Placer deposit

Imagine going to the beach and using a bucket and shovel to collect sand and seashells. Now, imagine that instead of sand and seashells, you find little pieces of gold, silver or other valuable materials mixed in with the sand. That special beach sand with valuable materials mixed in is called a placer deposit.

Placer deposits form when valuable materials like gold, silver or other minerals are carried by water and deposited in rivers, streams or shorelines. As the water rushes along, it moves and drops these valuable materials along with other sediments such as sand, gravel, and clay, creating a mixture of all these things in certain areas.

So when people are looking to mine gold, for example, they often look for places where there are placer deposits because it is more easier and cost effective to extract the gold from these mixed up sediments using special tools and techniques than going deep underground to find it.