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High Elevation Gold


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I recently upgraded to a minelab pi and cannot wait to take it out.

I've been looking at a few places that are up around 7000 feet in elevation. Typically what I have read about peoples detecting tips seemed to be more focused in the lowlands.

Does anybody have any tips to successfully detect at high elevations? Anything I should be doing differently or looking for?

Any response is much appreciated and hopefully a few of you who work the high Sierra will see this post.

Thanks

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7000 ft in the Sierra means Pines and scrub growth. You will still find nuggets, but in many places the pine needle blanket together with the other organic materials on the surface means the nuggets are generally deeper. You can still detect gold, but you lose effective depth because of the pine needles and growth.

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 Adequate water for early historic mining was often a problem at the high elevations as the rainy season soon turned to snow and early season mining was often hindered by snow drifts so some areas didn't get thoroughly worked. look in the areas outside of the historic workings. work VERY SLOW in the pine needles.The pine needles do have one good effect in that they hold your coil off of the ground which will allow you to operate with unusually high gain settings. You will soon learn to hate tiny wire shards from wire rope(steel cable) used in logging operations. Please leave 4 out of 5 nuggets for us local boys. What model is your Minelab?

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It's a 5000. Thanks for this tips. I know there should be some coarse gold as it is the area feeding some old workings.

As for saving nuggets, I guess I will save 1 of five since I am a local.

Also people are welcome to tag along if we can find a time to meet up. I've got much to learn and I figure you guys have an idea of what works and what doesn't

Cheers

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Just back from a trip where we beeped gold between 6500-7000'. Not all is pine scrub, the Blue Nose Mtn area is mostly large old growth Fir. The water problem Klunker mentioned is definitely a good thing for us modern electronic prospectors. The early, then depression era miners just could not wash the ground as well as some of the bigger lower elevation workings....they removed a lot of overburden, but not all the gold. My biggest issue at those elevations are the friggin Mosquitos.....

Calgeologist...what area are you in? PM ME, maybe we can hook up......

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