Leaderboard

This is disturbing to me Mitchel. I made that map and all it shows is who the land manager is and which sections have claims. The simple fact that the BLM is the land manager does not mean the land is open to prospecting or claim. I took the next step for you. I downloaded the Master Title Plat (MTP) for that Township with a click on the Land Status map. The MTP clearly shows that most of the the odd numbered Sections have restricted minerals - as in not yours. So no you can't just look at a simple map and say to yourself "hmmm no claims and it's BLM managed so I'm good to go". The reason this is disturbing to me is myself and others have spent a lot of personal time and money providing free tools and tutorials so the average prospector/researcher can know how to do their legally required Due Diligence before they put boots on the ground. The tools and information are now freely available. Abdicating your personal responsibility to know the land status before you prospect because I provided a map of claimed areas was not the intent of my work. Please don't use Land Matters as an excuse for criminal behavior. Ignorance is never a defense against a prosecution for mineral trespass or mineral theft. The talk here has been of "Claim Jumping". Claim Jumping is the act of trying to steal a mining claim with paperwork and lawyers. Taking minerals from a claim you don't have permission to prospect is highgrading - not Claim Jumping. Higrading in all cases involves the theft of minerals owned by someone else. Apples and Oranges. I get correspondence from a lot of claim owners complaining of higraders. This is not new to mining. Several studies of commercial placer mines have shown that higrading is the biggest threat to a profitable operation. Anyone that has worked for the larger mining companies know they spend a lot of time, money and hours ensuring their minerals are not stolen. Higrading is on every mining companies radar. I often hear excuses like "If the claim isn't marked it's OK to prospect" and the even more common "It's the claim owners responsibility to maintain signs". Neither is true, a few States require corners be checked on an annual basis but in point of fact most states have no legal requirement that claims must maintain markers. In several states corner markers are not required at all for some claims and monuments only have to be present at the time of location. Although as a practical matter the claim owner should do everything possible to put others on notice of the claim it is not the legal responsibility of the claim owner to use signs or markers to keep prospectors off their claim. Prospectors, unlike the general public, have a positive legal duty to know the mineral status of the land before entering to prospect. The claim owner put other prospectors on legal notice when they recorded their "Notice of Mining Claim Location" into the public record. That public record suffices as proper notice under the law even if there are no stakes at the mining claim location. The public record is open for inspection to all people. Potential prospectors need to examine the public record before entering the land to prospect. Land Matters provides links to all the County Recorders right on the Mining Claim maps to assist you in accomplishing that requirement. Where Land Matters could do better is in providing the subsurface mineral status of the lands. As you've seen above not all BLM managed land is open to prospecting or location. It's not just a matter of mineral withdrawals but more subtle issues like those odd numbered sections in parts of Rye Patch that were reconvened and were never open to location. There was no withdrawal there because there were no mineral rights to withdraw. Often those minerals have already been sold or leased. If you are found extracting minerals from these restricted lands the BLM will bring charges of criminal mineral theft. It happens quite often and is frequently prosecuted for something as simple as taking a pickup load of gravel or sand. Then there is the big mass of "dark matter" that is the subsurface estate still owned by the United States. There are nearly 7 million acres of mineral lands, often available for prospecting and location, underneath private lands in the west. Mining companies know this and have legally mined private lands for years. It requires a huge amount of research to determine just where these hidden mineral lands are found. The BLM is tasked with maintaining the records of this huge subsurface estate but between the BLM and mining companies the attitude seems to be "out of sight - out of mind". With very few exceptions these records are available but virtually unobtainable by the average researcher. Land Matters has plans to map these subsurface mineral rights but it's a huge project with little public interest beyond the landsmen and oil and gas industries. We need to see some real public interest before we will commit the resources needed to complete such a big project. Now to the tough part. Most of these complaints I receive of higraders are about metal detecting. Rarely do I hear of processing equipment being used. At least 9 out of 10 reports of higrading I receive are about metal detectorists taking the best and biggest gold. Several of you on this forum have been named by claim owners. I'm not the enforcement guy and I will not be calling you out in public but I do know. For small miners trying to protect their owned minerals from higrading the pointy finger is mostly about metal detectorists. I do know that few of you set out with the intent to detect someone's minerals. In most cases these violations are due to ignorance, intentional or otherwise. Assuming that signs are required or that unclaimed BLM managed land must be available for prospecting are just two examples. I have heard from many prospectors that the big mining companies (or someone who appears to be working for a mining company) allow prospectors to work their claims. I've never found a prospector who had a name, phone number or signed release but this seems to be one of those things "everyone knows". I can tell you that no mining company that has public shares could ever legally allow you to prospect their claims without a work contract. The simple fact that you haven't been caught or run off does not amount to permission. Please learn to do your own due diligence. Please respect mineral owners rights, those minerals are their private property under the law. With a little luck and hard work you could own a good deposit yourself. Barry

We have been finding a lot of trash in Rye Patch so the area isn't as picked over as it might seem. Square nails, screws, bottle caps from a long time ago. Some of this trash a few inches deep so it's obvious that the ground wasn't hit by metal detectors. And we did find gold on Sunday. We do need to upgrade from the ATX Pro and are going to be buying 2 of the Minelab GTZ 7000's. My original post was only to call out that we saw prospectors hi-grading in Section 19 and we are well-versed on who owns those minerals. I didn't realize as a new member to the forum that maybe those prospectors were here! We have many claims that we work out there and have worked very hard to gain the knowledge necessary to locate and maintain those claims. No they weren't bought off eBay we did it the hard way lol. To Rudy and Lucky Lundy you guys were great to talk with at the Gold Digger Inn. We go out to Rye Patch almost monthly so maybe when we see you again you can give us some pointers on operating the 7000's. We're not going to spill any secrets but there is definitely gold still at Rye Patch in certain areas. Again Clay Diggins is the MASTER of claims and all things land-related. His words are worth their weight in gold. No harm no foul we move forward from here as fellow miners.

