prospecting

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The activity of exploring and searching land for valuable mineral deposits such as gold, ore, or oil.

   Prospecting in the Yukon drew thousands of hopefuls during the gold rush.

   Modern prospecting relies on satellite imagery and geochemical sampling rather than a pan and shovel.

   Similarexploration, surveying, searching

   Note

   Unlike the verb form, the noun can be counted. In William Howitt's Land, Labour, and Gold (1858), set in Victoria, a settler complains that talk never rises above "nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold." The plural treats each search as a separate venture, one item in a goldfield's narrow round of concerns. The singular names the activity as a whole.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of prospect.

   The company is prospecting for copper in the northern ranges.

   They spent the whole season prospecting through unmapped territory.

   Note

   A verb form doing two jobs. After be it marks a search in progress (they are prospecting), and as a gerund it names the searching itself. The verb behind it is intransitive, so what is sought comes after for: prospecting for gold, prospecting for copper. The same spelling also serves the noun for the activity, which treats the search as a thing rather than an action.

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