At one time, and now in some regions, prospectors set out afoot or with a burro, mule, horse, camel, or canoe for some area they had in mind; nowadays, for those who can afford it, transport is made easier by motor-cycle, motor-car, motor-truck, and aero plane. The aeroplane leaves men and departs, but a motor-car or truck is locally useful in getting supplies and for haulage, and often is a source of power for any small equipment.
Many veins reveal themselves by their outcrops; and by strip ping away the country rock and trenching across them, any ore shoots may be discovered and developed. If the outcrop of a vein has been eroded and only pieces of "float" ore are to be seen on a hillside, these should be traced to what appears to be their source. Then some trenching may uncover the vein.
A prospector should have a pick, shovel, hammer, short drills, dynamite, pan, and something for crushing samples, say a mortar and pestle. The pan is used for washing gravel or crushed ore for gold, cinnabar, tin, and heavy sulphide minerals. A good hand lens is a more useful device for magnifying minerals than is gen erally recognized. A man should have ample food and clothes suitable to the district he is prospecting.
When a prospect shows enough ore for a small mill or for ship ment to a custom mill or smelter, the owner should try to arrange for this. An ore may be suitable for sorting out the waste rock and then shipping the remainder to a custom plant, or it may be sorted and treated locally.
Several firms in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zea land, and Africa make milling and treatment plants for prospects.
The question arises: Where to search for minerals? Semi desert, rivers, foothills, and mountains have produced much wealth. Mountain chains are or may be, as they have been, great future sources of minerals—the Rocky mountains ; the Cascades; the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range; the chains of Idaho, Ne vada, and Arizona; the Sierra Madre of Mexico and the Andes of South America, have been productive. Some mountains have not revealed much. Volcanic areas or those made up of flow rocks are generally favourable. Faulting, folding, and intrusions
of igneous rocks are part of the formation. Every outcrop, espe cially of quartz, should be closely examined, sampled, and panned. If a formation is "likely" in appearance, prospect it thoroughly before moving camp. Placers may occur at high ele vation: the drift gravels of the Sierras and gravels of the Rockies, or along and at the mouths of rivers. They may contain gold, precious stones, tin, tungsten, and zircon.
Prospectors and miners with ambition and money enough can attend the special, free summer courses given by certain schools of mines, some of which send lecturers into the field. In such manner, prospectors can enlarge their knowledge of minerals and the occurrence and identification of them. Booklets and sets of minerals are available at a low price.
Makers and dealers in mine machinery and equipment are always glad to send information to those who would like to install some type of plant. Several books on general prospecting or on gold alone are procurable at reasonable charge from firms in New York city ; Gardendale, Quebec ; London ; and Sydney, Australia. By such means the prospector becomes better informed regarding rock formations and the minerals likely to be in them, as well as in methods of testing what the minerals are.