nuggethunting

Hello All, Due to the amount of requests, I have created a new coin, relic and treasure hunting forum here. Feel free to post your stories and show those pictures! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Thanks for all the comments. Mike C. - I will take every small nuggets I can find. Over the last 3 years I've averaged 300 small gold nuggets per year. That's 900+ small gold nuggets besides the larger ones. Most of those small nuggets have been found at depth and missed by prior model of metal detectors. Mike we both know the larger gold nuggets are far and few between, so why not take all the small ones when you can and every so often get a nice one? Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, Got an update on the gold nugget found on the 24 Karat Gold Hunters Club. The piece was just under or right at an ounce. The piece actually broke in half, the ends were solid but the middle was sponge like. The nugget was found by a member named Gary. Congrats Gary! Rob Allison

Hello Reno Chris, Thanks! Found 10 more smaller gold nuggets today before it got too darn hot. Can't wait for the winter to arrive. Congrats on your recent Sierra gold nuggets finds. Leaverite made a comment this morning about you hunting in short. I think he was jealous since it's nice and cool up there. P.S. You going back to Moore Creek in 2008? Rob Allison

Hello All, Leaverite and I took the quads out this morning to an old patch. To access this old nugget patch you have to either hike 3-4 miles or use a quad. I haven't been back to this patch since the GP3500 first came out, so I figured it would be a good test for the GPX-4000 if the Summer Monsoon's didn't do much. When we arrived I noticed the patch pretty much looked just like it did several years ago. Well, we were already there, so we both gave it hell for about 6 hours. I was using the Coiltek Joey Mono in the Sensitive/Smooth setting on the Minelab GPX-4000. I managed to pick up 10 gold nuggets that I missed years ago with the GP3500. Most of the small nuggets were deep and could easily be missed if you were not playing close attention to signal response. Once again I was impressed with the Minelab GPX-4000 and its ability to find small gold nuggets at impressive depths! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Gaine, Ya, we do know what a skunk looks like, but we try to keep him away as much as possible. Leaverite went out during the week and scored a few more gold nuggets. We both are heading out tomorrow morning to check out a spot that hasn't been worked in some time. I'm hoping the Summer Monsoon's done some action there, if not, it could be a dry "skunk" run!! P.S. Glenn, Dennis and I are signed up for Week 2 at Moore Creek. I believe I seen you down for Week 1, is that correct? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Jim, A 1-ouncer at Rich Hill is not uncommon. That is the lure of the Rich Hill placers, potential to find nice sized nuggets. Haven't heard much back from Ralph. He said he needed some tips for his GPX-4000, but never received an email back. Tell him to give me a call if you would. P.S. Heard you might not make it down to the claims this year, is that correct? Rob Allison

Hey Grubstake and Shep, Do I have to drive all the way up to California to straighten both of you out? I've been very lucky not to be skunked the entire year with the GPX-4000. However, 80% of the areas we have been hitting I'm very familar with and know where the gold likes to hide. I know my skunk is coming .... in another year! Hahaha ... Just being funny. Grubstake, I used to take some people to some private claims and they had to leave when I did also. It was part of the agreement with the owners and I had to respect that. I think Shep is just upset he can't find gold with that Nuggetfinder coil! Rob Allison

Hello All, Alison wrote me back tonight and this is what she had to say - Take care, Rob Allison Hello Shadow, In my honest opinion I think if a Super Highway went through that part of the area it would shut down all the small jeep and quad trails that many of the recreational users use today. I do believe something needs to be done with Interstate 17 and the traffic, but hopefully ADOT will consider another proposal. Just my opinion, Rob Allison

Hello bluethermal, Thanks for sharing the story and nice nugget with us! The advantage you have is the fact there is probably less prospectors over there than here in the US. I would rather prospect in an area that might be smaller, but has never seen a metal detector. Most of the major placers here in the US have been prospected and probably detected a time or two with at least older metal detector technology. Hope you continue to post here. Congrats on your awesome nugget find!!! Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, I really love the GPX-4000. The more I use it the more I find out about it. Most of the stuff Leaverite and I are finding are small, but just goes to show what other detectors have missed at depth. Finding the small ones also keeps are skills up for this coming Winter prospecting season. I have tons of places to hit, many new ones and a few old patches. Would like to get back to California also. Rob Allison

Hello Bob, Yep, this is crazy if you ask me! I'm in contact with the Organization right now and hope to post more in the near future. They have several very small "SaveBumbleBee.Org" signs located, but they are very hard to see and most just drive right past them. I think they need to place a huge sign right when you get off the payment and enter onto the Bumble Bee Road. This would attact attention of not only the gold prospectors (small group), but all the Hunters, Hikers, Backpackers, Off-Roaders, Photographers and all the people that live from Bumble Bee to Crown King! Save Bumble Bee!!!! Rob Allison

