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Here is a member compiled (alphabetically arranged) list of Gold Prospecting Terminology.
Alluvial gold - gold that had been transported by water either in a current or ancient river bed
Bedrock - the solid rock usually buried under soil gravel etc Often exposed on hills and some rivers
Classifying - screening your material through mesh to separate the fine and large rocks
Concentrates - the material that remains in the gold pan, sluice etc after being processed, this usually consists of black sand, gold and other small minerals
Crevicing - scraping with hand tools wire etc the fine dirt between the cracks in the bedrock to recover gold
Dredge - a suction hose and nozzle that sucks material from the creek bed to your sluice box
Dry blower - a sluice box with fine mesh on the bottom where air is blown through to stratify your material letting heavies drop out
Flour gold - fine gold dust smaller than grain of sand very flat and light
Grizzly bars - thin bars spaced approx 1/2" to preclassify material entering your highbanker
Highbanker - a sluice box on legs with water fed via a pump
Honey hole - an area which which contains a higher than average concentrate of alluvial gold or precious / semi-precious mineral
Hot rock - a rock with a high iron content which gives signal on your detector Often dark red/brown when cracked open
Loaming - the process of panning in a grid pattern surface dirt to locate the source of your gold
Mineralised ground - magnetic ground conditions caused by the presence of iron oxide particles in the soil
Mullock heap - the overburden pile around a mine shaft either alluvial or reef often contain small amounts of missed gold
Over burden - material on top of the gold bearing layer of dirt not carrying gold usually discarded
Pay Dirt - ground containing enough gold to be considered profitable for extraction
Pipe Clay - usually a whitish clay found in old river beds
Placer gold - same as alluvial gold a placer deposit usually refers to an ancient river bed
Puddling - mashing up gold bearing clay in water to release the gold
Raking - clearing raking the surface rocks leaves and sticks to allow you to rub your detector coil on the ground improving depth/sensitivity
Reef gold - gold still embedded in its host rock generally quartz but can also be greenstone ironstone etc
Riffles - bars/obstructions placed across your sluice tray to create differences in water flow pressure allowing gold to drop out
Riparian zone - the section of often vegetated ground between a river or stream and the land it runs through
Rock bar - a bar of bedrock running across a creek/river creating natural riffles
Sieving - similar to classifying, screening material through a mesh to separate the fine and large rocks while exposing sizable gemstones or gold
Sluice - a rectangular box containing either miners moss riffles matting or a combination of all where material is washed through with water
Snuffer bottle - a plastic bottle with a straw though the lid when squeezed and released the suction recovers your fine gold specks from your pan
Specie - a specimen of gold with quartz/ironstone etc
Specking - looking for nuggets on the surface usually done after rain
Spray bars - generally PVC pipe with holes drilled to spray water on your material entering the highbanker hopper
Stripping - see surfacing
Sunbaker - a nugget sitting on the surface retrieved without digging
Surfacing - a method commonly used by the Chinese of removing all the clay/dirt down to bedrock over a large area Still done now but with dozers
Tailings - waste material that has already been processed to recover the gold
Trommel - a rotating drum which tumbles your material with water aiding to breakup clay and faster classifying
Please feel free to add any terms that you feel should be included in the list.
Nugget.
Alluvial gold - gold that had been transported by water either in a current or ancient river bed
Bedrock - the solid rock usually buried under soil gravel etc Often exposed on hills and some rivers
Classifying - screening your material through mesh to separate the fine and large rocks
Concentrates - the material that remains in the gold pan, sluice etc after being processed, this usually consists of black sand, gold and other small minerals
Crevicing - scraping with hand tools wire etc the fine dirt between the cracks in the bedrock to recover gold
Dredge - a suction hose and nozzle that sucks material from the creek bed to your sluice box
Dry blower - a sluice box with fine mesh on the bottom where air is blown through to stratify your material letting heavies drop out
Flour gold - fine gold dust smaller than grain of sand very flat and light
Grizzly bars - thin bars spaced approx 1/2" to preclassify material entering your highbanker
Highbanker - a sluice box on legs with water fed via a pump
Honey hole - an area which which contains a higher than average concentrate of alluvial gold or precious / semi-precious mineral
Hot rock - a rock with a high iron content which gives signal on your detector Often dark red/brown when cracked open
Loaming - the process of panning in a grid pattern surface dirt to locate the source of your gold
Mineralised ground - magnetic ground conditions caused by the presence of iron oxide particles in the soil
Mullock heap - the overburden pile around a mine shaft either alluvial or reef often contain small amounts of missed gold
Over burden - material on top of the gold bearing layer of dirt not carrying gold usually discarded
Pay Dirt - ground containing enough gold to be considered profitable for extraction
Pipe Clay - usually a whitish clay found in old river beds
Placer gold - same as alluvial gold a placer deposit usually refers to an ancient river bed
Puddling - mashing up gold bearing clay in water to release the gold
Raking - clearing raking the surface rocks leaves and sticks to allow you to rub your detector coil on the ground improving depth/sensitivity
Reef gold - gold still embedded in its host rock generally quartz but can also be greenstone ironstone etc
Riffles - bars/obstructions placed across your sluice tray to create differences in water flow pressure allowing gold to drop out
Riparian zone - the section of often vegetated ground between a river or stream and the land it runs through
Rock bar - a bar of bedrock running across a creek/river creating natural riffles
Sieving - similar to classifying, screening material through a mesh to separate the fine and large rocks while exposing sizable gemstones or gold
Sluice - a rectangular box containing either miners moss riffles matting or a combination of all where material is washed through with water
Snuffer bottle - a plastic bottle with a straw though the lid when squeezed and released the suction recovers your fine gold specks from your pan
Specie - a specimen of gold with quartz/ironstone etc
Specking - looking for nuggets on the surface usually done after rain
Spray bars - generally PVC pipe with holes drilled to spray water on your material entering the highbanker hopper
Stripping - see surfacing
Sunbaker - a nugget sitting on the surface retrieved without digging
Surfacing - a method commonly used by the Chinese of removing all the clay/dirt down to bedrock over a large area Still done now but with dozers
Tailings - waste material that has already been processed to recover the gold
Trommel - a rotating drum which tumbles your material with water aiding to breakup clay and faster classifying
Please feel free to add any terms that you feel should be included in the list.
Nugget.
