Jump to content

Patches Depleting - Again?


Recommended Posts


I agree....BUT I also think that if any new "patches" have been discovered the finders are keeping it quiet or else they would at some point be followed to their new patch and it will be cleaned out...well at the very least I like to think this is the way it is and there are new patches being found!!

I do know that over here on the east coast that can be a real possibly because much of the land where gold has been found in the old days is private land and much of that private land has not been hunted with modern technology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Know of a prospector/miner who placer mined using a trommel in Northern California in the 70's $ 80's. Then he moved to Jackpot NV nearly 30 years ago and really took up nugget shooting at  Rye Patch. Through the 90's,  several ounces  of nuggets in a day was not that unusual he once told me.  As detector technology improved, he would immediately upgrade machines and go back over his many (by then) old patches, and they would always produce at least some BUT.......

In his opinion, the SDC2300 and the GPZ (which he bought at first chance) finally "killed off" most all of the known nugget patches beyond whatever new technology may enter the market. To him, the few crumbs left at such places, or even an exceptionally rare larger piece,  are not worth his time.  In 2017,  he sold his GPX, SDC and GPZ.

This year he's in the process of starting up a new trommel operation.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course before the SDC and GPZ came out everyone was thinking the same about the GPX 5000. It is true though for a lot of the people who were doing it big time in the 80s and 90s it no longer seems worth it. In many ways it was the increasing gold price that really kept things going. We were finding less but the value was holding steady as gold prices climbed. Right now though we are at the same gold price we were at in 2013 so the rapid increase in gold price from 2000 - 2012 is no longer offsetting the declining finds. Though we are ahead of where we were a couple years ago. :smile:

gold-price-chart-2001-2019.jpg
Gold prices 2001 - 2019

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here where i live i have lots of open ground that never have been metal detected & most of these hills are gold bearing...just have to look for shallow gold deposits. Most creeks been rich in gold as also the rivers.  . 

Last photo is of us dredging with our Trev's Style Dredge. ..

 

 

20191115_174541.jpg

20191115_174500.jpg

20191115_093128.jpg

20191115_112805.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, principedeleon said:

Here where i live i have lots of open ground that never have been metal detected & most of these hills are gold bearing...just have to look for shallow gold deposits. Most creeks been rich in gold as also the rivers.  . 

20191115_093128.jpg

Fishing, hunting or prospecting,  there's nothing sweeter than access to private property

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reading this thread, in Summary…. Gold finds go up with the introduction of new technology and after a while gold finds taper off until new tech arrives eg the 2300 and the  Z. Now gold finds are tapering off again. But rather than new tech via a machine, its the X Coils for the  Z and as JW above says: "Whack on an X coil & it will be game on again".

I recently went to the Victorian GT with a group, to me it was more of a social outing rather than serious detecting, with the Z, I found countless small and very small shot, the ones that are around 1mm in diameter, sometimes 2 or 3 to a mullock heap, along with an 1853 3d, and then its those deep targets 60cm + down and the hole xx cm wide for a rusty bolt/piece of brass. 2 such holes in the morning and ditto in the afternoon for someone who is on the wrong side of 70 is my limit.

Friends with Z machines do not have the X coil, so I really do not know what I am missing, is it deeper holes/more lead shot, or.........?

I am very happy with the Z in WA, more of the yellow stuff in Vic would not go amiss.

And like others, am not keen on a Non Minelab modification, so maybe I will miss the game.

Peter.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here where i live i have lots of open ground that never have been metal detected & most of these hills are gold bearing...just have to look for shallow gold deposits. Most creeks been rich in gold as also the rivers.  . 

Last photo is of us dredging with our Trev's Style Dredge. ..

 

Where do you live?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...