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I will call and talk to the service dept at White's and no I really can't sell it in good conscience if it's not right, I know what that feels like.

Just returned from a few days WAY up north near Happy Camp, CA. We weren't detecting but looking for something valuable never the less. I've heard about what's referred to as "Happy Camp jade" since high school but never went looking for it. Finally got a local guide who took me and Miner John up into the mountains near Indian Creek to find some. And find some we did! Actually found a lot more than the pictures here but some of the pieces were literally boulders and too heavy to pack out. A little research shows this is officially called Californite, not a "true" jade, but a variation because of it's unique colorations. We were told on the other side of the creek from where we were is a huge boulder with spider webs of gold incased in it, but the water was too high right now to reach it. So, a fall trip is planned. Anyway, if interested, do a quick Google search for it. Very cool stuff. Going to cut and polish a bit of it later to show it off. Digger Bob

Purchased a GPX- 4500 package and an additional 12" round NF Evolution coil from Chris at AZO and took it for it's maiden run today. It was toasty in Central AZ today but I just had to give the new set up a go for a few hours. Not a bad first run... scored three little nugs. Totally HOT set up. Dean

Picked up a new White's Treasure Pro for my wife Carla. Very happy with the quality and simplicity of the unit. For 360.00 shipped you can't go wrong, it's light, has auto ground tracking or lock track, backlight display and a 10"DD coil and takes 2 AA batteries . I was playing with it yesterday and it is pretty impressive. Dime at 7" Quarter at 8" not an issue. And no how do I .......this again from Carla! Every ones happy.

Mr BDo1 You can barrow my 7000 for a week or so and get your arm in shape. That would make your 4500 feel like a Gold bug. It's too bad the Arizona heat melted that nugget into three pieces.

Bills place is not high-tone. It is cheap to stay there and more than a few prospectors do. I liked it. LSD is right down the road.

Sorry but Minelab didn't patent the use of Litz wire in coils, they patented a low eddy current coil. Bruce Candy discovered that excess metal in a coil responds as if moving relative to the coil when the coil passes over magnetic ground or ferrite type rocks. Third party coil makers could in fact use Litz wire or stranded wire and not infringe the patent if the coil contained large solder joints or metal shielding or any other excess metal that would normally give a signal if moving relative to the coil. Some third party coils were hopelessly noisy on some ground and this was wrongly blamed on the detector. To demonstrate this, place the coil flat on the ground away from metal and then place a coin on the ground at a distance from the edge of the coil where it would normally give a response if moving. Then pass a ferrite rod, or piece of soft ferrite over the coin and it will give a response as if moving relative to the coil. You can also try placing a 1 gm nugget on the coil and it will give a response if you pass a piece of soft ferrite over the nugget. And Minelab do not use Eric Foster's ground subtraction method. The late sample in Eric's method must be amplified, which means that any target signal in the late sample is also amplified and then subtracted causing a substantial depth loss. The late sample in ML's method doesn't require amplification thus very little depth loss. A little bit of thought and knowledge of nugget modelling should make it clear why this method works better than first thought. Minelab also patented a method that compares the result of one pulse length with the result of a different pulse length, another first, and they also developed the smooth timings that rely on knowledge only disclosed in ML patents and can cancel two different ground types with one setting of the GB. The new salt mode is also novel. To spend a fortune researching and developing these methods and to not patent them is just plain crazy. BTW, one of the few who actually understands Minelab's patent in that Geotech thread is a guy called Clancy, those who expressed a negative view obviously have no idea at all.

I still do some dredging in the summer pays for the winter trip south to metal detect. I dredge in Montana and Wyoming. Use a Keene 4 inch ultra with air and a 3 inch combo( highbanker & dredge ).

Hi Terry, I lived in Columbus Ohio for about 22 years, then broke my back and moved just accrose the river in KY.The Kokosing river did have good gold but can't go there now because of some small shell that is in there. Down at BrainBridge Ohio has the best gold better than other placers in Ohio. I know about the fishing I love that to, I like to set poles and dredge till I get something, that's getting two birds with one stone. -- Tom I know all about those aces and pains, sometimes after a day of dredging I can't walk but not going give it up till the day comes I can't make it to the creek. If I was going to come to Ohio to dredge I wouldn"t go to Swanks it has been worked to death. Look up BrainBridge Ohio, and find Buckskin creek, ask for Bill at the gold camp and everyone knows him. I have hit spots and got about a gram a day there.

LukeJ, I was missing the SDC yesterday after an hour or so of pushing the 12" coil through the clumps of grass. Maneuvering the 8" SDC coil in and around and under stuff is much easier on the arm. Definitely gonna have to get a smaller coil like the 8" for the GPX. The SDC is much more immune to hot rocks as well. I didn't realize how many there were on this patch until yesterday! Dean

and very big arms! or a tame BigFoot

Bill Southern runs one in Morristown.

Here are 2 large Happy Camp Vesuvianite boulders on display in Mount Shasta.

Keep digging and grinning! Until the next hunt LuckyLundy

Not Jade. Nephrite jade is Actinolite an Inosilicate amphibole. Not related to Californite. Californite is massive Vesuvainite, a Sorosilicate. The more gemmy varieties are commonly known as Idocrase outside of Northern California. I've cut some of the better material from Happy Camp and it tends to undercut adjacent to the color changes. I had luck finishing with cerium oxide but my material was darker green and translucent, your material will probably cut different. It's often a pretty stone with sometimes unusual colors. Interesting to note that free gold is sometimes seen in specimens from Happy Camp. You might want to journey across that river next time you stop by. A Californite deposit with gold would be worth claiming.