HookedonGold Gazette 1/30/09

Cache Creek Mascot

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $927.10
· Spot price last Gazette: $898.30
________________

Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 5th – 13th TUCSON Show (boy do we wish we could be there!)
· 12th Lincoln’s B.D.
· 14th VALENTINES DAY Remember your honey today!
· 16th PRESIDENTS Day
· 22nd Washington’s B.D.
· 25th Ash Wednesday
_______________________________________
NEWS

The end of January with only a day to go. Seems like only yesterday it was Christmas, and here it is almost February. LOL! Maybe it’s because my work has piled up around me so much and I have been so busy that the time has flown. Good for me, though, because it will mean that prospecting season will be here sooner and I can be out in the woods. In the mean time I am updating Hooked on Gold, blogging, tweeting, blogging some more and working on a few things for bellahealthsystems. (Regular followers know that BHS is my sons’ business in RFID temperature and identification for cattle).

Monday is Ground Hog day, and we will know if old man winter will stay with us or we will get an early spring. My guess is that with “climate change” being what it is, it could go either way. No matter what, the Arkansas River will reopen for motorized equipment on April 1st…whether is it snowing or not.

There has been a lot of interesting things going on in the news this week. The first thing that comes to mind is the almost eminent eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska, near Anchorage. It seems the volcano has been waking up since last Fall , and as of the 23rd of January its’ seismic activity has escalated to the point that residents are being told to stock up on essentials as scientists expect the mountain to blow in the next couple of weeks. Now, this might not have anything to do with gold, but every person who is out prospecting for gold I know of is always interested in what goes on in Alaska!

In the world news today I found an article from Burma about the government having given the mining rights of a gold mining area to a Chinese Company to mine gold. It has forbidden the locals to continue their practice of finding gold in the streams of the area to supplement their families, and many rely solely on it for income. To make sure the locals do not mine the gravels, they are confiscating their mining equipment. The area is too cold to farm and many villagers may have to move from their traditional homes to survive. You have probably heard about the National Geographic piece that was written about gold mining in its’ January issue. I have finally obtained a copy and will give a review of the story this next week in a blog posting. Works right into this report I found from Burma.

The Reuters news wire reported from Japan that there is a local sewage treatment plant that has been pulling more gold per tonne out of the ash of incinerated sewage than the top producing gold mine in the area, the Hishikari Mine. It seems that the sewage carries so much gold due to the high number of high precision manufacturers using gold in the area that dump sewage into the treatment plant. The recently reported amount found was 1890 grammes of gold per tonne in the incinerated sewage ash. Not bad for a sewage plant, eh? Certainly one of the strangest places I've ever heard of to find gold.

There’s more, but I will leave it for another day and another blog posting. Don’t forget to visit the special pages for equipment linked for you below.
Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Here are a few links to DIY projects:
The quietest dredge in the world
http://www.treasurenet.com/forum/prospecting/messages/1013278.shtml
River Rocker
http://www.goldprospectors.org/pdf/JackRocBox2.pdf
Prospecting Equipment plans
http://www.infowest.com/personal/w/wfletcher/prospecting.html

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

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 . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongold2.com Metal Detectors at Auction
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. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Gold Markets, Gold Miners and Gold Jewelry

The gold spot price is back up above $900 today, and a search for some information on the rise gave me some interesting analysis. Calls on the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD is the other one) are up 4 times normal over Friday, and share prices of the miners were up as well.

Analysts are predicting the price of gold to rise for the next few months, too. However, the Indian market wants a lower price, of course, as they go into their marriage season so that brides will have ample dowries going into a marriage. If she doesn't have enough gold going into the marriage, the grooms family can cancel the marriage, or there can be other consequences for the bride. This is why the Indian marriage season is so important to the price of gold and gold jewelry, and gifts to the bride are always in 21 to 24K gold jewelry, not in coins or bars, or raw gold.

On the world scene, Guyana is expecting as much as a 50% drop this year in gold prospecting, after an 18% increase in '08. I have been reading that many of the exploratory companies are also scaling back exploration this year.

As to us, I don't think we will be scaling back our own gold exploration, so you can bet you'll be seeing us around the gold bearing areas in Colorado this summer. Looking forward to a very pleasant and profitable gold season, ourselves.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau

Hooked on Gold Gazette 1/23/09

Nice picture of one of the old dredges!

