Finding Gold near Rich Hill

Rich Hill, Arizona Area






Oh my! What a difference warmer weather and digging in the dirt makes! We had the good fortune to get permission to prospect on private property in the Rich Hill area. The desert is awake and blooming. Air is warm but not stiflingly hot….yet. Snakes are out, but we did not see any. We did find gold, but not a 2 pounder. We were really there to help the owner read his wash and give him some ideas of how to go about working some of the surface until he can afford to bring in bigger equipment and excavate. He told some amazing stories of others in the area who have found hundreds of pounds of gold nuggets, but they sit on bedrock and you have to use front end loaders and elevators to get to it.

Because we helped him the first time we were there, weren’t there to just “take his gold”, and were happy just to have the day out and the opportunity, we were invited back. Believe it or not, manners and politeness matter even in the back country.

We had been talking about researching your area the past couple of weeks, and this is a good example of how to get really good information……know someone, or know someone who knows someone. Locals have the best information about their areas. Yes, it takes time to make those connections, and sometimes you get lucky meeting someone. The only way to make those connections, though, is to be out there finding gold. Enjoy!

Good Prospecting to You,
Hookedongold

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/28/08

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $930.90
· Spot price last week: $919.20


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Calendar of Events

MARCH

9th Daylight Savings Time Begins in Colorado, Spring forward!
12th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th First Day of Spring
21st Good Friday
23rd Easter

APRIL
1st APRIL FOOLS DAY – Arkansas River is open for Motorized Equipment
9th GPOC General Meeting
25th – 27th SPRING Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show – Denver, Co.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Arizona gold prospecting is on our minds this week. We spent a very nice three days with our grandsons after Easter playing Clue 4 hours straight, and four games of Monopoly. It looks like we will have good weather for our trip and our week away. Be advised that e-mail will be slow this next week as we will not have a connection close by. There probably will be no newsletter next Friday, but I will post a few times to the blog so you can keep up with what we are doing. Maybe even PICTURES!

The Arkansas River will be open for motorized equipment this Tuesday, and there is no snow in Salida right now. Buena Vista still has two feet of snow on the ground.

Gold is down again this week and it looks like it may stay down through the end of the quarter, with profit taking being a large part of the slide, as well as the stronger dollar and higher oil is keeping it down. However analysts expect this downtrend to be short lived and that it will approach and possibly exceed $1,000 once again.

The Colorado legislature is looking at putting up toll booths to collect tolls through the Tunnels during peak days and hours to discourage people from going into or coming out of the mountains all at once. A solution to the I70 problem needs to be found, and they will need money to do it. Since we have Democrats once again controlling our legislature and governorship, we can expect them to tax us under the table in more ways than we can count, and tolls to pay for infrastructure they let go for so many years in the 80’s and 90’s would be par for them. You will need three or more people in your car to avoid the tolls. That means truckers would get caught and those who can now travel in the HOV lanes in Denver would need to pay the tolls through the Tunnels on I70. Oh, it WILL cost money to put the booths up and people to run them, too. This is supposed to cut down on congestion, but if everyone is stopping to pay a toll, Me thinks perhaps it will add to the problem. Naw, that can’t be right. Probably my lisdecxia cropping up again. Gotta go pack the snake gaters. Tah.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ .

Until next week……
___________________________________
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. They are easily removed by going into your computer’s control panel and deleting them, or you can also use a virus scan to look for them and delete them

Local Resources for Finding Gold

BEEP BEEP!

Did I say I would have this posted this weekend? I think I must be on some other planet not to remeber that I was slated to be away from home for Easter. DUH! Blonde, ya know. By choice, watch out! LOL! Well, with the grandkids playing Wii for a little while, I'll get back on track and get the next session of researching your place to play in the dirt and water. Let's see, I think I was supposed to tell you about some of your local resources for researching places to find gold.

As we have stated before, go first where gold has been found before. The more recent the information, the more current they will be on any areas that have lost mineral entry or been placed into protected status. We have gone looking for treasure and gold only to find out that the area was included in some study or had protected status and was only reached by hiking in 2 or 3 miles and back.

The local library of your area may have some old information, as well as the local Chamber of Commerce. Any rock of prospecting shops in the area will have books and people around who would also have information about open areas. You can also look online to see if there is information out there from local clubs, or rock hounding and gem hunters.

The best local sources are local prospecting clubs. If you are going to prospect an area regularly, a membership in these can be its weight in golden information. We get our best information from people in clubs and books on local areas, although the books may not be up to date enough. Many times we must find gold by the old hit and miss methods. Sometimes we hit, but mostly we miss in new areas. To truly find gold in a new area you have to spend some considerable time getting to know the area and people there. You CAN get lucky, but most lucky people have a partner with them that knows the area.

