About Randy DeNucci and the Field Guide
The Modern Mining Supplies Field Guide is written by Randall "Randy" DeNucci and the Modern Mining Supplies team. Randy brings the time in the creek. The team does the writing, the fact checking and the store side.
Who is Randy DeNucci?
Randy has panned for gold since he was 13, which makes more than 55 years. He has panned in California, and he owns gold claims of his own.
It started with his grandmother. Her name was Mabel, but the family called her "Gram", their nickname for Grandma. She took Randy panning when he was 13, and their gear was about as simple as it gets: a rusty gold pan, an old butter knife and a spoon.
Years later, Randy named one of his gold claims "Mabel Gram" after her. We keep the names of his other claims, and where any of them are, private.
Randy's first gold
We asked Randy how it all started, and here is his answer in his own words.
I was 13, prospecting with my grandmother along the Feather River near Oroville, California. She showed me how gold could hide in cracks in weathered granite. I pried open a crevice and found my first gold “picker” sitting in the dirt! When I showed Grandma, she simply said, “Well, there you go!” I've been hooked on gold ever since.
Grandma Mabel didn’t have much money, and sophisticated prospecting gear didn’t really exist back then. Her prospecting gear consisted of a rusty gold pan, an old butter knife, and a spoon. She used the knife to loosen dirt around tree roots along the riverbank, and the spoon to scoop it into our pan.
What has Randy done first-hand?
Over the years Randy has done much more than swirl a pan. He has run a sluice and built one of his own, worked a high banker and dry washed for gold. He has used classifiers, the screens that sort gravel by size, and snuffer bottles for picking up small gold. He has gone crevicing, melted gold and sold gold. He also owns some old gold pans, the antique kind.
How is the Field Guide written?
Each guide starts from what a panner actually needs to know, and Randy's experience shapes that. When Randy has a tip of his own, it goes in a marked tip box in his own words. We never write words for him.
Facts like mineral weights, what black sand is made of, and where panning is allowed are checked against official sources, such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and state geological agencies. When a guide leans on one of them, it says so in the sentence.
Randy's first-hand experience is in California. When a guide covers another state, it is written from official sources, and we say so.
We update a guide when a fact changes. If you spot something that looks wrong, email us at hello@modernminingsupplies.com and we will check it.
What does Modern Mining Supplies sell?
We sell two black sand magnets for gold panning, the Pocket Mag and the Magic Mag. They hold the same magnet in two body sizes, and they ship from Texas. A good place to start reading is What Is Black Sand?