Gold Atlas of Rich Hill, Arizona (Just Released)!!


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Hello All,

Just wanted to let you all know this new book is now available - Gold Atlas of Rich Hill, Arizona. This book is awesome and explains where most of the Rich Hill placer has originated from. Dr. Erik Melchiorre used many resources along with testing equipment to figure out the character and distribution of the placer and lode gold from the Weaver II Mining District. It was an honor to help Erik on this book and many of the gold nuggets pictures are from my personal collection (solid nugget on cover). The book is a wealth of information, 110 pages, color pictures, maps and more!!

•Over 70 full color photos of gold nuggets, including many multi-ounce nuggets

•Full color fold-out map of placer areas

•Historical pictures and ghost-town map

•Geochemical analyses of gold, including purity of nuggets

frontsm.jpg

Order this book today from Rob's Detector Sales. Call 623-362-1459 to order by phone, or email me at - auplacers@yahoo.com

$39.99 + Shipping/Handling.

Take care,

Rob Allison

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I agree Jim I already talked to Rob about the book today and should have one in the mail. Im very interested in the professor's analysis of the Geochemistry of the gold in the area and I cant wait to read what he has to say about the Rich Hill area in general. Ive known that Gold in a raw or even semi-raw state has a chemical finger print and can be traced back to its origin. anyway from what Ive heard in one part of the book professor Melchiorre takes it down to another level. I think it should help identify formations to look for. Should be a great read and maybe get a few more clues about the gold in the area and other mining areas. AzNuggetBob

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I agree Jim I already talked to Rob about the book today and should have one in the mail. Im very interested in the professor's analysis of the Geochemistry of the gold in the area and I cant wait to read what he has to say about the Rich Hill area in general. Ive known that Gold in a raw or even semi-raw state has a chemical finger print and can be traced back to its origin. anyway from what Ive heard in one part of the book professor Melchiorre takes it down to another level. I think it should help identify formations to look for. Should be a great read and maybe get a few more clues about the gold in the area and other mining areas. AzNuggetBob

Hey Bob,

Yep, sent both you and Jim a book off. You should see yours today or tomorrow at the latest. Both were sent US Priority Mail. I think you both will find this book very educational and loaded with tons of color pictures. Now we just have to figure out those ancient channels and how they were formed.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

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Gosh Rob and Bob... I just got my copy and all I can say: WOW.

The photos are the extremely clear and detailed.

I totally agree with AzBob. Using geochemisty and microscopic

analysis is now opening .... well Bob says it better than I can...

Dr. Erik Melchiorre has really wrote a Great Book.

The relationship of the varying amounts of gold, silver, and copper

in a gold sample could be an important clue on how to prospect an area.

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I agree its a great book. Ive picked it up three times already today trying to read it from cover to cover. BTW Rob thanks for the super fast shipping. The early photos give clues what was really going on in the area, the geophysical and geographic charts are accurate, the technical charts are easy to understand and there are copies of older maps specifying and tracing known vein structures that are always great for hunting outcrops, alluvial fans, and early mine identification. If you look at the different alloy changes in the charts the gold in correlation between the two types of primary and secondary enrichment of the two different primary time periods, there is a pattern. in some ways it is identical to some other well known free gold areas that Im familiar with and similar to others with the same host rock and similar time periods. As far as the channels Rob mentioned above its seems possible that these channels may have accured somewhere in between these two time periods discussed in the book(Quaternary) over a billion years but probably closer to the Pleistocene or much more recent. but because of the depth of channels in some areas they may have happened right after the earliest time period exposed in that area and somewhere between Pleistocene and the lower Calibrian. Ive been trying to solve this mystery for years. I had originally thought these channels were from a more recent ice age flooding. but this book gave me some interesting new clues. If you accept that a least one of these channels crossed the top of Rich Hill before the mountain lifted then it tends to make sense. Im certain the nugget on the cover of the book top left is from this early time period, and from one of these ancient channels. All of these slug nuggets Ive seen come from these ancient channels this area have the classic decomposed hematite and and extreme short period ablation shape as is typical with extreme flash flooding and all the aggregate associated with it is completely decomposed including most of the silica's. it could be from a the same time period as some of the California and Nevada ancient channels or even before. in California and Nevada the channels Ive seen have silica cobbles that are for the most part still intact other than some minor surface etching. The book also covers more recent deposits and covers a lot of subjects and different types of mining in the area and Rich Hill is a very interesting mining area. Im going to need to read more and digest more of the details of this book but so far its a great read.... AzNuggetBob

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Hey Bob,

Good to hear you received the book. There is tons of very good information within this new book. I've read the book several times now, but still am picking up more information about different things the more I study it. It's interesting about the whole Antelope and Slaughterhouse theory.

