Joe Eager, born again prospector had attained a new milestone in his hobby of treasure hunting. A retired pensioner had told him stories of a very productive silver mine he had worked in at the turn of the century. After a 200-mile drive, he arrived at the washed out road that led to the mine. Detector in hand, he walked up the road.
To one side of the road, he spied mounds of loose rock trailing down the hill. "Tailings," he thought. Tuning his detector, he began to search. In one area, he had several good readings. They turned out to be green encrusted rocks with no resemblance to silver, which he quickly discarded. This was his first mistake.
Diligently he continued to scour the tailings, slowly working his way up the hill. The head frame over the mine shaft and several other buildings were in fairly good shape. Disregarding the weathered "KEEP OUT" signs, he entered the head frame. This was his second mistake.

The building contained a very large winch, covered with grease, whose steel cables stretched up to the top of the head frame, then down into the mine shaft. A number of burlap bags filled with rock drew his attention.

Opening one of the bags allowed the rock within to spill across the floor. A large plate of silver protruded from one of the rocks. Enthusiastically he sorted through several bags filling his knapsack with silver. The rest of the afternoon was spent transferring the silver from the mine to his car. This was his third mistake.
He felt very pleased with himself as he drove home. He had visions of displaying one impressive silver bar at the next meeting of the treasure hunters. He could use a welding torch to melt the silver out of the rock.

In the seclusion of his basement workshop, he gleefully applied the heat of the acetylene torch to the broken rock, watching the silver flow into a mold he had constructed. This was almost his last mistake.

Rather than kill off our hero, we will leave him in his hospital bed recuperating from the poisonous gases incurred when smelting silver. Failing to do thorough research on a subject can sometimes be fatal. His first and last mistakes were a lack of knowledge of the geology and properties of silver. The other mistakes were trespass and theft, which on occasion I have suspected to be fatal.

Often the "KEEP OUT" signs are to prevent sightseers from falling down open mine shafts. These have not been sealed with a concrete plug because the owners intend to reopen the operation. Other mines are one or two man operations being worked on weekends and vacations.

Many of the so-called "abandoned mines" are still under patent claims. It would be advisable to obtain a copy of your state or provincial mining regulations and a recent claims map of the area you intend to prospect.

If you desire to fill your safety deposit box with little bars of silver you had best know how to recognize it in its native state and convert it into the negotiable state.

Native silver does not often resemble those shiny bars you desire. It is apt to have a rough surface. When you rub your thumb across a piece of silver hearing rock, the silver tends to grab on to the skin like a burr. Usually there is a tarnish, which varies from a reddish bronze, almost like copper, to a golden yellow, sometimes to a dull black. If the tarnish is removed by rubbing the high points will acquire a white metallic luster. Silver can be found as masses, plates, leaves, or scales. Wire silver is frequently found as slender or stout threads.

This diverse description may sound very confusing to the novice prospector so I will introduce this rule of thumb. No other white malleable metal, soluble in acid is likely to be encountered. Lead is softer and grayer; platinum is harder and insoluble; cobalt and arsenopyrite are brittle.

Although widely distributed, native silver is not the most important ore of silver. Silver ores as a rule; tend not to show the individual silver minerals to which they owe their value. Often the novice will fail to recognize their silver content discounting them as just another hot rock. Detecting a silver mine will likely produce several different silver minerals.

Argentite, "silver glance," is a silver sulfide dark lead-grey in color, usually tarnishing dull black. It can be easily cut with a knife. This form of silver is found at Leadville, Colorado and Butte, Montana.

Polybasite is a compound of silver, sulfur and antimony, iron-black in colour but can be distinguished by its cherry-red color in small silvers. This form of silver is found in Pitkin county, Colorado, Marysville, Montana and Esmeralda County, Nevada.

Stephanite, "brittle silver," much resembles Polybasite in composition but opaque in thin slivers. It is usually massive and disseminated through the rock. This form of diver is found in Grass Valley, Nevada county, California and Virginia City, Nevada.

Proustite, "light ruby silver is a compound of silver with arsenic and sulphur. It has a rich scarlet colour end. This form is found in San Juan county, Colorado arid Owyhee county, Idaho.

Pyrargyrite is purple grey to greyish-black with a composition similar to Polybasite. It is found at the Comstock Lode in Nevada and at Cobalt, Ontario.

Cerargyrite, "horn silver", is a chloride of silver. It is very soft and can be cut into shavings with a knife. In its natural state it is colorless, white or grey but when exposed to light it darkens to a violet-brown. It is usually found in arid, silver producing areas of Arizona, California. Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico.

Embolite is a compound of silver with chlorine and bromine. Although similar in appearance to Cerargyrite and similar properties, It is greenish or yellowish, darkening on exposure to light.

About a third of the world's silver comes from deposits mined predominantly for silver. The balance is recovered as a secondary mineral when mining the ores of copper and lead.

The investigation of abandoned copper or lead mines could prove a profitable source of silver. Some of the states where silver has been recovered as a secondary mineral am; Connecticut, New Jersey, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Utah.
I feel that I should make special mention of the silver from northern Michigan, when large masses of copper and silver are found Intertwined like taffy.

I will assume that we know what we are looking for and continue on our silver hunting expedition. The types of silver producing areas that we will contend with for this article are operational, non-operational, abandoned and prospect.

