Supplying Progressive Technology for the Modern Prospector Since 1998

Originally started in 1998 under the banner of, Gholson’s Detectors, this one-man business has steadily grown to become the leading supplier of Minelab metal detectors & accessories in Arizona. But it wasn’t always this way…

At the time I was studying at Arizona State University in Tempe, and as it turned out Minelab had their office not more than a mile away from my apartment (their headquarters are now based out of Las Vegas, NV). I had already worked with them in the past on various promotional articles & magazines ads, but this had been the extent of our relationship. During one of these afternoon visits I was asked if I had ever considered becoming a dealer. I hadn’t, but my interests were certainly peaked. The extra money would come in handy for tuition & living expenses, and I since I had a considerable amount of success with their products I knew I’d feel confident in selling them. The following week I came aboard as one of the few dealers that were located in Arizona at that time.   

AZO Back Then…

In the early years business was small – very small! In fact, it was just myself and a phone. With no shop front, no website, no employees, no cliental, and only about $500 to work with, I guess you could say the first 12 months of sales were less than brisk. The following year wasn’t much of an improvement nor the one after that, but I realized something very important. Money was tight, but I was happy. I was putting in double the hours I would have elsewhere for lesser pay, but it was a liberating feeling and I never dreaded getting up and doing it again in the morning. I discovered gold prospecting was my passion and saw no need to fight it. 

After graduating in 2000 I moved back to the West Valley nearer to my family. My father Steve had recently retired and seemed keen on finding a new project to focus his energy on. As the business gained momentum I found myself struggling to keep afloat. That retirement could not have come at a better time; his help and guidance were a godsend! From then on the two us worked side by side, packing orders, answering calls, traveling across the West to promote, putting on lectures; and believe it or not, still finding time to visit the goldfields of Australia each summer. Our desire to chase the elusive yellow metal took us on a whirlwind tour of nearly every state in the country; from tropical jungles in the Northern Territory to vast fields of ironstone in Western Australia. Some wonderful friendships were made during these travels along with many valuable contacts. It was these trips into the Outback that were to one day catapult AZO as one of the front runners in the industry. 

Father & son with a handful of finds from a trip into the remote Kimberley, Western Australia
Chris Gholson detecting for gold in the remote Outback of Western Australia (1998)		Bob Montana Dansie & Chris Gholson with a portion of the gold they have found in the deserts of Arizona

In 2002 I decided that a change of name was in order. I needed something that would help bridge the gap between the northern & southern hemispheres. It needed to be true to my home state, but at the same time reflect the relationships with Australia that were so rapidly forming; hence Arizona Outback was born. That same year one of my closest friends from High School; Joe Kauffman, and I put our heads together and launched the very first AZO website. The original website was a far cry from what you see here today, but it provided the necessary framework for us to build upon. It was a daunting task, but his expertise & patience saw the project through. Had I been doing it alone, I guarantee the hard drive would have been tossed out the window! 

Joe & Chris relaxing after a long day of detecting in Nullagine, Western Australia

Later that year AZO united with a manufacturer by the name of Nugget Finder^® in Victoria, Australia to become the exclusive US distributor of their new line of search coils for the Minelab metal detectors. In 2003-04, we joined forces with several other Australian companies; Reed’s Prospecting Supplies (battery technologies) and Australian Gold, Gem & Treasure Magazine out of Sydney (Australia’s premier gold prospecting magazine). In addition to an extensive selection of books, maps & videos, AZO now proudly offers a complete line of the lightest Lithium Ion Battery Systems in the world, and a full range of audio amplifiers. We also manufacture our own line of aftermarket accessories, ranging from control box covers, specialty gear belts, to heavy-duty detector carry bags.

AZO Nowadays…

In 1995 I boarded a plane, it was my first trip to Australia; a trip that would change my life forever. Now if you have ever made this journey you’ll know it is a long one indeed – nearly 14 hours! Normally I get crammed beside some guy that insists on hogging the armrest, or behind a crying child that refuses to go to sleep until the craft is a half hour away from landing! But this time…this time it was different. An attractive blond haired woman came down the aisle and took the seat next to me. Things were looking up. I doubt she would have given me the time of day had I crossed her path on the street, but here she was captive. I worked on her for a solid 14 hours, in the end it was sheer determination and my unwillingness to shut up that eventually got her to smile. Upon returning from Australia the two of us kept in close contact. Our relationship blossomed and in 2004 I asked my best friend of nine years to become my wife. We began construction of our home high in the Bradshaw Mountains on an old patented gold mining claim that same year. After returning in August from a prospecting expedition into the remote Cape York of Queensland, the two of us moved in.

The business has been relocated from Glendale to Prescott, AZ. My wife Alyssa has temporarily left the teaching profession to work full time with the company, helping manage our growing dealer network and field phone calls. Joe Kauffman continues to be our Internet “guru”; working long & hard at the keyboard to ensure that website stays fresh and our forum running smoothly. My father remains involved, but his role is almost exclusively R&D; striving to better our products through his love of mathematics & physics.

Other valuable additions to the team have been Bob “Montana” Dansie who serves as our chief Product Field Tester and Bill Southern one of our key US dealers. Bob’s extensive travels throughout the Western US and Australia, along with the 1000’s of gold nugget finds under his belt, make him the perfect man for the job. All of these men have been a tremendous asset to the company. 

