Copper and gold are commonly found together. In fact, many of the largest gold producing mines in the world are actually copper mines that extract gold as a by-product. Of course copper is much more common. While gold is measured in troy ounces, copper is valued by the ton. Despite being a relatively common mineral, […]
The use of metal detectors has increased over the past few years as people venture out in search of treasure. They are a fantastic tool, however to obtain the best results one should have sound knowledge on various techniques regarding the use of the devices. Below we will cover some of the basic essentials of […]
The largest surviving gold nugget found it the western hemisphere is a breathtaking nugget named The Boot of Cortez. Just as the name implies, it is shaped like the boot of a Spanish conquistador. This outstanding find measures a stunning 10 3/4 inches in height and 7 1/4 inches in width. This truly remarkable piece […]
Not too long ago, there weren’t very many choices when a prospector needed a sensitive gold detector. Most of the detector companies only had one or two models to choose from. Things have really improved in the last few years, with some recent additions to the market. These detectors are marked improvements over some of […]
Some of the most successful gold hunters I know today area all using a very similar method. It’s a technique that wasn’t all that necessary back in the 80s and 90s when good gold nugget detectors were first being developed. However, in the past 15 years or so, it seems like this hunting technique is […]
Many of the old mining districts were placer mined with large bucket line dredges. They were large floating machinery that churned up the valley floors and mined massive amounts of gravel. Dredges were notoriously inefficient, relying on the processing volume, rather than efficiency. As a result, there is still a lot of gold left behind […]
There isn’t a lot of information about this discovery of the gold nugget known as the Austrox Nugget. It was found somewhere in Western Australia, not by a major mining company, but by three small-scale prospectors using metal detectors. And while most of the world’s largest gold nuggets were found back during the 1800s, this […]
The Mojave nugget is a huge chunk of gold discovered by Ty Paulsen in 1977. It was said to have been discovered using a metal detector in the area of Randsburg, California in Kern County. As part of the Stringer Mining District, the Mojave nugget is not the only large nugget to have come from […]
One common question that gold prospectors have is about the best way to clean their placer gold. Most of the time, gold nuggets that come out of the ground are not shiny and clean, but rather have a variety of “crud” that covers them. This is especially common in arid environments or areas where to […]
Some of the newer metal detectors on the market are now totally waterproof, and this is a great feature that allows us to hunt in places that we just couldn’t before. Water-resistant metal detectors have been around for a while. They are nice for detecting in the rain, but they can’t actually be submerged in […]