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I took the GPZ 7000 out for its maiden voyage today. I tried the bottom of the claim where we have not found much. Partly because of deeper float sand and not much luck with nuggets. Only a couple have been found down there, however one of those was a 6 gram. So I went over my gold corner first. This place only has small nuggets .25 gram all the way down to .01 gram. So as the title says I found my first two nuggets. The first one was my biggest of the day and biggest ever at 1.16 gram about the size of a pinto bean. This one was down about 6 inches inside schist bedrock. When I located it I thought it was small, so I grabbed the tweezers. Boy was I happy to see the real size. The other one was .18 gram just a standard flat one. It was odd however in that I got a double sound off it. I think it was because it was standing upright smashed between bedrock fingers, down about 2 inches. I will update with my settings later so I can get input from you guys.

Here’s some pics of last day out...it’s been cold and rainy over here!!! Those jokers from FNQ had me all worried that it would be too hot if I didn’t hurry over..... i think they knew what they were doing....they shifted baby sitting duties to WA....lol Antway got on to a good two day run ...about 5gms with one 54 gm ironstone specie ! My first...almost kicked it away as a hot rock... I inspect everything that beeps now!

Simple....old age. Alaska is no fun sitting through 7 months of cold and dark when you are too old to do the things you went to Alaska for. I'm in Siskiyou County on the Klamath River.

Took a close up of bigger nugget which was actually 5.9 grams.

On this kind of specimen (gold in quartz) the quartz is what makes any particular specimen unique. Once it is removed it is just very rough looking gold. I had a large specimen at just under 1 oz that the original owner had given an acid bath. It removed all the quartz and left a very rough look to it, almost like a sponge. If it were mine I would give it a vinegar bath to enhance the luster of the gold and clean off any dirt residue and iron stain. Specimens are quite impressive if you have a number of them, with each one displaying it uniqueness and contrasted against the others when on display.

Been trying time graduate from the Trent King School of Goldolgy, damn he's a strict instructor!!! I snuck off for a while for winter break, but I will be back. Here's what he taught me how to do so far..... Now I need to use what I learned consistently. Cheers

Came across a post on Facebook, about this gentleman testing a few aftermarket coils. This really opened my eyes this morning. I was under the impression that the Minelab coils were chipped and no aftermarket coils could be used. If this was the case? Why did they wait so long? The smaller coil would suit my needs just perfectly. X Coil 2021 News

I stopped byto see the landowner and possibly drop off a box full of wheat pennies a couple Indian heads, the most recent shoe buckle, and a musket ball for the home owner but he wasn't there and the family said he probably wouldn't want the stuff anyways and to go back and detect if I wanted. I went back to the lawn first and realized that there weren't a lot of good signals. It probably had to do with the fact that in each hole there were at least two cut nails and EMI affecting the detector. I decided to hit in the woods where the old well was and I picked up that half dollar it was awesome. I then put my sensitivity at 18 infield two mode and the guy on finding some cool relics.

Hey everyone... My focus this year is buffs, V's and war niks..... wasn't thinking of gold. I spent half day at one of my usual pounded Los Angeles parks. Got a little clad and 17 nickels in my pouch. This 600 knocks the cr_p out of nickels. I get another nickel signal (12/13) and dig approximately 4 inches. Because I've been fooled before by coins that initially appear to be gold, I didn't get too excited. But when I cleaned off the dirt and looked real close, I couldn't find any markings. So then I thought, some sort of fake gold or something. Even the white pearl in the setting was breaking down and I thought it was plastic. I did the magnet test at home and it passed but still not totally convinced.... heck this could be brass maybe, I thought? This morning I take it to a jeweler and he puts it through his tests. He says it's 18k. Says it looks made in Asia and markings worn or very old ring. Then another jeweler repeats the process and he concurs with the first jeweler. He then says, "I'll give you $40 for it". I asked, "what's it worth retail?"... he puts it on a scale and says "maybe $1,000 just for the gold". I think you know what I said next. They were interested in setting a new stone in place but I told them it's for my girlfriend and I'll let her handle it. I've made purchases here before so there were no hard feelings either way. Thanx for stopping in everyone and as always.... HH

