Perhaps I haven't done enough research here, but I have been wondering about prospecting for silver. Can you approach it the same way you do gold?

Are there other things you want to look for? Like it being in with other materials. Is it always a vein in another rock, or can it be nuggets and pieces, flour like just like gold. I have found that a lot of the silver mined today is a by-product of other mining, like copper.

Any insights would be appreciated, as I have some knowledge of a historically productive area for silver.

If I could just go run my sluice there, I would be stoked.

Thanks,

Ken

Hi Ken, That depends on in which way the silver occurs - as native metal or mixed in among other minerals?

If you have "free" metal there is no big problem of panning it, quite a bit lower in density then gold but the pan still is a good idea. And yes, it can and does occur in different sizes, from nuggets to flour.

If your looking at it mixed in with other minerals Galena is something to look after - especially if there is flourite, calcite, quartz and granite near by. Those often go hand in hand in my experience.

If you can't find "free" metal often rusty looking rocks should/could be sent in for assay as that is often a sign of sulphides. Although no guarantee to find anything interesting.