TAMPA, Fla. - Deep-sea explorers said Friday they have hauled up what could be the richest sunken treasure ever discovered: hundreds of thousands of colonial-era silver and gold coins worth an estimated $500 million from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Nov. 29, 2003 - Historical records indicate the sidewheel steamer SS Republic was carrying 20,000 gold coins — worth $120 million to $180 million today — when a hurricane sent it to the bottom of the Atlantic in 1865. But there could be more. A lot more.

This is one of my favorite gold photos. It shows some of the gold recovered from the SS Central America shipwreck. You can also download this photo and make it your desktop wallpaper.

If you have ever wondered how a metal detector works, and how can they tell the difference between good and bad targets. Here is a simple explanation of how they work.

Video about the New 49'er Club that makes me want to join the club, only it's a 5 hour drive for me, just too far for weekend trips.

I found this interesting 1909 keyless lock back when I used to be an avid coin shooter. It's been a few years since I have coin detected, and thought I would post one of my interesting finds.

Reported Feb 1st 2007 the story hit the news wire of a gold rush in the Amazon. According to the news articles, too many people are chasing too little gold and there isn't enough space for all the miners at the eight main digging sites.

Here's a list of resources that will help you to Stake your own mining claim, including sample forms and procedures to walk you through the porcess of filing for your own claim.

Video: History of the Gold Prospecting Association of America by Tom Massie. The video talks about how and where the GPAA was started by George Massie.

This video has many interesting details about the founding of GPAA that I found very interesting and inspiring.

The largest gold nugget ever found on the planet. Named the "Big Triangle" and weighs 36 kilos, roughly 96.4 Troy Pounds.

The nugget was found by Nikofor Syutkin, in 1842 at Tsarevo-Alexandrovsky placer in the Urals.