Rail Dawg, I was in Rye Patch last week. I did extensive research before I went. I took the time to walk to many of the section markers (corners) on section 17, 19, 9 and a few others. I saw claim markers in some areas and did not go into your section 18. There is a lot of unclaimed ground out there. I might want to file a claim! I for one think that if you pay for a claim you should have the right of enjoyment. (I think you should also display signage which many do.) I try to make sure of the quarter section of any claim so that I am not jumping. My phone GPS now has the sections marked. For some miners/prospectors this is too much trouble. We know they violate decency in addition to mining laws. They don't fill their holes no matter the claim status. Let's get to the maps and the Land Manager status. If you look on My Land Matters and any other mining map that is current I suspect then you will see the Land Manager Map. Please note that there is NO PRIVATE LAND in 32N 32E. All land is BLM or Bureau of Reclamation. You can see the total placer claims and lode claims in the other sections. In many cases the total acres claimed within those sections is less than the total acres in the section. Sections 17 and 19 (in the middle of the area we are talking about) have no claims. Nothing in 32N 32E is private land. I don't know what the Pershing County Sheriff can do when I show him I'm on BLM land in section 17, 19 or others, do you? Mitchel

Thanks for the kudos and your continuing support Dawg. I should point out that Land Matters is a group effort based on volunteers and donations from the public. I myself am a volunteer. Land Matters has a board of directors (I'm not an officer) as well as a nearly full time director. There are no paid employees and no advertising. I couldn't do what Land Matters does without the help of the many volunteers and donors. Many of those volunteers and donors post on this forum. Land Matters couldn't exist without those individuals support. This isn't really all about me, I'm just the loudest voice among many. My personal thanks go out to the many donors, supporters and volunteers that make Land Matters possible. Barry

A claim entitles the claimant to the mineral rights, nothing else, and taking a photo of someone lic. plate just proves the camera works, nothing else. Try photographing someone removing minerals if ya want to prove something, and good luck with that

The deer and the antelope still play in Rye Patch. I've been there many times during the winter months and seen them. BLM is concerned with more than just minerals when they manage the land. I think in this particular area they've cut a deal with the mineral owners (big mining companies) to manage the land with all the other sections for the benefit of the wildlife. If you look outside of this area you will see the checkerboard of private and public lands is still in effect. You will have to look that up on My Land Matters. (Give them a few bucks for taking difficult BLM files and making it easy for us to understand. I do.) A few nuggets on the surface (less than 2 feet) is of little concern to a mining company. Mining companies want deposits, not nuggets.

Mitchel: Fine gold (in most ground) with gain flat out and little stabiliser. Threshold not off but "Burbling" Lots of strange noises with this setting but it's amazing how you can train your mind to filter out the irrelevant ones. I've found much gold on well flogged areas using them, such as that ugly specimen. Others claim that you will miss faint signals in the noise, but my experience is that there aren't any faint signals using these extreme settings. They boom in! On the subject of noisy detectors, years ago, Jim Stewart and I detected with some Aboriginals from Laverton, WA who kindly showed us some of their patches they'd hammered with their SD2000's. We were amazed to find that they didn't much care about settings like threshold and ground balance, but we failed to find anything further with our then state of the art SD2200's and custom made coils

Sorry about the intermission but with Reg away the image descriptions are lagging - - - I'll stall for time by posting some more recent finds we've made working together. Not in the same league as the early stuff but it helps pay the bills. I mentioned on the QED thread how in 2015 I stumbled onto an entirely new gold area in central Victoria which began in state forest and ran onto private property. Here are the initial finds on public land. The ugly oz specimen (in two halves) at the front came from a different public area, Daisy Hill, Amherst: From an unworked lead to the south of the initial discovery area in the same forest: Last year we chased it onto private property. Reg detecting the "golf course" : It kept coming: Then we found some half reasonable deeper pieces. Clear targets with both the 7000 and 5000 with 18" Elite: My cordless lipo system using either TDK or Sennheiser "Kleer" transmitters. I finally decided the Sennheiser were best: Earlier this year we kept extending the area onto more private land, but we now both use the QED's and the results were posted on the QED thread.