An operational mine is one that has mining in progress. They may or may not be fenced in. Ask permission to search for silver specimens in the abandoned tailings. Limit yourself to the tailings and do not try to encroach into the working areas. The more inconspicuous you are, the more tolerant the employees will be to your presence.

A non-operational mine is one where mining has ceased for the present The head frame and buildings will still be standing though usually weathered I would advise you to contain your search to areas outside these buildings. The local police or watchmen employed by the owners make periodic checks of the property. The authorities tolerate Rock hounds looking for specimens. Vandalism or breaking and entering will likely get you a night in a cold, hard cell.

An abandoned mine although likely under a patent claim, has virtually ceased to exist. The mine buildings have been removed or deteriorated to a pile of rubble. Vertical shafts have been covered or plugged with concrete. You are able to detect at your plenum, but do it with caution. This type of mine holds more potential dangers than any other. Deteriorated buildings can become deadfall traps. The once sturdy, wooden mine-shaft covers have rotted to a delicate crust over a treacherous pit. Then we must not forget the many venomous critters that thrive in this type of habitat.

A prospect is an area where silver has been found in small quantities but never a major vein that warranted mining. When traveling in these localities, it would he advisable to keep a sharp eye for the weathered forms of silver. Curiosity and luck have located many silver veins. Be sure and check the streams and washes that pass through a silver bearing area for placer deposits.

Much has been writ ten on methods of detecting silver with a metal detector by such notables as Roy Lagal and Charles Garrett. The basics can be found in many books dealing with metal detecting. Each individual develops his own method and style of checking for silver. Each location will usually demand a different method of operation.
I remember meeting a local treasure hunter while detecting silver mine in Northern Ontario. I was using a Garrett ADS Deepseeker and he had an old, one battery, TR detector of unknown manufacture. I had accumulated several vials of small silver nuggets, which I was showing him with pride. His remark was, "I never find nuggets that small," quickly deflated my egotism. It is not the quality of the detector, but the quality of the operator that counts.

Standing on the site of an abandoned mine, where do you begin? A haphazard search may turn up the odd piece of silver, but the best pickings are often concentrated in certain areas.

The silver ore and host rock, removed to gain access to the silver bearing veins, were carried from the mine in ore cars running on a narrow gauge track. Shortly after leaving the mouth of the mine, the track divided. One track ran out on the tailings to dispose of the waste rock. As the tailings grew, the track would be extended. The other track carried the silver ore to a loading area, to be put in trucks or wagons and carted to the smelter. During periods of high productivity, the smelters were unable to keep up with the supply of ore available. During these periods, the mine would stockpile the silver ore until it could be smelted.

My favorite area to detect is where the ore had been stockpiled. A single crevice in the rock will produce 5 to 10 ounces of small silver nuggets. It may also lie advisable to collect the dirt from these crevices and pan it for the fine silver it contains.
The loading area and the road leading away from it will inevitably produce several pieces of silver that fell from the truck while being loaded or driving away.
Tailings can be very productive. Large chunks of rock may contain silver plates invisible to the eye. I always seem to find the contents of one ore car that through some miner's oversight or hangover managed to make the wrung turn. Throughout the tailings you will detect numerous expended blasting caps and you may find a few that failed to explode. Avoid experimentation, it may be hazardous to your health.
Searching around building sites does not leave me enthusiastic. The accumulation of nails, discarded drills and other metallic objects makes for a lot of digging for the silver found.

As you can see, I am basically a very lazy fellow, who intends to continue accumulating silver for a long time. For this reason, I seldom venture into mine shafts to try my luck. Mine-shafts, even when regularly inspected, have a tendency to collapse. If I did find a pocket of silver that was missed, it would have to be removed with pick and chisel. The host rock does not give up its treasures easily; I have learned in the past. I will leave this aspect to the more venturesome and arduous treasure hunter.
Having accumulated fifty pounds of silver ore we were faced with an obstacle. Refineries will not accept silver ore for refining and most smelters will not accept less than a ton of ore. If you observe the proper precautions you can smelt your own ore.
Crush your ore is finely as possible to allow the maximum yield of silver from the ore body. Silver melts at 960.8 º centigrade (1761.50 º F). Put the crushed ore in a cast iron crucible and heat in smelting oven or kiln. Raise the temperature slightly higher than the melting point of silver. Cast iron melts at 1539 º C so do not go above 1070 º C. This will allow you to smelt any gold present as well. I have also known a welding torch to be used for this purpose.

The fumes given off during this process are poisonous and can be lethal. The use of an exhaust fan in a well-ventilated area is essential.
The use of a portable crucible will facilitate the transference of the molten silver from the oven into a preformed mold. The bar you are left with will probably contain impurities, but in this state it will be acceptable to the refiners. The cost of refining is usually deducted from the silver recovered and the balance will be paid to you in cash or silver liars.

Prospecting for silver may not be as easy as finding silver coins, but it is definitely more profitable. I have never returned from a silver trip with less than $300 in silver, which is better, I think than coin shooting. All it takes is research, patience and a detector.

Additional Reading
A Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals
By Frederick H. Pough
The Collectors Encyclopedia of Rocks and Minerals edited by A. F. L. Deeson
Electronic Prospecting by Charles Garrett, Bob Grant, Roy Lagal