April 1st is just around the corner and the Arkansas River will be open again to motorized equipment. The last we heard they still had snow on the ground in B.V., and we will get to see how much is still there Friday evening. There will be short newsletter on Friday. Gold is up a bit from it's low around $912. How the mighty fell on Monday!

Good Prospecting to You

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/21

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $919.20
· Spot price last week: $1002.50
After topping out at $1034 Monday, the low was $903.60



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Calendar of Events

MARCH

9th Daylight Savings Time Begins in Colorado, Spring forward!
12th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th First Day of Spring
21st Good Friday
23rd Easter

APRIL
1st APRIL FOOLS DAY – Arkansas River is open for Motorized Equipment
9th GPOC General Meeting
25th – 27th SPRING Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show – Denver, Co.
_______________________________________
NEWS

WOW! Gold sure has been in the news this week. Hope you did not buy yours on Monday. LOL! The price got too high for the Swiss to ignore, along with a lot of other folks, and so a lot of profit taking has been bringing the yellow metal’s price down. This next week should be interesting.

March is sliding by and the open date for the Arkansas River to motorized equipment is sneaking up on us. April 1st is more than just April Fool’s day around here. Do you have your equipment repaired and ready for it? Remember to have your bonds up to date before you go out, and that Cache Creek does not open until the end of May. If you are wondering what is going on with that, we have some new information posted for you at http://www.hookedongold.com/arkansas_river_drainage.html . Scroll down to the NEW for ’08 under the Cache Creek dialogue.

Now, this doesn’t have anything to do with gold, but our oldest son has started a business that places RFID boluses into dairy cows to track their temperatures, as well as a lot of other helpful information, so if you are a dairyman you want to check out this link. If not, please indulge me here and know that the purpose of this sentence is to provide a backlink to their site. http://www.bellahealthsystems.com/ Gonna be hugely golden!

We get to go and find our first gold in a couple of weeks in Arizona. I wish I could say we were finding gold in Colorado, but Aspen reported 450 inches of snow fall so far this year. Now, that isn’t Buena Vista, but they also have had their fair share and the April open on the Arkansas River could be slippery and a bit chilly. Last week they still had 3 feet on the ground. It is warming up, but it will take a little while to melt it even if they don’t get any more. If the precip changes to rain, then the snow will melt super fast. Hopefully that won’t happen at high elevations, or we could be in for a very wet spring with the snow melting faster than rivers can handle it. Of course, that DOES move gold around and into the rivers to get classified for us.

Oh, and while we are gone to Arizona, e-mail will be slow as my brother lives way out in the boonies and has dial up, so we have to go into town to try and find a connection. We will do that every so often, but our main goal is to find gold, so please be patient while we are out having fun! I know. You’re jealous, but SOMEONE has to do it while you are working.

Tomorrow I will be posting my next blog in the series on gold prospecting resources. I have been busy trying to put the first store page together. No idea when that will be finished. It could be in the next few days, or it could be never…..or at least SEEM that way. New things are going up on most pages, though, and some of the copy has been revamped, so watch for updates and maybe a new page or two on new subjects. I think I will be putting up some of my past articles on the articles page, too.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ .

Until next week……
___________________________________
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. They are easily removed by going into your computer’s control panel and deleting them, or you can also use a virus scan to look for them and delete them

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/14

Prospecting Fever

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1002.50
· Spot price last week: $972.40
That’s right folks. We have a weekend close above $1,000



______________________________________

Calendar of Events

MARCH

9th Daylight Savings Time Begins in Colorado, Spring forward!
12th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th First Day of Spring
21st Good Friday
23rd Easter

APRIL
1st APRIL FOOLS DAY – Arkansas River is open for Motorized Equipment
9th GPOC General Meeting
25th – 27th SPRING Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show – Denver, Co.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Do you have cabin fever in a big way? Are you waiting for that first opportunity to go prospecting and find some gold? Boy, WE sure do!!!! Looks like the trip to Arizona will be sometime the first part of April. In the mean time, there are birthdays, Easter, Spring vacation, when we get to visit with the two older grandsons, and snow. Temperatures are moderating into the 50’s, so we will get to go and play on Clear Creek in the next few weekends just to get our prospecting fix. In Arizona, we will be in the Prescott area where my brother lives. Always a fun time for us, early in the season. We are trying to make connections with my brother’s friend near Stanton to see if we can find some of his gold for him with the metal detectors.

