nuggethunting

Hello Bob, Tried to send you a PM about todays trip, but your PM box must be full. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Seeker, Dawn and I will keep your wife in our prayers. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help or comfort. Warm regards, Rob Allison

Hello Dave, Sent you a PM. I have a nice 500 Gram Digital Scale that has a 5-year warranty. This scale is very popular and weighs in 6 different messurements. Give me a call, Rob Allison

Hello All, There is a lot of talk going on behind the scenes about what will take place after this takeover. Will Minelab metal detectors get even better? Will newer technology get pushed out? Will be interesting to see what one of the biggest Mine Metal Detector Companies combined with one of the biggest Radio, Satellite & Microwave Radio Companies can do. Both are heavily involved with the Military. Any thoughts or input? Rob Allison

Hello Flak and Wilderness, I would have to agree with Flak. Once you use a big dredge it's hard to go back down to a smaller one. However, smaller dredges can recover fine gold very well. The trick is to make sure your angle is right, the water flow is consistant, you classify out the larger rocks and have good carpet (like miner's moss). I see a lot of guys pulling a suction dredge nozzle out of the water. Yes, this is fine, but when you do it you cause a sudden slowing down of water and then an inrush or gush when you place the nozzle back in the water. If you can, try to keep the nozzle under the water at all times. This will help with fine gold recovery. Another tip is to not choke the nozzle with material if you can. Overloading the riffles can cause poor gold recovery, especially in areas with a lot of heavies. Sometimes is not the amount of material you move, but the quality of the material being moved or worked. Here are some photos from one of my last dredging trip here in Arizona. Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello All, Sunday Leaverite and I met a couple of new Minelab owners on the 24K Gold Hunters Claims. Both of these new customers purchased Minelab SD's. The SD series by Minelab are still a very popular seller since there is so much you can do to them. Dan from Bagdad purchased and SD2100v2 with the Coiltek Pocket Rocket Li-Ion System to increase stablity and performance beyond the stock performance. Gregg from Surprise purchased the SD2200v2 with some other accessories. The weather Sunday wasn't the greatest, but we were still able to hunt and get some instructions in. Both Dan and Gregg picked up on the metal detectors very quickly. They were both off and finding targets throughout the gold bearing area. The rain drizzled from time to time, but I was able to find a small gold nugget on one of the pushes, while Leaverite found a nice Dwt sized nugget on one of the pushes also. Later in the day Dan and I headed up where a friend was metal detecting and we located a nice 2+ Dwt gold nugget that he overlooked with his metal detector. Dan got to see first hand what a nugget sounded like in virgin ground and then the nugget earthed from where it has been hiding for thousands of years. Overall, it was a great hunt and the new Minelab owners seemed to really like their new toys! Thanks once again for the great time and business. Rob Allison

Hello Blues Dad, Do you know if this guy Chuck was originally from Arizona? An older friend of mine, named Chuck, moved to California to work an 8-inch dredge in the same area. Just curious if it's the same guy. The last time I seen him he had a Peanut Butter jar full of gold nuggets from one of the major Rivers in California. I believe it was the Klamath. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Yes, Karl B. from Texas. It would be nice if he could get into the second week with our group if possible. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Matt, Sorry I missed your Birthday! Happy Belated one .... Vini, Matt got nookie? Rob Allison

Hello Steve, That is great news! Sure hope they find a huge lode deposit there. Sure sounds promising from what they have found so far. Looking forward to heading up to Moore Creek this year. I'm sure some nice gold nuggets and specimens will be found. P.S. A good friend, Karl B. is trying to get in the second week. If there is any chance he can slip in, he will be a great addition to the group. Rob Allison

Hello Nathan, Too bad you can't hook up with us tomorrow. I will be conducting field instructions for several new Minelab users. I send you an email with some information about the Weaver Mining claims. I'm also an active member of that club. Thanks for the business. Lets get together soon so I can give you those lessons. Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, Been some time since we chatted, but sure miss your company. Dennis and I still talk about our California trip. I'm very excited to get back, but just so swamped right now. Really want to get back up there and met Miner Matt in person and hunt with you guys. I really need a vacation right about now. Rob Allison

