nuggethunting

Hello Slim, I would have to agree, Rich Hill is one place a person can find a very nice nugget (on and off the pushes). As for knowledge, I've hunted and been a carekeeper of many claims around Rich Hill since the early 90's. Although, I've only hunted the hill for nearly 15 years, some of my personal friends, now long gone, spent most of their life chasing those alluvial gold nuggets from Rich Hill. Most of this information was give to me at one point in time hunting together. About the pushes: Push 4 & 5 have a good amount of bedrock exposed and have for some time. Re-pushing bedrock will not produce anymore gold. The exposed bedrock in push 5 has been exposed since early last year. If you notice, no nuggets have came from that area in a long time, but mostly the upper right side where there is still alluvial gravels along the bank. The Granite and Schist bedrock exposed in these pushes is not "False" bedrock, it's the real deal. People keep telling Elly if she continues to push this false bedrock you will eventually get back to pay gravels. Push 3 has been very unproductive and only produced a few nuggets (that I never seen). I would recommend pushing this one closed also. Push 2 still has some depth in the middle, so I can see where that one will continue to produce some more nuggets like it has done on each push. Push 1 is so trashy many seem to stay clear of that push. I'm sure there are more nuggets in this push, but plan on digging hundreds of small fragments of iron rubbish. What I would like to see if a push inbetween push 2 & 5, or maybe making it one huge push site. This would mean keeping 2 & 5 open and pushing all the material inbetween them down to below push 2. I understand each push site can only be a certain size, so this might not work like I stated. However, since push 2 & 5 have been very productive, I'm sure inbetween them would be a good spot for a new push site to open. Anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions? Rob Allison

Hey Chuck, I can't understand all the fighting about the new video's. Heck, I'm going to purchase them all. I just love to sit down and watch the video and their will always be something that you will pick up and learn. Most of the people I know, and even most of my customers have purchased all of AZO's videos and JP's, so why should anyone be fighting? Take care, Rob Allison

Hey Guys, Just received the prices from Doc and some of the specials. If you're interested in any of these DVD's, including the new GPX-4500 Seta Project, you can contact me @ Rob's Detector Sales - (623) 362-1459. Outback Prospector 3, OBP3 (GPX4000 220mins 2-DVD set) - $57.50 + $6 Shipping Outback Prospector 4, OBP4 (GPX4500 220mins 2-DVD set) - $77.50 + $6 Shipping -OR- Outback Prospector 3 & 4, Combo Deal (GPX4000/GPX4500, 440 total minutes of footage) - $115.00 + $6 Shipping Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Mike and All, Many have stated the yearly membership might be a bit high, but she does give out a small discount for combat vets. The first season of the pushes many newbies paid for their yearly membership in gold just off the pushes. I know the first season I took over a hundred (6+ ounces) off the pushes. The biggest was about 8 Dwt's, smallest just a couple of grains. Average sizes were around 1/2 to 1 Dwt in size. Total nugget count for the first season was around 800 nuggets. Several members besides myself got a 100+ gold nuggets. Many newbies found their first gold nugget and nuggets on the very first push. Be interesting to see what happens this season on the claims. I'm hoping for some new pushes and some of the older ones closed up. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Jerry, I agree with you, many were disappointed and stated they wouldn't rejoin. I'm sure with some new fresh pushes it will re-spark the 24K claims. Without a doubt, there's a lot of gold left on those claims, just deeper than detector range. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello mbcourgar, When I had a bunch of dredges back in the early 90's, I used the original Gold Screw on my dredge cons. This unit worked great and I could run a 5 gallon bucket within a few hours. You could also reverse the wires on the small motor if you wanted to run a large batch of cons with Mercury. I've seen both of the units you asked about and I think they are both decent units. Keep in mind, it's recommended to classify the material you're running down pretty small before running it in the spiral wheels. Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, MedicDan - Thanks! Have you been out nugget hunting lately? Haven't heard much from you. Henry - If Moore Creek continues to run next year, you should really consider it. The place is breath-taking. Yep, there are a lot of big gold nuggets and specimens at Moore Creek. With the use of the dozer, I'm sure another Monster will be found sometime soon. Hammer - Some good gold was found this year. Wish we had the dozer, but unfortunately it broke down the day we arrived. I'm sure if the dozer was running most of the time, most of the guys would have doubled their finds. I seen a lot of Bear Poop, but didn't actually see one Bear this year. A couple of years ago at Moore Creek I practically walked right into one! Flak - I know what you mean about taking pictures. The first couple of days I hunted hard and took very little pictures. I kept telling myself I need to take more pictures so everyone can see them. I might head out this weekend for a 3-day hunt and hope to have more pictures and some short videos for all everyone to watch. Talk with you all later, Rob Allison

Hello All, Even though I'm a Board Member of the 24K Gold Hunters Club, I have been out of the loop. A few GPX customers came back over today that are camped on the claims right now. Ya, they must be real die hard! Both of them are swinging the latest and greatest right now. They mentioned they talked with Elly and she stated they might have new, virgin pushes in October. Just curious if anyone else has heard about this? I sure hope it's true .... Rob Allison