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $898.30
· Spot price last Gazette: $853.60
________________

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Years Day
· 15th Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday
· 19th MLK Day observed
· 20th Inauguration Day
FEBRUARY
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 5th – 13th TUCSON Show (boy do we wish we could be there!)
· 12th Lincoln’s B.D.
· 14th VALENTINES DAY Remember your honey today!
· 16th PRESIDENTS Day
· 22nd Washington’s B.D.
· 25th Ash Wednesday
_______________________________________
NEWS

My search for information this past week has taken me all over the place and back. It’s been hard to focus on just what I want to put into the newsletter this week, so if I get off track, just remember it’s been very nice here in Denver, and it has probably influenced my point of view. If you think that’s possible, then I have no worries. LOL!

Prospecting for gold has gotten a little more profitable this week, with gold up a bit to almost $900, hitting a high today of $903.00. There is more skuttle around that the gold cartel is manipulating the price again, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are. Can’t have gold running away with all that funny money being printed around the world. No body would buy the paper stuff. Good news is that India may be back in a buying mood, however analysts say that even they cannot buy if the price remains above $900. Jewelry makes up a large part of the gold market, and India certainly buys its’ share of it for their brides. Their system might be easier than ours when it comes to supporting wives left behind by death or divorce….at least as long as the gold price is up. Unfortunately, there is nothing to prevent a husband from ever adding to their wife’s retirement plan, either, so what she has when she gets married is often all she ever has. She isn’t allowed to own anything else but jewelry, either. That’s right….no coins, just 21K gold jewelry or better.

While I am updating the website (oh, and there should be some stuff being published soon) I have once again come across many websites that would be of interest to you. Since google frowns on so many outbound links from my main site, I am thinking I will use the “info” domain to publish these on as a kind of catalog of information for you that you can visit to find information not on my site. There is a ton more information out there then there was when I started Hooked on Gold over three years ago. Also, I am splitting up pages and grouping them together, as in page 1, 2, 3 etc., off of their main page. These pages also have their own names so you can, hopefully, find the area you are interested in more quickly. Navigation is a top priority this year, so look for more navigation and deeper linking, and Cache Creek will get its’ own page this year.

I looked up my link to the Leadville Herald and saw an interesting post about the EPA and the proposed cleanup of OU6, the area to the east of town, which includes Stray Horse Gultch, and the upper and lower portions of Evan’s Gultch. It seems the EPA, at the Jan. 15th meeting in Denver, has decided that the present proposed remedy is not sustainable. One proposal is to cap and consolidate mine waste from the Makado, RAM, Pyranees, and Greenback mines, but the solution is unpopular due to the amount of negative effect it would have on the historic mining district. Up to now they have spent 6 years trying to find a viable solution to the area and have decided they must deal with the source to prevent the continued pollution. You can see the entire article at http://www.leadvilleherald.com/.

As many of you know, Leadville was at the center of Colorado mining during the boom days, and the history of those old mines is fascinating. I read a book about some it this last fall that you might like. “Leadville: Colorado’s Magic City” by Edward Blair. It goes over a lot of the politics, strikes, early days, as well as the mining. A great winter read, and some wonderful old pictures. You can find it on Amazon or you could look it up in the search box on the Gold Library page on the website.

Did you know that google ads now have up and down arrows at the bottom of the ad box so you can scroll through all the ads they are presenting on a page? I didn’t until I saw someone do it recently.

I think I’m about done for today. I’ll be blogging this next week, so stay tuned to read what else I find online or in the news that has to do with gold.

Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Here are a few links to DIY projects:
Puffer Drywasher plans
http://miningold.com/dry.html

Sluice Boxes
http://miningold.com/slu.html

Building a Banjo
http://groups.msn.com/AlluvialGoldProspectors/tipstricks.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=7581&LastModified=4675585268593100901

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

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/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Metal Detectors at Auction
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. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Our Wish for the New Administration and a Prospectors' New Year's Resolution

Wouldn't mind a stack like that, would you?

Gold is up to $856 today and stock market is off 332. No comment!

