Nuggets of News Blog 

Where can you fetch the best price for the gold you find? Refineries are probably the best answer for most prospectors if you have at least two ounces of gold to sell. That might sound like a lot, but if you collect all sizes and shapes of gold over time, then sell it all at once, it's the most profitable for you. Refineries don't care if it's fine gold, pickers, nuggets, or a combination because they melt it all down and resell it by weight. They do not care about the size or shape of your original gold, they only care about the purity.

In general, refineries pay around 95% of assay (assaying is conducting a gold purity test). That means you get 95% of whatever purity is determined (85% pure is pretty common), minus a refining fee. Using $1,400 an ounce as an example price, if you sent in an ounce of gold and it was determined to be 85% pure, you would get about $1,130.50 for your ounce, minus a refining fee. Not too bad considering you can live anywhere and send any size or type of gold to the refinery of your choice! 

In Sam Radding's publication "The $3.25 How to Gold Pan Book" that's included in the Gold Panning Beginners Kit, he reminds us that there is no single "right" technique to gold panning. After a little practice, everyone develops their own style, but Mr. Radding does give some very good pointers and tips to get beginners started, including 3 very important rules:

1. All of the material placed in your gold pan must be thoroughly washed while the pan is UNDER water. Break up all of the paydirt before you begin to discard material from your pan because gold may be trapped in clay, small roots, or cracks in the small pieces of bedrock you have in your pan.

2. Shake the pan VIGOROUSLY for about 15 seconds to settle the gold to the bottom after the material has been broken up. Fully submerse your pan in water to do this. Once the gold has been settled the first time, it's OK to pick out the larger rocks. Repeat several times.

3. Oil of any type on your pan can cause flat flakes of gold to float on top of the water. Thin flakes as large as 3/16" can be floated up and you don't want that because it can easily wash right out of the pan. A single drop of biodegradable detergent per pan will solve the problem!

Have Fun and Good Luck Getting the Gold!

If you're looking for a Power Sluice /Highbanker that is

* HEAVY DUTY 
* HIGH CAPACITY
* EASILY TRANSPORTABLE 
* DESIGNED AROUND PROVEN RESEARCH

Then check out the CC690! This is a water operated, centrifugal concentrator and is capable of processing large volumes of material without the need for pre-classification. With the CC690, not only is the force of gravity at work to trap gold, but the very force of the water itself is used to create high energy vortices that trap and hold gold particles against the matting. These forces combine to help the smaller particles work their way deep into the looped, vinyl fibers of the matting and on down to the grooves of the underlying, v-ribbed rubber mat where they remain until it is time to perform the clean up operation. In other words, the CC690 Power Sluice / Highbanker helps small scale gold miners like you extract the greatest percentage of gold possible from the gravel you feed into it! Purchase the sluice only, or as a package with pump and hoses included. Learn more here.

If you're like many prospectors, you collected a few buckets of concentrates this summer and figured you'd process them during the winter when you had more time. Now those buckets are probably in the garage, the basement, and taking up space in the shed — and someone else in your household might be complaining that they are in the way! Three great products can help you process those concentrates more easily and quickly, especially if it's fine gold: Desert Fox automatic spiral panning machine, the Magna Two, and the Catch-It II Water Table. All of these machines are simple to operate. You won't need much practice before you discover how efficient and easy they are to use. With gold around $1,400 an ounce, the sooner you get those concentrates processed, the sooner you can reap the monetary rewards of gold prospecting!

If you've got a treasure hunter, gold prospector, or outdoorsman on your gift list this season, or are your own not-so-secret Santa, you'll be glad to know about these holiday savings:

• Spend $250 and get a FREE $10 Amazon gift card when you enter the word AMAZON in the Extra Information field at check out (gift card sent separate from your order). *Hurry—offer ends November 30.

• Spend $350 and automatically get FREE shipping!  No coupon code required.

• While supplies last, Fisher is giving away FREE headphones and pick with the purchase of a Gold Bug Pro with 5 inch coil or Gold Bug DP with 11 inch DD coil, or Teknetics G2 metal detector. No coupon code required.

