What Do You Think I Found?

[strick]

Well at least got your heart thumping for a minute or two...

 

strick

[gambler]

well nice I guess, but if you do happen to find an autographed photo of randy mantooth, post up.

[Condor]

I dropped a duece there a couple years ago and put that trash on top before I covered it up.  Must have smelled like cheap red wine and bean dip. 

I've learned my lesson especially with the 7k, loose float gravel "no bueno", got to have a bottom within digging distance. 

[matt]

That sucks, but I have "been there done that" many times and been rewarded with foil. I have also been rewarded with a big gold nugget, Keep on digging.

[Reno Chris]

Got to have a bottom within digging distance?

Well, a good friend of mine picked up a heck of a gold-quartz specimen in deep Placer tailings gravel some time back. Multiple ounces of gold in a single piece and I'd bet the bottom there was at least 5 feet down. Probably more.

[klunker]

 I have to agree here with CR. I am among the laziest prospectors out there but skipping over something because you don't want to dig a deep hole is a poor practice. However after a couple of dozen pieces of deep trash I usually take a break and try to find some exposed bed rock. Digging deep "trash" has always paid off in the long run.

[Norvic]

Why could not the CTX pick it up? I`ve never owned a CTX, but I`d reckon all VLFs should pick it up. Unless the discrimination took it out of course.

[mn90403]

Norvic,

 

I think the DNA of the CTX keeps it quiet on the beach and ignores hot rocks.  I like it for those reasons.

 

The CTX didn't 'see' the foil as it 'blended' into the ground/background ... or it fractured the signal so much it didn't seem like a target that it excels at such as coins, jewelry and steels.

 

It is not a metal detector I will use for meteorite hunting because some of them imitate hot rocks.  The 7000 is an excellent meteorite hunter. (That is how I got find of the month from Minelab!)  The GB Pro will find them but you have limited coverage with the small coils.

 

Mitchel

[Condor]

Seriously Chris? The logic of hunting a tailings pile certainly differs from hunting desert gravel washes where this thread started.  For me it's a matter of  simple economics.  I could spend my time in deep gravel washes and get plenty of targets and a very small minority of them will be gold.  But, there is a cost.  The cost is both opportunity lost and physical effort expended.  Digging deep targets in desert gravel is no easy chore and a very time consuming one.   A two foot deep hole might end up being 3 ft wide because the sides keep caving in.  Then there is the economics of my physical effort.  My 61 yr old frame only has precious few deep hole digging hrs available during a given day.   If I use them up chasing deep trash then I am no longer available to dig better targets.  Just yesterday I got a decent target in an obviously float gravel wash.  I could see from the exposed bank that bedrock was probably about 2 ft down.  So I dug straight down hoping to find a bottom layer of muck or clay that might hold a nugget.  No luck without an ever expanding hole but fortunately the target came out after about 15 inches down.  Of course it was junk, but I knew that going in and decided to chase it if I thought I could find a bottom.  For me, it's the percentages that matter.  There is simply no advantage for me to swing my coil over deep desert gravel washes because I will find targets and then what, dig them or walk away.   Am I missing gold?  Of course I am, but I choose to spend my time over targets that have a higher percentage of being recoverable gold at a lower cost of physical effort. 

[fredmason]

Trash is often heaviest in washes, that is one reason why I generally avoid them.

 

ALL of my really deep holes turned into foil, wire, iron or an antique Hamms Beer can...someday I will get reimbursed for all that exercise. Even in saddles and flats I have dug some horrible deep holes for junk...you never know until you dig it.

 

fred