Its been a tough year so far. Many a skunks. My Buddy Dave and I have been trying to think outside the box, looking for new areas with very little luck. Our old areas are pretty damn pounded by us. Dave had some family obligations so I went out this past Sunday myself for a short hunt to beat the Nevada heat. I decided to go back to an area where i found 2 random nuggets about 30 yards apart. One was 1.5 gram in a tiny negligible small dry tribal. The other was a nice three gram solid found in a flat spot over a foot deep. I got to the area and hit a couple of nearby washes for nothing. Working back to where I found the nuggets I started grinding the area, working up hill from the nuggets. I was just about to the point where I had planned on quitting when I got a trashy chirpy signal. It moved on the first scrape with my foot, and I figured trash (this area has very little trash, almost none) got it in the scoop and it was a tiny specie. It was in the trailing of a rodent burrow so I wasn't sure if it was from deep. I started slowing down and overlapping my swings and got a solid signal next to a creosote brush. Turned into a nice sub gram nug. Made a circle around the Bush and got a screaming signal that I figured could be a bullet. Only 4 inches down in some soft overburden came out the large 5.1 g nugget. I back tracked a bit from there working the same line down the slope and got a nice deeper signal next to another creosote. Nice 1.5 gram nug. All very rough with rock and quartz. I tried working the line up the slope for nothing else. Going to go back and work the bench at top of slope. I had been getting discouraged so it was a nice shot of adrenaline. I was supposed to be getting hip surgery today but insurance denied my claim last minute. Filing appeals and grievances so we'll see what happens. I was supposed to be on crutches for 3 months after 1st surgery then have the 2nd which is a hip replacement. So I would have been on the bench for a while. The surgery is supposed to be in Vail Colorado so I was thinking about doing so prospecting there before the surgery. Stay out of the heat! Chris

Well I don't think better customer service is even possible. Last weekend my Equinox 800 suddenly would not charge. After concluding it had to go in I left a message at the repair center in Illinois. Monday morning they returned my call and issued an RMA and it shipped out on Tuesday m. On Wednesday late afternoon I got an email from Minelab that they received the unit and would contact me after it's looked at. Less than 24 hours later I get another email that my 800 is in shipment but no details. I replied asking what they found as the problem. Minutes later they replied that faulty units or parts are evaluated in Australia, but that the unit would not charge with a known good charger, and that changing the Lithium Ion battery also did not fix the no charge problem. So I replied again " am I to understand you have shipped a new control pod?," and moments later they replied " that is correct" Tracking says it will arrive on Tuesday. First class customer service, Minelab!

Paul you are SOFT ? Note the shorts leeves ? This is the Aussie way mate.

Quote.....i think they knew what they were doing....they shifted baby sitting duties to WA....lol Crikey, we give the lad the good oil, go west young fella.......go west........ Dunno...... convicts these days just aren`t like they were once........just not Bushranger material anymore.......

Picked up this 1977 pop top to use while here... It is old but well built... I may have to do a tire upgrade... A new friend who sells tires here in Leonora told me it didn't matter what brand they ares long as they are, round, and full of air...lol This is an upgrade from the Taj tent. Fridge, stove, bed, 60 liter water, battery, solar, 240 volt, propane!...I will be able to jettison a lot of the gear I have stuffed everywhere on the fourby. This can also be mangy home while caretaking leases to keep the claim jumpers at bay.