Hello JP, The demo clip is very informative. Looking forward to seeing the new DVD. I will be ordering mine from Doc since he is the new US Distributor of your videos. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Reno Chris, Had a similar experience back in the early 2003 when I found a very faint target with my Minelab GP Extreme. I dug down about 6 inches before it actually became a good target. I continued to dig down, but the target still wasn't screaming, but was getting a bit louder the deeper I went. A good friend had a Garrett Infinium and swung his unit down into the hole. He heard nothing, so it really had be puzzled if it was mineralization. I balanced the Extreme on the pile and around the hole to make sure the ground balance was correct, but still got a good target down in the hole. Luckily, I continued to dig down to 28+ inches and recovered a real beautiful 9+ solid ouncer! There is no doubt in my mind if you're looking to get the best overall depth on targets, you need to stick with the Minelab PI's. The Infinium, GoldScan's and the new White's TDI will all have their nitch, but it won't have the ability to find targets at depth like the Minelab's. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, You're pretty much dead on. Moore Creek is a place where someone (newbie or seasoned) can have a good chance at finding that 1+ ounce gold nugget or specimen. This is the main reason I chose Moore Creek over several other "pay-to-mine" operations. Moore Creek is a place where you can see the true outback of Alaska, make new friendships, share stories and experiences, eat great food, escape from the stress-filled work world and find a bit of gold. These are all the reasons why I've visited Moore Creek the past 3 out of 4 years the operation has been running. Unfortunately my group, the second week, didn't have use of the dozer. However, the first and third week did have use of the dozer and new virgin detecting ground was exposed. The use of the dozer makes it easiler to find more gold nuggets, maybe even a Monster gold nugget lying right on the surface after the dozer has went through. Every year when I return to Moore Creek the camp and facilities have gotten better. Not that I don't like the rough, remote camping, I love it! However, this year we has the addition of a young lady that made cookies & brownies, but even done your dirty laundry if you asked. Heck, even playing a few games of cards we nice when you needed a short rest. The use of the new Quads made access and travel even better. Now you can practically drive right to the spot of your choice and detect. If you're looking to travel down Moore Creek to the bottom, well years ago that would take several hours on foot. Now within 10-15 minutes you're 1-2 miles downstream. For the most part, two people are asigned to one quad. This is nice if you have a buddy or friend to team up with. Not only can you share the same tent, but part you quad right next to your camp and take off in the morning. Steve has a crap load of mining equipment you can use. This year he had a handful of White's TDI Metal Detectors. There must be at least 3-4 gold dredged of various sizes up to 6-inches. I know there are at least 3-4 highbankers and even a bigger unit if a bunch of guys wanted to team up on. Why waste valuable time panning your concentrates! Bring them back to camp and use the Goldscrew to remove all the gold from the heavy concentrates. Tons of pans, classifier screens, picks, shovels and hoes are available also. If the weather gets crappy, why sit around in the your tent. Head over to the food tent and enjoy the nice iron stove and relax to coffee, tea, hot cocco, lemonaide, fruit punch and some snacks while shooting the breeze with some new friends. There has been an additional outhouse added and the use of an inside, completely enclosed hot shower. Advice on where to go ....? Steve H. is always around to answer questions, help set up or move equipment and even give you some tips or advice on where to try. The entire camp crew at Moore Creek is awesome. I have my fingers crossed that Moore Creek "pay-to-mine" operation will be available next year. I might consider a two week stay this time so I can shovel some pay dirt and even get some time on that big Keene 6-inch suction dredge. For more information on Moore Creek, please post it here or visit the Moore Creek official website at - Moore Creek Website (Click Here) Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, A few friends and I went up to the cooler country to chase down some nuggets with our Minelab GPX-4500's. A good friend Rick purchased a new GPX-4500, so this was his first day out with the new unit. Prior to the GPX-4500 he owned and operated a Minelab SD2100. Rick was pretty excited today with the performance of the GPX and also scored his first nuggets around a Dwt or so. See the testimonial video below from Rick. I worked a number of small drainages that I never worked before. Right off the bat I scored a nice little nugget. The rest of the day I must have dug up 30-40 trash targets, but not another gold nugget from this area. See my short video clip of the nugget and nugget location below. Leaverite scored a nice small gold nugget also off the bedrock. Overall, we hunted hard and nobody got skunked. Here are a few more pictures below - Take care, Rob Allison