Just got back from 5 hours the Gold Prospectors Association of America (GPAA) show in Indianapolis. Many of you know that GPAA puts on about seven of these each year -- five out West in the early part of the year and typically a couple in the East in the Autumn. The last of 2017 is next week in Concord, NC. This is my second (first was last Sept. in Denver) and I came better prepared. For me, by far the best part was attending the lectures (my term, maybe not theirs). There were four one hour presentations and I made three of them. 1) Kevin Hoagland (GPAA executive and Gold Trails TV show host) talked about metal detecting for gold; 2) Mike Pung (Gold Cube) discussed recovering fine gold; 3) (sorry, missed this one and the presenter's name, but title was something like "Prospecting and Mining") I needed some lunch and wanted to visit with Tvanwho (you might recognize his posting name here). 4) Nelson Shaffer, retired from the Indiana Geological Survey, had a slide presentation on gold in Indiana. Kevin's hour was somewhat of a rehash of the one he did earlier this year(?) with Bill Southern which is on YouTube and has been linked on a thread on DetectorProspector site. But I always learn a lot the second time through, and the opportunity to ask questions in person (which I took advantage of) adds quite a bit. Some of what Mike said is available on his 12 part Youtube series on gold recovery, but although I've watched that twice he still said some things I didn't remember from that well done video anthology. Shaffer's geologist view complements Chuck Lasiter's Midwest Gold book. Three (actually four) highly skilled speakers and I gobbled up all of their wares ravenously! In case you haven't attended any of these, the rest of the show are booths by vendors and GPAA local and national clubs, a centralized panning trough for learning, practicing, etc., and a daily raffle (one free ticket per attendee plus opportunity to buy more). Of note was a Minelab booth 'manned' by two ladies from the Naperville, IL national office. They had (I think) the entire current Minelab line of products (including a photo of Steve H. for a mere $40, but they throw in some gold pans and supplies to soften the price ) PLUS a couple prototypes -- the soon to be released pinpointer and one of only 13 prototypes of the much anticipated Equinox. Although it was operational, it wasn't anything like the English unveiling last month where you could actually swing it over real, digable ground, unless someone had a jackhammer handy. Oh, and I couldn't get away without buying something, another gold pan (Gold Cube banjo pan) to add to my collection -- still in single digits, at least that is what I told my wife.... Didn't help. )

Jeez Louise. I`ve got an idea just crazy enough to work. Anybody who doesn`t want the new coil shouldn`t buy it. I only started this thread because I thought SOME members of this forum might be interested to know the new coil will be availble soon. Anybody who doesn`t want it shouldn`t buy the damn thing. And I still want one

Cobill, Love your History lesson! I’m not here to get either of you claim owners upset! All claim owners have the same problems w/Unauthorized minerals withdraws. Like Clay’s above information everyone should know the basics to know where they are in searching for a nugget! The underlining problem is only One Percent do. Next time your out in the Goldfields, stop and ask someone where section 8 or 18 is located. Like, Clay mentioned above not knowing where your at isn’t much of and excuse...but, it’s a fact. Until all Prospectors are educated on researching open/claimed mineral land status this is a never ending story we face with our claims. Now, I’ve had adjacent claim owner problems as well...they all ready know your sweet dredge or Detecting spots. LuckyLundy

I just made yet another donation to MyLandMatters.org Clay Diggins (Barry) works hard to bring this information to all of us and it is a site worth visiting on a regular basis.

CoBill, I believe, I talked to you and your GrandSon out in Rye Patch a month or more back. If I remember right you didn’t have much luck. Your claim is on a main road with one of your claim markers. That would be a great place for you to place a map of your claim for Folks that are new to our hobby. Kind of like rest stop maps, your Here! My claim boundaries are within the Highlighted area. Remember only One Percent of Folks out there can understand claim paperwork. Just like only One Percent of Folks consistently find nuggets. Again, your claim was hunted for the last 25 years by the best in our hobby. I’m sure there are a few more left for you and your GrandSon to share the hunt in finding! But, the Hey Day’s of Rye Patch are long gone. Yet again, remains easy access for new folks to our hobby to have a chance of digging up a nugget! I’m more than happy for you and Rail Dawg in claim ownership. Instead of threatening verbiage try educating the young enthusiast in our hobby! Hope to see you in the goldfields with a big smile on your face and a sweet nugget to go along with it. LuckyLundy

The map above is the status of the area today. What it means to me is that I can go into any open section or any unclaimed area in that map and prospect and locate gold legally. Just as a miner's claim is protected my right to prospect open land is also protected. I am protected by the mining laws and BLM. If they didn't want me on the land then they could change the land status to restricted but they have not.

Every claim in Sections 08, 18, 20, 24 and 30 I know are fully claimed. The odd-numbered sections are privately owned and Nevada Law does not require owners to post No Trespassing signs. We as prospectors are obligated to find areas that aren’t claimed or privately owned. To not do so earns one the title of Claim-Jumper or Trespasser. MyLandMatters.org is a great place to do research as is LR2000.

You have a photo account here - just load them up when you post!

No pix there; my fo paw.. Was being cutsie, meaning that's me you see walking the shore line in the live vid feed, d'oh.. Nothing really good for me beachside going on a couple years now, good being gold that is with the exception of a couple ear ring post-with-design of all things.. Overall that's mainly been due to several surgical procedures sidelining me more often than not during this entire time frame, coupled first with Matthew sanding everything in for a year followed by Irma recently sweeping everything bare with the ocean continuing to run high and choppy since.. The couple three times I did go out after Irma were as Ammie recently noted -- fighting rip on no-cut overslope the entire time, which is how it continues to be as you've seen.. The good news is most of what got churned up I believe has yet to be detected; the bad news is after this long in the blender who knows how or where it'll settle when it finally can..? Some of what I have found beaching though during this time is over at NuggetShooter scattered in Bill's "Coins, Relics & Treasure" forum.. Mostly silver rings, bit of tungsten... Yeah we all should get together.. I don't head down that way nearly as often as I used to simply because it's become such a PITA getting off the beach from there in-season -- which is just cray-cray because the stretch is both a good drop area and the northern edge of the Treasure Coast.. Aren't many places on the planet one stands as good a chance of finding a reale as a ring.. Swamp EDIT: I just realized my prospecting photos are/were hosted on photobucket.. They did that 3rd party thing and I've yet to open another photo account anywhere else.. The durn things most likely aren't viewable..

