It has been really great to see so many new people signing up on the metal detecting forum and reading the blog over the last few weeks! However, it seems the spammers have given up on the forum for the time being and turned their attention to the blog. Fortunately the wordpress software handles spammers very capably indeed!
Our visitor figure for the last 31 days stands at 20,846 unique visitors – probably our biggest month ever! The page view count stands at 46,517.
This months numbers received a big boost after Detecting.org.uk was mentioned in one major news story about the Korean Super Dollar, the discovery of the Crosby Garrett Helmet and being featured on a major social book marking site.
I just hope the server, which is long overdue for an upgrade, can withstand the traffic levels it is now receiving! It is probably time to start shopping around for a new one!
A great big welcome to all our new readers!
A new partwork, called Precious Rocks, Gems and Minerals, caught my eye at the news agents today. On the cover, a small bottle containing pieces of gold leaf: 
The gold in the bottle was mined at Spain’s Rio Tinto mines, where the Roman empire mined a great deal of its gold. I find it fascinating that this tiny sample of Spanish gold has its origin in the same gold bearing rocks that Romans mined to make their gold coins and artifacts!
This is the first issue of this new partwork and is available from news agents at the introductory price of 99p, the usual price being £4.99. Looks like it is going to be a great magazine for aspiring rockhounds, as each issue contains a different rock, gem or mineral sample.
Apologies for the terrible photograph, just a quick snap for now. The clear bottle containing clear liquid suspending small pieces of highly reflective spanish gold proved a tricky target for my digital camera’s auto-focus! I’ll add a better snap when I set up my mini studio and can light it better.
The Official Blog of Metal Detecting UK, All About Metal Detecting, Gold Prospecting and Treasure Hunting
