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A placer claim is a mining claim on gravel or ground from which minerals are extracted using water. [1] In the United States, the valuable mineral in a placer claim is almost always gold , although other nations mine placer deposits of platinum , tin , and diamonds .
When Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872, the wording was changed to "or other valuable deposits," giving greater scope to the law. The 1872 law was codified as 30 U.S.C. §§ 22-42 [14] The 1872 act also granted extralateral rights to lode claims, and fixed the maximum size of lode claims as 1500 feet (457m) long and 600 feet (183m ...
Placer mining (/ ˈ p l æ s ər /) [1] is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. [2] This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early years of many gold rushes, including the California Gold Rush. Types of placer deposits include alluvium, eluvium, beach placers, aeolian placers and paleo-placers. [2] Placer materials must be both dense and resistant to weathering processes. To ...
Placer mining is a method of extracting gold from alluvial deposits such as sand, gravel, and sediment. [43] [44] These are known as placer deposits which are typically found in riverbeds, stream beds, and floodplains. [45] These deposits typically contain minerals that are resistant to weathering and eroision like gold, platinum, diamonds, and ...
By 1880, most of the mining had shifted to lode deposits, such as the Empire Mine. Through 1959, the district produced 10.4 million troy ounces (323 tonnes) of lode gold, and 2.2 million troy ounces (68.4 tonnes) of placer gold. [18] The rich placer deposits of the Columbia Basin-Jamestown-Sonora district were found in 1853
As more miners flooded into the region, placer mining became less profitable and gold more scarce. Remaining pieces of gold were unattainable and embedded deep within the hillsides of the Mother Lode. [9] As a result, many miners took an interest in new techniques and technologies that could be used to obtain the deeper gold fields.
In the eastern US, a zone of lode and placer gold deposits extends in the Piedmont region from Alabama to Maryland. [10] North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama have many former gold mines and current prospecting sites.