Hello Wilderness, I sure love gold dredging, even though I don't get to do it much anymore. Keene makes a nice 2-inch backpacker unit. The 2-inch don't move tons of material, but if you're working shallow areas that have gold it can be worthwhile. My overall favorite dredge was a 2.5-inch Gold King DPC unit. It ran on a 5hp Brigg & Stratton engine and could really recover very fine gold. I customized the recovery carpet to miners moss and it really helped. The largest dredge I owned was a Gold King 4-inch that I transfered into a 5-inch with (2) 5hp Brigg & Stratton engines ran in series. This unit had tons of power and I could dredge holes large enough to sink a full-sized vehicle in hours. Wishing you the best, Rob Allison

Hello All, I've received a handful of emails and phone calls wondering where I have been. Well to sum it up quickly, I've been very busy! I'm working 50-60 hours per week at my real job, attending classes and trying to hold down the business. I honestly can't keep the Minelab metal detectors in stock right now. The X-70 and the GPX-4000's are selling better than ever. The price of gold really has people excited. I guess it only takes 1-4 ounces to pay for these metal detectors now. I remember hunting when gold was in the mid 200's. It took a lot of nuggets (over a pound) to pay for a bit Minelab PI. However, sure miss those days. You could go just about anywhere since no one had any interests in gold mining. I'm doing my best in returning phone calls and emails, sometimes staying up to 10-11pm at night. However, I enjoy doing it, so don't hesitate to call or email me if you have questions, would like to order or just want to plain out shoot the breeze! Tomorrow morning I'm heading to the hills with (3) new Minelab customers. I'm hoping to get a bit of beeping in myself if time permits. Talk with you all later, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I would just like to clarify that Quartzsite has a lot of BLM (public land). However, just cause there is public land don't mean the area is not claimed by someone. Most of the good areas around Quartzsite are claimed up. I'm sure if you do enough research you will find open spots, but a good portion of the area is claimed by Federal Mineral Claims. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, SSGQ - I was just curious since I seen a guy down around the pushes with an Ace Metal Detector. I heard he was having trouble keeping the unit balanced. Nathan - Most, if not all the public land around Rich Hill is claimed. You might consider a club to access some of the areas around Rich Hill. The Roadrunner's, LDMA, GPAA, Weaver & 24K Gold Hunters Club all have decent claims in the area. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, It's amazing the price of gold keeps climbing. Sure would love to get back up there and hunt with you and Matt. I've just been so busy lately. The phone here is constantly ringing, Dawn said I need to just turn off the ringer! At $945 it don't take much gold to pay for a big Minelab. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I'm not sure the "Ace" will even find a Dwt nugget right on the surface. I know several Minelab dealers were pushing the X-Terra 30 & 50's as gold nugget hunting metal detectors. I actually ran into one of these guys hunting around Turkey Creek. He was using the X-50 and hunting exposed bedrock. I felt bad once he mentioned the dealer told him this unit would find small gold nuggets. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Russ, Seen the specimen on Bill's forum. Very nice piece. Post a picture of the specimen once you have it cleaned up. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello SSGQ, Was that using the "Ace" on the 24K Gold Hunters Claims? Seen a guy using that same detector on the pushes, but a member stated the detector was rented from a local shop. Just curious, Rob Allison

Hey Scott and Russ, Congrats on your recent nuggets and the new area. Haven't been able to do much lately. Been spending more time with the business and conducting field instructions. Sales are through the roof right now. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Donna and Ron, Replied back to your other inquiry about the gold nuggets found on the 24K claims. This weekend the pushes produced somewhere in the range of 20-25 gold nuggets. Rob Allison

Hello Uncle Ron, Was up on the claims for a bit Saturday late afternoon and heard about 12 gold nuggets were found. Today I was back up there showing a few guys the GPX-4000 and heard a new report of 16 found on Saturday. Biggest was around 2 Dwt's in size. Today I found a nice Dwt or so, Leaverite found a small one, Ralph found one and several other smaller ones were found. I would guess somewhere between 20-25 gold nuggets were found this weekend. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Donna, I made it out to the claims last this afternoon. I had to work the first part of the day in Wickenburg. When I left I heard there were around 12 small nugget found. Most of them were found on push 2, push 4 & 5. Rusty from Tucson found the biggest that I seen weighing 1.75 Dwt's. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Chuck, It was one booth, but I had 7 tables. Normally, you only get one booth with two tables, but I paid for (3) booth spaces to get 7 tables. Last year I had 5 tables and it wasn't enough space. This year with 7 tables it helped out more, but wished I had like one more table! Overall, the show was the best one so far for me. Off to work I am ... Rob Allison