Life On the Gold Fields
Your special guide!
Alluvial Mining
Alluvial Mining is a style of mining where the tools are less expensive, just one single miner can find gold with the use of the right tools. As a result of this, there is not much gold left. But if people worked as a team they would be able to find some. It is found in either flakes or lumps. Alluvial gold is gold found by water facilities, near the edge of the earth.
Shaft Mining
For this style of mining, you will need to work harder. You will also need more expensive tools. This is because Shaft Mining takes place under the surface of the earth. It will take hours of hard work. The picture of the windlass below is a tool that is used to lower a man down to mine and bring up the gold or dirt that he dug up.
Some of the tools that the miners would use:
Pan
Used in Alluvial Mines.
Cradle
Used in both Alluvial and Shaft Mines.
Windlass
Used in Shaft Mines.
Tools in Alluvial Mines
Alluvial mining tools are easy to use and cheap. The only tools you will need to simply mine in an Alluvial Mine are a Shovel, a pick, a Cradle and/or a Pan. A pick was used for breaking, smashing up or detaching gold. The Shovel is used for digging up the gold and earth. The cradle and pan are both used for dipping into the earth and collecting what they pick up.
Tools in Shaft Mines
Shaft mining tools need hard work to use and expensive. The tools you will need to mine in a Shaft Mine are a Bucket, a Windlass, a Cradle and a Pick. A Windlass is used to lower a man down into the grown and bring back up anything he found.