TUCSON, Ariz.—Joe Marihugh caught the gold bug years ago while running buckets of sand through a washer to extract flakes of the precious yellow metal.
He and his wife once ran 50 buckets to retrieve two grams of gold, which was worth nearly $200 at the time.
Since then, he has been using his dependable Minelab Gold Monster 1000 metal detector, with high expectations and his eyes fixed on the ground.
“I love searching for gold. It’s what we do,” Marihugh said as he swept the metal detector’s search coil across the hard, dry soil south of Tucson, Arizona, hoping to discover something valuable beneath the surface.
Like forensic investigators searching for evidence, the metal detectorists worked with focused determination in a close formation under the bright morning desert sun.
“There are people out here that do find gold nuggets,” said club president Ralph Montano. “I tell everybody: you’re not going to get rich” metal detecting, but, “you might get lucky.”
It’s not just the thrill of the hunt that draws metal detector enthusiasts, like the Desert Gold Diggers, to remote locations in search of hidden treasure.
It’s the attraction of discovering precious metals following gold’s recent surge to more than $3,000 an ounce—marking the first time in U.S. history.
At the same time, silver continues rising and is more than $34 an ounce.
Montano told The Epoch Times that it’s not merely by chance that the club has been receiving more inquiries from individuals interested in metal detecting.
There seems to be a direct connection between gold prices and interest in the hobby.
“We’ve gotten a lot of interest lately. In the last couple of months, we’ve gotten a lot of new members,” Montano said.
“They’re coming out and learning from us about what equipment they will need and what to look for—how to look for the spots that might produce.”
A Global Run On Gold
According to investment consultant T. Rowe Price, there are several factors causing the price of gold and silver to breach the $3,000 high-water mark.Since late 2022, the company observed that the long-standing inverse relationship between gold prices and real interest rates had become disconnected from the U.S. dollar and stock market.
“This reflects the growing influence of global fiscal policies and currency debasement, a sharp rise in central bank buying, as well as an environment of heightened geopolitical risks,” T. Rowe Price noted.
“Geopolitical risks only seem to be growing. Wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine. Conflicts between China and its neighbors are a looming threat.
“The coalition of countries hostile to the West will continue to look for ways to decrease dependency on the [U.S. Dollar] as a reserve currency and medium for international exchange.”
This significant upward movement is considered “no coincidence,” according to the analyst, who indicated that a potential “perfect storm” is forming for the yellow metal.
“The focus isn’t just the number itself but the pace at which gold has reached it. The jump from U.S. $2,500 [per ounce] to $3,000 took just 210 days—a notably faster move that underscores the momentum gold has built over the past two years.”
While the demand for retail gold and silver remains high, more adventurous individuals are discovering the potential riches of metal detecting.
Another Gold Rush?
Ron Shore, the owner of Windy City Metal Detecting in Chicago, has noticed a definite increase in metal detector sales since the price of gold surpassed $3,000 per ounce on March 14.However, this recent “bump” in purchases is not nearly as substantial as the high volume of metal detectors he sold during the “gold rush” of the 1980s. The company was established in 1985.
In January 1980, gold first reached a price of $850 per ounce, marking a historic milestone.
Shore said that his customers are now seeking an economical way that will “help them find gold” as the price of precious metals trends higher.
“There’s a few people that know the cost of gold is up. They want to get into the hobby because of that,” he said.
“But it’s not even close to what it was in the 80s. I mean, there was literally a gold rush on. I had cars pulling up [outside the store.] I couldn’t get gold detectors in the cars [fast enough]—that’s literally how many were being sold.”
Shore said he hadn’t seen anything like it since he began metal detecting in the 1970s.
However, this could change if the value of gold continues to rise, and indications suggest that it will, he added.
In addition to metal detecting, panning for gold remains a popular activity for those interested in traditional prospecting methods, according to precious metals advisor GMR Gold.
There are several methods for gold prospecting. The traditional technique of gold panning can be enhanced by using a Rocker Box, also known as a cradle.
This tool is more efficient than simple panning, as it consists of a wooden box with a sieve and a rocking mechanism.
Another method is the sluice box, which features a long trough designed to capture gold particles while directing water and sediment through it.
In areas with scarce water, dry panning is an efficient method that relies on air instead of water to separate gold from the sediment.
“The history of gold panning is a testament to human ingenuity, perseverance, and the enduring allure of gold.”
Moore said that Garrett, a privately held business, could not speculate on the actual increase in sales volume. Nonetheless, “we expect to see nice increases this year in our prospecting detector sales,” he said.
“Garrett will certainly expect additional sales in 2025 of our best prospecting detectors"—the Goldmaster 24k, specifically made for gold nugget hunting, and the Axiom, Moore told The Epoch Times.
Moore said that there is still subsurface gold to be found in many regions, including Australia, the Yukon, Arizona, California, and Nevada.
“One of the keys to finding gold is having a gold-producing region, which requires some research,” he said. “Then they must gain access to a claim where they can properly search.”
Marihugh credited his uncle with sparking his interest in gold prospecting during his youth. In 2010, the Gold Rush series premiered on the Discovery Channel, and from that moment, Marihugh said he was hooked.
“We’ve just been finding gold ever since. I’ve got ounces that I’ve found over the years.”
To illustrate, he presented a vial containing approximately a gram of gold flakes he recently discovered.
Gold Side-Hustle
“It’s out there—it’s still out there,” Marihugh said. “People lose rings. The kids lose necklaces.”As gold prices continue to rise, he said: “It’s going to draw more and more people” to metal detecting as a money-making hobby or pastime.
“Ever since gold hit over $2,200, people have been getting out there more and more. I hope it keeps going up,” he said.
Montano said that Desert Gold Diggers formed about 35 years ago, and currently maintains 19 claims for members to search for buried treasure.
“I’m still learning since I started like six years ago” using an entry-level Garrett 250, he said.
Jose Lizarraga, a club member from Tucson, has been metal detecting for the past two years and used a Monster 1000 at the outing.
He believes it was his “beginner’s luck” to discover a gold nugget during another metal-detecting adventure.
“And so what I did is last year for our anniversary, I made it into a necklace,” Lizarraga told The Epoch Times. “That was my anniversary present for my wife. She loves it.”
Bob Burgette, 62, who hails from Wisconsin, began gold prospecting and metal detecting in his youth.
He currently has six Minelab metal detectors to search for various types of metal objects.
“I had a couple sisters that lived out here, so I came out and visited and I got hooked on looking for gold,” Burgette told The Epoch Times.
“They were more into arrowheads, but I used the same amount of time to go out and prospect in washes.”
One of his best discoveries was an 1886 Seated Liberty silver dime, which he found about a foot deep in the ground.
During the club outing, he uncovered a 1937 Indian Head nickel in good condition.
NGC Coin, an independent coin grading service, estimates that these nickels can sell for between 50 cents and $20, depending on their condition. Nickels with mint defects may fetch much higher prices.
Over time, such finds can offset the cost of a metal detector, said Burgette, who paid $399 for the Minelab machine he used on March 22.
“I’ve been all the way over to California and Oregon looking for gold. I found a nice big hefty 3-gram nugget [panning] over there,” he said.
“And when you see something like that, it just shines in your pan, you know—when the sun hits it. So it just gives you that gold fever.”