I'm in Melbourne Beach....love it there! Couldn't find your pic on the surfguru site. Any good finds lately? I'm a Newbie at beach detecting, a lot different than my nugget hunting here out west. It'll be fun to get out and hit the beaches with MontAmmie! Maybe we can all meet up sometime. :-)

Well I received my December 2017 mag from Lost Treasure today and just on the inside of the first page is the new MX 7. This has to be the same detector that Tom has been swinging around with a orange ring around the face. White's is offering you a look at the detector by way of a video on their site. The only thing said is a test was done with a 8.5 gram 14K gold ring at 14 inches saying gonna need a bigger shovel. I guess to find out more we all need to look at White's video on this detector. Chuck 10/30 edit - you can find the latest White’s MX7 Details & Specifications Here White's MX7 metal detector

Thanks Clay ,I just renewed my membership

Everything is just speculation at this point. If it is Nugget Finder building the coils then Minelab may approve of it. If not and warranties are made void that would certainly hurt sales. I do not think you have to mess with the waterproof integrity of the main control box to do a coil swap. It is also not trivial so this will be an open question until real information is available. I would prefer feuds fostered on other forums be left on those forums. They have no place here.

Clay, thanks for your reply. "Mystery" solved. Points taken.

Hey LuckyLundy, That wasn't me in RP that you met. I only acquired my claim in 2016 and only have a few weeks a year to prospect.. Some background- Major Corporations have owned Sec 18 since the early 1970's. First by Saundra Lee in 1974, then Apollo Gold, and since 2007 Jipangu Gold Corp. Sec 18 became open to claim in 2016, when Jeff Dunmire acquired and then sold the 20-acre claims. So basically, if anybody has been metal detecting Sec 18 in the last 40 years without written permission from one of those corporations, they were higrading. Thanks Barry for all your efforts on Land Matters. Bill

Clay. Thank you. It’s what we live by as miners. You have taught me plenty over the years.

Hopefully Mike/Rob finds the affirmation he is looking for. The Impact is a great general purpose detector that can run with the best VLFs out there. Makro / Nokta have said for some time a waterproof detector is in the works, but that is all that is known about it. That and the Equinox prospecting mode would probably be better subjects for new threads though so will leave it at that.

Rail Dawg, I met you and your Brother at the Pizza Joint at Rye Patch, a week or so back. You swing AT Pro detectors. 99.9% of Rye Patch detectable Gold is long gone for that metal detector! You seem to be blaming all the Claim Jumpers for taking your Claims Riches. Thousands of people enjoy Rye Patch for the relative easy access to hunt for a nugget. Being a Past and Current Claim owner, it’s a job with all the paperwork, checking your corner markers, etc. Most folks, don’t understand Sections of land like Section 8 or 18. Nor, do they understand claims! Here is what I’ve done in the past with folks wondering onto my claims. I tend to put up more signs than just corner signs, I know you only have to have your corners marked. But, most folks don’t know that, especially, when your other corner marker is over a hill or out of sight. I’d also, have with my paperwork, a map of the Claim at each corner. Again, most folks don’t understand coordinates, SE Corner of Sec 8, etc they are just out in the woods or desert to spend a day with Family or Friends. Your claims in the past 25 years have been detected by some of the best in our hobby. I’m sure there is a few left for you and your Brother to find and to enjoy our hobby with others! Here’s to your success LuckyLundy

I see your point about trespassing. In the law you posted I see in the first bullet points: "1. Unless a greater penalty is provided pursuant to NRS 200.603, any person who, under circumstances not amounting to a burglary: (a) Goes upon the land or into any building of another with intent to vex or annoy the owner or occupant thereof, or to commit any unlawful act; OR (b) Willfully goes or remains upon any land or in any building after having been warned by the owner or occupant thereof not to trespass,is guilty of a misdemeanor. The meaning of this subsection is not limited by subsections 2 and 4." Just going on the land is trespassing (an unlawful act) as is the taking of minerals (another unlawful act) with or without signs or warnings. It still doesn't seem right to go onto someone else's private land without permission but maybe that is just me. If one takes the landowners minerals can they also take their cattle? Where is the line drawn? I won't do it as I see it as unlawful. As long as folks are aware that most of Rye Patch especially 08, 18, 20, 24 and 30 are all claimed up and they should not prospect there I'm cool. It's up to Newmont if they don't mind trespassers I won't fight that battle for them. That's all I've got thanks for the good discussion!

I was just helping out a fellow prospector. Sometimes a test nugget makes all the difference.

I'm not sure how it would be illegal to take a picture of someone's license plate. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, it's the law enforcement officials that 'run the plates'. I'm pretty sure they do so when a crime, like mineral trespass has been committed. The pictures of the license plates and the pictures of the illegal mining are used as evidence in charging criminals with a crime.

