Gold Trails. Gold Supplies. Basic Gold Prospecting

Gold Trails. Gold Supplies. Basic Gold Prospecting Essentials For Your Gold Kit

One of your main considerations to keep in mind anytime you are gold prospecting is to keep the weight down to a manageable size.  There is nothing worse than carrying too much gold equipment out in the field, getting tired from walking long distances, carrying everything but the kitchen sink.  You’ll only carry more than you need once to never do it again.  Of course if your gold panning, gold prospecting location is close to your vehicle, then this advice does not matter quite so much, however, you will be surprised just how much everything weighs when you add it all together and by their very nature, many gold tools, gold equipment that are a prerequisite for finding gold out there are fairly burdensome to carry alone over any distance on rough terrain.

Before moving onto further pieces of possible gold equipment, gold tools, here are some basic tools which can be easily overlooked but when out in the field, you think to yourself, darn, I wish I had that with me now, for that half wouldn’t make my job so much easier!

What’ll you’ll need then regarding gold prospecting equipment / essentials, obviously this will depend greatly on the terrain that you are gold prospecting within, so just use your commonsense.

A small sharp axe is always a good idea for cutting away tree roots etc or dead timber in a river bed, to get to your ideal gold prospecting location.  A sharp knife too can help and is small enough to be considered indispensable out in the wild.  A long shovel is a good idea, more lightweight the better, this will save you bending over all the time and possibly hurting your back.  A long handled shovel is also handy for digging out holes to get to your gold bearing gravel. A shorter spade is an option.  A couple of trowels are always extremely handy, a short one for putting spoil into your gold pan or spiral gold wheel, an extending longer trowel for digging deeper or accessing harder to reach areas.  A long metal pick is excellent for prying open crevices where gold may be hiding or to simply loosen material prior to digging.  A GPS so you can make a note of any locations where gold has been found may also help you as well as of course a mobile phone or ‘GPS Spot’ device in case of emergencies.  Also carry a small compass with you if trekking out into the middle of nowhere.

A plastic or metal gold pump is also excellent for drawing up material from deeper down or for use underwater.  This works by suction and simply sucks up the dirt which is then contained in the tube for easy placement into your plastic bucket.  These are especially useful to use within crevices where gold may be trapped.  Rubber gloves will of course keep your hands dry, warm and somewhat protected, it goes without saying that warm clothes are a necessity as is enough food and water for your trip.  A pair of gardening gloves are also a good idea when digging out banks etc where there may be sharp rocks etc.  Some sort of insect repellant can be very useful in keeping midges off your skin, driving you to sheer exasperation and takes up an extraordinarily small amount of space as does a tube of antiseptic cream if you do cut yourself somehow.

A hooked painters scraper can also be used for crevicing very small cracks where gold may reside within.  A strong screwdriver or two can also be used for prying open cracks in rocks.  Two pairs of tweezers, one short the other long.  A rock hounding rock hammer will be great for hitting open any bedrock etc, indispensable in my opinion.  A gold sucker, small enough to fit in a backpack side pocket.  For locating tiny flakes of gold, within gold bearing quartz for example a small magnifying glass, eyepiece can help you immensely.  And then a gold classifier, to sort through your rubble which will fit inside your gold pan to save room.

Of course, every gold prospector will have his or her favorite tools and this is by no means an exhaustive list, read online and you’ll soon be able to pick up some useful tips and pieces of advice from other gold prospectors.  Especially out in the wild, always use good commonsense, sensible strong boots with ankle protection, a headtorch, spare batteries, matches or a lighter, extra clothing and let someone know where you are approximately and what time you expect to be back again so if the worst does happen, someone, somewhere can raise the alarm.