Gold Mining: Different Methods, Same Result
Gold mining is something that man has been known to have been engaged in for thousands of years and because of the value of gold, it has made many people rich. However, not everyone knows or is conversant about how to get gold out of the ground and may not even know about two main methods of gold mining which are "placer" and "vein" mining, and gold can also be mined as a by-product of mining for other types of metals.
Placer Mining
The first method used in gold mining is known as the "placer" mining and is used when gold is believed to be present in sand as well as gravel and in this method it is quite easy to separate the gold since it has a high density and when suspended in water will sink to the water as opposed to the sand and gravel that will float on the surface of the water, and panning is the simplest of all methods used in placer mining.
When panning for gold as was usual during the California gold rush of 1849, miners used to swirl a mixture of sand and gravel in a pan in a rapid motion so that the water as also the sand and gravel went over the edge leaving gold at the bottom of the pan. However, it is much more efficient to use sluice boxes for gold mining as too hydraulic mining, though at present, dredging is the most popular means of gold mining being employed today.
There is another method of gold mining and that is the one known as vein mining though in this method for every ounce of gold that is recovered, it requires processing of hundred thousand ounces of ore. However, this means is used quite a bit since it is believed that there is plenty of gold to be found in rock veins and thus accounts for more than half of all the gold production in the world. Furthermore, the gold that is found from mining veins can be very small in size, or it could be found as nuggets or even sheets and also as gold compounds.
Once you have successfully found gold through various gold mining methods, the next step would be to refine the gold though before that it may have to be crushed in ball mills or even in rod mills because this method will help to reduce the ore into a powder.
