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Prospecting For Processed Gold


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I do a lot of inland jewelry hunting in parks, playgrounds, school yards, and athletic fields.  You might be surprised to learn that hunting processed gold (aka: gold jewelry) is a lot like hunting raw gold.   I have found the adage; "Gold is where you find it," is just as true for gold jewelry as it is for raw gold. 

I prospect for locations that might hold gold jewelry, and once I find a piece of gold at a certain location, then I look to see if it might become a “patch”,    A “patch” for me is a location that produces another piece of gold over time.  A good patch might produce 6 or 7 nice pieces over the course of a year.  I “lay claim” to a good patch by hunting it often and regularly.   Hunting one of my claims is like hunting barren ground as I clean it out over time, so that each successive hunt can be faster and more efficient.   

The goal of course is to work the existing claims, while also making time for prospecting for other patches that might warrant a claim.   Of course some claims are more productive than others, and sometimes a claim may dry up for a period of time.  A good set of claims can put a piece of gold in your hand nearly every trip out, which is the ultimate goal. 

Another thing that prospectors and jewelry hunters have in common is the equipment set up, at least in my mineralized dirt.  Just as for nugget hunting, you set up your detector to give you the cleanest sound possible on a nugget, so to do I, often using a test object to find the best settings (or detector).  I normally use a BB just like a nugget hunter would use a test nugget.   My ground can easily mask or break up a BB at too high a Gain setting, and then adding in Disc and Ground settings or combinations thereof can make it more important to setup for the cleanest response.  Large targets take care of themselves but the small signals, and a lot of lost jewelry is small, takes a proper setup to find.

Then there is the detector choice.   While nuggets and jewelry can be found by any metal detector there are some that are better suited for the job than others.  Just as some detectors work better at nugget hunting, there are metal detectors with features that work better for jewelry hunting.

I’ll follow up with some of my favorites later.

Hope this doesn’t bore anyone.

HH
Mike

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Here is a nice piece I found recently at one of my "claims".   14 Kt, somewhere in the neigbhorhood of 5 grams.  I'd tell you the exact weight but my batteries went dead in my scale and I haven't replaced them yet.

 

HH
Mike

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Not boring anyone Mike! I really enjoy jewelry detecting and as time goes by I see myself doing more of it and less gold prospecting. Why? Reason number one is as nugget patches get worked out, they are done. Jewelry patches can replenish. Reason number two is access. I can hunt jewelry anywhere people frequent, which means just about anywhere I go. I am taking a break from prospecting right now, but the nearest jewelry patch is just minutes away.

The methods and machines overlap and I am surprised more nugget hunters do not do the jewelry thing. Gold is gold in my book, and though I have never found a platinum nugget, I have found ounces of platinum jewelry. Great subject and great analogy, and you know your stuff on the subject. So do proceed, and thank you for joining the forum!

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Thanks for posting Mike. I am not always in gold nugget country so anything you can teach me about finding processed gold, I find interesting and appreciate the advice.

Merton

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Thanks for the great post Mike.  Look forward to more.  If you don't mind sharing, could you give some examples of your claims (beaches, parks or other).  I currently live in an area where there are a lot of campgrounds.  In the last two years I have found one gold band, and one 925 ring, plus several junkers. 

A couple of the lakes have fairly popular swimming areas.  I've hunted them a couple times, but I can tell from the number of finds that someone is beating me to them.  Haven't hunted the water yet, but plan to try that next year.  Currently the roads are gated off for the winter, so no access until next spring.

In your next post, I would like to hear your opinion on the Fisher F75 for coin/jewelry hunting. 

Thanks again for starting up an interesting post.

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Hi Mike,glad to see you here bud! Really good info,am looking forward to more post. I have never been a jewerly hunter....but do know some areas around here that should be excelkent. I plan on doing some jewerly detecting this winter....good find given to the wife will equal more detecting oppurtunities,lol.

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Well Mike. I am about to start.  Got my Minelab Etrac about four months ago.  I have been an underwater dredger for many years, And a black sander, on ocean beaches pumping 8 cu yards an hour.  And the occasional detectorist with a Mine-lab 17000 .  Time I started, the Etrac took me a bit to get my head around.  But yep I have it sorted now.  Weather is coming right down here in New Zealand.  Damn have we had rain.  Got lotsa places to hunt. Most dating around the late 1800's. Domains, old gold towns etc.  I'm sure it is gunna be fun.   Best of luck to you and best of luck to me.  This is going to be a new adventure.

 

Cheers Trev

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