nuggethunting

Hello Gaine, Keith's a great guy and it's great to see someone like that on the front page. Great article and I'm sure Keith is proud to be in it. Congrats to you Keith! Rob Allison

Hello Airboy, I have used both coils in the past with good success. I probably found more gold with the famous Coiltek 14-inch Mono Round than any other searchcoil. This was the hottest selling coil before the 17-inch elliptical Wallaby series was released. The Coiltek 14-inch round will get just a tad more depth. I have found nuggets down to about 2-grain near the surface with this coil. Pretty much the perfect sized coil for prospecting. You can still find the small nuggets, big nuggets and cover a good amount of ground without wearing your arm out. I would give the sensitivity edge to the Coiltek Mini UFO. I have found them a bit smaller than the Coiltek 14-inch round. The big UFO is also great, but you need open areas to swing it. It's light, waterproof and covers a lot of ground in very little time. It kind of comes to preferrence, elliptical vs. round coils. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, Good to hear you guys got out to the patch and found some gold. Great to see Shep finding them with the Coiltek Platypus coil up there. The 11+ Dwt piece your uncle got is also a beauty. That will make a good pendant piece. Ok, now what about this skunk of yours? Your package will ship tomorrow, so you should see it Tuesday or Wednesday if the mail is running normal up there. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Reg, Lamar and all others, Great subject we have going here. Over the years I have had a lot of strange things sound off on the VLF and even PI's. If my detector sounds off on a strange rock or something I can't identify in the field I will bring it back home with me. Most of the stuff I can get examine in the field and toss it back as a Leaverite. I know over the years I have gotten weak signals on cactus roots, tree roots, pockets of mineralization and other stuff that just seems to disappear or stay at the constant weak signal the deeper you dig. One rule that I use is the fact a true metallic target will increase in audio the closer you get to it. Meaning if you continue to dig and the target response continues to get louder, assuming you're ground balanced properly then I will continue to dig and extract the target. If you continue to dig and the response don't get louder than you probably just have pocket of mineralization and you're probably out of ground balance. One solution is to balance your searchcoil over the material that has been removed from the hole. If you balance over the pile and continue to get a signal I would say DIG! Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello Glen, Thanks for sharing the pictures of the California gold nuggets. Hope to see more in the future from you. Best of luck to you, Rob Allison

Hello Alan, I have just poked around with my X-Terra 70 using it more as a nugget detector. I wanted to see how it would handle mineralization and how small of gold it would find. I know it will find 2-3 grainers with ease! The machine is so simple to use I can see why it's a hot seller for Minelab. Did you ever get a Minelab X-Terra 70? Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, I remember seeing something that looked similar to that item in my Grandfather's tool garage. I know he didn't work with cattle, but did do a lot of hunting and camping. My best guess would be some type of campfire utensil. I have no clue about the small container. If I had to make a guess I would say type of food or something that had to be fresh when sealed. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, There is no doubt Airplanes cause disturbance on the Minelab PI's. I believe it has more to do with the Airplane's Radar then the actual Airplane itself. There are times when it's tough to hunt the Bradshaw Mountain Range. During the weekends its plane after plane ... WoWoo .. WooWoo .. WooWooo ... Digging false targets is not real common with the Minelab PI's, but it does happen. Certain ground conditions, or mineralized pockets can affect a Minelab PI. However, if it will affect a Minelab PI just imagine a VLF. For the most part a Minelab PI is immune to most ground conditions if balanced properly. From my own personal experience (over 15+ years nuggetshooting) you don't want to put a whole lot of faith in target response. I have found some very sizeable nuggets over the years that aren't the typical soft, smooth sounding "Gold" targets. When in doubt dig everything even if it means more trash. As you can see from Alan's post, for years nuggetshooters left a 1.5 pound nugget laying on or near the surface assuming it was a trash target. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Alan, I know the VLF detectors will give you a signal over your hand or body, but not certain the Minelab PI's will. I never experienced the PI giving a signal over my hand, but maybe you have more salt, iron or gold in your blood! Now you wouldn't destroy an ant nest for a small gold nugget would you? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Glen, Thanks for posting the pictures of the gold nuggets you found. What State were they found in? Nice batch of nuggets! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, Maybe you were "Screening" phone calls. I actually gave the Black Canyon area a run last Sunday for a few hours, but ended up with nothing. Just too darn hot to concentrate unless you’re digging gold nuggets. Leaverite, Ohio and I tried a spot that we thought might have some potential, but we all got the Skunkaroo. I really like the high country prospecting, but don't care for the vegetation. We might have to swap some information, you know high country to low country gold locations. Keep up the great hunting. Rob Allison

