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Hello all, I ended up being by myself today for a few hours out in the woods. I actually had a first time occurrence and was very surprised. I was in an area that has been hit very hard. As I was working my way through the area came upon a newly fallen pine tree. The ground was very dry and almost all the dirt and shale had come loose from the roots. I swung the Sadie over the pile but got no signal. I started to move on and thought to myself, I better just slow down and rake that pile down a bit. I did and when I went over the material I got a nice mellow signal this time. About eight inches down I saw the glint of yellow and reached into the hole to pick out a small, but thick bit of gold. It weighted out at just a hair under a gram. I didn't meet the skunk so I headed back to the rig and on to the house. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out today for a while with Mark B. He had been detecting for a few hours by himself while I was at a different location giving a lesson to a couple of people. I headed over to the site and made my way a half mile up the draw. Mark had found four pieces. Once we met up I started detecting and within twenty minutes I had a nice mellow signal. My piece came out at ten grains, and Mark's were a half penny weight together. The clouds were getting dark, my wife Deb called and said supper was ready so I hollered at Mark and we headed out. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got out this morning with Chris, (Nuggeteer) and we hunted bedrock for a few hours. I found one crumb that came in at four tenths of a grain. When I left Chris had two pieces that were far bigger than my crumb. I had to get back to the house and left Chris to his hunting. Just a few minutes after getting things done at the house I got text from a friend, Scott. He was in Redding for his mother's birthday and had a few hours for a short hunt. I decided to go back out for a bit. I took him to a place that I have been getting some nice gold that is throwing out of the shale which is intrusive on an almost level slope. There have been a few big rainstorms since my last trip to the area so it had washed a bit here and there. I had just walked away from Scott, not even two minutes and he hollered at me that he had a piece. I walked back over to see the nugget. It was nice marble looking piece. It turned out to be two penny weight even. The clouds started to gather again and within minutes we had raindrops hitting us. He was ready to head back home with his prize, so we did. On a lighter note for you guys that are always raising heck about the BLM, look at what they are doing for us at each of the parking lots that we use while out detecting. They put up these really neat green sluice boxes for us, after depositing your material at the head of the box, then just push the silver button and look for the gold. I was really happy to see this change in BLM mining attitude and then someone told me they were drinking fountains. LOL Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello everyone, Chris and I got out this morning and got three pieces between us. He got the larger piece while I got the two smaller ones. He was using the GB Pro/10 inch coil and I was using my 3000/Sadie. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello all, I got together with a couple of friends for a hunt today. We headed out to a place I hunted years ago, where I use to get coarse pocket gold. Chris, Robert and I all had our GB Pro's with five and ten inch coils. Upon arriving at the location we were all detecting within five minutes. Within ten minutes Chris had two pieces. Robert and I were still hitting lead targets. About two hours into the hunt I finally scored a small one, rough and coarse just like I remember. Robert had to leave out early so Chris and I were on our own. We broke for lunch and sat down for about twenty minutes. After getting back to the hunt Chris got a third little piece. Twenty minutes later I got a nice solid signal and popped out another nice coarse piece, a bit larger than my first piece. Chris then got another piece bringing his total to four rough pieces. We both ended up with just about a gram for each of us. It was a beautiful sunny day just right for finding gold. Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello everyone, Last summer while out hunting old mine dumps, we (wife & I) took one of her friends and son out on a hunt with us a few times and I made the agreement with them that anything I find find we would split down the middle. I was beepin -n- they were diggin. We were too close together for them to use a GB2 we had with us. Well after a couple trips I bought her son 10x loop and gave him a couple little nice pieces in quartz and a little nugget to check out. All the other pieces went into a Tupperware tub until there was enough to do something with. Well low-n-behold, I got out one of the rocks that sounded off and did show a little gold on the outside and started to work the rock off it. I had no idea it contained such a nice nugget and it was a real 'nice surprise' when I discovered it ...a second time!!!! So.... greenhorn question here...... How much does the value of a specimen like this go up vs a hammered nugget that has been found in a creek bed? Spot +1/4.. Spot +1/2.. Spot +3/4... 2x Spot ????? I realize that it all depends on what some one will give you for it of course and I'm just looking for a fair ballpark. As of now, we have not decided to sell any so I am just looking to gain some knowledge. Thanks - NvAuMiner - Doug

