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I would really like to hear anyone's thoughts on their favorite gold book(s). Not necessarily just metal detecting but any aspect of gold, weather it be detecting of, geology of, or historical, which I find really fascinating, but just any favorite books on the subject, from any country and any time, all input is appreciated! Cheers Digger

W. Dan Hausel has an interesting article in the April edition of the ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal... well worth reading and not the only one worth your money. fred

If anyone is interested, here are 21 books on meteorites in pdf Download link Dave

To start I do not have access to a computer where I live I only have access when I run down to the valley of Arizona to visit my sisters,family and friends which is maybe once every couple of months, i am pretty much a recluse as far as the way I live I have a dog I talk to 99.9% of the time that keeps me company he never talks back and he's always by my side he would probably give his life for me if I were in danger and I would mine for him he's like a brother that doesn't speak. But any how my question is this how would I go about researching an area to find out if it could passably have gold or could someone tell me if there has ever been any gold found near Young Arizona again I do not have access to a PC 99% of the time and i do not go to library's and I will be heading back to where I live tomorrow Thanks for any replies and helpful advice

I've seen these books recommended here and elsewhere. I'd like more info on them, and my web searching has only led to confusion. My observations: 1) these books were not widely distributed; 2) they are out-of-print; 3) they are not cheap. I know several of you are familiar with these works. Could you explain the differences among the editions? If I'm going to spend as much or more on these as I do on coils I'd like to avoid duplicate purchases. Thanks in advance.

Arizona Locations New Mexico Locations

Good resources: California Locations Nevada Locations http://californiameteorites.com/

The Handbook of Mineralogy series is a Five Volume set authored by John W. Anthony, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, and Monte C. Nichols, and published by Mineral Data Publishing. Each mineral known at the time of publication occupies one page of the handbook. In 2001 the copyright for the Handbook of Mineralogy was given to the Mineralogical Society of America by Kenneth W. Bladh, Richard A. Bideaux, Elizabeth Anthony-Morton and Barbara G. Nichols and the remaining volumes were shipped to the MSA warehouse in Chantilly, VA. Along with the copyright, MSA was given pdf files of each page of the handbook. These 4330 pdf mineral descriptions are freely distributed to the public on this website.

This book has gotten very good reviews. [www.amazon.com]

From the Land Matters website: "The founders of Land Matters, while working with the public on land related issues, land status, access, law, ownership etc, recognized a public need for quality information. While interacting with the community of land users, it was clear that people seeking information were having difficulty locating quality, reliable information. There were many common questions asked. But no common place where people could be referred to for answers and research. This was the beginning of Land Matters. From there we have widened our mission to include information for all land related matters. From recreation to agriculture, land status to land law, from geology to soil science, Land Matters was created to provide a place to explore and understand the land around you." I admit I have not scratched the surface of what is available on the Land Matters website. I am always focused just on finding what I need when I need it, and little else. The main thing of value on the website for most people here is the mining claims mapping system. I have a screen shot of the page below to give you an idea of the information available. There is one very important line that applies to mapping systems based on BLM LR2000 "The mining claims represented on these maps are only displayed to the nearest section and DO NOT display the actual claim location. Sections are about one square mile and actual mining claim locations can vary considerably from their mapped location." I use the system for to determine a few basic facts. First, where are people staking claims for gold? That area might be worth prospecting in. Second, which sections have claims that should be avoided or which require more research at the recording office? Most important to me, what are the closest sections that are shown to be free of claims? That section might be worth a wander with a detector. The use of the website is free, but there are a couple membership options; Supporting Membership for $35 a year, or Claims Advantage Membership for $100 a year. You can read about membership benefits here. I am an Advantage Member and just renewed for another year. I know prospectors and miners pretty well, and most of us, put in the best light, would be called "extremely frugal". I have seen guys spend two months using oddball parts to build something they could buy commercially because they figured it saved them $20. We all work hard for our money - I get that. I therefore understand when most people just prefer to use something for free if they can. All I can do is say that if you check out the Land Matters website, and end up using it very much at all, consider joining at one of the membership levels, or just making a small donation using the Donate button on the website. I think what they are doing is valuable and worth supporting. Thank you.

