Editing Prospecting (section)

== Historical methods ==
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[[File:Prospecting_Pickaxe_with_rock.jpg|thumb|Example of a prospecting pickaxe]]
The traditional methods of prospecting involved combing through the countryside, often through creek beds and along ridgelines and hilltops, often on hands and knees looking for signs of mineralization in the outcrop. In the case of gold, all streams in an area would be panned at the appropriate trap sites looking for a show of 'colour' or gold in the river trail.

Once a small occurrence or ''show'' was found, it was then necessary to intensively work the area with pick and shovel, and often via the addition of some simple machinery such as a sluice box, races and winnows, to work the loose soil and rock looking for the appropriate materials (in this case, gold). For most [[base metal]] shows, the rock would have been mined by hand and crushed on site, the ore separated from the [[gangue]] by hand.

These shows were commonly short-lived, exhausted and abandoned quite soon, requiring the prospector to move onwards to the next and hopefully bigger and better show. Occasionally, the prospector would strike it rich and be joined by other prospectors to develop a larger-scale mining operation. Although these are thought of as "old" prospecting methods, these techniques are still used today, but usually coupled with more advanced techniques such as [[geophysical]] magnetic or gravity surveys.

In most countries in the 19th and early 20th century, it was very unlikely that a prospector would retire rich even if he was the one who found the greatest of lodes. For instance [[Paddy Hannan|Patrick (Paddy) Hannan]], who discovered the Golden Mile, [[Kalgoorlie]], died without receiving anywhere near a fraction of the value of the gold contained in the lodes.{{clarify|meaningless statement|date=January 2023}}{{cn|date=January 2023}} The same story repeated at Bendigo, Ballarat, [[Klondike Gold Rush|Klondike]] and [[California Gold Rush|California]].