I think Section 19 is owned by Newmont Mining. I'll do a quick search and find out although they did own it for years or have the lease on it. Have spoke with them recently and they insist they don't want trespassers on their property mainly for liability reasons. I'm friends with many claim owners out there and we keep an eye on each other. I must admit if you steal one game camera it would be funny to have the other cameras catch that lol. No worries we're all prospectors. Don't claim-jump and don't trespass I think we'll all get along just fine don't you?

I would not take a camera that does not belong to me. It might belong to a hunter or is there for some other reason, maybe monitoring cattle by those who graze there.

Chuck, I believe you now and I believed you then!!

If the claims are clearly and properly marked I doubt many people will chance jumping on to a claim especially one like section 18. Section 19 has plenty of detectable gold and it's not claimed. Also Dan kindly offers his GOOD claims to anyone for 20 bucks a day. A simple google search shows that " running plates" is illegal. So if your running plates I wouldn't advertise that. None of the land is marked no trespassing. Owning a claim is different from owing the land. Also so if I see a game camera laying around on on unmarked land it's going in my backpack. Best solution is to clearly mark your claims. I doubt many people are interested claim jumping the sections you have. Make friends with the local people. You catch more flys with honey.

Well we finally got our first good storm and so I went up to my little beach to see what it is doing.....The drifts are gone and the blond sands are getting a pretty good washing out. So we may have some sand to work after all this is over.

Hey Rail Dawg, If you see any claim jumpers on my two 20-acre claims in NE Sec 18 run them off! Those claims were expensive. I was out there in May and a neighboring claim owner stopped by and we talked...he had to run some guys off my claims. They dug holes without back filling them, left a pick and Kellyco bag....my buddy has them now. Bill Moore Laporte, CO.

Marvelous post Steve. Although I may never be able to afford both machines, you have convinced me about the reliability and effectiveness of both. Although the only experience I have had with detectors is the Goldmaster Vsat, I am very comfortable with manual ground balancing, so I would probably lean toward the GB2. It's been around for a long time, as you pointed out and for me its effectiveness cannot be denied. Both you and Lipca's experiences with the GB2 pretty much had me convinced before, but this post you made really clinched it for me. Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out, it helps a lot.

From the Minelab Facebook page

Peg, I thought you did the Gulf Coast in the winter..? Must be thinking of another.. Anyhow, here's the link to the Cocoa Beach Pier web cams (Indialantic, Melb. Bch. & a few other's on here too..) That's me carrying the funny looking half-size round scoop (until T Rex shows up at my door..): https://www.surfguru.com/ Swamp

I've had both coils on my F75 and I prefer the 3"X6 over the 5" round. I no longer have the F75 but I've found that I also perfer the 3"x7 on my Makro Racer 2 over the OOR or the 5.5" round. I feel the 3"x6 offers better separation on targets with more ground coverage at the same time. Of course the separation isn't better when hitting a target next to trash on the vertical. If you already have the 5" round coil, keep it. If you didn't already have the 5", then I'd recommend the 3"X6.

One of our dealers sent me this email today. NO I don't know the guy's name and YES if I find out who it is you can be damn sure I will try and get permission to go detecting with him next time: "My customer, (who would like to remain anonymous) a Southern Oregon Gold Dredger that loves to be out in our mountains all year round. He spends his summer weekends in the water with his dredge. A few years ago, he decided to try his hand at Metal Detecting the ground his has been traipsing over for 25 or 30 years. We discuss his options. He has had an MXT for years, but for Placer Gold it just wasn’t going to avoid the hot rocks and cover the tuff ground that he wants to look in. I sent him out with my demo GMT and my personal TDI SL. Clearly the TDI SL was the right choice for his highly mineralized ground. So the machine was decided. He also wanted the right coil for HIS ground. He works a lot of shallow bedrock, also right on the edge of the creek and up the bank often following bedrock. He decided on the SMALLEST folded mono coil we could find with the elliptical shape. His terrain is tuff, rocks and trees in all the right places / wrong places, depending on if something is found. Fast Forward 2 Years: He has had a very exciting year. Finding the smallest picker first and getting bigger each time. He has purchased a second coil to cover more ground and get the optimal depth. We have also just finished our research for an increased voltage battery for the best performance and longer run time on the bigger coil. Thank you for all your support Please enjoy the pictures of your successful product!"

MontAmmie -- Gotcha, on the unit's language. I'm sure EMI was part of it, no doubt. But wow, as a VLF-only person for all of my time in this hobby, I just could not get "comfortable" with what it was trying to say to me, in the relatively short time I ran it! Destin is a real nice place, beautiful white sand and turquoise water -- but don't take my finds as any evidence as to whether you want to try hunting there, or not! I am clueless! Plus, Hurricane Nate had things pretty well "sanded in" from what it seemed like to me, and from what others more experienced with such conditions told me after the fact. I managed about 5 bucks in clad, a junk earring, and a junk necklace pendant, plus the usual assortment of pull tabs, ring tabs, lead weights, zipper pulls, etc. etc. Like I say, nice place; it would probably be worth it for you to stop and check it out. The Gulf beaches in north Florida and vicinity are really nice IMO. I grew up in PA and so all of my "beach experience" is on Atlantic beaches. Now that I've experienced both, I MUCH prefer the Florida Gulf beaches... Steve

From my own testing mono coils on the TDI tend to be more sensitive to smaller pieces. They can also be a little more finicky to ground balance due to the sensitivity. But a small mono is hard to beat in trashy areas or around large rocks and brush. Glad you were able to get in on the garage sale, it was a big hit this year and I hope we will do it again next September.

