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Fri, 25 May, 2012
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Prospecting is the act of searching for minerals or ore deposits. Prospectors have found deposits of oil, coal, uranium, and other fuels that are important to modern industry. They have also found deposits of gold, silver, and other minerals.
 Early prospecting - Contents
In the United States prospectors were lured by the promise of rich gold, silver and other precious metals. They swarmed across the mountainous areas of the west carrying picks, shovels, gold pans and whatever else they would need. The early search for petroleum required drilling holes that might indicate an underground supply of oil. Other prospectors searched canyons and mountain peaks, hardly leaving a rock unturned while looking for wealth. The majority of early prospectors had no training and relied mainly on luck to discover deposits.
Modern prospecting - Contents
Modern prospectors today rely on training, the study of geology and prospecting technology.Knowledge of previous prospecting in a area helps in determining location of new prospective areas. Prospecting includes geological mapping, rock assay analysis and plain old gut instincts.Instruments play a large role in gathering geological data. Instruments can check for variations in gravity, magnetism, electromagnetism and a number of different other variables in a certain area. Geiger counters and scintillometers are used to determine the amount of radioactivity. Ultraviolet lamps may cause certain minerals to give off a different colour.Chemistry is also used in prospecting. The presence of some chemical elements may indicate the presence of a certain mineral. Chemical analysis of rocks and plants may indicate the presence of an underground deposit. For instance elements like arsenic and antimony are associated with gold deposits and hence, are example pathfinder elements. Often, prospecting and exploration in general requires a little creativity. Tree buds can be sampled for pathfinder elements in order to help locate deposits. |
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