Africa

[geof_junk]

Quote.......Problem is I can't find any place where legally you are allowed to go prospect. I checked Papua New Guinea, which I think has an amazing potential for nuggety gold based on the geology I've read. It's incredibly dangerous too. But sadly foreigners aren't really allowed to prospect and every square inch is privately owned.

I took a job in PNG way back in 1973 for 6½ years at the final construction stage and initial copper/gold mine (the largest in the world. I packed my gold pan to do some prospecting as there was a remote gold mine at the mine site. At that stage PNG was under Australian care and control and finally self government. Law and order as we knew it was far removed, and the advice I took was to donate gold pan to the locals. I have been considering writing an article about a hike to the 1930s gold mine when I get time. The job set me up for life by the way.

[Off Grid]

Yes, I'm based in Africa but it's a big place so there's no one answer as to why no posts? Yes, there's Internet but it varies from 5G to 0G depending which country and where in the country you are. There is activity, Google "metal detecting/South Africa" and you'll get hits . Google "metal detecting/Equatorial Guinea" and you won't. 

My guess is that there's a booming gold detecting scene in lode gold places like Ghana, Mali and southern Ethiopia around Lega Dembi but it's all under the radar. But these are places you might not want to go or at least send your mother-in-law first to check it out.

Interesting that someone says Africa is MineLabs biggest market. Any better resolution on whereabouts

I've known a few folks that swing a GPX 5000 in SE DRC and Zimbabwe but it's all under the radar. Trouble is that if the locals see you next thing you know there's a land invasion.

99% of the population don't have a thousand bucks or so and if they did higher priorities than a detector.

In some places it's illegal to hold unwrought gold which dissuades that market.

Another issue that we have and you don't have is ordnance. There's a place in Mozambique where I'd give my left testicle to prospect. Millimetre gold stringers in quartz. But it's also richly endowed with anti-personnel mines. OK so you've a metal detector and you'll find them (except the one you don't). So you'll think long and hard before you dig everything won't you?

We probably have more and better beaches than the US and I've seen folks with detectors what's missing are hordes of gold laden babes replenishing the resource like they do for you guys!  

Happy Hunting

 

[rvpopeye]

Thx for the interesting and informative post Off Grid !

Sorry ' about the "babes " .. I'd sure miss that !  LOL

[mn90403]

1 hour ago, Off Grid said:

Yes, I'm based in Africa but it's a big place so there's no one answer as to why no posts? Yes, there's Internet but it varies from 5G to 0G depending which country and where in the country you are. There is activity, Google "metal detecting/South Africa" and you'll get hits . Google "metal detecting/Equatorial Guinea" and you won't. 

Thanks for the info.  I feel like it scratches the surface and takes away some of the trash and lack of knowledge.  I guess word would travel quick if any 'real' amount of gold was found.  The numbers of seekers would overwhelm any land rights as it has done in many areas with gold.

[mn90403]

Africa: Nigeria

 

Someone got a lot of nuggets and large ones out of a pit there!

 

https://punchng.com/miners-versus-soldiers-gun-battle-and-matters-arising/ 

[phrunt]

I will add one comment, prior to the 6000 release Nz was receiving  Gpx 4500, 4800 and 5000 detectors for crazy prices imported from a guy in Nz that had a friend in Africa that was a Minelab dealer, he was accepting Tradeins on 6000's prior to its release and importing them to Nz to resell on our auction site similar to Ebay.  

Myself and JW both purchased very cheap Gpx 5000s imported from Africa from this guy that were Gpx 6000 Tradeins, mine I even had the tracking number from a city in Africa.  I had the local seller send mine to the Minelab service center in Nz for a health check and new housing as the Africans treat them like a tool and the housing was really beaten up so I wanted it replaced, I still have the original housing.  

One thing that took me by surprise was prior to the 6000 release there was a steady flow of GPX detectors coming in and being sold on our auction site.  After it was released there has never once been another one, the Africans either stopped trading in their older models or the Nz importer stopped doing it, seeing they all sold its anyone's guess why it came to a hault.  

My guess is when it's a years wage or more to get a 6000 is it a worth while transition to the 6000 to find smaller gold their 5000 may miss when the the 5000 might find the bigger stuff the 6000 may miss along with the other benefits of the 5000 over the 6000.

Minelab may have targeted the African Market with the simplicity of use which I have no doubt they achieved first with the Monster then the 6000 as my 5000 and others from Africa had the switch positions suitable for the ground painted onto the housing so they remember where to have them but they failed on the pricing, its a struggle for people in rich countries to justify paying the 6000 price let alone the years wages of their target market in Africa. 

You only have to look at their website to see the images of African models posing for photos with detectors and no digging tools with the GPZ, GPX and GM 1000 to see their target markets.

From what I've heard the GPZ wasn't very popular in Africa, I'm guessing the price is the reason along with the success of the tried and true Gpx series, its perhaps why they used the GPX branding for the 6000 which in essence is really nothing like the previous GPX detectors and just causes confusion more than anything especially when it cones to the hundreds of Gpx coils on the market. 

Greed knows no bounds. 

I will add this isn't a beat up on the 6000, its reality, put yourself in their position. A years wages... If they are successful enough to earn the average wage.  I feel sometimes we in lucky countries lose reality of what it's like for others, don't we Minelab...... 

[Jonathan Porter]

The GPZ 7000 sells really well in Africa, the 6000 is a PI so its GPX monicker is relevant. Other than coil choice the 6000 punches just as deep as the 5000 on large gold, when more coils come online (thanks to Coiltek) then coil choice will no longer be an issue.

IMO Minelab have marketed for the smaller more plentiful gold finding ability of the GPX6000 because that is where it is excels with a very clear advantage, for larger deeper gold we have the GPZ7000, most places having already been pounded for years by the GPX5000’s etc with all sorts of coil types and sizes.

The GPX6000 is not a toy but a fully fledged serious gold finder designed for all sorts of terrain, green fields ground or pounded flogged out areas. The coils provide for the GPX6000 tell the real story, GPX11 Mono for general purpose detecting with crazy sensitivity and very good depth, the GPX17 Mono for patch hunting also with crazy sensitivity for small pieces and good depth and the GPX14 DD for nasty areas with high EMI or salt ground. 

JP

[dig4gold]

It is a shame that ML didn't make an 11" DD & a 14" mono for the 6000 & also a smaller elliptical coil like a 12 x 7 or a 10 x 5. The 6000 does find crazy small gold but smaller coils would allow for detecting those tight to get into spots that "we" know there will be gold. But this is getting away from the content of this thread which is about Africa.

 

Greg.

[Northeast]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

the 6000 punches just as deep as the 5000 on large gold, when more coils come online

  Words that should get all GPX6 owners in a party mood   🥳 🎉

 

[phrunt]

The African detector users would need to keep any finds silent too, remember the news story recently where someone thought they found a diamond then within days there were hundreds camped out in the area looking for more, and it turned out not to be a diamond after all. 

It's very unlikely any nugget finds will be made into YouTube videos or stories on forums.  Even revealing you have such an expensive detector could set you up for a robbery or worse. 

I guess I was just hoping the 6000 would be released at a lower price point as I'm sure the African prospectors were too.  I hope if they pay their year's wages to get one they have success to improve their life and their families. 

I don't know what the gold situation is like there now, I would think they'd still have undetected ground somewhere or at least ground that's only been hammered by one of the thousands of fake Gold Bug Pros sold in Africa.