nuggethunting

Hello Lord Gold, Thanks for joining the forums. The first person that popped in my mind was "29Prospector Bob." Glad to see he already introduced himself to you. Hope you're able to find a few guys up around your country that will show you around. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Colorado Bob - I'm not sure if I'm going to hunt or not. I might just sit and watch the circus and how everyone reacts. Maybe I will just sit on the side and keep my Minelab PI on! I will probably brave the maze of mad miners with a trusty old VLF. I'm only after the ounce plus pieces .... LOL Hammer - Are you going to camp out up there over the weekend of the pushes? Don't believe we have met, so it will be nice to put a face with your name. You can easily find me, I'm only 5'1" and have a big nose! Crownking Steve - I'm glad you joined up with us. If I wasn't spending so much time BSing I could have spent more time with you. Although, it is good PR if you know what I mean. I showed the Coiltek "Pocket Rocket" LI-Ion System to those guys and they couldn't believe it. If you don't have anything going on this weekend, give me a call or PM me and lets do it again. Hopefully next time will mean a nugget for you. I won't rub it in about Kitty finding the biggest .... Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Dave, Sounds like a plan! Yep, you kicked butt up at Moore Creek. One half pound (6 ounces) is a good run for anywhere. Three years up in Alaska and I have yet to find a 1+ ounce nugget. I guess maybe it's not in the card. I guess us Arizona boys are fortunate to be in the goldfields year round. However, some probably wouldn't want to deal with our hot Summers. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, This is an interesting subject since there are so many variables present. Personally I have found my best gold at depth with the Sensitive/Deep settings on the GP Extreme, GP3000 and GP3500. However, I didn't check to see how the other settings would have responded. The deepest nugget was approx. 28-inch deep, while others have been in the 20-24 inch range. I know I have found 1/4 ouncers at 18-inch deep with the GP3000 and GP3500, but they were just faint whispers and could easily be missed if I wasn't paying close attention. The coils used were the Coiltek 14-inch round mono and Coiltek 17-inch elliptical Wallaby mono. I believe the shape, density and overall matrix of the nugget/specimen plays an important role in detection. The Minelab PI's don't detect very porous gold well, but love the solid slug type gold. I also like the Sensitive setting since I know it can find smaller gold and smaller gold at depth over the "Normal" mode. However, running is "Sensitive/Deep" is more erratical then "Normal/Normal" or "Normal/Deep." Hope to hear more feedback from others on this subject. Rob Allison

Hello All, A good friend found this nugget and is curious what today's value would be on it. Several years ago he was offered $4,500.00 and it wasn't etched, still pretty dirty. He recently sent a picture to a gold collector and the collector said pieces like that have sold for as much as $10,000 in the past. The piece is roughly 4.4 ounces and is solid gold besides the small quartz knob on one end. The owner was thinking of selling the piece to a collector that would love to have a piece of Rich Hill gold. He was thinking somewhere between what he was originally offered and what the collector said pieces like this have sold for. Any thoughts? Any one interested in this piece for their personal collection? Below are three pictures of the nugget. The pictures don't do the nugget justice; you almost have to see it in person to see the true beauty. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Dave, Always great talking with you and Gail. I thought you might trade me that Hummer for the X-Terra 70! Good to hear you already found some coins with the new detector. Keep me updated on your success. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Pike335, Well I just hunt hard when I'm out there and luckily everything seems to be going right. Most of the finds recently are small, but they keep the skills polished for this coming Winter season when I will hit it hard core and have tons of new areas lined up. Make sure you look me up in advance when you come down this way. This winter I will have a ton of field instructions for new detector purchases. With the price of gold staying high it will be a busy season, but with enough notice we can get something organized. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello All, Today Leaverite, Crownking Steve and I headed up to Rich Hill to prospect the 24 Karat Gold Hunters Club. They already had several pushes done, but had care keepers watching care keepers to make sure no one high grades the pushes before the opening date. A couple of the locations look very promising, so I'm sure some nuggets will turn up Oct. 14th (Saturday). Within an hour I hit two small nuggets in an old patch area and later Leaverite found one. Crownking Steve was unable to find a nugget, but hunted very hard with his new Minelab GP3500 he purchased from me. Steve, it's just a matter of time and you're going to hit big! Don't let Kitty use the GP3500 or she will keep the record for the biggest nugget between you two. Out on the claims we met up with Elly, Jim, Tom Enus, Larry, Charles and a few others. I believe the membership count is up to 160 members. I'm not sure how this push situation is going to work will all the Minelab PI's, but it's going to be comical to watch for sure. I found the two small nuggets on the left side of the 14-inch round coil and Leaverite found the one on the right. Nothing big, but I only hunted for about 2 hours and BSed for about 4. Hope to see all you members during the push. Take care, Rob Allison

Minelab X-Terra 70 Sold!

