Jump to content

Gold I (almost) Ignored


jrbeatty

Recommended Posts

43 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

Steve said: "...Odd to think that many of us dream of nothing more than finding a large nugget, but then ignore the kind of sound a monster nugget would make..."

For me that is the quote of the year.

Happily (for once), I did not ignore the booming target that produced my biggest find; a 1.9 ouncer up in the Sierra's.

 

 

Do you have pictures of said nugget?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


One last cautionary tale:

 Rediscovering the Tarnagulla 70 grammer shook me up and I tried hard to remember similar instances of ignored signals. Only one stood out clearly in memory from several years earlier, and that was when I'd discovered a 4 oz patch in a paddock near Kingower, Victoria.

I'd noticed that the road alongside the paddock had crossed a nice looking tertiary gravel bank. This had led me to the patch and the next logical step was to detect both sides of the road easement itself.

Well! - - - as anybody who has detected roadsides knows, they are full of rubbish discarded from passing cars, as well as offcut wire from the fences thrown onto the reserve by the "cockies" themselves. There was also heavy eucalypt leaf litter and small branches, not to mention small wattles and thornbushes - in short - an extremely difficult detect. Nonetheless, having lifted the junk, a couple more bits turned up. 

Once again, for inexplicable reasons, I left two surface screamers. One was in a grader heap with an obvious squashed coke can poking out, the other almost beside it in a graded ridge on the very edge of the dirt road.

Upon returning, things had changed. The grader heap had disappeared, but I remembered a nearby small stump which marked the spot where the second screamer had been - and the signal was still there.

I can't recall which Minelab model I was using, but, having been humbled earlier,  this time I "listened" to the signal before digging it. When held well above it, the shallow target centered nicely with that lovely big "dip" and none of the elongation and distortion that you often get with junk - - -  Anyway, a brief scrape and all 52 grams of one of the prettiest pieces I've ever left behind finally revealed itself:

ndrd5v.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beer Can sounds are my favorite.  Many a big pieces from tailing piles that I think others have walked away from.  I actually did the same thing at Rye Patch, NV in the road and my buddy dug a 6 oz'er behind me.  I learned my lesson real fast.  Incredible photos and gold with your story too JR.  Thanks for sharing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/9/2018 at 2:43 PM, flakmagnet said:

Happily (for once), I did not ignore the booming target that produced my biggest find; a 1.9 ouncer up in the Sierra's.

- - -and what a piece! Thanks for the pictures, FM ☺️

7 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Beer Can sounds are my favorite.  Many a big pieces from tailing piles that I think others have walked away from.  I actually did the same thing at Rye Patch, NV in the road and my buddy dug a 6 oz'er behind me.  I learned my lesson real fast.  Incredible photos and gold with your story too JR.  Thanks for sharing.

Gerry: Glad to know I'm not the only one leaving them- - - !

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, lkyphl said:

I think it's worth mentioning that detecting around Kiandra is not currently permitted, as it's in a NSW National Park

Toolong as well, Phil.

Sadly, nearly all of the good NSW alpine detecting is off limits.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Beer Can sounds are my favorite"

Not for me, was detecting in an old dozed areas (red streak gully-  Dunolly) a while back. Thought it was futile to detect the dozed areas so I concentrated on the bits around the trees that the dozer missed hoping that something may have been missed. Put on the 18" Elite and went into normal timings with the gain flat out. I then got this great sound up against a half rotted stump. I should have known better as the ground was not that hard in this spot as it was around most of the other trees.  But as I went deeper it got louder so I kept digging. After 10 minutes I couldn't work out where the target was among the stump roots so came at it from the other side. It didn't take long to work out it was actually in the middle of the hollow stump. A little disappointed when a beer can appeared. 

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah! Jin. The old hollow stump again - - - :blush:

Even extremely experienced prospectors can get fooled sometimes. The late Jim Stewart once confessed to me how he wasted an afternoon chasing an excellent deep signal in the roots of a tree with one of his big loops - only to find it getting fainter as he went deeper.

Finally he looked up and saw a short length of chain wrapped around a large limb - - - :laugh:

  • Haha 4
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...