WOW! I did a good job of getting all my information out last week. I thought I had left one out, but it looks like I got everything said that was on my list. I have lots of other opinions , but they aren't necessarily appropriate for a gold prospecting blog, so I'll spare you my soap box. So many things are interconnected with mining and prospecting for gold, precious metals or gemstones, that it is hard to decide which topics are appropriate for these pages.



As we inaugurate a new President today, may I say that I wish the new administration well, and pray that they all find the wisdom they will need to lead us from here. And as the old administration leaves, may I also say that the choices they made may not have been any different had someone else been at the helm. Hind sight is ALWAYS 20/20, and sometimes the choices are bad and less bad.

We are having record and near record warmth here in Denver, and the nice weather is really welcome. Not to worry, though, we are back to colder temps by Friday and the weekend. January usually gives us a nice warm up just to tease us into thinking it is Spring right before it puts us into the deep freeze one moe time before it starts to warm up seriously. We are all out washing windows and getting things cleaned up in time for the next cold snap that will keep us in or near the house for the rest of the winter.

I have begun my updates to the website, but it will be slow going this year with the size of the site. I'll start posting updates next week, but you might not see much happening as I have eliminated the GPOC companion pages, changed the name of another page and broken that one up into two pages. I AM hoping to get the menu under better control with some roll overs for subpages, but it will be last on my list as it will take quite a bit of time to do it. Site maintinence must come first as well as new information pages.

Here's a good New Years' Resolution for you: I resolve to do more prospecting for gold, precious metals, and gemstones so I can keep my other New Years' Resolutions to get fit and lose weight. Words to live by, don't cha think?

I have a new twitter follower by the handle of keepinitinthepan. You might want to look him up on twitter and follow along.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
info@hookedongold.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 01/16/09

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $842.40
· Spot price last Gazette: $853.60
________________

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Years Day
· 15th Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday
· 19th MLK Day observed
· 20th Inauguration Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

Well, I didn’t get around to all of the things I wanted to talk about last week, so I’ll have some more posts for you this next week. I’ve been using the tweetdeck to twitter to the twitter home and facebook at the same time. You can follow me by clicking on the link in the sidebar for twitter. You’ll need an account before you can follow, but don’t be intimidated by this little site. You’ll find some very interesting things going on other than just gold in 140 characters or less, in other words it’s all real short. LOL!

If you’ve been watching gold this week, you know it’s up from its’ low of around $815, and in case you missed it, I blogged about where the price might be this year earlier this week. Scroll down the page and you’ll find it. Everyone I know is watching for the “Obama Bounce” in the stock market early next week. Should be an interesting 100 days.

I wanted to take some time to also address the same old stuff we’ve been going over for years now, about how you present yourself as a prospector. In the Federal Registry Vol. 73, No 216, pg 65984, The U.S. Forest Service has published a rule titled, The U.S. Forest service has published a rule in the Federal Registry titled “Clarification for the Appropriate Use of a Criminal or a Civil Citation To Enforce Mineral Regulations”. It seems that the Forest Service is now adding camping to their list of activities that might cause a “significant disturbance of the surface resources” on a mining claim. They have also made it clear that recreational activities are not protected under the 1872 Mining Law, and that recreationalists exceed the scope of those laws. Included in this exclusion are activities such as educational seminars, treasure hunts, hunting camps, or summer homes, and that the main intent of the mining laws is to govern larger operations than “recreational” mining would entail. Should be an interesting summer of finding gold with them out giving warnings and citations to those who are in violation. Their main interest is said to be compliance, and they will try to get compliance where they can, but if not…. Have fun out there!

Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE

Here are a few links to DIY projects:

The Wee-Washer
http://www.infowest.com/personal/w/wfletcher/wee-washer.html
Prospecting Equipment photo's
http://showcase.netins.net/web/1rowellpage/prospecting.html
Vintage Projects
http://www.vintageprojects.com/misc/dry-washer-prospecting-plans.html
How to Build a Drywasher
http://www.thunting.com/geotech/pages/misc/projects/drywasher1/index.html
Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

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 . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongold2.com Metal Detectors at Auction
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. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Global Warming and Prospecting for Gold

Can you smell the fresh air?
Mt. Antero area in Chaffee County, Colorado
Gold at $816

I think I was going back to some comments I’ve been reading concerning global warming this past year. With so much to comment on lately, I’m getting behind. Anyone who follows my blog, though, knows that I think the whole Global Warming thing is just another way to get into your pockets and make you think you like it.