I saw a very interesting report on the newswires about mining in India this week. Their cabinet voted to ease their mining policy to shorten the time it takes to get new mining leases granted. It is expected to take 6 to 12 months with the new system. Now, you might wonder why this is so important. Well, it seems only 10% of India’s minerals have been explored for, and as we all know, India needs more and more minerals for their booming economy. If they can get those in country, everyone wins. There will be less pressure worldwide in the competition for these minerals. However, don’t expect it to be over night. It does take years to develop these things.

So, is everyone tired of the promised changes in the site as I am? Man o man, there seems to be one thing after another that gets in the way of my moving forward. Take heart. There should be things going up this next week. Hopefully, by Saturday night the changes my tech needs to make to the pages will be complete and I can start duplicating the template to get additional pages up. If not, I’ll do it anyway and we will have to deal with the additional pages when the time comes. Time is a wastin’ and summer prospecting will be here before we know it.

I have a couple of new link partners, so check them out. Also, here is a link to prospecting books that I don’t find too many other places. http://www.research-unlimited.com/index.html

More researching information will be out this weekend. While I know most of you only want someone to point you to a spot to dig gold, at these prices, there aren’t many who will give you that information willingly, and there aren’t many sites out there that will even tell you where the open spots are. We are trying to give you that information for some of Colorado. If you have information that the public can use for other states, we can start pages for each of those areas.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com .

Until next week……
___________________________________
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
www.hookedongold2.com Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. They are easily removed by going into your computer’s control panel and deleting them, or you can also use a virus scan to look for them and delete them

More Sources for Finding Gold

Finding a piece of gold like this beauty from California is the dream of every gold prospector I have every talked with. Learn about some of the resources you have available to help you find your own mother lode.

I am having a hard time believing it is March 12th!

Nobody is watching gold right now with the DOW going up, but gold is also back on the upswing. Many were hoping it would reach the magic $1000 mark early last week, however, it fooled most people and reversed course a bit.

As promised, I am continuing my article on research sources to help you in your search for gold. Friday we talked about local sources of information in your libraries and newspapers, and the people who are affiliated with your local prospecting clubs. Another source of information can be found in the official reports done by the USGS geologists and mining engineers sent into the field in the 1800’s to collect data about mineral deposits, along with other information needed by government agencies. Many of these old reports are still available from the USGS (United States Geological Survey).

The USGS also has a couple of databases you might find interesting in your search for gold. One is the Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) and the other the Mineral Availability System (MAS). The first database contains mineral occurrences as well mine sites for industrial mineral and metallic mine sites that are known worldwide, and can be a source of information to obscure deposits often never mentioned anywhere else. However, the quality of some of this information may be in question, so you still need to do your prospecting on any information you might obtain. Some of this information may simply point you in the right direction, but values may not be enough or in a form that is practical to mine. Also, some of the coordinates may be off the mark, and are more in a general area than pinpointed, with a few off by more than a mile, and should be used in conjunction with other resources for a better overall picture. We’ll talk some more about sources to help you find gold in the next blog.

OOPS! When I read this post, I realized I had NOT talked about your local resources before, so I will include that in the next posting.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
info@hookedongold.com
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Metal Detectors at auction

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/7/08

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $972.40
· Spot price last week: $974.30



______________________________________

Calendar of Events

MARCH

9th Daylight Savings Time Begins in Colorado, Spring forward!
12th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th First Day of Spring
21st Good Friday
23rd Easter

APRIL
1st APRIL FOOLS DAY – Arkansas River is open for Motorized Equipment
9th GPOC General Meeting
25th – 27th SPRING Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show – Denver, Co.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Well, we are still waiting for gold to reach that magic $1,000.00 mark. It is expected to meet with resistance at that price before rising higher later this year.

More snow is falling in the mountains and even the northern mountains are now showing totals over 100% for the year. Look for high water during run off this spring and early summer. Should be a great year for white water rafting.

This seems to be a slow week for news on gold, other than how high it is right now. It did dip to $958 earlier this week, but rebounded right back the next day. This seems to be a good place to talk about researching your areas for this season prospecting trips. I don’t think I have taken time to talk about that, so I thought I would start today and continue this next week with some tips about where to find your research materials. Today I will discuss your local resources.

The first one that comes to mind is your local prospecting club. You will find a wealth of information there, but don’t think that those “old” timers will just give up their secret or best spots to you. They WILL tell you about the best places to get started and even give you a hand with the basics. Anything more than that will require time invested with them and the club to “prove” your worthiness. Along the way, you just might find that special place of your own to share with them. Good reciprocal information is always appreciated.