I have no clue where the slug nugget on the cover came from.... LOL. Actually, it was a strange find, but then again that is another story. To put even a more twist on it, the nugget on the front and nugget on the back cover were found fairly close.

Great to have your input on this stuff Bob cause you’re one of only a few guys that are still around that spent a long period of time metal detecting the Rich Hill area.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

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Rob, The information is very well detailed, It also covers from panning and drywashing to large scale mining in the area. its already answered many questions I had in general, and about gold finger printing as well If you look at the results of the testing of nuggets in the book, from fire assays to a plasma spectrometer through out the entire Rich Hill area, The professor used a lot of small nuggets and specimens in testing from all over the Rich Hill area to compile much of the information in this book. It does raise questions about the origin of some of the gold found in some areas.... possibly over laid concentrations from different periods in time? Or even different countries. What? different countries? :D Im surprised the professor knew about that story too. the answer is in the book. true story, But seriously I personally think some of the gold did come naturally from many miles away in ancient channels and different veins within the area. Because the book covers from panning and dry washing to large scale mining, I think the book would also be very useful to larger mining companies looking at claims in the area as well. Im sure I'll be using it for a reference guide for some time to come. Thanks for the heads up on it Rob.

Someday I hope you'll tell me the story behind that nugget on the cover?. Take Care AzNuggetBob

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Hey Bob,

I tried to attach a hand drawn diagram of what I believe could of happen and a contributor to the White Placers. I'm having trouble attaching the file to make it understandable and viewable at the same time. Basically it is something I believe happened at Rich Hill and has to do with a "clipped" or isolated portion of an old Kaolinite/High Sulfidation System/Hydrothermal Alteration that may have contributed to the orgin of the White Placers. The drawing really showed some details of what I'm trying to explain.

It basically has to do with an alteration zone, rich in gold, that has been uplifted and buried in some areas by Basin & Range uplifting. I believe, but not proven (yet) that the White Placers could be associated with this once rich alteration zone (hence the color).

Will talk more with you in person about this.

Rob Allison

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I'm looking forward to getting a copy of the book. The more info, the better.

"Ive known that Gold in a raw or even semi-raw state has a chemical finger print and can be traced back to its origin. anyway from what Ive heard in one part of the book professor Melchiorre takes it down to another level."

In Western Australia, if the Gold Squad caught you with gold and took you to court, and had an idea of where you might have been on claims illegally, they would do an analysis of the gold from the accused and the claim and present the evidence to the court to show that you had taken the gold illegally. Worked for years.

Until in one case, that assumption was challenged in court and the crown could not produce evidence that established that as fact. And the case was thrown out. At least that is the memory I have, and we all know how fault that can get :)

I used to have the reference to that, I'll do some looking. Maybe some of our Aussie friends would comment.

Gary

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I'm looking forward to getting a copy of the book. The more info, the better.

"Ive known that Gold in a raw or even semi-raw state has a chemical finger print and can be traced back to its origin. anyway from what Ive heard in one part of the book professor Melchiorre takes it down to another level."

In Western Australia, if the Gold Squad caught you with gold and took you to court, and had an idea of where you might have been on claims illegally, they would do an analysis of the gold from the accused and the claim and present the evidence to the court to show that you had taken the gold illegally. Worked for years.

Until in one case, that assumption was challenged in court and the crown could not produce evidence that established that as fact. And the case was thrown out. At least that is the memory I have, and we all know how fault that can get :)

I used to have the reference to that, I'll do some looking. Maybe some of our Aussie friends would comment.

Gary

GaryO You really need to see this book. Im not familiar with the Australian court case you are referring too, but things may change in Australian courts soon. After reading this book and combined with what I already knew having worked at many mines and mills in the past Im convinced. The tests were repeated over and over on several different locations around Rich Hill (and around the world) to rule out any possible mistakes in sample gathering or equipment errors. The results are convincing. and when you look at the results of the samples graphed on a chart its impressive and obvious that gold from different areas of the world contain different combination's of common alloys, minerals and rare earths specific to that area. AzNuggetBob

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Hey AzNuggetBob,

I agree with you about this book answering a lot of questions, but then it has created some with the new data. Erik wants to use some of the data we have collected to help answer questions on the White Placers.

The book is selling extremely well. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about "fingerprinting" gold from it's source to current location.

Take care,

Rob Allison

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Hey AzNuggetBob,

I agree with you about this book answering a lot of questions, but then it has created some with the new data. Erik wants to use some of the data we have collected to help answer questions on the White Placers.