Global Warming? Well, the alternative is an Ice Age, so I guess you could say that we have been in a global warming stage since the last one, but to say that man is to blame is ridiculous. Years ago, I read that all of the CO2 put into the atmosphere by man around the entire world in an entire year is not equal to a single volcanic eruption in the same year. The sun is responsible for somewhere around 96% of all CO2, so how is it that man gets blamed for what nature is doing on a much bigger scale?


Climates change, and have changed on the earth for millennia and are in constant cycles of warming and cooling, but now I have been reading that climatologists around the world are now thinking that we are at the top of the present warming stage and are entering into another mini ice age, like the one we were in when George Washington crossed the Delaware. (That one ended around the mid 1800’s, can anyone say gold rush, and we’ve been warming ever since.)


Living in Colorado, I’ve seen these same type of cycles about every 20 to 25 years, and while the latest drought we’ve been through has been rather long and harsh, it is not by any means as bad or as long as the one that is supposed to have driven the Anastasi from the Four Corners region. I am pretty sure that man didn’t create that one with fossil fuels.


Now, I am reading accounts that some 650 scientists from around the world are backpedaling as fast as they can concerning global warming and the effects man has on it. A U.S. Senate Minority Report published by the Environmental and Public Works Committee on Dec. 21 of ’08, declared these scientists are dissenting the man-made theory on global warming, many who were members of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and supporters of the Kyoto Treaty.


ICMJ (International California Mining Journal http://www.icmj.com/ ) quoted UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, award winning PhD environmental physical chemist as saying, warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…..When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientist.” I would add that we have also been deceived by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Al Gore, as well. I think my face would be red if I were a member of the Prize committee.


Ok, so what does this have to do with gold prospecting and finding gold? I don’t know, but I do think you should be informed about some of this stuff. Oh, of course, there is the fact that so many people would like to take away your rights to public lands and close roads so you can’t access them, by claiming that mining, fishing, running roads and being outside in a uncontrolled environment isn’t good for the planet. Hey, you could sit in your house and pan some of my panning sand instead to finding your own gold! Well, a least in the winter when you can’t get out. Get out and enjoy the “Wild’s” while you can.


Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
info@hookedongold.com

And Just Where Do You Think the Price of Gold Is Going in '09?

So, up, down, sideways, or? Gold prices for this year are being predicted all over the place. $2200 an ounce, $500 an ounce, who do you believe, and what do you do with your gold investments? Miners going forward, or downward? What’s the outlook and how do you interpret all the data? Everyone has to decide for themselves, and of course, no one can say for sure, but reading and listening to everyone might get you on track.

Long term, most analysts remain bullish, but short term is another thing. Like I said, I read between $2200 for a high to $500 for a low. My opinion? I think gold will either hold where it is or drop in the near term, but bounce back by year's end....I'm just not sure how much. With so much money being pumped into economies around the world, more people should be sheltering into gold, but they aren’t, which might mean they are all simply scared to do anything. Gold recently broke below its’ long term moving average, which does not look good for it going up right away, and its’ highs have been lower, and lower.

I’m not sure if gold will start back up after the middle of the year or a little later. In the mean time you can watch for some very good buying opportunities in the near future in gold. If it makes it back to $500 an ounce, I know I’ll be buying. If it gets to the $2200 by the end of the year that others predict, I’ll be selling. I think the highs and lows will more likely be in between somewhere no matter what happens, as things usually are never as bad or as good as the extremes predict. In the future, gold is sure to go up as inflation heats up by sometime in 2010. You cannot crank out all these dollars and not have inflation in your future.

And what about the gold miners? Well, when you are dealing with stocks, you must consider the companys first. If you wish to invest in them, make sure you are buying the COMPANY, and not the movement in the stock. In general, right now, you should be looking for good companies that have lots of cash on hand and are leaders in their sector with an excellent business plan, and a low price for what you are getting.

Another investment venue in gold is gold coins. These are becoming harder and harder to get, and, as most of you know, the U.S. mint ran out of their Buffaloes last Fall. Older gold coins will continue to be a good investment when gold prices are down. They appreciate rather fast when demand for gold goes up, as many people will invest in the coins before anything else.

