John-Edmonton
Elite Member
I have recently added gold prospecting to my hobbies. It really compliments metal detecting, in that you are always searching. Detecting is about what's under the coil, prospecting is about whats in your shovel. Lots of wonderful surprises lurk in rivers, often out of reach, that is, until it ends up in your gold pan, sluice-box or highbanker. And just like metal detecting, it's always about location location location.
A nice gold pan is enough to get you started with the possibility of finding a nice gold nugget along with a relic or two.
Here's some of the river glass I have been picking out of the gravel in my shovel. It is very collectible and can be sold at a premium. Lady luck was with me, and I eyeballed a nice intage skate blade from years ago. Was is used in playing hockey? Perhaps skating with a date at an old winter ice skating party years ago!
Here's what I got in my shovel a few days ago. My buddy and I searched for gold near Edmonton, and I got a square nail, an old button, an old (Native?) bead and old large caliber bullet. Last year I did get a small silver silver ring, several coins and an old vintage silver salt-shaker. You just never know......
Who doesn't like fossils? Every river has a variety of fossils, of many different types. The North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton has plenty of petrified wood and petrified bones. A lot of these relics have been eyeballed and picked. Prospecting allows one with a shovel to dig beneath the surface and get more of these sought after fossils.
And, as metal detecting, gold is at the top of the "Best Finds" chain, along with relics. To get gold, you can use a gold pan, a metal detector like the AT GOLD or ATX and of course a shovel. You can also dredge for gold, use a river sluice or even a highbanker where allowed.
