To artificially enrich a prospect by scattering, shooting, or planting gold or other valuable minerals into the rock or loose dirt. Fraudsters use this tactic to make a worthless claim appear highly productive to potential investors or buyers. The classic method involved firing gold dust from a shotgun into the walls of a shaft, though dropping high-grade ore into sample bags is also used.
Heard on the job
Make sure you wash the core barrels yourself, or someone might salt the next run before the assayers get it.
Insider tip
A classic red flag for a salted claim is finding gold flakes in the sample that look flattened, as if fired from a shotgun, or discovering minerals that do not match the local geology.