How does placer mining work?
Placer mining means extracting valuable minerals from surface gravel deposits. It differs from hard-rock or quartz mining (which refers to underground mining below the level of solid bedrock). Yukon placer mining does not use or release chemicals. It creates no toxic by-products. Instead, it uses water, motion and gravity to extract the minerals. No drilling, blasting or crushing are required. A very common method is, of course, ‘panning for gold’.
