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Serpentine Bedrock - Hydraulic Area


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I always use a gold pick with a super magnet on it.  Sometimes I have two so I get the dry washer wires and hot rocks.

When I want to clean the magnets I pull off the big items.  When it comes to the black sand I use a kitchen brush (one of those white, nylon ones with orange bristles and a little scraper) with a stiff bristle and it just flicks the black sand away.  It does the same for canslaw, etc.

Mitchel

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This isn't the first reference I have seen to cleaning  a site before detecting.  Vegetation debris is sometimes the problem for me. In the Klamath Mountains, the pine needles and other forest duff is quite thick, I am experimenting with cleaning a reasonable area to see if that makes a difference.  In clear cut areas, I have found that it's impossible to proceed before clearing away the branches etc.  I carry a cultivator for both needles and clear cut debris for this purpose.

 

Is preping a site common?

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Many areas in Arizona and California are detected and then raked in order to get down to the next level of little nuggets.  It is common to see rows of surface rocks raked together where someone has detected the raked ground.  Sometimes the only place for gold to be left is under these rows of surface rocks and sometimes those have already been moved a couple of times.

Classification of any type is really a preparation for sluicing or dry washing material.

Mitchel

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Dead right FredMason, not many people are aware of this. It is not small ones either, I even had one at 25 gm jump to a super magnet, much to everyone's surprise when they saw it. 

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I have a lightweight telescoping aluminum wand with a super-magnet on the end that saves me lots of time and energy in trashy areas. I'm so used to it now that I always have it with me and wouldn't detect an area without it. I've got picks with magnets on them (and I used them for years to weed out ferrous trash), but the wand is so light and easy to use, the only time I swing my pick now is when I have to dig into or scrape down to something. If you're backpacking in (hiked into lots of tough locations myself), the aluminum wand is the answer.

All the best,

Lanny

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I remember Digger Bob's Video about the TDI SL where he got it to blank the serpentine and with the use of the conductivity switch you can blank larger Items and with off setting the GB you can pick and choose your targets, It is not the perfect solution but it will work better than a VLF and better than a straight out PI,

 

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