What happen By 1854 most gold mining had been taken over by?

By 1854, most gold mining had been taken over by large-scale mining companies and operations, which utilized advanced technologies and methods that small-scale miners could not afford. This shift was driven by the depletion of easily accessible gold deposits, leading to a need for more organized and capital-intensive extraction processes. As a result, many individual prospectors were pushed out of the industry, and mining became increasingly commercialized and industrialized.