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There were amazing finds made at Ganes Creek, Alaska in the early years of the pay-to-mine operation there. One of the early visitors in 2004 was Steve Burris of Idaho. Steve was hunting downstream of the airstrip in an area well known to have produced large nuggets in the old mining days. His Gold Bug 2 screamed as loud as a Gold Bug can scream, and when he looked down a dust covered yellowish rock lay at his feet. It was a huge gold nugget weighing 33.85 ounces, and to my knowledge it is to this day the largest gold nugget* ever found in Alaska with a metal detector, though the 32.2 ounce nugget found at Moore Creek may have had more actual gold content. The backside of this nugget is actually mostly quartz showing. Still, a very spectacular find. Here is a photo I took of the nugget in my hand when Steve was kind enough to bring it by the shop to show to me. It is the best photo I have seen of the nugget and I do not think I have ever posted it before. Heart of Gold found by Steve Burris of Idaho at Ganes Creek, Alaska Steve named the nugget the Heart of Gold due to its shape when looked at right and the fact he had open heart surgery not long before visiting Ganes Creek. Steve is a super nice guy and I had the pleasure of rooming with him and detecting on later Ganes Creek visits. Here is a photo of Steve during our visit to Ganes Creek in the last year of operation in 2012. He was swinging a Minelab X-Terra 705 that year that got him a 2.74 ounce nugget. Steve Burris at Ganes Creek, Alaska in 2012 Steve wrote a story for the ICMJ Prospecting & Mining Journal that was published in August 2004 and can be read online at http://www.icmj.com/article.php?id=1248 if you have an online subscription. *There have been several larger gold specimens found in Alaska with metal detectors but they were mostly quartz. See http://www.akmining.biz/mine/nuggets.htm

I like stories like this. A California couple is out walking their dog on their property and the wife decides to look at old rusty can eroding out of the ground. The can is full of gold coins! Several more cans are found and they end up containing 1,427 rare gold coins, dating from 1847 to 1894. All in more or less mint condition and worth a fortune. And all just over the hill from me in Northern California. I really am hot to find a gold coin one of these days; been on my bucket list for a long time, and I am finally someplace where the odds are pretty good. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gold-Country-couple-discovers-millions-in-buried-5266314.php?gfs http://www.kaginsinc.com/coins/?p=672 http://www.kaginsinc.com/coins/?p=678

There was a recent find of a 117 ounce gold nugget in the Mt Monger area, south-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia. Unfortunately so far I have only been able to find one very poor photo of it. What's up with that? The nugget is a bit different in that it is pretty long at 20" and narrow instead of a round lump. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/regional/goldfields/a/20549863/faith-of-colleen-on-loan-to-museum/ Anybody have more information on how it was found or a better photo? I did find a photo on Facebook purporting to be the same nugget but I do not think it is.

I have handled a lot of gold through the years, but this has to be one of the finest high grade specimens to date! It weighs 24.65 Grams, and was found with a metal detector in California. Brilliant gold with lots of Octahedron crystals. I can only imagine what the crystals might look like under the quartz. Enjoy the eye-candy! Best of luck on your next prospecting adventure.... Gus-

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 29, 2014) - African Gold Group, Inc. ("AGG" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AGG) is pleased to report that local artisanal miners have discovered a one kilogram gold nugget at the Company's Kobada, Mali gold project. http://www.africangoldgroup.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=315:african-gold-group-inc-one-kilogram-gold-nugget-discovered-by-artisanal-miners-at-kobada-mali&catid=68:2014&Itemid=191 http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/african-gold-group-inc-one-kilogram-gold-nugget-discovered-artisanal-miners-kobada-mali-tsx-venture-agg-1873642.htm Location of find and photo of 1 kilogram nugget Previous 2.7 kilogram nugget found on property Location map from http://www.africangoldgroup.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=145&Itemid=61

Something to ponder. As far as I know the largest nugget ever found with a metal detector was the Hand of Faith, at 875 ounces of relatively solid gold. With a Garrett ADS VLF in 1980. The nature of desert eluvial deposits is the gold is usually near surface and more depth does not always mean more gold. All the Minelab PI detectors made ever since have yet to find a larger nugget in Australia. And nothing in modern times has come even remotely close to masses of gold found over 100 years ago. There is the idea that another foot of depth will result in a renewed gold rush but I do believe in many places people would be surprised to find the cream of the crop gone forever. Scrapes obviously prove that is not true of all locations but in areas where bedrock is within a foot or two all the depth in the world is not going to put the gold back. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Faith (Wikimedia Commons) Actual Hand of Faith nugget on display at Golden Nugget Las Vegas

This video is just great. These guys are relic and coin detecting an old gold camp in California and get the surprise of their lives! Good stuff. Caution for those who do not like coarse language but emotions run high in this video! The detector used is a Minelab CTX 3030.