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Howdy folks, Got out sunday for the first time in awhile. I ditched my Zuma a few weeks back climbing a steep hill to an old mine and cracked afew ribs so today was my first day digging much. Out of the house after chores and lunch. I hit a stream that i have never mined but have been wanting to check out for awhile. Found good access lately so i gave it a shot. Found my one and only nugget of the day at the second bedrock outcropping i scanned - about 20 min in to my hunt. It was wedged into a crevasse on the downside of a slight drop. I fanned off a little DG sands and out she shone. Low and Slow for the next hour but nothing. Up slope from this stream was a series of very rich ground sluice and high terrace placer mines so i decided to head that way and scout a new spot. Found some good looking ground to return to and work but found no more gold. I did find a knife with a little wood still on the handle - much of it crumbled when i dug it up but a little held on and its just pulp. Also dug out a cool shovel thats got a neck and rivet style i have never seen. The knife was near the top of a rise at the edge of a very small ground sluice workings - just the place for a brake or some lunch - nothing else around it anywhere near by. Love the character of this nug - just under 1 dwt weight wise and warbled like old lead on the SDC coming off the target. A short but very needed and enjoyable hunt May ya find some gold! AjR

This specimen was found in Downieville with my 3030. It is 18.3g.of mostly gold with a little quartz.

1. GPZ 7000, the beast. 2. GPX 5000, smooth as a Rolls Royce. 3. SDC, pfft, deeper crumbs then the GB2. 4. XP Deus, nothing better in the iron littered mining sites. 5. XT 17000, ya, its still a world class VLF nugget hunter. 6. Fisher GB2, the dry washers last tool! (and worlds best hot rock finder)

I actually got brave and stopped in Lisle,Illinois on my way back from panning/sluicing for gold and getting rained out in Indiana once again this past weekend. Yes, there actually is a Minelab office here complete with a small showroom and a service center coordinator I guess is her title. She told me that Kellyco in Florida is handling Minelab USA repairs and they are looking for a 2nd repair shop as well. Apparently, they closed up their place in Nevada 6 years ago on account of their General manager lived near Chicago, which is why they are in Lisle, Illinois now. I was shown a demo ZED so at least I know what you ZED owners are talking about now.I was also told that on the Minelab website is a list of discontinued metal detectors and none of them are being serviced by Minelab. I was also told they do have a person who monitors Internet metal detecting forums like this one, but rarely posts. Some of these discontinued machines such as the 3500 may still be serviced by Minelab in Australia, however, but she wasn't sure on that. I took some photos to prove I actually visited the office altho I seem to be missing the office staff group shot...? That's me in the last photo. 1st photo at the entrance. Then the lady at the desk is a finance person. Shots of GoFind detector in the showroom area. --Tom V.

A couple of weeks in Alibright, quite a bit of Quartz but still has a lot of weight. Will get a gravity test done to find out exactly how much gold the specimen contains.

I don't know about you guys but I have left my pick and walked off on 4 occasions . After the first debacle (took me 1.5 hrs to find), I put a couple of pieces of reflective tape on the shaft ....... magic. I can find the thing day or night. Who would have thought finding a brown thing in a sea of brown things would be so difficult.......... I think something like this should be standard ... but that just might be me ..... Cheers BB

Very nice, I think you should take that catchy title and write the book yourself Strick!

Wouldn't that be something, Whites comes up with a Pi, VLF Hybrid.....for 2995.00, 100% iron discrimination,. and goes deep!! A detector geared for nuggethunters in the U.S.