Nuggets of News Blog 

Depending on where you live, spring is in the air, either a little or a lot. What that mostly means is we're all getting out and about more— in the woods or the desert— to prospect, metal detect, and just clean up the backyard and flower beds. When you do venture outside more, protect yourself with snake gaiters. Of course  snakes are your number one concern, but so is avoiding painful cacti needles. If you've ever brushed against them while on a hike, you'll know what I mean. The Snake Guardz and Snake Chapz brand of snake leggings are used by the US Border Patrol, US Forestry Service, hunters, hikers, fishermen, ranchers, surveyors, realtors, landscapers, and thousands of treasure hunters who need snake proof leg armor. Don't take a chance — get your Snake Gaiters today!

Your chances of finding gold in the desert are about as good as finding gold in wet areas. Study the geology and history of the area where you're prospecting or detecting, and you'll have a distinct advantage. Many large-scale mining operations of yesteryear didn't set up in the desert simply because their equipment needed lots of water, and the desert was much more inaccessible a hundred or more years ago. They didn't have portable Gold Buddy drywashers or variety of spiral gold panning machines that operate on just 3 gallons of water like we do now. So that means less competition! Just like in the mountains during spring snowmelt, one big rainstorm in the desert can change the landscape forever and uncover gold that had been hidden for centuries. Perhaps one of the best locations to look for gold is where the hills meet the desert and fan out. This is where the water slows down during storms and drops gold in the gullies. There also are likely to be more gold traps further up the hillside. Concentrate much of your effort in drywashes, dry streambeds, and canyons. When water flows during a flash flood, areas where the greatest amount of erosion has taken place are natural areas for gold collection. In some areas, like Quartzsite, Arizona, nuggets can be found with a metal detector just under the ground's surface, or even on top of the ground. If you find one piece of gold on the surface of a dry placer area, it is likely that there are more pieces of gold in the immediate area because gold generally does not travel alone. So don't call it quits after the first find— keep looking!

Ancient documents indicate that over 2,000 years ago, a Chinese emperor developed a metal detecting device using magnets. The purpose of his invention was to find weapons before they were used to assassinate him! In the early 20th century in America, metal detectors were developed to monitor metal tools and products in manufacturing plants, primarily to prevent theft. During WWII, more advanced equipment was developed to aid in locating land mines. In 1945, these mine detectors, along with countless other war surplus items, showed up in the marketplace at a fraction of their cost. Veterans familiar with the mine detectors were quick to realize that this equipment could also locate buried treasure... and a new hobby was born!  Just one more reason to thank a Vet for his/her service!  Today, several companies such as Garrett and Fisher  and Bounty Hunter and others have perfected the modern art of metal detecting and the machines just keep getting better.

Purist beach detectorists will argue that the best time to find goodies on a beach is after winter storms. While that’s certainly true, any time after a crowd has been through (Mondays following busy weekends or the day after a holiday), can mean a fresh crop of coins and jewelry just waiting to be found by your metal detector. Although some beaches can yield historic artifacts, most finds will likley be of the modern variety.

In all types of beach hunting, the discrimination must be kept very low, eliminating only small iron (bobby pins and nails). Aluminum pull tabs and tin foil should not be discriminated or you will lose some gold and/or platinum rings as well. Some beach hunters operate with zero discrimination and dig everything. Using a sand scoop makes target recovery faster and easier.

If you plan to hunt only in dry sand and in very shallow water, a good coin shooting detector will work well if you keep the discrimination set low. If you wish to go out into deeper water you will need a totally submersible machine. Some machines have a single tone for all targets and some have variable tones for different targets. It’s important to realize that most gold rings will read in the “middle” tones (above iron but below coins).

All metal detectors work well in the dry ocean sand but most single frequency detectors become erratic in the wet salt sand or in the surf. Wet salt makes the ground conductive and the detector sees the sand as a large sheet of metal. In order to operate in those areas with most single frequency instruments, you must decrease the sensitivity of the detector and it may still operate erratically. If you only occasionally visit the ocean and own an instrument that becomes erratic in wet salt sand, you can still operate perfectly in the dry sand area. If you live near the ocean, or get to the ocean frequently, consider investing in a detector that will operate well in all conditions including wet salt sand. Those detectors are generally higher priced than multi-purpose detectors, but they are definitely worth the investment if you frequent the ocean. Good luck and have fun!

After practicing a while, everyone develops their own personal technique for gold panning. Some vigorously shake the pan, some gently swish it from side to side. There are about as many different techniques, tips, and tricks as there are types of gold pans!  In truth, there is no real "right" way to pan for gold-- if you're gettin' a flash in the pan, you're doing it right! If you're just getting started, though, and don't know where to begin, follow these easy steps and before long, you will develop your own methods:

1. Fill pan about half full of gravel, small rocks, and sand collected from the stream bed
2. Put the pan under the water's surface, break up large lumps of clay or dirt, and remove stones
3. Continue to hold the pan level under the water with your hands on opposite sides, and tilt the pan forward, away from your body, and down slightly. Rotate and shake it side to side to let gravel and sand dribble out the front. Pick out the rocks.
4. Repeat step 3 several times until most of the material is removed, leaving  less than a cup of fine-grained dark material overlain with a thin layer of light material at the bottom of your pan.
5. Rotate the pan in a circular motion. Notice how the water separates lighter material from heavier.
6. Stop rotating and hopefully you'll see a flash in the dark material remaining in the bottom of your pan! Use tweezers to retrieve the gold and place in a vial for safe-keeping.

Good luck!