The 71 kHz Gold Bug 2 and the various 19 kHz Gold Bugs are totally different beasts. The modern 19 kHz Gold Bugs are general purpose detectors with full discrimination and target id options. If you want versatility then look at the 19 kHz Gold Bug versions described here. I am going to assume you really meant Gold Bug 2. The 71 kHz Gold Bug 2 and 45 kHz Gold Monster are more along the lines of “dedicated nugget detectors”. The Fisher Gold Bug 2 has been on the market for over twenty years and is as well proven as a detector can be. It is very much a manual tuning detector requiring some operator expertise. The Minelab Gold Monster 1000 has been on the market for less than a year. It is the opposite of the Gold Bug 2 by trying as much as possible to automate things for ease of operation. I own both of these detectors and I have to admit your question is a tough one. I believe that I can find gold about as well with one as the other though I give the Gold Bug 2 the nod for the tiniest gold due to the 71 kHz frequency and manual ground balance plus the magic of the little 4” x 6” concentric elliptical coil. The Gold Bug 2 control box can be chest or hip mounted which means featherweight on the arm and good for working in and around water. Yet if I was going to take one right now to go prospecting I would probably choose the Gold Monster. In general I just like the grab and go design and ease of operation. The control box unlike the Gold Bug 2 is sealed against water and dirt and the rubberized controls are easy to clean. The knobs and switches on the Gold Bug 2 really like to gather and hold dirt and so I find the Gold Monster to be a relatively robust design that I can toss around and roll in the mud and even use in the rain with no worries. Operationally I like the automatic ground tracking and I definitely prefer the metered visual discrimination system versus the constant “switch to iron disc mode” required on the Gold Bug 2. Both the Gold Bug 2 and Gold Monster are more powerful in all metal mode. Going into the iron disc mode on either cuts depth quite a bit, like 10% or more. With the Gold Monster if you get a target in all metal, the meter will slam hard left of ferrous targets. Anything much less than that hard left slam you should probably dig. Now, if the nugget is deeper than the discrimination can reach, the meter will do nothing. That again is your clue to dig. The Gold Bug 2 iron disc mode identifies ferrous by simply not beeping on it. You get the target in all metal, then switch to iron disc, and if it still beeps, you dig it. No beep, it’s ferrous, so no reason to dig, right? True, but the catch is a nugget that is deeper than the disc mode will reach will also not beep when you flip to iron disc mode. So was the target ferrous, or just too deep? Savvy Gold Bug 2 operators know that on very weak targets switching to iron disc mode basically does not work. You need decently strong signals in all metal in order to be sure the machine is even seeing the target when you switch to iron disc mode. Otherwise you can be passing on gold because the signal is too weak to trigger the iron disc circuit. This can’t happen using the Gold Monster in all metal and relying on the meter, because the meter can only register if there is enough signal to play with. No meter action means “too deep, don’t know, dig it”. I therefore prefer the GM1000 when it comes to efficiently working with ferrous trash. As Lunk notes, the Gold Monster also costs less and comes with two coils and a rechargeable battery system. So why am I hanging on to the Gold Bug 2? There are two situations where I still might break out the Gold Bug 2. I prefer the Gold Monster for covering ground due to the automatic ground tracking. The Gold Bug 2 requires you really be on top of the ground balance in difficult ground. But if I were trying to sanitize a 10 ft x 10 ft area by finding every tiny bit of gold possible, I still prefer the Gold Bug 2 with 6” epoxy filled coil due to its efficiency at “scrape and detect” operations. At full gain the Gold Bug 2 small coil resists knocks and bumps better than the Gold Monster small coil, and this means I can operate more efficiently not having to baby the coil to avoid false signals. The other situation is when in small nasty hot rocks. In all metal these are both very hot units, and you will find ground where the hot rocks just won’t shut up. The solution with either is to go to the iron disc mode. This treats most hot rocks as ferrous targets and they simply go away. So far at least it seems to me the Gold Bug 2 runs cleaner in iron disc mode. The Gold Monster offers up these little spurious “ghost signals” that have me hesitating although they are obviously a false signal of sorts. I admit however to having not used the GM1000 nearly as much in disc mode as all metal mode so part of the problem is probably my not being as used to the Gold Monster in iron disc mode as I am the same mode on the Gold Bug 2. These last two situations are oddball situations and so the truth is I have not spent enough time yet with both the Gold Monster and Gold Bug 2 comparatively under those two exact situations to really sort it out. I believe the Gold Bug 2 has the “scrape and detect” edge but in a year, just how much more gold will that edge put in my bottle? We are talking the tiniest of tiny gold here. Like 1/10th grain flakes. There are 15.4 grains in a gram. So if the Gold Bug 2 can find 154 of these that the Gold Monster misses I will be a gram ahead. One does have to consider diminishing returns and at what point does a gold pan or drywasher make more sense. And then the dealing with hot rocks and trash, running in iron disc mode versus iron disc mode? Very much a question due to a location I visited recently. Nasty ground, hot rocks, ferrous trash galore. I started in with the Gold Monster but decided I really needed to come back with both the Gold Bug 2 and Gold Monster to run them both on the location as a learning experience. Long story short you will not find many who will praise the Gold Bug 2 more than I, and I am still convinced it holds an edge in some situations. Yet right this moment if forced to keep just one it would be the Gold Monster. It just seems better suited overall for what I am up to these days. I am hanging onto the Gold Bug 2 as much for nostalgia as anything. I swore when I got my latest shiny new model I would keep it forever “just because” but the reality is I am not one for keeping things around if they are not serving a real need. Your question as you can see is one I am personally invested in and I really just can’t come right out and say one of these detectors is markedly superior to the other. For me it is almost sure to be a style thing and how well anyone person meshes with a particular detector. These detectors are at the same time very similar but also complete opposites. Old timers comfortable with the Gold Bug 2 will no doubt continue to be comfortable with it. But for a person totally new to both detectors? That is an extremely interesting question. Part of the problem here is I am so very familiar with the Gold Bug 2. What I consider an easy machine to run most novices would find to be just the opposite with the totally manual operation. When I was a dealer you would be amazed at how many people struggle just to learn how to ground balance a detector. I can see how a person totally new to both machines might take to the Gold Monster far more rapidly. That was one of the main design goals - get novices up and running quickly. Anyway, that was a tough question. Right now my answer for myself is “have both” but in 2018 it is very likely my Gold Monster will get a lot of use while my Gold Bug 2 may get little or none. It may even find a new home. The question in my mind keeps coming back to whether or not I should sell the Gold Bug 2, while there is no such question in my mind regarding the GM1000. It stays for sure. And that’s as close an answer as I can offer right now. Rest assured, if mastered, they both can deliver the goods.

