Nugget Shooting:

How to Find the Big Nuggets!

     So what is the answer to finding large amounts of gold today without breaking any environmental regulations or needing permits?  Nugget shooting is an all encompassing term used to describe the lazy man's and environmentally friendly way of prospecting.  Instead of spending hours and hours panning or dredging for little, tiny bits of flakes, the nugget shooter goes home completely empty-handed quite often.  However, once the nugget shooter makes his find, it is usually substantial.  Most commercial gold produced is from chemical extraction of crushed ore, and natural nuggets are actually fairly rare.  While gold is usually around $300 an ounce or so, a gold nugget can fetch many times as much to a collector or jeweler in its natural form.  Don't believe me? Visit a website that sells them:  CLICK HERE

     Nugget shooting involves one of two things:

     1.  Metal Detecting.  Surely, if you live in an active or inactive mining area, you've seen the mine tailings.  Extraction techniques during the 19th century and even well into the 20th century were very crude.  Amazingly, for all the hard work these early miners spent every day, they left a surprising amount of of gold and silver in their waste piles.  Today's mines employ cyanide and get up to a 99% recovery rate, but if you can work a few of these early ones with your detector, you'll probably do pretty well.  I would also recommend the roads leading up to, and then the rest of the area surrounding them.  

HINT:  If you are serious about focusing on gold, then don't short yourself by buying an all-purpose detector.  Sure you'll still find the big ounce-sized nuggets, but you'll also miss the much more numerous small ones that a good gold detector would easily locate.  The other reason, is because most gold detectors have ground balancing which is essential around mining areas where there may be lots of hot rock.

Recommended Equipment

     - Metal Detector Designed For Gold (we recommend the Lobo SuperTRAQ)
     - Digging trowel
     - Small Pick Axe
     - Water

     2.  Sniping.  Believe it or not, this is nothing more than using a periscope or snorkel.  Sniping is nothing more than what the word means to an infantryman - locating targets of opportunity.  Gold is generally the heaviest material washing down a river, so it gets trapped behind boulders, in cracks, and bedrock.  Since gold doesn't ever oxidize and is always noticeably shiny, you really can see it on the river bottom.  Believe me though, this requires a lot of time, but when you find a natural nugget with your own eyes, there is nothing like it.  I will admit though, after I do this for a while and don't find anything right away, I'll fill up a canvas bucket with earth that I dug out from behind boulders, crevices, and underneath bedrock in the river and then bring it to shore to pan out.  I've recovered a few flakes this way.  

Recommended Equipment

     - Homemade periscope or mask with snorkel
     - 35mm Camera Film jar to store nuggets
     - Small Crowbar with dummy cord
     - Soup ladle with bent (45^o) handle or small shovel to scoop up dirt in likely spots
     - Heavy pair of tweezers
     - Sniffer Bottle
     - Gold Pan

Interested?  To give you a hand, here's instructions on how to build an underwater periscope that a good friend of mine sent me:

     1.  Buy yourself a black, 4" PVC sewer pipe.  The reason why it needs to be black is because the gold will literally light up inside of it.  White is brighter than gold, so it would be harder to see.

     2.  Cut your tube as long as you like.  This may require a little trial and error, so start long and bring your hack saw with you to your first outing.  Keep in mind that you will want to be able to see your hand grasp a nugget on the bottom - while you are still breathing above the surface.  Of course, this is unless you also have a mask to occasionally submerge with, so its all up to your preference.     

     3.  Rub sandpaper inside the tube.  Sewer pipe is usually really shiny, and since we don't want any extra reflections to distract our attention, it is really worthwhile to make the inside dull.

     4.  Purchase two big handles for both sides of the tube.  Flexible, rubber handles or small furniture handles aren't suitable for the task.  You need to get large and sturdy handles to keep your periscope steady against a strong current.  Place one near the very top of the tube to keep it firm against your face, and the other halfway towards the bottom to steer it.  Drill holes through the pipe to affix the handles, and then use silicone to seal.  Next, tie off a dummy cord to the handle so you you wont be chasing your new periscope down the stream.

     5.  While you still have your drill out, make several holes about 1/2"- 1" down from the rim of the top of the tube.  Then, find some old rags or rubber foam and lace cord around it and through your new holes.  This makes for a nice, soft viewpiece to rest your face on while you look for nuggets.  

     6.  Finally, pay a visit to a professional glass cutter and have them cut you a viewing glass (and a couple replacements) for the bottom of the tube.  Next, wipe the glass really well with ammonia glass cleaner, and use your high quality silicone or caulk to attach it (Note: You'll be sorry if you use the generic stuff - take it from a cheapskate who had a bad day! Use the most expensive silicone or caulk you can find).  First, lay a thin line down on the edge of the glass and lay it down on the tube.  Next, spread your adhesive around the side where the glass meets the plastic.  Finally, once your adhesive has dried, put some one the inside of the tube where the the glass meets the plastic.

When you use your periscope, try not to get the inside of the tube wet, since the beads will block some of the view.  The fix for this, of course is to glue another piece of glass in close to the top, but would only work if you had it totally air tight.  More power to you though.

Good luck in your gold quest, and I hope these articles helped!  

~ Treasurefish

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