Hunting for valuable metals such as gold
The search for outcrops or surface exposures of mineral deposits. Searching for new deposits; also preliminary explorations to test the values of lodes or placers already known to exist. (See also "exploration".)
In the broad sense, prospecting refers to exploration. In the strict sense, prospecting describes the search for surface mineralized showings (by prospectors).
Search for mineral or petroleum deposits of economic value.
To explore or inspect an area or region on the ground for mineral deposits.
means the investigating of, or searching for, minerals as defined by s.1 of the Mining Act.
The act of searching for gold, silver, copper, lead, or any other valuable metal. In the case of placer gold deposits, the prospector retrieves the gold as he finds it, thus becoming a miner. If lodes or low-grade metals are located, the prospector usually sells or leases the rights to them to a large mining company which has the necessary equipment and resources to mine them, and he continues looking, or "prospecting," for new finds.
Searching for gold nuggets
Prospecting is the act of physically searching for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is essentially analogous to fossicking.