Hello All, Many of you might have heard about ADOT, Arizona Dept. of Transportation proposing a "4-Lane" Freeway each way right through the beautiful Bradshaw Mountain's. I'm one of many that are against such a Freeway passing through the Historical town of Bumble Bee and through the beautiful Black Canyon. "Savebumblebee.org" is in need of all our help. Please check out the link below. http://www.savebumblebee.org/index.html I'm currently in contact with this organization and will do what I can to help. Rob Allison

Hello All, Here is a short video clip that Leaverite posted. Have no clue who the guy that found the nugget is? Click on the Picture Below to start Video clip. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, Leaverite and I headed to the Mountains Monday morning. We spent about 6 hours hitting some old and new spots. We both ended up with some gold nuggets. Nothing real big, but enough to keep the skunk away and our detector skills polished for the winter season. Gold nuggets on the left are Leaverites, mine on the right side. All the gold nuggets were found with Minelab GPX-4000's and Coiltek Joey Mono's and Coiltek 14-inch Mono Round's. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Miner Matt, Congrats on the finds! You guys sure live in some interesting country. Hope to get back up that way before the end of the year to see Grubstake, Shep, Uncle Allen, Jerry and maybe you this time. How is the Coiltek Pocket Rocket System working out for you? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Elly and I talked a bit about this and I thought it was best to stay with the coil restriction like last year. This allows everyone (VLF or PI) to have a good shot at finding gold. Most of the VLF metal detectors come stock with a 10-inch elliptical, so 11-inch and smaller should work well. The coil restriction will probably be the entire weekend like last year. P.S. Someone mentioned somewhere that the "Desert Special" pushes that start at 9am will be in the shade. I can tell you for a fact, by no later than like 9:30 - 10am the Sun will be looking right down on you. Hope this helps, Rob Allison

Hello AZNuggetBob, I still have trouble at times with airplanes. With the GPX-4000 you do have more control over the tune, but you still have to play with it a bit. There have been a few that I couldn't tune out, maybe different type of radar or planes (not sure ..). I've done well at Rich Hill and other places where there are deeper nuggets hiding after a good rain. However, never really hunted an area after just a Lightning storm. Not sure about the Lightning charging the gold nuggets. We do know gold nuggets are conductors, gold being the second best conductor of electricity behind silver. Electricity is always trying to find a path to ground (Earth), so this is why Lightning strikes the ground. Lightning can carry as much as 1,000KV's or 1,000,000 volts. Clouds are light huge capacitors, the tops of clouds are positive charged and the lower negative. The charged gold nuggets is interesting to say the least ... Rob Allison

Hello AZNuggetBob, The heat does have something to do with metal detector performance. I have yet to figure out what exactly it is, but I believe static plays a bit part. In Arizona during the summer months the Minelab PI's seem to run great in the early morning hours, but several hours after the Sun raises the metal detectors start to make more noise, which is not easily controlled by tuning. I do know for a fact that during the Summer Monsoon seasons here in Arizona the PI detectors "can" go nuts at times. I know you can actually hear the Lightning strikes in the distance through the metal detector. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I'm sure the forums have touched thousands of prospectors across the Globe. I can remember when I first started dredging/detecting there wasn't any forums available. The price of gold per ounce was less than $300, so you wouldn't even see a sole in the goldfields. You pretty much had to know someone already doing it or learn on your own (the hard way). I purchased every book available on panning, gold dredging/high-banking and detecting available. I was also taking a few Geology courses at the local College hoping they would help me out. Thank God for Jim Straight's books, they were a wealth of information and I learned a lot real quickly. Several years later there was BBS, or Internet Bulletin Boards. They were so hard to follow, and most didn't even have Internet connector, or how to find these BB Boards. However, there were a few Internet savvy prospectors typing on them. I did meet some people on these, but most were in different States and not the most helpful. One night I sat down and thought about starting a small Website business, since I had such a passion for dredging and metal detecting for gold. Really didn't have a clue how to start, but gathered all I could and gave it a whirl. Pretty much done everything from scratch didn't have any help, so it took much longer than normal. I was finally able to get my Website www.nuggethunting.com up on the net. With the Website up and running, I was able to post pictures, stories and a ton of information about nuggethunting. Within about 3 months I was receiving over 100 emails per day. Not long after that the Internet forums came along. The first forum, if I remember correctly, was a Free Yahoo Forum that everyone used to get onto. Man, it has thousands of members and was fun to read every night. It was a nightly deal to come home and see what the latest discussions were on the Yahoo Gold Forum. Eventually the forums started to split up, with others developing their own. I decided a forum would go well with my Website and finally got one started. With the use of my forum, I have conducted business and met prospectors around the World. The forums are a wealth of information and were not available when I first started. There's probably more valuable information on the forums than you can get from any one book. While some people seem to come and go on the forums, I have met some special friends. Thank You all for being my friend. Rob Allison

