Metal Detecting Old Hard Rock Mine Dumps

May 2018 by Chris Ralph

The type of mine dump that is best for metal detecting are the ones that consist of mixed sizes of rock and are located near some sort of excavation, commonly a shaft or adit. Sometimes the piles located along a trench dug by the miners can be productive as well.

That First Nugget

January 2017
After getting all the gear together we headed up the old road that led us to an old ground sluice site. George and Kaleb were using lightweight VLF (very low frequency) detectors. I carried a newer technology unit that is just a tad coil-heavy in the front.

Fault Zones and Prospects

June 2011
As we walked back we were just reaching the point of where the faulting should be and there, covered with deep grass, was very faint evidence of an old road going up the mountainside! What was that old road doing there?

Want to Go to Australia?

July 2014
Every year there are large nuggets found by the diligent, and occasionally by the lucky newbie.

Pickers and Nuggets

September 2016
Mike and I each selected a side of the creek and started to work our way upstream. We both worked the water and sides of the creek, and better than half the gold found in this area is in the water.

Drywashing Arizona Gold

January 2016
His findings were not exaggerated—after running 82 buckets of gravels in two days we had a remarkable 27.8 grams of gold!

Police Urge Author to End Treasure Hunt

July 2017

The plea from State Police Chief Pete Kassetas follows what authorities believe is the latest death related to the effort to uncover Forrest Fenn’s treasure.

The Reason We Fight

July 2015
Joy was written on his face, holding up the nugget—his first ever nugget—that he and his grandpa dug up together.

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