Gold Seekers/Metal Detectorists Discussion Thread

Hello to all you gold fever struck seekers and detector enthusiasts. I have noticed a few of us on ATS, as well as Meteorite Men wannabes and so I thought we should have a thread. I have put it in the survival forum because as the SHTF the gold price will soar, to start with at least, and it might be the only avenue some of us have to raise the money to get prepared if we are quick enough.

It's very interesting you should start a gold seeking thread when that fellow in Australia found the nugget worth $300,000.

www.heraldsun.com.au...

as shtf you won't be around to enjoy it. none of us will.

so spend your money, enjoy it, enjoy it with your family and hope you are wrong, and that in that hope use your money so your kids will have a better future and want for naught.

reply to post by randomname


That's what I'm doing, giving our money to our kids so they have a fighting chance in this sick economy.

I moved to an old gold rush town (Australia) a few months ago. I wasn't opposed to fossicking for gold but didnt really see it as a serious option. I have since changed my mind, there are a lot of people here who do it as part of thier income, they go out a couple of days a week with thier detectors and look for gold. Ocassionally someone will find a nugget weighing more than two ounces but most just find little bits, but enough to get by on. However, sooner or later, if you keep on looking, you are likely to find a bigger nugget (>10 oz). I havent started looking yet but I might if everything else falls through.

Isn't the continent of Australia really old, I mean fossil, gold, diamond, and gas rich?

reply to post by randomname


I think that as the SHTF, you will have a narrow window of time to either finish getting preped or if you have a lot of money, buy it all at once. Once the SHTF then money and gold will be useless. The trick will be to pick when is the last gasp of the economic system will be. I wish I didnt have to wait and take that gamble but I just dont have the money to do much preping at this stage. I dont even have my own place yet. I am learning a lot of skills about how people used to live 100 years ago, and buying some cheap things like a hand powered flour mill, but that is about all I can do. I also wonder if there is going to be a new gold rush when unemplyment is high and gold skyrockets at the early stages of the SHTF.

Originally posted by InTheLight
Isn't the continent of Australia really old, I mean fossil, gold, diamond, and gas rich?

It is the oldest continent on Earth, it is almost as big as the lower 48, but much much drier. We only have 22 million people living here. The gold and minerals are across the continent, but I live at least 2000 miles from the big mines.

reply to post by InTheLight


You are really not giving the money to the kids, you are investing into your genotype, your immortality and really the only certain goal of biological life.

For the longest time, I would go to the beaches in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Del Mar and La Jolla California metal detecting. I prefer going to where all the tourists go but early in the A.M. or late in the Evening when everyones gone. I usually find alot of change here and there but hope to find that diamind ring!!

If you look on Craigslist under lost and found you will see posting of metal detectorist who find gold rings all the time, giving people the opportunity the reclaim what they lost. If not reclaimed, Finders Keepers! Also you can post on Craigslist metal detector services. "If you lost your ring, jewelry, etc. at the beach, I will come find it for a finders fee"!

reply to post by Panic2k11


You are making assumptions about me.

reply to post by Cinrad


I agree with you. I think that gold will initially be used as a high value trade item, until people realize that they can't eat it, use it to keep warm, drink it, etc. I would rather have the same value in food as opposed to a gold nugget.

I would actually enjoy being a gold seeker along with learning to be a naturalist when I retire.

I have been a gold miner and Metal Detectorists for over 45 years and at the last mine i worked i found over $200,000 in high grade hard rock gold Specimens with metal detectors.

I have friends that worked the mine next door that found millions in gold Specimens with metal detectors
www.origsix.com...

In May i am pulling out and heading back to that area for the summer to start a summer search program.

reply to post by ANNED


Can you give us a few tips on choosing the right metal detector?

You better get a solar panel for charging those metal detector batteries.

reply to post by dainoyfb


What about wind-up?

reply to post by InTheLight


Lots of cheap moving parts under stress. Tend to fail. Plus you're expending time and calories that the sun could be providing for free.

reply to post by dainoyfb


I hear those solar panels fail after a time.

reply to post by InTheLight


As with any electronic device they can even fail immediately. But the risk is much lower and in my professional opinion the panels are much easier to repair. I would much rather repair a bad connection (which is about all that go can wrong with a panel) then try and come up with a proprietary gear, bearing, or other generator component.

That being said, panels do lose efficiency over time but that can be calculated in or you can set a panel aside as a future replacement. I have panels that I am still using effectively and they are over twenty years old. I would be much more concerned with the metal detector suffering an unrepairable failure in that time.