Gold detectors are tested at Sixteen to One project

Various gold location technologies are being used and tested by the operators of the Original Sixteen to One mine in Sierra Cty., Calif.

Original Sixteen to One Mine is offering the high-grade mine as a testing site to manufacturers and inventors of gold detectors, who bear their own costs for the tests.

The mine operators began using metal detectors as an underground gold locator tool in early 1992, with some initial skepticism. But after six months of experimentation, the company was reported to have detected and recovered more than $1 million worth of gold.

Since it first opened in 1911, the Sixteen to One mine is reported to have produced over one million ounces of gold from ore averaging 1 oz. gold per ton.