• And remember, we have the best prices on Woodman's Pal machete— made in the USA since 1941!

We appreciate your business!  Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're like many prospectors, you collected a few buckets of concentrates this summer and figured you'd process them during the winter when you had more time. Now those buckets are probably in the garage, the basement, and taking up space in the shed — and someone else in your household might be complaining that they are in the way! Three great products can help you process those concentrates more easily and quickly, especially if it's fine gold: Desert Fox automatic spiral panning machine, the Magna Two, and the Catch-It II Water Table. All of these machines are simple to operate. You won't need much practice before you discover how efficient and easy they are to use. With gold around $1,400 an ounce, the sooner you get those concentrates processed, the sooner you can reap the monetary rewards of gold prospecting!

When you are sampling for gold in a streambed, you should nearly always be looking for hard-packed material. “Hard-pack” is created at the bottom of waterways during major floods and storms. The reason that hard-pack is important to a prospector is because gold nearly always concentrates at the bottom of hard-packed layers. Therefore, it is nearly always important for a prospector to target his or her sampling efforts to reach the bottom of hard-packed streambeds.

Gold is about six times heavier, by volume, than the average weight of the sand, silt, and rocks that make up an average streambed. Because of this disparity in weight, when streambed material is being washed downriver during a major flood, most of the gold will quickly work its way down to the bottom of the streambed material. Because the gold is so much heavier, it will work its way down along the river-channel more slowly than the other streambed materials. During major storms, most of the gold moving in a waterway will be washed down across the surface of hard-packed streambed that is not being moved by the storm. At some point during the storm, gold becomes trapped out of the turbulent flow by dropping into cracks and holes. Streambeds form later in the storm, when the water-turbulence tapers off enough to allow the rocks, gravel, sand and silt to drop out of the flow and form a layer along the bottom (over top of the gold).

Streambed material that lies on top of the gold will nearly always be hard-packed. Why? Well, if there is enough force and turbulence to move substantial amounts of gold in the waterway, then there is also enough force to create a naturally-formed streambed on top of the gold as the same storm and flooding dies down.

To learn about gold mining of yesteryear, take your family on a tour of the authentic Crystal Gold Mine in Kellogg, Idaho. Dress warmly, don a bright yellow hard hat, grab a flashlight, and follow your tour guide into the underground world of gold mining. For over 100 years, no one knew this mine existed. The original prospector simply disappeared, leaving his mine car, track, tools, and high-grade gold ore behind—sure signs he intended to come back, but strangely never did. During the years that the mine was lost and undisturbed, beautiful turquoise-colored smithsonite crystals formed on the walls. You’ll also see gold and wire silver, too. After the tour, pan for gold outdoors under the tutelage of your mine guide. Even if there’s no flash in your pan, you might find a star garnet—Idaho’s state stone. And what a rare souvenir that would be; these garnets naturally occur in only two places on earth—India and Idaho.

Last year, more than 285 million people visited national parks and other units of the National Park System, marking 2009 the fifth busiest year ever. For those who like statistics, that means 10 million more Americans and foreign tourists visited national parks than the year before— a 3.9% increase. The all-time visitation record of 287.2 million was set in 1987.

In 2010, the National Park Service is once again offering fee-free days, allowing visitors to check out the nation’s 392 national parks without paying an admission fee that usually ranges from $3 to $25, depending on the park. The fee waiver includes entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other costs such as reservations, camping, concessions, and fees collected by third parties are not waived. The first fee-free period this year is actually an entire week—National Parks Week, April 17-25.

Although you cannot use your metal detector in a national park, take your detector along on your trip because there are plenty of public lands, parks, etc. to explore while you're traveling.

The Top 10 most visited national parks are:

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina

2. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

3. Yosemite National Park, California

4. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho

5. Olympic National Park, Washington

6. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

7. Zion National Park, Utah

8. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

9. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

10. Acadia National Park, Maine