California Gold Country Mineralization

[Steve Herschbach]

A simple generality is that you can build a detector to get tiny gold but it tends to give up depth overall on larger gold, and that a machine that does best on large gold at depth will tend to have problems with very small gold. The Gold Bug 2 is perhaps the hottest small gold detector you can buy, but it really suffers for depth on larger nuggets in very mineralized ground. The Gold Bug Pro gives up very little on small gold capability while having much better performance on larger gold in mineralized ground. I would say that overall the Gold Bug Pro has a better balance performance-wise than the Gold Bug 2, with the Gold Bug 2 being a more specialized "sniper" type unit.

For me it is not a matter of having one or the other. They complement each other and I own both.

Detectors fall along a spectrum of possible performance with a great deal of overlap in capability. Since results are site specific according to ground mineralization and the nature of the gold there cannot be pat answers to the "what is best" question. The answer always is "it just depends".

[moxford]

So if you're looking for areas to work with a pan/sluice/highbanker/etc are you using the GBPro or the GB2 for the increased sensitivity?

 

While I understand the "book difference" between the two I've never used them side-by-side so i don't know just how big (or small) that delta in performance really is.  Digging through reports and spec and white papers and demos and YouTubes and such only gets me so far - which I why I'm so appreciative of all of you taking the time to help with real-world side-by-side experience!  

 

I have a GB2 en-route right now.  Snagged it for a good enough price that I should be able to resell with no issues (and hopefully a small profit) so then it becomes ... GBPro or wait for the F19?  =P

[Steve Herschbach]

I expect the only difference on a Gold Bug Pro vs F19 to be in non-prospecting features.

For what it is worth I will never not have a Gold Bug 2. In fact I have two of them!

[LipCa]

Got ya beat, Steve.....  I have three.  The only problem is one of my sons has taken over one and my wife the other

[goldenoldie]

 

I have a Minelab 3000 that was modified by Ishmael many years back and I have been using the Sadie coil with it lately, it is a small almost round mono coil that is produced by NuggetFinder Coils.

 

 I have not found any places in which my 3000 could not handle the ground. You will however have to become familiar with what type of coil and size of coil to use in a particular ground situation. I hunt many diverse areas and choose to go with the Sadie coil because I have been able to find pieces of gold right at a grain, sometimes a hair smaller along with six or seven pennyweight nuggets at 16 to 20 inches in pretty hot ground.

 

You will notice that there is less EMI with a smaller coil, and many times the smaller right coil will handle the same hotter ground and still get you that three pennyweight nugget at fourteen inches. This is the exact reason I go with the Sadie. 

 

That modified GP3000 is sure one hell of a detector from the results and depths you have achieved with the Sadie (8"x 6") coil. I am more familiar using grams for gold size so had to calculate how many grams in 6 or 7 pennyweights. Wow in pretty HOT ground to be able reach 6 or 7 pennyweight (9 and 10 gram) nuggets down at 16” to 20” including 3 pennyweight (4 gram) nuggets down at 14”  is amazing especially I assume in Normal or Sensitive timing.

 

I own a Sadie coil also and yet to detect anything of those sizes at those depths with my 5000 and my best nugget so far with the 5000 was a 20 gram nugget at 16” in very hard compacted mineralised ground using a NF 24x12 mono in the Fine Gold timing. Even after placing the nugget back at the bottom of its now open hole I could only get an extra 1 inch of a response so tried Normal and Sensitive Extra for very little difference however both of these timings were too noisy to operate due to the mineralised ground.

 

My previous detector was a GP3000 and the best depth and nugget with it was a 10 gram (6 pennyweight) at 13” with an 18” mono using Normal timing.

 

With that modified 3000 I very much doubt any GPX with a Sadie Coil will match the depths on 4, 9 and 10 gram nuggets you are achieving with it in pretty hot ground. 

[GeoJack]

Hey Mox, if you head to gold country, I'm between Hwy 50 and 80 in the foothills and have both the GB 2 and ATX if you would like to have some free training. Also have good ground to train on.

 

Pm me if interested.