Hello Airboy, I can't say exactly what it was, but have seen and heard similar deals. Sometimes little critters and insects like to carry small bits of metal into their nests. Now whether this was the case with you, I can't honestly say. I also know that some roots and plants that hold a higher content of iron can also give you weak signals. It could also be the fact there is a depression or void in the ground where the ants are living. Very hard to say exactly, but I know I have experienced similar signals over the years, but never really took the time to figure out exactly what it could be. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, John - I always wish you the best of success. Helping others become successful is a great thing. I have given you the best advice for your business as I could in the past. I'm hoping you can capture some of the coin/relic business over there, which is much larger than the gold prospecting market. Just remember, everything comes back around full-circle. When you become "big-time" don't forget about me. Airboy - Yep, detecting is much different than dredging. Although, you have a much better shot at finding a larger nuggets, at least here in Arizona. I have a true passion to dredge and hopefully I can get enough time free to give California or maybe Alaska a dredging run. The advantage of detecting is the fact you can cover so much ground in very little time. Kind of like "Cherry-Picking" the shallow areas for nuggets! The old-timers might have shot us down knowing we could just run across the ground and scan for shallow nuggets rather than having to dig and sample everywhere. Did you ever decide on a pair of headphones? Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, The (3) pieces to the right are native copper nuggets. They actually have a dark blue/green color to them. I have seen the copper oxides turn green, blue and even a dark purple/black color. If you scratch the pieces you can see the native copper within. The area I was prospecting in known for deep copper deposits and shallow silver/gold workings. Gaine - Never really look that close at the nugget. Will have to take it back out and see if it does have a hole through it. I just toss them into the nugget container and keep detecting! Chris - I've been finding them pretty consistently, but heck they are all small nuggets. It's about time for something a little bigger in size, you know like a 1-2 ouncer! A Minelab GP series detector along with a Coiltek Joey is a deadly combination for small nuggets. I know I can find them under 1 grain in size if I really want to search for pieces that small. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Glen, Congrats on the new nuggets finds. Looking forward to seeing a picture of them. Are you located here in Arizona? I used the Tesoro ST for some time years ago and really like the discrimination abilities of it. Hope your success continues out there. Thanks for sharing your story. SpecialMe - If you're looking to stick with the Minelab brand of metal detectors, I would recommend the Explorer II, Sovereign or new X-Terra series for coin/relic hunting. If you're looking for a detector that can hunt coins, relics and gold nuggets you might consider the new Minelab X-Terra 70. Hope this helps a bit. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, I thought my ears were ringing Saturday. Shep was probably saying that .."beep".. Rob ."beep.beep" .. Rob .."beep".. Doc "beep..beep..beep" Coiltek .... Glad you guys got the problem resolved and found some gold. It's best to tighten all the coil connectors when you receive a new coil, especially the WOT coils cause they are not connected during shipping. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello downntheholler, I don't believe I have any of the batteries left for the American Gold Striker, but would have to look. I can get any parts for a Minelab within a few days if I don't have them in stock. I do have the Coiltek WOT coil for the American Gold Striker in stock though. P.S. The American Gold Striker is an old detector, but I found a lot of gold with it back then. Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Grubstake, Well we know by now you and Shep done well at the patch. We are trying to find a location where there is more than just dinks. The Bradshaw's are very typical for small gold, but there are some biggies out there. Some of the other locations I hunt during the winter time are noted for more sizeable gold, so I can't wait for the change in weather and maybe a change in the size of the nuggets. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Shep/Grubstake, Congrats on the new nugget finds from the patch. Great to hear Shep hit some nuggets right out of the gate with the new Coiltek Platypus. How do you like it Shep? Does it work well, or did you just get lucky to find the nuggets? We all know Grubstake swears by the coil. That patch must be an amazing place to visit. Thanks for sharing, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, What? I never heard the phone ring, must have missed your call? Now you need to ease up on the nugget finds. Great to see others finding a good amount of gold. There is a lot out there, you just have to spend the time hunting it down. Are you using the Coiltek Joey to find the smaller ones? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hey Rob, Those are some nice looking dinks. Keep up the great work! LOL ... Rob Allison

Hello Karl, Thanks for the kind words. I knew the minute I talked with you the first time you were a great person. I'm looking forward to our hunt here in Arizona. I'm hoping we have some decent areas lined up by then, I don't want you to work too hard for nuggets! P.S. Elly said she talked with you and also really enjoyed your conversation. She also said she was looking forward to meeting you in person. Hopefully they turn up some nice gold in the upcoming pushes. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello John, Thanks for posting the reports of your new Coiltek 15-WOT for the Explorer. This coil is a sleeper in my opinion and due to the amount sold. Coiltek really need to think about designing this coil for other detectors like the new X-Terra series. Right now the Completely Waterproof Coiltek 15-inch Round WOT Searchcoil can be used on the following detectors - American Gold Striker XT 17000 XT18000 Eureka Gold All Minelab Musteteers Models All Minelab Sovereign Models Minelab Excalibur All Minelab Explorer & Explorer II Models Normally I have at least (2) for the Explorer Series in stock. I'm averaging one sale per week on them. I think this would be hot selling Mono coil for the Minelab SD/GP's, but what the heck do I know ... John, thanks for the recent business and hope you success continues. Best regards, Rob Allison

Hello All, I must say I really enjoy hearing about the history of California's gold rushes. I can only imagine how rich some of those locations were at one time. I knew an old gentleman that would come out to Arizona every Winter to metal detect. He used to own a bunch of claims on the middle fork of the Yuba River. I guess the claims were in the family for like 50 years. They worked the claims with two commercial sized dredges (8 & 10-inch). He used to tell me stories of the rich pay layers, but like anyone it sounded too good to be true. He also mentioned how deep the best gold was, sometimes 15-20 foot deep. They were all just good stories until one year he brought out several full-sized peanut butter jars full of nugget gold! He told me this was just some of the biggest stuff he decided to hold onto for retirement. He said they sold all the small stuff, and it was hundreds of ounces. Take care, Rob Allison

Hey Guys, You need to stop BSing everyone! Thanks for all the kinds words and business. I'm doing what I love to do with all your help. Take care, Rob Allison