Hello Grubstake, There isn't anything better than great friends and being able to share and show your nugget finds. Leaverite and I have covered a lot of ground together and found some nice nuggets. Right now he is up on me with the 1.6 ouncer out of one of my old spots. The year prior I got a 1 ouncer out of one of his spots. Now it's my turn again, so a 2+ ouncer would be nice! Glad you're able to hunt with your Uncle and your good bud Shep. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, Well I guess if you're going to dodge the skunk, a 1/3 ouncer is the way to do it! Congrats on another beautiful piece of California gold. Good to hear your Uncle and Shep also scored some nuggets. Leaverite and I got out and found (9) nuggets total, but nothing like yours. Were you able to rides the quads up there again, or did you have to hike it? Did you find the nugget with the Coiltek Wallaby or Platypus? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello All, Leaverite and I left early this morning to hit a couple of areas I have worked in the past. I thought since I'm now using the Coiltek 14-inch Round "Skippy" it would be worth a return to a couple of these spots to try our luck. By the end of the day I found (6) nuggets and Leaverite found (2) with his Joey Mono. Nothing of any size since we already took the cream of the crop from these spots many years ago. Check out the pictures below, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Pretty positive the X-Terra 70 is sold. Had about a dozen people interested, but one friend sent a PM early that morning, so I contacted him first. This is a great coin/relic/gold nugget detector and for the price you're getting an absolute steal! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, I think that narrowed it down to 36 square miles! Looking forward to spending some time out that way this winter. That area is one of my favorite all-time stomping grounds. When I come out that way I will probably camp out for the weekend. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello All, Any interested in a slightly used Minelab X-Terra 70 Metal Detector contact me. This unit is practically brand new with less than 10 hours of use on it. There is no original box, have no clue what happened to it, but you will get all the stock accessories and searchcoil, plus the 10-inch elliptical DD searchcoil that is great for gold nugget hunting. This detector will sell very quickly, so the first one with an offer will take it. I would prefer a check or money order for the detector. I'm asking $600 for the entire package. The normal sale price for this unit is $800 not including the 10-inch elliptical DD searchcoil. If you're interested give me a call at (623) 362-1459, send me a Private Message (PM) through the forums or email me at - auplacers@yahoo.com First person to contact me and pay will owe this great coin/relic/gold hunting detector. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Leaverite, I didn't think that much gold came from the small location, but then again I'm not complaining. How did Rod and those guys miss all that gold? Just trying to razz a bit. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Bob, You should have a program that came with your digital camera, or even Microsoft Window's that allows you to edit the size of pictures. The best size for the forums is under 550x550 pixels. When I take my pictures with the digital the resolution is like 2,400x2,200 or something. However, if I posted that picture it would distort the forum. I take pictures in the highest resolution possible and then re-size them. There are a bunch of free photo programs that you can download and will allow you to re-size pictures if needed, but you should have something already. Maybe you're just trying to blow those 2-Grammers up to be 2-Ouncers! Good looking nuggets and ground. Send me the GPS coords. Rob Allison

Hello Rex, The only coils that were handmade were the NF coils. Pretty much all manufactures that use Plastic have molds. Yes, there is some handwork to put them together and wire them, but they don't handwork the plastic. The only way for a coil to have an advantage over another would be to add more windings. I'm sure all the coils are set up to specs and all have the same amount and length of wire. Adding more shielding to a coil could make it quieter, but also make it get less depth and sensitivity. Since all the coils will be plastic now, the difference between one brand to the other if the shape, size and configuration are the same will be minimal at best. Coiltek continues to make new sizes and configurations to keep on top of searchcoil technology. What coils are you using now? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I'm pretty positive it's a piece of Iron Pyrite. Pyrite is extremely hard, but is also brittle. If you smack it with a hammer (which you shouldn't do) it should shatter up pretty good. Pyrite is basically just a bonding of iron and sulphur. Platinum is extremely rare to find in nugget form. Not that its not out there, but for the most part people are not picking up platinum nuggets like gold nuggets. A platinum nugget of that size would be very valuable. It's always worth getting a good second opinion on anything you find. If you have a local University or Mineral Museum around they should be able to ID the specimen quickly. Wishing you the best, Rob Allison

Hello Leaverite, Wow ... I didn't realize you took as much as you did out of that area. I know I seen some of the original finds, but you must be holding out. All those times when you say you got skunked, are you sure you're not putting a couple of nuggets in the old poke? "JOEY, JOEY, JOEY" Talk with you before the weekend. Rob Allison

Hello Bob, Thanks for running the contest on the forum. Ken, Congrats on the winning the contest and winning the nugget/specie! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Leaverite, I didn't realize that much gold came from the Bumble Bee location. How many ounces do you think we took out of there total? How heavy was that big flat piece you showed me? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Mair, My first thought would be Pyrite, or maybe even Mica, but hard to tell from the pictures. Hopefully some others will give some advice. I've never personally found any platinum here in Arizona. Thanks for joining the forums. Rob Allison

Hello Rex, The Mini UFO is about 1-inch narrower than the Wallaby series. Will the 1-inch extra width yield more depth? It might yield a tad more depth if you're paying close attention. As for comparing coils that are the same shape, size and configuration it would be like splitting hairs. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, Played around with my digital and it now seems to be working fine. Bob "Montana" mentioned the video card so I pulled it out. Maybe it wasn't getting a snug fit. Seems to be working for the time being. The (4) nuggets I found Sunday are on the very front of the scale along with all the other stuff that came out of the same wash. I personally have taken 2.5 ounces from the wash and my partner has probably found about an ounce. Biggest piece on the far right of the scale is 1 ounce. Happy Nugget Hunting, Rob Allison