I don't exactly recall where I came across this site but here it is.... hope you find it useful. With my memory I probably found it at this forum and this will be redundant......... Oh well... E for effort. https://thediggings.com/

I have not even scratched the surface of this website link. All kinds of diverse articles and photos from all over the country. There are many photos of legends in the prospecting world. I tripped over this site years ago, forgot about it, and then found it again yesterday while doing research. Check it out at http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/

530 pages of rock and mineral collection sites all over the United States.... Bob Beste's "Location Guide for Rockhounds in the United States, 3rd. ed. 2005": Part I--Alabama through Idaho (PDF, 155 p.) Part II--Illinois through North Dakota (PDF, 186 p.) Part III--Ohio through Wyoming (PDF, 193 p.)

I’ve been getting my mind ready for 2017 by re-reading my jewelry hunting textbooks: ‘DFX Gold Methods, Site Reading for Gold and Silver, and the newest one - The Gold Jewelry Hunter’s Handbook. All three of these are written by Clive James Clynick and I personally consider them to be required reading for the dedicated jewelry hunter. So much so that I try to read each of them at least a couple times a year, every year. They contain information for both land and beach hunting but of course I focus on the land hunting part. Of course some of the information is redundant among the three books but there are little gems here and there that make them each worth owning. The information contained in anyone of these three books will guarantee gold in your pouch. I combined the information on page 8 with information on page 18 of the DFX Gold Methods and found this 10K gold ring the first minute on location. When I get into a slump simply re-reading anyone one of them motivate me and put gold back in my pouch. I also periodically re-read Bob Brockett’s, “Taking a Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination to help remind me what I’m doing with my discrimination and notch settings. He goes into great detail with pictures and descriptions about what type of objects fall inside discrimination ranges. A great help for making intelligent discrimination decisions. There is one more that I read at least once a year or so, Larry Sallee’s, “The Complete Unabridged Zip Zip”. Most likely not everyone has ground minerals like mine and can probably get along without this one in their library, but my ground signal can mask a small gold response if I set my sensitivity settings too high. Larry reminds me to tune my detectors to get the best audio response possible on my desired target and on how important coil control is on maintaining that best audio response. On some sites I will put a BB on the ground to tune my detector after l discovered that too high a gain setting on my detectors will actually cause the BB signal to break up or disappear. You would be surprised at how much is masked by the ground signal when your sensitivity is set too high in high mineral ground. HH Mike

I think we can all agree that Garrett has been very effective in marketing their product in the last decade. Much of the credit goes to Garrett Director of Marketing Steve Moore, in that position since 2006. I have never met Steve but have communicated with him over the years. Steve comes to his interest in metal detectors by way of history. He is a very accomplished author with eighteen titles to his credit under his full name, Stephen L. Moore. As a sixth generation Texan he has a focus on Texas history and also World War 2 history. He has two titles about metal detecting in particular, Relic Quest and European Metal Detecting Guide. You can find all his titles online at Amazon in case you are looking for a last minute gift. 2013 Interview With Steve Moore of Garrett Electronics Hobby, History and Humor by Stephen L. Moore Rediscovering History by Stephen L. Moore

Just got my GPAA Mag. today and some must read articles on Minelab GPZ 14 and the new 19 inch coil. Lots of show and tell gold using both coils and how each coil works. You out there swinging the coil on a Gold Bug 2 have a interesting reading too. Both articles shows a lot of that yellow metal that we all chase after. We've had talks about gold pans and how they work. Here we got the Turbopan and as they say a new spin. Over all looks like some good reading for all . Chuck

I need to get on some private properties to look for placer gold and was wondering what tips you guys might have? Is it better to meet the owner in person, send email, send a snail mail,use the phone, ask a friend of the owner? I got turned down a few weeks ago, but only cause the owner said he had relatives who want to look for gold in his creek. Another party I need to contact, the only contact info i could find was a Facebook mention. Not sure how to handle this approach Since they don't have a clue who I am unless they accept my friend request and see my profile. Also, need to know how to find who owns the mineral rights on private property and how to acquire them , for Indiana and Illinois in particular )? This could be a problem in a smaller town where everybody knows everybody and I want to keep my inquiry inconspicuous. Sure would be nice to have a few acres on a gold bearing creek and a shack to camp in/ land to putz around on/ retire to in my old age.

