcrops. That’s how you get a mineral claim in those areas. Important: Do not try and stake one where there is already a claim, that don’t work and no one is going to allow you to stake ground they have in good standing, thus before you start staking do your homework and find out if the area is already claimed or not.

Once you have a registered claim you have to do work on it and start looking for gold or other minerals. Just because you have a mineral claim does not mean you are rich nor those it mean your claim is good for anything other than a pasture for moose. You need to go out there, use your knowledge or that of someone experienced that you hire, and prospect the claim. Look for something good and perhaps find it.

Most, if not all Gold recovered in Manitoba, is not of the variety that you can obtain from panning in a stream. In Manitoba you are in hard rock country, meaning anything mined to date on a significant scale was found in rock and not as nuggets, dust or flour gold mixed into stream or bench sands. Gold in the province is typically of a lode type found in veins or as by-product in base metal deposits.

Your best chances of finding Gold anywhere is being able to obtain a claim next to a past mine or a recent gold discovery. Obtaining a claim in such an area is no easy task, because normally the surrounding land is well staked and claimed by others.

You could if your funds permit and after careful study and advice, explore for gold where no one else is working. This you can do as a hobby and providing you know your geology, you can prospect without staking a claim until you find something of value. After testing then stake a claim.

Prospecting means among other things, taking samples and having the same assayed to determine if the rock holds anything of value. Plain old rocks to a prospector are a pain in the behind; rocks that have demonstrated content of some mineral are an entirely different matter. The prospector loves ore grade (good mineral content) in his/her rocks, however most rocks do not favor the prospector. Finding good gold showings is not a common occurrence.

Yet it has been and is still being done. Chance favors the prepared mind and hard work can pay off. Remember if it was easy everyone would be doing it and gold could be worth a lot less.

Happy prospecting!

Manitoba gold properties available for sale or option. Located in the Rice Lake Gold Belt! 

Precious metals, prices up overall in 2009

Over the last two years we have seen both up swings and down swings in gold prices from month to month and day to day. The good news is that overall the price finished on the upside.

The average London gold price for each quarter of 2008 was:

2008 Q-1 - $ 923.60
2008 Q-2 - $ 896.15
2008 Q-3 - $ 870.90
2008 Q-4 - $ 798.39

Overall 2008 average price was $872.26

The average London gold price for each quarter of 2009 was:

2009 Q-1 - $ 907.805
(An increase of 13.704% from the last quarter of 2008)
2009 Q-2 - $ 921.087
(An increase of 1.463% from the first 2009 quarter)
2009 Q-3 - $ 959.924
(An increase of 4.217% from the second 2009 quarter)
2009 Q-4 - $ 1,100.096
(An increase of 14.602% from the third 2009 quarter)

The overall average London gold price for 2009 was $ 972.228 which is an increase of 11.46% from the 2008 average of $872.26 per ounce.

The final gold price at the end of Quarter 4 of 2009 was (spot-market) $1,096.20 an ounce. The final closing price saw gold end the year at a gain of $218 over 2008. However the average was just over $972 for the year. During 2009 Gold also hit an all time high of above $1,220 per ounce on December 3 2009

Other precious metals also staged equally impressive gains after the 2008 deep decline. Platinum rose a record 58.7 percent and palladium was up 220 percent on improving economic conditions, as well as hope for a boost in physical demand from new U.S. exchange traded funds expected to launch soon. Silver also jumped by a record 49.1 percent.