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Old 06-04-2017, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
765 posts, read 1,923,950 times
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I'm looking for some local places to try to do a little metal detecting or maybe someone to go out with. I am new to it and have a MXT Whites that I have owned for a few years. I have used it a little, but want to start doing more, just now sure where to go locally, any ideas?
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Old 06-04-2017, 07:23 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,243 posts, read 36,902,658 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msta999 View Post
I'm looking for some local places to try to do a little metal detecting or maybe someone to go out with. I am new to it and have a MXT Whites that I have owned for a few years. I have used it a little, but want to start doing more, just now sure where to go locally, any ideas?
That's something I spend some time doing in the interior of Alaska a few years ago, but with Minelab gold and other detectors. Unlike some other places, including Northern NY, what you usually find around here are jewelry and new coins, not much on the relics side. You could probably figure where to find and detect old sites with a lot of research (old maps, old newspaper articles, and so on). I just never took the time to do a lot of research because it takes a lot of hours to do so.

Anyway, the best bet for you is to contact the local or nearer White's Detector dealers and ask about detecting clubs or individuals who spend time gold and treasure detecting. For the time being you can probably find some newer coils and jewelry at the school playgrounds, parks where people congregate, and so on. I decided that the best time to detect school playgrounds is early in the morning before kids come to play, since you don't want kids bothering you with questions, or just follow you around. Also, check with the school's management to make sure it's not against their rules to detect on school grounds. Stay off the lawns, and detect the gravel by the swing-sets instead.
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Old 06-05-2017, 09:10 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,263,095 times
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I've always wanted to take a metal detector to the arctic man site as soon as the snow started melting. Supposedly a lot of trash and stuff gets buried in the snow and left behind to be picked up by good Samaritans after breakup. By alaska standards, it's pretty close to Wasilla .

If I was in the valley, I'd take it up to hatcher pass and look for gold. Maybe on some old mining claim cabin somewhere, someone buried or stashed some good nearby and was unable to return to claim it for whatever reason. You never know.

Good luck.
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Old 06-05-2017, 10:06 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,243 posts, read 36,902,658 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.7traveler View Post
I've always wanted to take a metal detector to the arctic man site as soon as the snow started melting. Supposedly a lot of trash and stuff gets buried in the snow and left behind to be picked up by good Samaritans after breakup. By alaska standards, it's pretty close to Wasilla .

If I was in the valley, I'd take it up to hatcher pass and look for gold. Maybe on some old mining claim cabin somewhere, someone buried or stashed some good nearby and was unable to return to claim it for whatever reason. You never know.

Good luck.
Not a bad idea, but it can be very complicated unless one does a lot of research relating to property ownership (private/state-public/federal, claims), and so on. For gold-detecting one would need a good gold detector, and some are very expensive. The cheapest Minelab gold detector costs around $600.00 at Kellyco, and the most expensive nearly $8,000.00.
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Old 06-05-2017, 10:28 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,263,095 times
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I thought about the legal aspects of that after I posted . Thanks for pointing that out. Probably not a good idea to wander around on old mining claims. But I believe hatcher pass has public mining areas?

I didn't know that regular metal detectors didn't pick up gold but that makes sense. I'd definitely want the one that detects gold .
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Old 06-05-2017, 11:14 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,243 posts, read 36,902,658 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.7traveler View Post
I thought about the legal aspects of that after I posted . Thanks for pointing that out. Probably not a good idea to wander around on old mining claims. But I believe hatcher pass has public mining areas?

I didn't know that regular metal detectors didn't pick up gold but that makes sense. I'd definitely want the one that detects gold .
Coin and relic detectors are the most popular, and used at the beach, parks and so on. Some of these can be used for light use gold detecting, but the best gold detectors use different frequencies for gold detecting small pieces in mineralized ground (for example). These detectors usually don't discriminate as much as the first ones mentioned, which means that you have to work harder at digging holes with every signal you get. These detectors can detect small targets of all kinds (gold or not) much deeper than the coin and treasure detectors, while offering some discrimination. But the technology comes with a big price tag.

Sometimes it is cheaper to stake a placer mining claim. I don't know how much those cost these days, but years ago it was $100.00 a year. In such claim one could use a dredge to look for gold (that would be most productive), but it's also nice to spend some time detecting in the same claim, just in case. Keep in mind the there is always the chance to find a piece of meteorite with a gold or another detector...if you are lucky, of course.
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Old 06-05-2017, 11:45 PM
 
Location: Dangling from a mooses antlers
7,308 posts, read 14,603,988 times
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Stop in and see the guys at Alaska Mining and Diving Supply in Anchorage. Very knowledgable about metal detectors. For a beginner detector I'd look at a Garrett Ace 250. Very easy to learn how to use. I've got one of those and a White's MXT for prospecting. Then get a good handheld pinpointer. It speeds up recovery time a lot.
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Old 06-06-2017, 03:08 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,243 posts, read 36,902,658 times
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This is a list of most gold detectors (some can be use for coin and relic hunting as well as gold detecting):
15 Metal Detectors That Will Find Gold Nuggets - RareGoldNuggets.com
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Old 06-07-2017, 12:57 AM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
2,792 posts, read 5,568,399 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stiffnecked View Post
Stop in and see the guys at Alaska Mining and Diving Supply in Anchorage. Very knowledgable about metal detectors. For a beginner detector I'd look at a Garrett Ace 250. Very easy to learn how to use. I've got one of those and a White's MXT for prospecting. Then get a good handheld pinpointer. It speeds up recovery time a lot.
This. The guys at AMDS will be a great resource.
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Old 06-07-2017, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
765 posts, read 1,923,950 times
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Thanks for the tips. I did find a book, a guy I work with has, called "How to find gold without getting shot" or something like that, that gives the location of a few places you can go legally. Camping out a couple days where they have Arctic Man does sound like a good idea...


It listed Hatchers Pass too, but didn't give an exact location.


I'm heading to Chitina this weekend, but I'll be dip netting so I probably won't have time to do any there, but last year I took sometime to go bear hunting between there and McCarthy, there were a few places there that might be good locations, found some old cabins there too.
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