azblackbird

Well Steve, I look at it a bit differently. When I seriously started looking for gold the price was $240/OZ. To me it has steadily gone up and yes I still have some of that $240 gold!

Nice! A buddy and me split a contract and took delivery of some pamps @ $300 oz back in the dot.com days. I sold my 50 oz to fund another dot.com venture. Don't regret it one bit. That venture made me way more money than the gold would have.

I hate playing in rigged markets. I'd rather find it than buy it. 

I carry a SPOT. The tracking is pretty accurate. I think over the last 5 years or so, I've only had a couple places where I briefly lost a signal. I'm looking at getting an aircraft radio as a back up just in case. There's usually a commercial, military, or private aircraft flying over the majority of the places I prospect, so I figure if things went sideways, I could always have a pilot relay a message for me.

You do not need new patents to build a better detector. You need better software and faster processors. Everybody is riding on someone else's back when it comes to detector patents. Look up George Payne.

Ya got a point there Steve. Looking forward to you and Rays review on this detector. 

However, the reality these days is the Europeans are the ones pushing VLF technology forward so I will not discount them out of hand. It may very well end up being the US manufacturers trying to knock off tech from overseas and not the other way around. They were all asleep at the wheel with Minelab and it could very well happen again.

You know what's funny? Pretty much all major detector manufacturers (whether overseas or domestic) have an extensive library of patents regarding their technologies. I only found 3 Turkish patents on Nokta Detectors, and those that I found were very vague to say the least. Most had to do with detector aesthetics and functionality, and nothing really to do with any actual underlying technological features. They have no patents in the US that I could find. Like I said… something smells fishy. 

But hey… who am I to quibble about the Turks jumping on the gold bandwagon. If they can make use of somebody else's technologies and package them up for their own gain, more power to them. That's what competition is all about… right? 

Do to demand on another forum Ray Mills and I each have a Fors Gold on the way for evaluation purposes. I have to admit I am looking forward to giving it a spin.

Unless Nokta has some vastly superior technology up their sleeves, I'm guessing the detector is more or less a knock-off (internally) of one of the entry level Gold Bugs... if even that. Funny how they're really pushing that detector on to the Africans, who as you well know are avid buyers of anything counterfeit or sub par.

I've seen some of the posts and videos regarding the Velox One and let's just say they quite don't add up. The best one is the guy and his buddy in AZ traipsing down a well traveled wash wearing tennis shoes and metallic boots, and then all of a sudden discovering a whopper 24 gram gold nugget lodged next to a boulder. I got a good laugh out of that one, especially with his tennis shoe shorn buddy carrying a steel garden trowel to dig with. Not only that, the guy really goes to town with his pick in digging that nugget and other trash up. No scraping off the overburden, no real dirt sorting, just hammering away with his pick as if he knew how deep the target was. Something just don't smell right. I'm calling BS.   

http://youtu.be/UCTzOx61CiY?list=UUN5MkSFq8jZY7X3ix3uvkJQ

On 9/3/2014 at 7:52 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Sadly, the glory days of electronic prospecting are already behind us.

I totally disagree Steve. There are literally 100's of thousands of acres of prime gold bearing ground here in the SW, and many other places around the world that has never seen a pick, shovel, or a detector. That I know for a fact! Think about it… why do you think some of these companies are all of a sudden coming out with compact type (backpack friendly) detectors?

Having said that… have all the places been hammered to death where a guy can drive the family car to, hop out and hike a few feet and swing his detector? Yes… in those cases I agree with you that the pickens are getting pretty darn slim, and patience and persistence would definitely pay off if you plan on hunting those types of areas.

Personally… I'm not into the tourist traps and hunting anybody's former diggings. Sure a guy can get a little gold here and there, and might get lucky and pull a few whopper nuggets that were missed by the previous miners. However… I much prefer prospecting in areas that not many people (if anybody) have ever prospected before. It's more the thrill of the hunt for me. I like studying the geology, topography, planning my routes, researching any old articles (mostly about the Indians or the cattle ranchers) on the areas, and anything else that might give me an edge once I'm actually out in the field. If I never find any gold, it's no big deal. It's the thrill of hunting and riding in new and unexplored country that's the fun part for me. Finding gold is just be an added bonus. 

Cool adventure guys. Too bad there wasn't more gold, but whadda gonna do. 

However, they won't go where I went this time. 

There's many places I can't get into with the Rokon and have to hike in. The beauty of these machines is they'll get you closer to the "hiking spots" better than any other OHV out there. Pretty much anywhere a guy can ride horseback or mule these machines will go. However with that said… I wouldn't take either of them in many of the areas that require the type of hiking like you described. BTDT… 

Chris,

You're thinking as a recreational OHV'er and not as a "bona-fide" mineral prospector, which is exactly the way TPTB want you to think. Believe it or not, but if you're a legitimate and legal mining entity and are operating under those rules, the law really is on your side.

It's all about environmental impact with the government land managers. I don't blame them one bit considering the past history of mining. If you can mine or prospect with as little as disturbance as possible to the environment, the more TPTB will leave you alone and respect your lawful mining rights.

I'm not going to get into my modus operandi when out prospecting, but let's just say I have all my bases covered just in case I should ever be called upon on by TPTB. 

I believe most national forests and essentially all state lands in CA are motorized on road only. Large chunks of the CA desert too, but there is some where off road is allowed.

TPTB would sure love for you to believe that. Makes their job easier. Part of my research on areas I want to prospect also includes knowing and researching the laws of those particular areas. I have no desire to set foot in CA, but nevertheless, here's some material you might be interested in reading. Little do most people know, but us gold prospectors (especially if you're a commercial entity i.e; LLC, DBA, S-corp, etc.) have rights that the average citizen doesn't.

FSmininglaws.pdf

CAoffroadlaws.pdf

AZBlackbird -

There are loads of places in California where your Rockon could not be used as motorized transportation is prohibited except on established roads. This is enviro-crazy California we are talking about. I believe Steve is in one of those places where off road travel is prohibited.

We have some of the same laws here in AZ with our so-called "travel management" program. Thankfully the lawmakers were smart when they wrote the statutes and for the most part exempted mineral and exploration companies. Seems AZ still knows where it's bread is buttered. CA…. uhhh not so much. 

Me thinks a Falcon MD20 would easily pick that stuff up. Course you're not gonna get any significant depth with it, but from all the research I've done, it's pretty much designed for detecting exactly that type of ore/specimens.

Steve,

If you're serious about doing any sort of "off the grid" gold prospecting, may I suggest you get yourself one of these. They can be had for about the price of a Minelab 5000. They'll go about anywhere you can hike, plus they'll carry way more than what you could ever stuff into backpack.