After work yesterday i went to the beach at 9pm for a start at 9.30pm . There is a big thing going on at this weekend and the beaches are very crowded . I started low down the beach but found little so started to search between the crowds and found coins , if the beach was less busy at that time i would have found much more . Later in the search i found a £10 note and then a £20 note . I also found a few mobile phones but left them alone , cant be bothered with them . As it says in the title it was a big q!55 up and there was tons of rubbish all over the place . I always take a rucksack with me and i found during the search 16 440 and 500 ml tins of Stella and other Beers , i also had 3 liters of drink in the ruck for me too so i was getting weighed down by the time i found all that and there was lots more beer i could have picked up but had to leave . At the end of the search which i had to cut short because of the Beer i had found 2 junk rings , the 2 notes and £62.92p in coinage , no picture of the Beers , 3 have gone now . I would have stayed on the beach till the first Bus at around 8am but i was knackered . I dont know if i can get back out this week . Mum is going into Hospital in London Guy's Hospital for her Lung Cancer Operation on Wednesday , when she comes home all being well she will need to be looked after and i am taking unpaid leave from work to do that for a week or 2 . Maybe Thursday or Friday is possible but ? On Tuesday i will be selling my first Equinox 800 to someone i know from a previous club membership . He needs a new machine and i feel i only need 1 Nox anyway , i will buy new coils laters for it. The next search will be with the ET or the Terra again . I will use the newer Nox later .

Welcome to the forum Leighton. I have used the T2/F75 and G2/Gold Bug Pro in their various flavors (First Texas owns Bounty Hunter, Fisher, and Teknetics and many models overlap). There is no way the T2 has twice the depth of the G2. The two machines are extremely close, with the T2 leaning to a slight edge over the G2 on silver coins due to the lower 13 khz frequency. Conversely, the G2 has an edge on low conductors like gold due to the higher 19 kHz frequency. There is lots more info on these machines on the First Texas Forum and some comparison articles on the Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum The differences in performance between various single frequency detectors operating in the "teens" frequency range of 13 to 19 khz is minimal and I recommend looking more at the feature list to decide what will work best for you.

Ok, had my first hunt with the new Anderson shaft yesterday and it's rock solid, no looseness or creaking. As mentioned in my previous post, I ended up using the Anderson cuff which doesn't have a built-in stand. I really like the built-in stand of the minelab cuff and missed it while detecting yesterday. So last evening I made one for the Anderson shaft. This also covers up the scratches I made to the end of the shaft when I switched back and forth between the minelab and Anderson cuffs. I think my stand will make the detector much more stable when I set it down on the ground.

Thanks for posting this, I needed a gold fix.

Just use the "tap" method to get all your gold(and shot) to one side of the pan then roll the shot out with your finger. I do it all the time.

You can learn to use the 5000! It is a very capable detector with many coil options. I personally do not think you need more than three or four coils. As has been many times the operator is as, or more, important than the detector. If you get one, get Jonathan Porters dvd on the 5000...money well spent! fred

Welcome to the forum Leighton. Best of luck in your choice of a new detector.

One of the things that intrigues me about natural raw gold is the many offbeat ways nature creates Au. This rare (to me) almost sheet type gold is a 1st. It looks as if the liquid metal cooled right between two quarts seams and then just popped out. You can still see small rough white quarts crystals still attached to both sided of this beauty. YES it is! You may think it is ugly and that is fine, but since I own it, I say it is a beauty. Just bigger than my thumb nail and weighs in at 2 grams (30 grains) and was found with the 24K while using the 6" concentric coil at about 8" depth. This one is an Idaho piece and a little unique compared to the others found in years past at that site. I'm wondering if I should tumble it a little to get a bit smoother shine or use a wire brush to add a little sparkle or leave it as is? What would you do with something like this?

Looks interesting. With the pyrites present I dont adivse using strong acids or lime/rust removers as they will react with the pyrites. I'd try bleach first for a week or so to see if it pulls out any organic stains. After that try vinegar on a part of the stone for a week to pull out carbonates and see if that lightens up the quartz. If you do decide to try acid dilute it to about 1 in 10 and try another part of the stone and see how it reacts to the pyrites. Muritic *HCL* pool acid is fairly safe to work with but leave it outdoors and use gloves.