Hi Robbie and welcome to the forum. Big coil for deeper/larger targets and small coil for smaller/shallower targets. I've been using mine quite a bit lately when I can get out for an hour or two. Mostly trying to hit trash infested spots and utilize the discrimination which is essentially why I bought this machine. Are you expecting too much from it? Well, my answer is that the HM will find small gold and it will also find larger, deeper gold IF IT IS THERE. And I think that is the key - the gold has to be there first. I have dug about 30cm for a really large bullet projectile (unsure of caliber) and about 50 centimeters for a large bit of pipe (showing as non-ferrous). So I don't think you are expecting too much of the GM but maybe too much of the goldfields - the yellow stuff is pretty sparse. Is it the bees knees for beginners? Well, it is easy to use, there aren't many settings but there are still some things you can tweek for the location you are detecting. Also, considering you are in quite mineralized ground (Australia) a VLF may be a bit trickier to use than in the US, NZ, Africa, etc. Personally, I think the bees knees for a beginner is the SDC. It is very, very forgiving in hot ground, extremely sensitive, basic to use, waterproof, has reasonable depth, lightish, good battery life, compact, etc, etc, etc. You mentioned the GPX. The GPZ, SDC and GM I have or do own, a GPX I have not so it is a bit hard to comment and someone can correct me if I am wrong. The one thing that I am told constantly is that the GPX series has a mirriad of setting combinations and has a really long, steep learning curve. And then add in the tens of coils that you can utilize and the choice just gets mind boggling. To my mind it is not a beginners machine unless you have the time, understanding and patience to really get the best out of it. For those that can do this the GPX series is super versatile. I hope that helps and doesn't confuse you more Edit: and what minesweeper and orphirboy said above

Hi Robbie The detector you have purchased is the cutting edge in automated high frequency vlf detector capability . It won't penetrate nearly as deeply as Pulse induction units on small to medium nuggets in mineralised soil but is certainly on a par with its vlf competition . Earlier vlf detectors using lower frequencies could penetrate a little deeper but could not pick up the very small pieces , hence the move to higher frequencies in the 40-70 Hz range to pick out the bits the Pulse induction units and older vhf units missed . The Sdc 2300 is a Pulse induction unit aimed at finding small gold in heavily mineralised soil and has been in circulation for a few years now , accordingly a lot of targets that may have been found with the Gold monster have been cleaned up by the Sdc.Its always a hard ask to expect a vlf unit costing around a thousand dollars to compete in our soil as well as units costing 4-8 times as much . Having said that, I have a Gold monster that I use with some success in areas that have conditions or depths that negate the advantages of Pulse induction and give the vlf a chance.If you look at some of the other posts regarding the Gold Monster you will notice that most users are adapting the detector to a particular type of specialist use such as cleaning up smaller pieces after the ground has been worked with Pulse induction at depth , or chasing gold caught in bedrock with the small coil in tight spaces . So in essence the gold monster is on a par with its high frequency competition , and being fully automated it is a great choice for beginners in mineralised soil ,it's not the best detector for general use in the oz goldfields that's the domain of the long list of PI units, but it's certainly a long way from the worst. Pick areas that you believe could hold small gold trapped in areas close to the surface And your on your way to success with the Gold Monster . As you say , better out there looking than sitting home dreaming . Good luck with your GM Paul

