The GPZ Gold Rush

[Steve Herschbach]

Anyone that knows the history of gold rushes knows they are very limited in duration. To clarify, I mean gold rushes as occur on the scale of the individual prospector. A person working more or less on their own with limited means.

In a classic gold rush a new discovery is made, and the prospectors "rush" to the area. Typically there are very high amounts of gold found early on as easy pickings are plentiful. Unfortunately the easy pickings are soon gone, and the prospectors wait until a new discovery is made. They once again rush to the new area, and the cycle repeats.

Some gold rushes are purely economic. A quiet gold rush occurred during the Great Depression not because new gold locations were found, but because people were desperate to find income of any sort wherever it could be found. The gold rush in the 1980s was a result of skyrocketing gold prices.

Another way a gold rush occurs is when new technology takes hold. The development of the light weight portable suction dredge created a small gold rush as prospectors took to the hills with this ability to work underwater in streams and rivers.

We are in the latter days of the electronic gold rush. It really took off in the 1980s in Australia with the development of decent VLF detectors capable of finding gold nuggets. The VLF Gold Rush. The easy surface gold depleted, but then a second wave developed with the introduction of the Minelab PI detectors in the 1990s.

The Minelab PI Rush has largely run its course. It really has only been kept alive by steadily increasing gold prices as the gold finds themselves dropped off. We can find half as much gold at $1200 as we did at $600 and still pay for beans and fuel. Gold prices have been weakening however, and the technology itself reached a dead end five years ago.

I have seen the end coming for some time. It is not just gold prices and the technology but increasing regulation and ever more difficult access issues.

The entire Electronic Gold Rush has taken place in my adult lifetime and I am likely to see the day when there are only a few diehards left at it. The good news is in my opinion we are on the eve of what may possibly be the last gasp, the last breath of fresh air. The GPZ 7000 really is a new twist on electronic prospecting that promises to give prospectors what it ultimately takes to fuel any gold rush.

Hope. We have to have new hope, a new reason to believe once again we can go out and make worthwhile finds. The GPZ will succeed simply by getting everyone to hit everything one last time, as hard as it can be hit. There is not one bit of ground I have ever detected that I would not give another go one more time, just because I have a GPZ 7000. That means I and others will find gold that until now has gone missing.

People will point out that other detectors may well have found some of the gold. That it simply got missed before and now the GPZ found it. They will in many cases be correct, but in the end I think they are missing the point. It is that renewed hope, that renewed faith that really matters, as once again prospectors hit the field in numbers with what they perceive as being the latest and greatest. And when it comes to gold rushes, perception is very much reality.

I am just thankful I was born when I was. Sometimes I think I should have been born in the 1800s, but the fact is I enjoy all the things modern life offers me. Instead, I got to participate in the 1980s Gold Rush in all its glory, both as a prospector and as a guy selling the shovels to the prospectors. Now, semi retired and living the dream as a full time prospector I have a chance to participate in what may very well be the last chapter of the electronic gold rush - The GPZ Gold Rush. I have to admit I am very happy to be in the right place and time to get in on the ground floor of one last party!

Exciting times my friends. Good luck to each and every one of you now and in the future days ahead.

[Sourdough Scott]

My feelings exactly. You nailed it Steve. Great post!

[russ]

If I had a GPZ I'd be going over several old patches... I sure wonder what's been missed???

It would take a lot of time to go over the old ground that produced these Arizona nuggets. But probably only take a few week to go over the deep ground where the bigger nuggets over an ounce were found.

These are my brother's and my collection, now in the a bank box...  picture is from two years ago.

Good luck to you too Steve!

[fredmason]

Amen, Brother, Amen!

 

fred

[vanursepaul]

Good way to put it all in perspective Steve---kinda opens our eyes to the "here and now" of it----

And although my personal hope is in another----- I understand exactly what you are saying as far as the new excitement and hope that the new tech gives us as prospectors....

I am blessed with a meaningful job and it gives me ability to go out and hunt at least 3-4 times a week

So I cant complain about time---which is what most people lack

But, I am also experiencing something i would rather not-- and that is 'older age,'---and a body that complains a little more than it used to...

Merely climbing up those steep canyons is not as easy as it once was, so i have a limitation there.....

So because of that,  is becoming increasingly MORE and MORE important to me to have the latest greatest equipment that is available, and to use all the resources available to help me be on the proper gold bearing ground at the very get go---

Exploring, researching, having the best equipment available, and being on good ground to start with,,, is turning out to be tantamount in order for me to exploit the attributes I stil have left ---- body, mind, and locaton.

As I have said in the past, this particular forum is "THE" forum for education in all "matters golden"----and I appreciate it...

Thanks,

paul

[Gold Seeker]

Well said Steve!

There's still good ground left with gold to be found, but it's privately owned land but most the land owners aren't giving permission to hunt most of these private lands, the gold rush on public land is the gold bearing land that's about played out!! 

[ken]

Steve if a 20 inch coil comes out for the GPZ, you will have to go back to most of those spots all over again.

[strick]

For me the gold rush started 6 months ago. Having the latest technology in my hands is minor necessity. Having the knowledge as to were to go and what to look for is PRICELESS..... if I could buy it  I would have already....

 

strick

[delnorter]

Really good post Steve. As always, times are a changing. We should all get out there as much as possible.

 

Mike

[Rick Watkins]

Well put steve,my theory is we have a lot of ground to cover that the 2300s havent been over yet as you well know,if and when we get this area cleaned up i think minelab will have another hotrod on the market by then. So maybe then with profits from sdc i can get the used 7000 for the price i paid for sdc in the first place. Then we can go over the same ground again with the 7000.for the depth on virgin cleaned up area. Hell of a theory, thats my plan and im sticking to it. By the wayi heard all the 7000 buyers also bought longer pic's and some small backhoes. Rick