The book is selling extremely well. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about "fingerprinting" gold from it's source to current location.

Take care,

Rob Allison

Rob. I'll gather up what Ive got on them. I'd like to get Dr. Melchiorre's opinion and do more exploration. Take care AzNuggetBob

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Rob on the subject of catastrophic events in the Rich Hill area. Have you noticed that huge alluvial fan south of Stanton? If you look at the alluvial fan at the mouth of Antelope creek just south of Stanton from a satellite image. the fan covers miles and is the result of a single event in my opinion. the character and shape of the fan and type of gravels being randomly mixed mostly basalts and tuffa's leads me to believe it formed from a pyroclastic flow from one of the volcano's just to the north.. it would have been an awesome sight to witness, millions of cubic yards of material coming down the canyon all in a single event. take a look at it some time. AzNuggetBob

Note for those that don't have satellite imaginary.

you can install Google Earth or

Google search,

weather.com

Enter zip code (85332) in the search bar,

click on map

click on satellite upper left corner of map, and zoom with your mouse roller. pretty cool EH!

Look at the alluvial fan in the lower right corner of map.

Take care all, have fun. AzNuggetBob

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Hey Bob,

I didn't get a chance to look at the alluvial fan yet. I will show you some of the spots we are digging this weekend. Will be interesting to get your thoughts once again. The Gold Altas of Rich Hill is selling like hotcakes at Stanton. A good friend of mine is selling them for me there. I think I went though all 50 copies already and have more on the way. Without a doubt it's a great book and will open up a lot of stuff for future areas and testing.

Take care,

Rob Allison

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Rob... As I mentioned I would have my copy of the Gold Atlas of Rich Hill at my

Informational booth. Saturday was crowded and this limited the availabilty of those being

able to page through the text.. Sunday was less crowded and there was time for those

interested to look through it... I aso had the earlier books. "Rich Hill" and "Octave." All of the comments were positive...

Paseclipse was with me in the Informational booth both days.. and he answered informal

questions about meteorites... He had a few to show and let those interested hold and

pass by a detector... There was a stong interest in meteorites and Del was kept busy.

Gary C. visited the booth awhile on Saturday and showed the nice nuggets he found with his Minelab 4000. Sandtrap also had a couple to show that he found with his 4000.

I had a copy of Josiah Edward Spurr's Geological Reconnaissance Map of "Nevada South Of The 40th Parallel and Adjacent California," to show to all interested. Mr. Spurr did the geological reconnaissance during the summer and winter of 1899. The topographical base

was chiefly adapted from the maps of Lt. Wheeler, one of the Corp of Engineers topographers. Lt. Wheeler did the survey in the early 1870's... Both the map and the gerogical reconnassance are early, the first(?) Pathfinders. However Mr. Gilbert, an early field geologist accompanied Lt. Wheeler.

all I sold were blackand white reprints of the vol 49 Number 1 and 2 January-April 1953

map of the Mines and Minerals of San Bernadino County... all of the money from the sales

will go to the Red Mountain (and surrounding communities) Senior Citizen Counsel within the Randsburg Quadrangle, California...

I thank all of you who bought one of the "Mines and Minerals" county maps... (Sandtrap: if you happen to see this post, there was $96.00 collected for them...)

I thank all of you who visited my Informal Information booth. I apologise if I was disorganized... I'm pretty deaf, and may have seemed to be ignoring some of you.

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Hello Jim,

Good to hear people were looking at the Rich Hill book. I'm going to be ordering my 3rd and 4th case of them. They are selling very well and many don't even know about them yet. I sold nearly 2 cases as Rich Hill in and around the Stanton Camp.

I'm still pondering the idea of the Phoenix GPAA Show. I normally always do this show, but the GPAA has really jacked up the prices on the booths. Last year I spent nearly a grand on booths, but also had a very good display of metal detectors and acessories. This year, all the Minelab metal detectors are on backorder and I heard the crowds were down and not as many paying customers.

Pretty hard to sell Minelab detectors with all of them on backorder. The Phoenix show was never a great one for underwater or coin/relic detectors in my opinion.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

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Rob... For many the money is tight. Saturday was packed with a large attendance... Sunday slow

As for me I was busy with both Dr. Eriks book and explaining an exact reprint of JE Spurrs

1899 Geological reconnassance of Nevada south of the 40th parallel and adjacent California.

Dell was with me both days answering questions about meteorites. He is sharp.

I did not directly sell any of my titles as it would not be ethical to my dealers.

I guess the show cost me about $600 total out of my pocket. All I sold was some maps

from the late Judy Shaw the Califonia Prospecting Co. The money from the map sales are

for the Red Mountain Senior Citizens.

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