An Introduction to Gold Sniping

By Jim Ballard
Published on July 1, 1983
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Most of this gold, which totaled about two ounces, was found in one softball-sized pocket, either picked up as nuggets or panned out of gathered sand and pebbles.
Most of this gold, which totaled about two ounces, was found in one softball-sized pocket, either picked up as nuggets or panned out of gathered sand and pebbles.
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Using a gold pan is quite simple, but also easy to do incorrectly.
Using a gold pan is quite simple, but also easy to do incorrectly.
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This
This "V" channel provided productive sniping.
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The wooden pointer indicates an
The wooden pointer indicates an "as we found it" nugget.

We were thigh-deep in the chilly American River–just a goodly rifle shot from Foresthill, California–when my partner stopped short.

“Gold!” he yelled, pointing to a crevice in the bedrock on the river bottom.

We both plunged into the chest-tightening cold water and found, wedged in the bottom of that crack, a beautiful nugget! My friend carefully lifted the chunk of precious metal from the bedrock and held it, still under the water, for us to admire. I was only one of many “strikes” that my companion and I made along that course of water during the same afternoon.

The rough-and-ready gold recovery method that we were using is called “sniping”, and if you have a hankering to do a bit of prospecting you may find it to be an especially productive way to pick up gold flakes and nuggets for your poke.

Of course, I can’t guarantee that you’ll be hauling up walnut-sized “lunker” nuggets–they’re pretty darned few and far between–but I can say that it’s likely you’ll be able to come up with flakes and small gold specimens that will widen the eyes of your friends. And, should you combine a little sniping with a vacation to some top prospecting areas, there’s a good chance that your “hobby” gold sniping could reimburse you for some, or even all, of the trip’s expenses.

Placer Gold

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