Hello all, I got out for a few hours today and found a couple of pieces. Its always funny to me when I drive four hours, stay two days and find one piece that is four tenths of a grain. The next day home, I get up and drive ten minutes step out of the Jeep and walk several yards and tag two pieces for a gram. I was using the ole 3000/Sadie. The pieces were about six inches deep but on edge. They were still very clear signals. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hey guys, I thought this was interesting. There are two photos to look at. The similarity blew me away. One piece I detected in Redding, CA. while the other piece was found by some means at Chicken, Alaska. The Alaskan piece came off of your facebook site Steve. I thought it was kind of neat. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

I helped a friend move a 6inch Keene dredge onto his claim yesterday. It was quite a procedure as we had to take it from the previous owners claim, transport it by road and then drag it up the river to my friends claim. As payment for my assistance was allowed a couple of hours of detecting with my gold bug, in which time I found the nuggets below. The area has been hit hard by detectorists so only small gold remains. In the river itself good gold can still be found, my friend and his claim partner got 58g last Saturday with a 4 inch keene and 6 inch home built dredge working together.

As many of you know I owned the placer operations at Moore Creek Mine in Alaska for many years. We ran a very successful "pay-to-mine" operation there. I am still an owner of the lode portion of the property but sold the placer and pay-to-mine operation in the winter of 2009. As part of the deal with the new owners I was to run the first week of the pay-to-mine with them on hand to show them the ropes and ease the transition. Gerry McMullen of Gerry's Detectors booked a group in the first week of 2010, my last week of running the show. Real nice group, and some very proficient operators, a guy named Spencer among them. It was a great week with a pile of gold found, but like all good things had to draw to a close. On the last day everyone was out looking one last time, and Spencer got a signal directly across the pond from the camp in an area where quite a bit of gold had been found in the past. The little pile there was pretty well mowed flat, but Spencer got a nice faint low tone target. He dug. And dug. And dug. Now to his credit he knew there was also some deep trash in the immediate area, and the tone was more likely to be junk than a big nugget. And he was tired. But he came over to the camp and borrowed a long handle shovel and went back to it. It was his last target and he was going to finish it. I am in camp and I hear some whooping and hollering. Spencer hit the big time! He had dug a lot of gold in his nugget detecting career, but the nearly one pound nugget he had just found blew away his previous finds for size! It is always fun being around something like that. The excitement is infectious. I went over to see the hole and frankly it was amazing. We all sat around taking pictures and here is one I got of Spencer standing in the hole the nugget came out of. The nugget weighed in at 11.88 ounces. Spencer with 11.88 Ounce Nugget at Moore Creek, Alaska (click on photo for larger version) The nugget was found with a Minelab GPX 4500. There was over 30 ounces of gold found that week and Spencer's was one of the larger ones ever found in my years at the mine - it was nice to go out with a bang. Spencer really earned that nugget though, many people would have decided it was a can and walked away. More about Spencer Sadly the new owners were not able to keep the pay-to-mine going. Hosting people in the middle of nowhere Alaska is not for everyone and 2010 was the last summer people could pay to visit the mine. The owners shifted to a pure mining operations and were successfully operating through the end of last season. I may stop out and visit them this summer. Has to be another big nugget lurking at Moore Creek!

Hello all, I met up with Matt today for a hunt and to get him set up on his new detector. He got himself a pretty clean and used 3000 with stock coil. After going over some stuff and setting the detector up we were on our way. Today's hunt was a bit slower than the last time we were together. I tried some different areas and did not get my first piece till early in the afternoon. Matt got a nice two gram plus an hour or so into the hunt. The smaller piece I got is kind of an odd piece as you can see in the pictures. I thought at first I had found part of a piece of gold jewelry but after cleaning it off I could tell that it was native gold. It came in at a half a gram. My second nugget came about an hour later and is 9.71 grams. It was about eighteen inches deep. I was using the 3000 with the Sadie coil. All in all it was a good day and Matt is getting a handle on his 3000. He will have to post a picture of his nugget, it was a pretty one too. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS