nuggethunting

Hello Joe, I still have one of the originals you made during the first run. Bill Southern gave me it a long time ago. I used it a few times, but partial to the smaller Walco 20-incher. I think your pick is a mean digger and sounds like you have sold hundreds of them. Congrats on building a very useable prospecting pick. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello All, Well only a couple Arizona Minelab Dealers were awarded the "Minelab Premier Dealership" award for the 2006 season. This award was only given to the top Minelab dealers that sold a certain amount of detectors during the year of 2006. I guess I'm just proud a small guy like myself can sell the same volume as the big boys. We also received a few other goodies for are sales efforts. Thanks Minelab for building some of the best gold, coin and relic hunting metal detectors. Take a gander at the award I received. Rob Allison

Hello All, Sunday Leaverite and I met up with Reg Sniff and his Father for Breakfast. We all then headed out to the 24K Gold Hunters Claims located in the famous Devil's Nest. The Devil's Nest was one of the richest placers located on Rich Hill. The 24K Gold Hunters club had several sites pushed and also had a nice Potluck around Noon. I personally seen about 10 nuggets found that morning, most were around 1/2 to 1 Dwt in weight. Most, if not all were found with the Minelab PI's. Keep in mind, I had to remind a club member that you can only use 11-inch and smaller searchcoils the first day of the pushes. This helps elliminate some of the PI interference and also gives the VLF users a good chance of finding nuggets within the same depth range. I was using the Minelab GPX-4000 Metal Detector and the Coiltek 10x5 Joey Mono Searchcoil. I must have found 50-60 small dozer fragments and finally was able to get over a Dwt sized nugget. I know Bunk, Wonderer, CrownKing Steve, Rusty and a few others found at least one gold nugget. Picture 1 - Four nuggets Leaverite found Saturday and the nugget I found on the claims (right). Picture 2 - One of the push sites on the 24K Gold Hunters Claims. Take care, Rob Allison

Hey Wonderer and Bunk, Congrats on your gold nuggets found on the claims. Wonderer, with all the interference, someone might have dug your small nugget up and then lost it due to excess noise. The pushes weren't as productive as normal, I believe they needed to push a bit deeper to expose some better ground. I'm sure the next run will produce some great gold. Talk with you all later, Rob Allison

Hello Reg and All, Going back to the guy that was having problems with the Minelab SD2200d. Yes, since the SD series (SD2000, 2100 & 2200) are not "regulated" they can loose some performance later in the day. This is mainly due to the lead acid battery dropping to a lower voltage. I remember the first part of the day was great, but after 4-5 hours my SD2000 and 2100 got real noisy. I believe this was due to the voltage dropping down later in the day. To correct this problem, the 7.3v regulated system from Coiltek really helps. You can run your SD at a solid 7.3 volts for the entire day rather than having the voltage drop down with the stock battery. However, I'm not convinced it's a battery problem for the gentleman on the claims. I've check his detector once in the morning and also later in the day. Both times the detector ran fine for me. The normal PI noises was confusing him I believe. Talk with you all later, Rob Allison

Hello Chris, A very good possibility! I've heard of all the stuff person pulled over the years. I guess it's better to go out of business than to be put out of business. Hope everything is well on your end. Save a few of those Northern Arizona gullies for me. Rob Allison

Hello Montana Bob, Well I ran into the same guy your talking about. He stated you gave him some good pointers. However, I have spend several hours with this same guy, then the next time I see him he is doing just the opposite of what I tell him! : He wanted me to check out his detector again and I told him NO, there is nothing wrong with the detector, just get out there and hunt!!! Not to be rude, but the guy don't hunt more than 15 minutes. I told him he needs to hunt hard, keep the searchcoil close to the ground and listen for fainter targets. However, 10 minutes later the searchcoil finds it way 3-4 inches off the ground ... We can only give the person the best advice, but it's a matter of them applying those techniques. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Reg, It was great seeing you and your Father once again. No biggie on the breakfast, it's the least I can do for all the information you share to all of us. I really thought push 2 would produce more nuggets, but I don't think the dozer got as deep as normal. I was trying my hardest to find a good target (potential gold nugget) so I could have your Father dig it up. However, the nugget I found sounded like trash and was right next to a scared up Granite rock, so I thought for sure it was just another piece of the dozer track. Like always it was great seeing you again. Everyone really enjoyed your demo and talk about PI's on the claims. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, Today on the 24K gold claims I chatted with two potential GPX-4000 customers. They both were amazed I give FREE field instructions. Both of them have Minelab PI's and want to upgrade. They stated they purchased their Minelab's from Arizona dealers and one had to pay nearly $200 for about two hours of worthless instructions (his words) and the other guy didn't get any! I can't vouch for all the dealers, but know Team AZO does have top notch instructors such as Bob Dansie. Arizona Outback and I have been using the Minelabs way before the PI's every hit the market. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, I believe this is one of the best deals. When I run some of these limited time bundle deals, I get calls from all around the World. However, under the Minelab contact dealers can't ship Internationally. I sure wish I could ship to Australia and other countries cause I get a lot of inquires. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello All, Just wanted to let you all know I've updated the Minelab GPX-4000 Special. This is the absolute best Minelab package you will ever see on the Internet. This special will only be available for a short time. To see the special look at the "Pinned" posts on the top of the Gold Prospecting Forum. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Reg, If you get a chance and read this, I should be up on the claims Sunday. I worked all day today, so I'm going to rest up and head out early in the morning. Wish I would have seen Jim French again. Been a couple of years now since I saw him. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Bunk, Well, I didn't take the metal detector, but seen a lot of mines and prospects from the distance. I was working there for a week. We did go under the Mule Tunnel I believe. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Iggy, Pushes are going to be Sunday, rather than a "Muddy Saturday." There will also be a Potluck around 12pm from what I read. I'm sure some nice nuggets will be found. Might see you there, Rob Allison

Hello All, Sorry I didn't let you all know, but I was out of town down in Bisbee/Douglas for about a week. Just returned home and have a crap load of phone messages and an ungodly number of emails to respond to! I guess I will be up late tonight .... Did I miss anything? Talk with you all soon, Rob Allison

Hello All, Today Ohio and I met up with Dan S. at the LDMA Stanton Camp. Dan purchased a new Minelab GPX from me recently and came all the way down from the Great Lake State of Michigan. Since we all were Weaver Members, we tried our luck there for half the day. We hunted hard and found a bunch of deep targets, but no nuggets from those claims. The second part of the day we decided to give the famous 24K Gold Hunters Club a shot. Within about an hour I hit a nice, smaller nugget on one of the pushes. Hard to believe this one was missed, but it was down about 8 inches. I found the piece with the Minelab GPX-4000 and Coiltek Joey Mono Searchcoil. Overall we all had a great day. Dan was very pleased with the new Minelab and can't want to get over some gold nuggets with it. P.S. Ohio brought along some of his new nuggets found recently in the Bradshaw Mountain Range. If you look close at the second picture you will see (2) very small gold flakes next to the (4) nuggets. Those were not detected, but blown out of the bedrock cracks while recovering a couple of the bigger nuggets. Ohio said the wash in loaded with very small flakes and fines. Could be a great place for drywashing/Vac Packing. First picture is the nugget I recovered today. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, I'm not receiving any PM's ... Check the PM box just a few minutes ago, but nothing is coming across. Funny, I haven't received any PM's in the last week or so. Heading through Congress around 6 - 6:15am. Have to be at Rich Hill at 7am. Call me tonight or tomorrow morning if you're interested in going. Did you get my emails? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison Hello Bob, Got the PM. Check yours now! Rob Allison

Hey Bob, Tried to send you a couple of emails and PM's. The Emails are bouncing back and you disabled your PM or it's full .... Heading out tomorrow .... Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Dakota and others, Most serious gold collectors know about the history and gold production of Rich Hill. It's one of the Richest Placer fields in the Southwest and noted for large gold nuggets ranging up to small potato size. Over the years I have seen them as large as 16 solid ounces, many in the 1-4 ounce range. The old saying was a "One Ounce Gold Nugget" is less common than a "Five Karat Diamond." Never found a Five Karat Diamond, but have found a good share of One Ounce nuggets over the years. Over the years I've seen beautiful Australian Gold Nuggets sell for less than spot, and then smaller gold nuggets sell for way over spot. It comes down to what someone it willing to give. If a gold nugget holds good character or resembles something (shape, animal ... ) it can bring a premium price. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Whatever you do, keep me updated on anything new. A matter of fact, keep us all updated here on the forum of any news at Moore Creek or other Alaska Mines. I still have over 3 weeks of vacation left this year and will have over 4 week in 2008. If Swift or other projects turn up, please let me know ASAP. Considered jumping in on the last week of Moore Creek, but I think it will be really buggy. Hope everything is well on your end, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I don't want to cast any stones since Reg Sniff is a close friend. I don't know Dave, or what to expect with the Pulse Devil, I just have to be optimistic about it. Kind of glad the date got pushed back again, since I will be out of town that weekend down in Bisbee/Douglas. Wishing Dave the best of luck with the new Pulse Devil Metal Detector. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Shep, Congrats on the new gold nuggets you found. I also have one of Joe's picks, but haven't used it much lately. Been working a lot of hours, so I have less nugget hunting time. I did get out to a small wash today where my partner just picked up almost 1/2 ounce of nice nuggets, but I didn't find anything but deep trash. Heading out tomorrow to show a new customer how to run his GPX-4000. Maybe I will find a dink or two. P.S. Grubstake, I know what you mean about being focused and nugget hunting, if your mind is not in it, it's hard to hunt. Been there and done that a lot lately. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Uncle Ron, Just curious how you came up with the "Tourist Price?" If the nugget sells for $2,000 that is a great price. Spot price on that nugget today would be $1,147.52 (at $652/ounce). If you sold the nugget for 20% over spot the price would be approx. $1,377.02. Right now at $2,000, that is roughly 65% over spot value. Trust me, I would love to see the nugget sale for $5,000, but you're only going to get what someone is willing to spend. I think Datoka Slim made up a great auction with all the pictures and information. This will surely help him sell the nugget at a good price. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Bigfoot and AZNuggetBob, If there was any one guy that knows Rich Hill gold it would be AZNuggetBob. I'm not going into details, but if you know him, you will know ... I have several multi-ounce Rich Hill nuggets with the same "scare" marks from the Granite Boulders. Most of the nuggets are in low spots, or natural shelves and over millions of years worth of errosion the Granite Cobbles, Boulders and Debris are moving over them. Talk with you all later, Rob Allison Hello All, I just noticed on the Ebay ad that no one has even bit on the nugget. The price might be a bit steep for the size & character. Now, don't take this wrong, I love the slug type gold that Rich Hill is famous for, but the bad side is most are looking for nuggets that have character. The Aussie's are selling nice rough crystalline gold nuggets on Ebay much larger for less, which kind of hurts gold nugget sales. I've recently seen nuggets as larger as 10 solid ounces sell for just spot price! I personally wouldn't sell the nugget for no less than $1,200 - $1,300. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Tool, My best guess from the picture and experience in that area would be a "copper nugget." They hit very loud on a metal detector. Hope this helps, Rob Allison