The purpose of the this website is to show different types of gold mining. The mining methods may vary from place to place but end product is always the same. The method of mining is determined by the way gold is found in the environment. Placer gold mining is always performed in creeks and rivers. Since gold is a very dense material miners wash away the lighter material with water leaving the dense gold behind in their sluices boxes or gold pans.
Underground mining are tunnels and shafts deep in the earth.
The underground tunnels follow the gold veins which are blasted away and brought to surface for treatment. Open pit mines are huge holes in the earth several hundreds in diameter and depth. The gold bearing material is loaded onto large trucks and transported to nearby processing plants. The major factor that determines the mining method is the price of gold. This is applies to the individual gold panner in the Brazilian rain forests to the large multinational gold mining companies such as Barrick Gold or Placer Dome.