Since its’ humble beginnings in my one bedroom apartment, the once small business has grown to become the largest supplier of Minelab metal detectors & accessories in Arizona. The company may have changed, but the core values I founded it with have not. These values are simple: provide only the highest quality equipment at affordable prices, stay committed to customer service, and do our absolute best to further promote the exciting hobby of recreational gold prospecting. We want your business, and are prepared to go the extra mile to earn it. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to your call, and I look forward to seeing you on the goldfields!

- Chris Gholson 

Chris Gholson

Chris Gholson’s introduction to gold prospecting started off innocently enough when his grandfather began taking the young boy along on his many excursions into the Arizona desert to search for Indian artifacts, relics, and of course gold. Who knew these trips would have had such a lasting impression! That was many years ago, but Chris’s desire to chase the elusive metal is still alive and well. 

In 1998 he wrote his first book, Metal Detecting for Placer Gold, which has sold over 3,000 copies. Chris has recently authored another book titled, Rich Hill: The History of Arizona’s Most Amazing Gold District, with his colleagues from the University of Arizona and California State University. He is a contributing author for several magazines including: The Gold Prospector, the International California Mining Journal, and Lost Treasure. Chris has made several appearances on the Outdoor Channel with Perry Massie and has been featured in television commercials for Minelab Electronics. In May 2000, he graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in the Biological Sciences. He has prospected extensively throughout the Western United States, the Australian Outback, the goldfields of Alaska, and the rainforests of South America. The Arizona born prospector has found numerous pounds of nuggets, handfuls of gold-bearing specimens, two rich veins in the Northern Territory of Australia, and an assortment of meteorites with his metal detector.

Steve Gholson

Steve was born in 1959 in the small farming community of Hoopeston, Illinois. He moved out West to Arizona with his family in 1959. Many hours of his youth were spent being dragged around the Superstition Mountains by his father in search of the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine.

Steve became interested in Ham Radio at the age of 13 (WATSC – Advanced Class), which eventually led him to the study of quartz crystals and crystal filters used in the electronic industry. Steve began his own electronics manufacturing company, Temex Electronics, in 1982. His company produced a variety of products including Rubidium Atomic clocks, oscillators, monolithic quartz crystal filters, etc.

He sold the company and retired in 1995, which allowed him more time to pursue his interests in gold prospecting. Steve first purchased a metal detector back in 1985, but didn’t become heavily involved with detecting until the past six years. Together with his son Chris, he has traveled extensively throughout the Western United States, Alaska, and has spent the last five seasons working in the Outback of Australia. Although Steve has found numerous pounds of gold nuggets, he still finds enough time to pursue other interests such as tournament chess and the study of physics and mathematics. 

Bob “Montana” Dansie

When asked how he got involved with gold prospecting, Bob had this to say. “I have always had an interest in outdoor pastimes and went artifact hunting and rock-hounding with my parents from the time I was old enough to walk. My grandfather was an ore buyer for Utah mining and smelting and traveled the west in a model "A" Ford buying gold, silver, and copper ore directly from the miners. His travels took him all over Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Montana and Idaho. I grew up hearing tales of his adventures and the rich gold mines he saw. My uncle on my Dad’s side was a mining engineer at the Campbird Mine in Colorado. More gold stories!! How could I not get the gold Fever at some point? It had to be put off until I got my family raised but I started hearing tales of huge nuggets being found in Australia with detectors in the early 80s. It wasn't until 1988 that I got a beeper and found my first nugget about a year later while living in Lake Havasu City. Within 6 months I was on a plane to Australia. I made six trips over to Western Australia staying 6-months each time. I went in the hole the first couple of trips but my last trip in 1996 was good for 40-ounces. All that gold was sold long ago because I was doing it for a living. The last of the Aussie gold was sold in 1998. Since that time I have been prospecting here in the Western U.S., Alaska, and Mexico. I now make my home in Prescott, Arizona where I work closely with AZO. My U.S. gold collection is growing at a steady rate and will be a great addition to my social security income. Buying that first detector was a real turning point in my life and has provided me with 16 years of fun and adventure, and travel to places that I would never have seen otherwise. What used to be a fun job is now a fun hobby and I can't imagine a healthier, exciting thing to be doing at this point in my life…”

Joseph Kauffman

Joe’s interest in gold started back in elementary school when he began reading about the legendary Lost Dutchman’s gold mine believed to be located somewhere in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. Finally in 1996, a lifelong friend (Chris Gholson) invited him to come along on a detecting trip. Joe had never handled a metal detector before, but after only a few hours of hunting with the XT17000 he netted his first nugget and was immediately stricken with gold fever! He now swings a Minelab GP Extreme and is having more luck than ever. His collection of nuggets range from a mere grain to well over an ounce. Joe; or Cactus Joe as we like to call him; has prospected throughout the goldfields of Arizona, New Mexico and Western Australia.   

Joe is a real whiz when it comes to computers, and with the AZO website constantly growing he is responsible for the weekly maintenance and the updating of pages as new products arrive and gold discoveries are made. Besides his interest in computers and gold, he is also an avid hunter. He has taken 16 big game animals including the 11^th largest bull elk in the world for the 2000 archery elk season and 2 mule deer that scored high enough to make the Boone and Crockett record books.  He is also a licensed hunting guide in AZ so keep him in mind if you are lucky enough to get drawn!