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How Small Is Your Smallest Piece Of SDC 2300 Gold?


rumblefish

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The place I've been river prospecting recently is only showing me very small flakes of gold (so far). They are so small in fact that even the SDC can't pick them up. Yesterday my Garret Pro Pointer arrived and that also sees nothing when I pass it across the vials. Even some of the quite big flakes that I found a while ago in Scotland.

So I got to wondering, what is the minimum flake/nugget size that can be detected?

Could anyone with an SDC (or even a Pro Pointer) post and tell me their results?

Thank you!

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Hey Rumblefish, here's a photo of the smallest I have found. The little guy on the right. I have a cheap scale and it registers in 2 grain increments. The little guy didn't register, so it is probably about 1 grain, plus or minus. Consistent with the 0.1 gram that others are finding is the lower limit.

I may not have normally heard it, but I had just found the one on the left and I was carefully covering the area nearby. It was on, or very near the surface and barely signalled. I lost it a few times before the got it in the scoop.

post-44-0-34775300-1418313807_thumb.jpg

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I think the limit is closer to a half grain (1/9600th oz!) but it very much depends on the shape and purity of the gold and just like a Gold Bug 2, you have to be basically touching the gold with the coil. The SDC is a scrubbers dream.

My smallest so far is in the lower right of this photo. It weighs 0.7 grains or 0.045 grams. I know Chris has a set of analytic scales and has found a piece that weighed 0.03 grams.

This is getting into Gold Bug 2 territory but the Bug still wins. I have pieces with my Bug that will not register on my digital powder scale and so are under 0.1 grain. For a PI however the SDC has amazing sensitivity that exceeds most VLF detectors and yet without the problems with ground and hot rocks. The ability of the Gold Bug 2 to excel relies on it being in low mineral ground. In really bad ground the SDC has the clear edge.

I will find that little piece and take a photo with a coin for scale.

post-1-0-20356400-1418317349_thumb.jpg

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Thank you!

 

I can see now that the gold I'm finding in the river is quite small and flat in comparison to what you guys are digging up. The largest piece I found in Scotland is probably like the smaller pieces (middle bottom) of Chris' photo, but the flake is flatter so probably doesn't register. I'm going to have to search further up the river towards the source in the mountains I think, and further out into the old river courses/flood plains.

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I was wondering that as well. I'm looking at the background as much as I'm looking at the gold in Steve's and Chris's photos. What be it fellas?

 

strick

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Mine is the bottom of a Wearever stainless steel pan. I have been experimenting with backgrounds for gold photos. Steel backgrounds seem to work very well in conjunction with digital cameras to produce natural gold colors, especially in sunlight. The other good result I am getting is with flash and gold held in the air with a dark background.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My smallest weighed was 0.03 gram also.

I reckon that I did get one that would have went less but it inadvertently ended up in a gold vial with 9-10 grams of other SDC find smalls before I thought to weigh it. (i.e. I stuffed up & dropped it in the vial then went $%#* I should have weighed that :lol:) Too many littluns in there to worry about trying to find that one :D

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