Hello GDM/PM Gary, I'm thinking the price will be about the same as the DD Pro Platypus, which is $219.00. It seems like the DD's are about $10 more expensive over Mono's due to the extra wire being used (my guess). I seriously doubt the new Mono will be anymore expensive unless they do something else to it. Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello All, Just got off the phone with Elly Loften, owner of the 24Karat Gold Hunters Club located at the base of Rich Hill. She wanted me to post some updated information about the club and what will happen this season on the claims. For anyone wanting to know more about the 24K Gold Hunters Club, you can visit this website - "24 Karat Gold Hunters Website" for more infomation. I've personally spent over 10 years tromping around Rich Hill and surrounding foot hills in search of those ellusive gold nuggets. Rich Hill is one of the richest placer locations in the United States producing millions of dollars in placer gold. I'm also an active Board Member of the club, so you're welcome to call or email me anytime if you have questions about what to expect on the claims or what you might need to get started in finding your first Rich Hill gold nugget. The Dozer Pushes will start on October 13th, which is a Saturday. All previous pushes will be pushed on this date, which includes a total of seven dozed areas. The first two pushes, "Desert Special Claims" will open at 9am Saturday morning. The Desert Special claims consists of two large dozed areas. On the same day at 1pm, the "Devil's Nest Claims" will open up. There will be five pushes opened at this time. Pushes 1 thru 5 produced somewhere in the range of 500-700 gold nuggets last season. I'm sure this season just as much, if not more will be found. Just like last year, there will be a searchcoil limit size the first weekend, which will be 11-inch in diameter or smaller. This will help cut down interference from one detector to another, and give everyone an equal chance to find gold, regardless of brand of metal detector you choose to use. Dozer Pushes will be every month, rather than every week or two weeks. However, I believe every month all the pushes will be done, rather than just one or two per week like last year. Membership fees will stay the same, $350 for new members per year. If you're membership is going to expire, you can re-join for whatever your original membership fee was in the beginning. Combat Vets showing proof of service can join for $275/year. This is something Elly does to show the club supports our "American Vets and Troops." God Bless you All! Keep in mind, the majority of the club members are using metal detectors, but this is not the only method that can be used. Elly and club wants members to know Drywashers, Panning, High-Banking, Dredging and other methods of prospecting are also allowed. Water is somewhat limited, but in some areas club members have panned and dredged by forming and building a small pond to hold water. New - A Small Commerical Operation will also start this year on the claims. I don't know all the details as of yet, but it will be for paid members only. It will consist of a small wash plant and working pushed material right near or from the bedrock layer. Some of the gold recovered will be split among the club. For more details on the commercial opertation, please contact Elly. This should give everyone interested time to join or re-join this exciting club. The club contact information and my contact information is below. Feel free to give us a call and get in on this gold finding club! 24 Karat Gold Hunters Club PO Box 1351 Congress, AZ 85332 Toll Free: 1-866-713-0608 Local: 928-427-0011 Fax: 928-427-0440 --------------------------------- Rob's Detector Sales Rob Allison (623) 362-1459 auplacers@yahoo.com - Email Me Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Karl, I tried to contact Elly last night, but couldn't get in touch with her. I'm going to try her again in a bit to see what I can find out. I keep hearing about Oct. 15th, or mid-Oct., but not certain as of yet. I'm hoping Elly will get on here and post some updated for the new season on the 24Kart Gold Hunters Club. If anyone knows anything, please post it here. Rob Allison

Hey AZNuggetBob, Be careful not to run your SD2100 at more than 8.5+ volts for too long. I've heard (never personally experienced it), that running over about 8.5 volts will make the SD very erratical and can damage the Mother Board. I think we need to do some testing on some old patches and see what we can turn up. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Wonderer, I tried to contact Elly this evening before work, but couldn't get in touch with her. I heard from the Grapevine the pushes will start in mid-October. Coiltek is making a 11-inch Elliptical Platypus Mono (Waterproof) that will work great for the pushes. This will probably be my coil of choice for the first couple of days and then come back with a bigger coil. I'm hoping Coiltek will have the new coils done before the pushes. Take care, Rob Allison