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Miner Tools

Mining is the collection of processes used to collect, extract and refine precious material from the Earth. Modern tools build on early mining methods and principles. Modern equipment often utilizes the same basic techniques with the intent of increasing volume and decreasing costs. An individual miner's tools, however, are designed to be operated by a single individual. Modern miner tools are often powered to allow precious material extraction with less work than manual methods.

Material Collection
- Shovels, picks, axes, hoes and scoops are all used by the miner to initially dislodge material from the Earth. Powered sledges and jackhammers are used to loosen materials. Powered vacuums and dredges are used to collect material directly from the earth. Dredges are primarily used in water and utilize water pumps to suck material dislodged from the bottom of streams, rivers and lakes.
Material Separation
- The gold pan is the most basic miner tool used for material separation. Miners vibrate the pan to suspend the material in water. Heavy ore sinks to the bottom of the pan while lighter material can be sluiced off. Sluice boxes utilize a series of riffles and ridges to catch heavy material as a water laden suspension flows across the top. Grates, screens and power washers all help classify material and separate unwanted ore. Powered boxes commonly combine classifiers, shakers, and water-powered sluice boxes for maximum throughput and material retention. Highbankers, drybankers and trommels are all used to separate material for further processing.
Ore Extraction
- Visual extraction of precious material allows miners direct control of the selection process. Miners pick out large pieces from gold pans, sluice boxes, classifying screens and fine, mesh cloth. Precious gems are typically extracted visually. Dense ore, such as gold and platinum, often requires specialized equipment for recovery of particularly small particles. Ridged rubber mats, black pans, spiral pans, and water-fed fine material recovery systems often are used to locate dense material. Tweezers, needles and suction devices are used to extract the ore from surrounding particles.
Locating of Ore
- Miners use conventional and unconventional means to locate ore for extraction. Metal detectors, claims documentation and geological clues are used to locate concentrations of ore. Topographic maps are used to locate concentrations of heavy material and to track current and old stream and river paths. Headlights, lanterns and power generators provide both light and electricity to mining camps.

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