What does this mean for gold prospectors? Well, the raw gold you find will only go up in value. Your major cost is your equipment and your time and labor. Find more gold and you’ll be worth more, that’s for sure, but remember that you are NOT a hobbyist OR a recreationalist. You need to see your activities as FOR PROFIT. I have another piece coming out later this week about the new things the U.S. Forest Service has to say about these attitudes. Until then...

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

Gold, Mining and the New Administration

OK, OK, so where do I start with what I've been reading about lately? It was a hard decision on which report I should start with, but, I guess, the one that caught my attention the most was what I am reading about John Leshey, and what he meant to the mining community under the Clinton Administration.

Mr. Leshey, it seems, is head man on the transition team that will oversee the Interior Department. Yup, the same one our own Ken Salazar will be appointed to after the new administration is sworn in. I'm not convinced this is good for Colorado, but then, I suppose it depends of which side of the fence you are on.

In case you aren't familiar with Leshey's role in the Clinton administration, it was as solicitor of the Interior Department, and he authorized the "Mill site Opinion" concerning the size limits of mill sites for mining. His opinion was that they should be restricted to 5 acres for each 20 acre claim. Now, I don't know if you realize it or not, but those old mill sites you drive by are on way more that any 5 acres. Seems to me the U.S. began importing steel around this time, but it probably didn't have anything to do with it.

The majority leader in the Senate at the time, Harry Reid (D-Nevada), said about the paper, that it "could have been written by somebody in the eighth grade, rather than this professor." Now that he is back you can look forward to his "coming up with cockamamie interpretations of the US Mining Law", according to Laura Skaer, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association.

Also, we will probably see more on the Roadless Act as the new administration takes office, as well as the Endangered Species Act affecting how and where mining can take place. An aggressive stance by the new administration in response to "climate change" will seek to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. A long way off, and since global warming is a farce, they can always say that their efforts were what changed the planet. Next up is the new scientific backpedaling concerning global warming and why Al Gore was always WRONG!

Oh, and to take all of this back to YOU, when there are restrictions placed on mining, remember that it also affects YOU and your ability to access the backcountry, where and when you can prospect for gold, as well as where and when you can camp on U.S. Forest Service land. Yes, I know I didn't cover THAT one here, but that's coming, too. I'll be giving you some information on it in the next week.

P.S. a lot of this information can be found in the International California Mining Journal. If you don't have a subscription you can get one HERE! And, no, I don't get anything for recommending it. Find the subscriptions page and subscribe. They also have announced that subscribers will be able to access the issues ONLINE soon.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

http://www.hookedongold.com/

info@hookedongold.com

HookedonGold Gazette 1/09/09

Interesting Specimen I found lurking about the web

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $853.60
· Spot price last Gazette: $837.90 12/19/08
________________

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Years Day
· 15th Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday
· 19th MLK Day observed
· 20th Inauguration Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

Have the past two weeks gone by as fast for you as they have for me? During those weeks we had many things happen, and it was good that I had suspended the Gazette until after the first. We had all the usual things going on, plus my Mother came to spend a few weeks with us, and my Father-in-Law died. Last Friday when the Gazette would have gone out, we were in Longmont helping to make arrangements for a funeral, so there would have been no newsletter for you, anyway.

This week, guests have gone home and we are in recovery mode and looking forward to the weekend and some much needed rest. A secluded beach somewhere is looking really good right now, but I’m afraid we will have to wait until after Larry retires to find the time. If you are following me on facebook.com, you would have known all the other stuff going on, and since this isn’t a social bookmaking site, I’ll spare you the details about the youngest son who got sent home from the Philippines for creating a hostile work environment for coworkers by blogging about his experiences. Oh, so you don’t think that is boring? Well, don’t do it. He got fired over it.

There is TONS of stuff going on in the gold arena, and I’ll be blogging about some of it this next week. Here are the highlights: Remember John Leshy?, Climate change and what scientists are doing now to save their professional reputations, mining terminology and what it means to you and the U.S. Forest Service, and the current price of gold and your government. WAY too much information for this newsletter alone, so I’ll give you some links today, and a conversation about some interesting places to find gold in a stream or river.