Hi Mike Having used all types and brands of detectors for well over 40 years . I have noted not by chance that the most successful electronic prospectors are the ones who research gold bearing areas and who have confidence in whatever machine they choose to utilise.As others have said ,it's only splitting hairs as to what vlf machine suits one person over another . The Nokia impact runs at a frequency similar to the Mine lab x terra machines and I know quite a few people who have had success prospecting with these ,and thousands of nuggets where found with vlf detectors before Pi units emerged.The abundance of reports on the GM 1000 are simply due to the fact that minelab has not released a purpose built prospecting vlf detector since the Eureka many years ago ,and the fact that it is the first fully automatic machine on the market .One thing that has changed in 40 years are my expectations knowing that the ground has been covered by people using sophisticated PI machines and so naturally gold is harder to find and I now have to concentrate at using higher frequencies in a vlf to find the smaller bits left behind , you will notice a lot of people using the GM and Gold Bugs to snipe bedrock gold that is shallow , Rather than search general ground where the PI machines fair much better at deeper larger nuggets .Take little notice of the you tube videos pitching vlf against Pi machines.its a non contest especially in highly mineralised soil .My advice would be to learn where your unit excels and then find gold deposits that match the machines abilities to locate them . You really do have to target your efforts these days to have a fair chance of success. I am quite sure there are numerous people on this and other forums who will tell you are wasting your time with a vlf detector in Australia in 2017 and in some respects and in some areas they may well be right. However we all have budgets and time restrictions as part time prospectors and the Nokta is no slouch and I,m sure can hold its own amongst others of the same ilk .ignore the knockers and get out and enjoy your hobbie ,learn your machine until your confident in what it's telling you ,the Aussie bush is just a wonderfull place to be gold or no gold. Regards Paul

I'm going to jump in here regarding the Iron-silver wrap around of the X-terra vs the Fisher F75/F19. On the X-terra a large iron signal will indeed give you more false hi-tones. This indicates either your ground balance is off or indeed a very large piece of iron. The Fishers don't exhibit this wrap around as much because they've chopped off a little of that very high conductive ID for you. So rather than iron starting to high-tone false when your ground balance is off, it grunts more and more. Leaving you with the question. Is my GB Off or am I coming into more iron? Want to hunt with the X-terra like the Fisher, just notch out that highest number. I prefer not to myself, but sometimes on rough mineralised ground I will notch out that number, making it huntable. Why I don't like to do it,... fixed ground balance that is spot on has given me some deep and accuratly ID-ed targets. And the X-terra running in all notches open gives me the most chance of it happening.

Even though you may have made up your mind (at least on some things, such as ruling out the F19) I think it's worth adding some of my experiences (opinions?) The above link has excellent pricing on a new Teknetics G2, which is AFAIK the same electronics & performance as the Gold Bug Pro. Steve has, in multiple places, indicated the minor differences between the F19 and the GBPro. (BTW, Teknetics version of F19 is G2+ -- yes, almost same name but with a plus-sign.) I have a Fisher Gold Bug pro with 5 coils (three factory, a 15 inch Nel Attack, and a 6 inch Coiltek prototype that never made it to production), a Whites TDI/SPP (almost same as TDI/SL) with 5 working coils plus a Garrett Infinium coil I'm trying to mod, and finally the Minelab X-terra with the stock coil (7.5 kHz) 8 inch round concentric plus Coiltek 'Digger' (2.5 kHz) round DD. My experience with these detectors, mostly coin hunting but some nugget hunting is far below what it needs to be in order to give strong advice. I will say that I like all of them. The TDI/SPP is super easy to set up and run, and does well in hot rock infested Arizona desert and Colorado mountains. The GBPro is (in my limited experience) very good at finding small metal bits (no native gold yet ) and does very nicely coin hunting. It only has three tones (actually two true tones plus silent) in discrimination mode so it's not as diverse in that (and many other ways) as the X-terra 705. But it's super lightweight and I don't miss the notching (which it doesn't have, but the F19, G2+, and X-terra have) because I'm digging everything above iron, anyway, and I mean that for old coin hunting as well as nugget hunting. I've put in about the same amount of time with the X-terra 705 as the GBPro (rough estimate 75 hours each), but mostly with the small Coiltek Digger since the sites I hunt are loaded with iron (mostly nails). I'm still getting to learn the wraparound from iron to silver.... OTOH, the GBPro TID doesn't always give the truest reading (some larger iron reads conductive -- i.e. in the coin region) and maybe every detector made today has some kind of TID issue. In my opinion, if saving money is important, check out used detectors on eBay where 50% of retail is typical and sometimes you can do better than that. (Of course there are exceptions for the newest and/or most popular models, where 60-75% of retail is more likely.) And the Teknetics T2 is very similar to the Fisher F75, except it apparently only works with DD coils (which, IMO, isn't a big loss, at least in my limited experience). Some people say being able to run concentrics IS a big deal and they probably know better than I do.... I've had very good luck (if you want to call it that) buying used detectors and coils. Sometimes there is warranty left on used detectors, too. Getting new detectors is fun and I've come close to buying used F75/T2 and also a used Whites VX3, but I took Steve's advice and decided to learn to better use the ones I have, for now. Besides, by the time I'm ready to get another there may be some new, revolutionary detector available and I'll want to put my money on that. Even if I go with tried-and-true, the used prices are very likely going to be lower than they are now. On top of that, winter is setting in and I'm not as fortunate as some of you to live where detecting is a year round opportunity. But I retire in 20 months.

7 minutes: 10 greatest metal detector finds - awesome! Babes not included.