Recently GB_Amateur started a thread titled " How important is getting to bedrock". Reading thru the thread I started thinking of the many nuggets that I have found that have been no where near bedrock, which got me thinking about the under lying reasons why gold(even BIG gold) may be found shallow. I remember reading something by Jim Straight about this very subject. I would like to review this material for my own research and to post it for GB_Amateur and others benefit. The problem is I can not find it on the net. If my memory serves me correctly it was not a publication for sale such as one of his books but possibly a magazine article or position paper. It was not many pages in length. The title was something along the lines of " Finding big gold shallow" or something with similar key words. If any forumites has access to this article please post a link or? Thanks, Merton

Wondering about that token or button you found? There is of course Google but this site has links to over 150 websites specializing in this kind of information. Check it out at http://exonumia.com/links.htm

I was fortunate while at the recent GPAA show in Las Vegas to meet Brandon Niece and his wife Katie. Just a super nice couple, and Brandon a real metal detecting expert. He is known on the forums as Dr. Tones and has a popular YouTube series, Dirt Fishin America, with over 22,000 subscribers! Long story short Brandon has a new book out and I got to take a look at it during the show. It is called The Metal Detecting Bible: Helpful Tips, Expert Tricks and Insider Secrets for Finding Hidden Treasures. It is what I like in a book - clear, concise useful information with excellent illustrations. In particular, the book focuses on the latest methods including the use of GPS units while detecting. Other subjects include: Choose the best metal detector Learn where to search and why Practice appropriate swing techniques Integrate advanced GPS technology Scout out beaches, parks and historic sites Gain permission to hunt on private property Identify antique coins, relics and jewelry Use handy target recovery tools Clean and safely preserve your finds Sell your finds for a profit With a five star rating for its 144 information packed pages it is well worth a place on the detectortist bookshelf. You can get it from Amazon or your favorite detector dealer.

The Sage Grouse Proposed Mineral Withdrawal by the BLM would close nearly 10 million acres of land to mineral entry. This affects claims in 5 western states. Friday the 15th of January (this Friday!) is the deadline for comments on the proposal. Generally comments and opinions don't apply to the Secretary's decision but with the time near and facts on hand a little attention by more than a few voters and representatives might just convince the Secretary to think twice. If the withdrawal goes ahead no new claims can be made in the withdrawn area. In addition the existing claims are likely to come under greater scrutiny and challenges to their validity. That puts nearly 7,000 mining claims in the sights of the BLM land managers. Now is the most effective time to share your opinions and present facts to influence the outcome. With little time left the Secretary will have less chance to bring influence or political pressure to bear on members of Congress should they object. Land Matters has been working hard to figure out how many and which claims will be at stake should the withdrawal be approved. We've produced a comprehensive report on all the claims affected in this proposal and made an interactive map with just the claims within the proposed withdrawal area. The BLM did not assist in the preparation of this report. We spent considerable time and effort in hand mapping the location of these claims in relation to the proposed withdrawal. I could find no evidence the Secretary even knows how many or what claims would be affected. I'm sure she and your representatives would appreciate being informed of this information to help their decisions to be made on all the facts available. This is a factual report that you can not only view online but there is a zipped download available directly from the reports front page. At a mere 159Kb in size this report can be shared by email quite easily. Why not look over the whole situation and check in with your representatives to make sure they know the facts about the potential effects of this withdrawal should it be approved. The new custom interactive Sage Grouse Proposed Withdrawal Map shows just the claims affected with all the claim information normally found only on the Land Matters Mining Claims Maps. Be sure to read and download the interactive Sage Grouse Proposed Withdrawal Report too. To give you an idea of whats at stake with this withdrawal look over this summary chart from the report. Barry

Just published, free to the public. Geologic Map of Alaska Neal

Just in time for Christmas, the new eighth edition of Jim Straights Follow The Drywashers "The Nuggetshooter's Bible" is now available. This book has a new binder, new cover and an additional 30-40 pages of information. First seen on Rob's forum at http://forums.nuggethunting.com/index.php?/topic/11756-jim-straights-new-nuggetshooters-bible-new-edition-volume-8/

this web cam link is a handy view on the weather conditions up in Sierra City, I always give it a quick check when I'm getting ready to go on up to the high sierra along with the other reports on conditions. http://www.sierracountrystore.com/the-sierra-city-webcam#today