Wales Scotland UK

[spaceman41]

Hi everyone,Im thinking of having a go at Gold prospecting but as you have worked out from the title I live in the United Kingdom so its scarcer over here.Isanyone on here from the UK and have they found much? ?best regards and happy hunting

 

[mudpuppy]

As far as prospecting, I dont know...but...there was a poster here from England about a year ago named 'Water wizard' Merlin Cadogan is his real name, I believe if you google that name, he has a website since he is a performer/entertainer of sorts....
Remember when those big storms were hitting the English coast? 100 mph winds and all that? He was really hitting the beaches hard with his detector and finding jewelry and really old items...then one day he found a fairly large Gold Nugget! Looked to be about the size of a quails egg! He had it tested, and I believe there was even a newspaper article written about his find being quite rare for a natural nugget of that size to be found in the Isles...then, he just stopped posting which is a shame, he was very entertaining and an addicted hunter...

Why I remember all these details at this time of the morning is because it made a big impression as you can imagine..He posted on the Water and Beach portion of this Forum, so maybe you can find his posts regarding it...like I said, the time frame was when you were getting those fierce once in a century storms with floods and all...I dont know if that was last year or the year before..
Mud

ps..did a search and found his posts..last March it was...37+gr...I dont believe it was determined if it was a natural nugget or 'smelted' drop..Good Luck to you on your hunt!

 

[Mega]

A very unusual way of possibly detecting for nuggets,as you have mentioned although its not totally impossible to find them the 'reward to effort' involved just would in my mind not make it worth while.

I would have said that you would have been much better off looking for gold jewellery on the beaches and have far more success with that than nuggets,of course i could have read it all wrong but i dont think i have,i dont beach detect as such as i am to far inland to make it worth my while going to the beach for a days detecting,but saying that this year i will be taking a few detectors down to the beach the day after our bank holidays as i feel that i when most folks would have been on the beach and lost anything,of course this is all based on one vital factor and that is the big old yellow thing a that is what brings folks out on such holidays to the beach.Over the years i have found a fair few gold coins including celtic gold staters right upto Viccy Sovereigns but that is inland and the coins are much bigger than gold nuggets.

You dont mention what you plan using detector wise,as detecting for nuggets as in the header 'prospecting' requires some in theory dedicated machines,and even on beaches if you are looking for gold jewellery then you will of course be fine on the dry sand but the wet sand is a totally different ball game,and very few VLF machines worth well,mainly multi freq ones work well and of course a PI machine will do but that also has some down sides as well.

I have used the DFX which is dual freq and works well but the best one is my Pulse with the smaller 8'' coil on it,this combination does work very well on the wet stuff.

Ehat machine will you be using and what location in the UK ??? keep us updated on how you get on.

 

[Hoser John]

I hope my coffe is working but Jimmy Sierra from Whites did some gold metal detecting tours in England waaaaay back in the day(90s). Articles in GPAA rag and maybe even ICMJ. Not big,hard to get permit/permission and opposition abounds but gold was found for sure. Wish you gents tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[sweeper60]

I hope my coffe is working but Jimmy Sierra from Whites did some gold metal detecting tours in England waaaaay back in the day(90s). Articles in GPAA rag and maybe even ICMJ. Not big,hard to get permit/permission and opposition abounds but gold was found for sure. Wish you gents tons a au 2 u 2-John

The Last time I spoke to Jimmy S, was in 2011 when he was going over for another Tour, I think he WAS going over every year at the Time,

 

[Mega]

Jimmy Sierra comes over to the UK every year and has done for a few decades,he brings a party of detectorists over for a 2 week detecting trip but this is just normal detecting and not specifically gold detecting and that is a massive differance,yes some gold items have been found most of these would be say celtic gold coins that type of gold item.It has nothing to do with say nugget hunting or anything like that,most of the land that he has detectings digs on in based around say the Norfolk and Colcester area as this was prime Roman and Saxon land.

I guess most of this land that he has every year has been un-detected before,but he is in a position due to the prices he charges for his detecting holidays to pay landowners/farmers premium prices to detect on the land,basically if someone offers you alot of money to detect your land i doubt that you would turn it down.

One thing i will say that although the history on the land that his visit go on can go back 1000s of years he seem to find gold items on most visits every year,in the real world this does not happen i can assure you,it must be pure luck or some divine intervention

 

[sweeper60]

Jimmy Sierra comes over to the UK every year and has done for a few decades,he brings a party of detectorists over for a 2 week detecting trip but this is just normal detecting and not specifically gold detecting and that is a massive differance,yes some gold items have been found most of these would be say celtic gold coins that type of gold item.It has nothing to do with say nugget hunting or anything like that,most of the land that he has detectings digs on in based around say the Norfolk and Colcester area as this was prime Roman and Saxon land.

I guess most of this land that he has every year has been un-detected before,but he is in a position due to the prices he charges for his detecting holidays to pay landowners/farmers premium prices to detect on the land,basically if someone offers you alot of money to detect your land i doubt that you would turn it down.

One thing i will say that although the history on the land that his visit go on can go back 1000s of years he seem to find gold items on most visits every year,in the real world this does not happen i can assure you,it must be pure luck or some divine intervention

Ain't That The Truth,, It take many hours of hunting in the UK to find the Good Stuff.

 

[togg77]

Just remember ONE thing: Don't quit your day job to hunt gold--it is exciting and addictive,BUT has to be put in proper perspective in the survival of you and your family.I have personally seen several instances of where men have sold everything they possessed and moved their families to AZ to find their fortunes and in all cases they failed,not because they didn't work hard but because CONSISTENTLY finding gold is VERY difficult.
Once upon a time I bought a new ML Extreme detector, drove out from Rich Hill,AZ picked out a spot that "looked good" and found 4 nuggets that weighed a total of 4+ ozs in a few hours hunting. That was in 2003--total gold Since then a little over 1 oz. So boys and girls DON"T quit your day job to strike it rich in the gold fields.

 

[sweeper60]

Just remember ONE thing: Don't quit your day job to hunt gold--it is exciting and addictive,BUT has to be put in proper perspective in the survival of you and your family.I have personally seen several instances of where men have sold everything they possessed and moved their families to AZ to find their fortunes and in all cases they failed,not because they didn't work hard but because CONSISTENTLY finding gold is VERY difficult.
Once upon a time I bought a new ML Extreme detector, drove out from Rich Hill,AZ picked out a spot that "looked good" and found 4 nuggets that weighed a total of 4+ ozs in a few hours hunting. That was in 2003--total gold Since then a little over 1 oz. So boys and girls DON"T quit your day job to strike it rich in the gold fields.

Amen to that, I am just sorting out all my gear Now and I plan on going for a few weeks at a time But Not Full time and that will be only a few weeks of the year, Its either too wet or too cold,

 

[togg77]

Good luck to you and keep us posted,vicariousness is what keeps me going.