Most gold finders will tell you to stay to the large rocks and boulders in a stream or river. If the waterway is depositing large boulders along its’ shores, gold will settle there as well, even if the stream “read” for a gold deposit says it won’t be there. We commonly come across this on the Arkansas River where the original riverbed is not in the usual place, but has been pushed to one side or the other of its’ natural fault line by a glacial moraine.

I particularly like the “triangle” configuration of boulders to find gold in, where three come together with space in the middle. This spot will create a large calm area in the middle of the boulders for gold to drop out into, and usually is more accessible than behind a single rock, which can have a lot of turbulence.

Another area to check out when it isn’t under water, is in a depression in a boulder that collects cobble and the material gets packed into the hole. This drop area will also collect gold in the bottom of it. You may need a whisk broom, vacuum, or something similar to get all of the material out, as you will find the depression will collect gold dust very well.

Schist and shales bedrocks along the sides of a streambed will either contain gold or catch it, as the “seams” in them act like little riffles and is a place where gold collects.

Don’t look for gold at the bottom of a fast falling rapid, but in the sand bar left downstream from it. The water falling over the rapid will scour the area, but leave the gold in the calmer water just downstream of the turbulence, either right below it or to one side or the other. Always look for the bigger rocks that are sometimes submerged under soft sand, and bedrock that runs perpendicular to the stream, like in your sluice box. It catches gold for the same reasons.

Lastly, remember that water speed and slope are everything in looking for a place to find gold, and catching it in your sluice, gold pan, dredge, or highbanker. Your metal detector won’t care about slope or speed, but where you look may.

To get your copy of Ben Parker’s blue book on prospecting for gold, you can click the link HERE.

To look for other books on gold and gold prospecting you can click the link HERE.

Panning Kits Here
Monthly Specials HERE

Here are a few links to DIY projects:

Plans to build your own equipment
http://49ermike.com/plans.shtml
Prospecting Equipment photo's
http://showcase.netins.net/web/1rowellpage/prospecting.html
Vintage Projects
http://www.vintageprojects.com/misc/dry-washer-prospecting-plans.html
How to Build a Drywasher
http://www.thunting.com/geotech/pages/misc/projects/drywasher1/index.html

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
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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 . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
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Where is Gold Going This Year?

So, where do you suppose the price of gold is going this year? It's at 857.60 right now, off its' high of the day, but still not any where near its' low of last year. The pundits are still saying it could reach over $2,000 by years' end, but it usually ends up somewhere lower than its' predicted high.

Last year's predicted high was somewhere between $1,200 and $1,500, and it never did come close to either. I suspect it won't make the $2,200 I read earlier this week. However, the prospect for the metals are better than they have been for a while, and you should watch for oil to start going up from here. I am reading that the natural gas situation in Russia is heating up Europe, too. How long do you suppose the Europeans will wait for gas to be delivered from Russia during the winter?

I have more to report on, but wanted to get out a blog today before the whole day is gone. See you tomorrow. Are you making plans to get your gold prospecting equipment repaired for this next season? Arizona is looking good, but we probably will have to wait the winter out in Colorado. I know, I know, but SOMEBODY has to do it!

One side note here: Larry's Dad's memorial service was yesterday morning. (Seems a long time ago, now) We had a three man honor guard come from Ft. Carson to pay respects to a WWII veteran, and the ceremony was very nice. The family opted for no gun salute, though I have always liked that part. Lawrence William Weilnau will be long remembered. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, three siblings, three children, 5 grandchildren, three great grandchildren with one on the way, and numerous friends.

Gold Blog as Promised

Happy New Year to all of you! I DO hope your New Year will be one of the best you have ever had, and that you find a boat load of gold, too.

Sadly, yesterday's blog had to be postponed as Larry's Dad passed away and we had to hurriedly go to Longmont to see him before he died, and to help his Mother with arrangements. I have some interesting things to report on, but they will have to wait until next week after we have gotten through all that needs to be done in the next few days.

Gold was back down a bit at $874.90, yesterday, but over all it has been staying within about $20 either way for most of the last week. Talk to you next week, and in the mean time you can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/ShirleyWeilnau, www.facebook.com, or www.myspace.com . I also run a family and friends oriented blog on myspace that I started a few days ago, so check me out on your favorite social bookmarking site.