Next, your local library or the newspaper or libraries of the area you are interested can yield some good information, but remember that newsmen of the 1800’s exaggerated findings to sell papers with sensational news. While there usually is a thread of truth there, the whole truth may be somewhat different than the printed “truth”. (A good rule of thumb for today as well. LOL!) I’ll give you some more tips next week so I can get this published before supper.

Website changes continue, but the search function is still not working right. Hopefully it will be fixed by early this next week. After I get everything working, I will begin rebuilding the store. Some of the older items will go up first, and I will then work on getting up newer items that have been found this past Fall. While I know many of you will be looking for equipment for this next season, it is simply too expensive right now to have a distributorship for larger equipment, and so we will stick with what we make ourselves and what we can drop ship. Those items will be the corrugated mini sluice for black sand separation from gold and the Madam Queen Shirley’s Magic Panning Sand, with 7 grains of real Colorado gold.

One fantastic find this last Fall was a source for Gold Nugget and/or Gold in White Quartz Jewelry from a company that has been in business for over 40 years and two generations. Items are available in 14K gold and sterling silver. We stock a few items, and anything else can be ordered and drop shipped with a 30 day return policy on the jewelry. Another part of what they have available is prospecting gift items made from redwood bark, geodes, and amethyst with mining and gold panning scenes. VERY reasonable in their cost. We stock some of these items, also, and those we don’t can be ordered and drop shipped. I’ll tell you, I sold quite a few of these off site this last year, and I am sure you will be pleased with them as well.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ .

Until next week……
___________________________________
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact usPLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. They are easily removed by going into your computer’s control panel and deleting them, or you can also use a virus scan to look for them and delete them

Golden Snow

Golden snow is falling in the city and mountains again today. Lots of snow means gold will get moved around this spring in the rivers and streams and more float gold will find its' way into tributaries for us to find.

Since finding gold is what we are about, I can't be too much against falling snow. It does make my job easier by helping to concentrate more gold in the public placer areas where I want to look for it this summer. Spot gold took a roller coaster ride yesterday down to $958.50, but is up again this morning to around $987 again.

Are you spending your time repairing equipment? Prospecting season will be here soon, and the snow will be melted so you can find gold. Larry has his plans for constucting a highbanker/dredge combo just about finished, and they will be for sale on site early in the spring. The corrugated mini sluice will be back up as well, and I have an excellent source for nugget jewelry in 14 K gold or sterling silver lined up, with MQS Magic Panning Sand reappearing, too.

The gem show this past weekend was slow, with people holding on to their money. A lot of work with few results. Still, it is fun to work with the public and talk about gold and gemstones.

Our youngest grandson will be one year old this next week. That whole year has gone by so fast, and what a golden year it was. Thank you to all of you who made it so for us! We met so many wonderful people this last year, and had so much fun with all of you. Hopefully we will see you all again this year and make more new friends of those who we will meet this year. Good Prospecting to You!

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/29

Yes, it's Gem Show week and time to spend my weekend in the "green" booth.

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $974.30
· Spot price last week: $944.60

pssst......silver was $19.81

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Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY

TUCSON GEM, MINERAL, and FOSSIL SHOW – Tucson, Az.
13th GPOC Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Springs
15th Gold Show opens at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
22nd – 24th Gem and Mineral Show Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Colo.
29th Leap Day

MARCH

9th Daylight Savings Time Begins in Colorado
12th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m.
17th St. Patrick’s Day
20th First Day of Spring
21st Good Friday
23rd Easter
_______________________________________
NEWS

Short newsletter this week. Gold is trying to break out and run for $1000! Warmer weather is making us itch to get out and do some prospecting. In case you haven’t been online and onsite, you will find the change we have been talking about for months. Wish I had the weekend to work on it, but I have to go and sell emeralds. I know, I know. SOMEONE has to do it and it might as well be me. LOL! The jewelry comes in nice buttery 18K gold and is really remarkable.

I was reading that the Thai’s are selling their family gold to keep their heads above water with the inflation rate there. It’s getting melted down and shipped off to better markets, as most people there are selling and not buying.

Have you heard the rumors going around about us beginning another mini ice age? I’ve been hearing bits and pieces for about a month now, and the charts seem to bear this out. Could be all that talk about global warming might be short lived if we continue to cool off globally. What’s up with the earthquake in England? Indonesia, yeah, but ENGLAND? How long has it been since that happened?

3 weeks until the first day of Spring. Can you smell it in the air? With mid 60’s and low 70’s this weekend, we are both bummed that we BOTH have to work. I’ll put up some more thoughts early this next week.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ .

Until next week……
___________________________________
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT FOR THE WINTER UNTIL APRIL 1, 2008.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Larry and Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ Prospecting Videos
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Looking for metal detectors on e-Bay? Click here
info@hookedongold.com contact us