Hey Goldman, I'm sure in the near future Reg will write up some type of field report on the unit. Would like to see how the White's TDI runs here in Arizona over some of the very mineralized ground conditions, hot rocks and basalts. That would be the real test for most people. I used the TDI for a bit when a user was trying to locate a target we heard with the GPX-4500's. The targets, which was a small 0.1 ounce gold nugget sounded pretty good on the GPX's. However, after playing around with the TDI I couldn't make the detector hear the target. Now to be fair, we were using a larger coil on the GPX-4500's, but the signal was very obvious and non-existent on the TDI. After removing about 3 inches of material the TDI started to pick up on the gold nugget. I noticed the TDI to be smooth and quiet with a lower sensitivity setting, but at a higher setting the detector made more background noise. This is pretty much typical of any metal detector. The more you crank it up, you will notice more background and threshold noise. For $1,595.00 the White's TDI will attact its own market for an entry level PI and fill a certain nitch. If I was going to purchase a White's TDI, I would make sure you purchase it from someone that has a good amount of experience with the White's metal detectors. My recommendations would be Digger Bob in California or Gerry at Gerry's Metal Detectors. Both have many years worth of experience. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Fred, I seen and used the TDI at Moore Creek for a bit. Wasn't real impressed with the depth ability, but the detector was very stable and quiet. I seriously doubt it will find anything in the old patches behind the big Minelab, but there are a lot of trashy areas where the White's TDI might really do well. Steve H. found a nice 1.93 ouncer that he raffled away during the second week with the TDI. Not sure on depth, but it didn't sound like it was real deep when he mentioned it. However, the stability, discrimination and price of the TDI will be it's biggest selling points. Take care, Rob Allison

Nuggets?

Hey JP, I really didn't talk too much about settings beyond what I've found out about the "Enhance" mode & Senstive/Smooth or Special. Been really experimenting with various settings on the new GPX-4500 and explained some of them on the video footage. One of my favorite settings is the "Enhance/Deep & Normal or Quiet Audio. Then playing with the Threshold, Target Volume and Stabilizer to find the smoothest setting. Most of the technical stuff is covered by Chris and Steve. Some good footage of Bob Danise and I working some gold bearing areas. Seeing Bob's nuggets and some stories behind his finds is worth watching the video. I also display and talk about my 6-ounce hit at Alaska in the video. Joe K. has some very high tech video equipment and software, so I'm sure the DVD video will be a huge hit in the US and Australia. Talk with you all soon, Rob Allison

Hello Chris and All, I first would like to say it was an absolute pleasure to work with you and the AZO Team on this new GPX Instructional Video. Just the short time I spent with you guys brought back a lot of memories. There is no doubt this will be one of the best, quality DVD videos to hit the market. What's great is the fact it's a GPX-4500 Instructional Video, but since the settings on a GPX-4000 are very similar it would be great for any GPX-4000 user. I know I referrenced the GPX-4000 and some of it's settings several times in the video and I know you also did throughout it. Without a doubt, a great addition to anyone owning or using a Minelab GPX-4000 & 4500. I know you covered all the settings in great detail and with your Father's Technical background this part will be great. Seeing all Bob "Montana's" gold (thousands of nuggets) and many of his tips and tricks will also be exciting. Most importantly, it was filmed here in the good ol' USA. Anyone interested in this new DVD video can contact me through email, the forum or phone to reserve one the minute they are done. I'm probably just as excited, if not more than many of you guys to see this video. I'm sure this is just the beginning for the AZO team. Hope to be part of many more of their adventures in the future! P.S. Inquries, questions, thoughts or comments please post here. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Rifleman, Thanks for the tip. I will have to give that a whirl and also mention it to my customers. I've always hunted with a higher threshold on the X-70, so I will experiment around with a lower threshold in hopes of better depth or better target response. Thanks once again, Rob Allison

Hello Jim, It was Jim B., the publisher that told me. Your 7th edition is still a very popular seller, probably one of the best selling prospecting/metal detecting book available. If anyone is interested, I'm one of only a very few that can get them. Congrats once again Jim, my mentor and friend for life! Rob Allison

Hello Don and other, Added (5) pictures to the original post above. As you can see the detector is in great condition. Also, forgot to mention the unit comes with two pairs of headphones, the Koss UR-30's and the DetectorPro Black Widow Headphones. The Black Widow's are $126.00 purchased seperately. First person with the money will own this great Minelab metal detector. Rob Allison

Hello Don, I will post some pictures later today. If you have any questions about it, give me a call at - 623-362-1459 Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Seeker, Good to hear they got the dozer back working. Hope to hear from Steve H. soon. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, Still curious if anyone has heard anything .... I don't think the 3rd weekers had any real serious metal detectorist, but I might be wrong. Hope to hear some stories soon about the third week at Moore Creek. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, Just wanted to let you all know I still have one slightly used Minelab GPX-4000 available, Serial # 0064. This unit was only used 3-4 times max and is in excellent condition. Metal detector comes with all stock accessories, stock 11-inch round coil, li-ion battery, 12v car charger, wall charger, hardware, manual, control box cover, Minelab soft carry bag and more. I'm letting this one go for $3,000 including UPS Ground Shipping & Full Insurance. This is $1,500 less than a brand new GPX-4000. If you're here in Arizona we can meet somewhere if you're interested. The first serious person interested will have this unit. Like I said, it's in excellent condition and one of the best metal detectors on the market today. Take a look at the pictures below. P.S. Since this unit was owned by another customer, the warranty is not available for this unit. However, Minelab detectors seem to last forever and have excellent re-sale value. Take care, Rob Allison

Hey Grubstake, Sounds good. Shep called and ordered the "you know what!" Now tell him you want to use that GPX-4000. Take care, Rob Allison