Welcome, Leighton! Have you read Steve's reviews of these two detectors? That's the place to start. (For G2+, read Fisher Gold Bug Pro review; it's basically that with a few coin hunting bells and whistles, which you'll find described there -- same detector as the Fisher F19 with exception of the shaft.) One of the differences between sister models is the search coil each comes with. For example, the Gold Bug and Gold Bug Pro come with the 5 inch closed round. The F19 comes with the 5x10 in^2 closed ellipse. The G2+, Gold Bug DP, T2 come standard with the open 7x11 in^2 eliptical. Closed coils are usually better for ground where native gold is found. Also smaller coils do better with tiny gold, which is the most common size. You can buy coils separately so it's not like you're making a permanent commitment to the coil that comes with the detector, though.

I found this under cap-rock. A retiring nugget was on my mine, but it was buried in a burrow about 10 feet in. The digger is shown below. My bother in-law found these (teeths) while hunting gold ring in an old beach. I got over 50 gold rings instead.

Hi everyone and appreciate the comments. I am on the way home and have some catching up to do. Thanks for keeping the house clean while I was gone! In any case I had a great time and tales to tell in the not too distant future. ?

Depending on what you are trying to clean off of it, Iron Out may work from hardware store. Also a bead blaster works fine on quartz, will not damage it

A photo would be good Mac. It'll let us have a look as to what you want to clean depending on the discoloration. Could be as simple as a little vinegar, baking soda or some CLR but with what you've described I doubt you want to go as heavy as strong acids.

Stop messing around on your iPad and go find the gold!

How rare is this? One of my customers has been finding native Michigan copper nuggets with his Minelab Equinox 800 and said I could share this amazing discovery. Kind of makes my nuggets look like dinks. What do you think something like this is worth?

Nice find. Have never hunted up there for native copper but being a resident of the lower peninsula of Michigan we occasionally find artifacts from the Indian Copper Culture period. Here is a copper awl I found a few miles from home. Approx age age 800 years or older.

I like em just the way they come out of the ground. i'd leave it natural.

Here are some recent 925 silver finds: I am always amazed, when I find such small pieces of silver - keeping in mind my very high swing speed when coin shooting + running beach1! I wonder how many small gold I left on the beach, because it rings in foil range.. but every time I've dug something in foil range, it has been foil Yesterday I've found this nice 925 pendant with that super thin chain. I wonder how I managed to dig it, without slicing it up with my scoop: Clad totals at nearly 600€ now! ... I think it tributes to the execptional good weather we had for the last 2-3 month.

You definately played it smart by calling first and being prepared. There are indeed too many restrictions and I fear more are coming. The cannot "disturb the soil in its natural state" is such BS. This is unncessary and discrimination against recreational prospectors and miners in my opinion, and as big of a double standard as it gets. Immense damage, irreversible destruction of the soil and vegetation, occurs in a commercial mining operation and yet that's just fine and dandy. But the recreational hand miner with a pick-axe, digging a 20 inch deep narrow hole by hand and returning the soils/ rock to cover the hole, is persecuted. It is possible but unlikely we could meet for detecting given I'm more of a loner than social when in the outdoors, especially when hunting gold, which consumes my mind even during the drive (am thinking of my hunting strategy during the drive rather than chatty) and also, my wife and I detect together and she's much like me in the loner category. A big factor is also how extremely short our summers are, which really severely limits what can be done due to other commitments be it the kids or our business, etc. And we detect on our claim as much as we can manage and it's not close by so that's an issue too. In a month it's moose hunting season which is really going to be tough fitting it all in ... summer now more than half over already and am not too happy about it either ha. My wife is winning the contest of whose going to find the most gold in 2018 and am running outta time to catch up

I second everything Mike said. This forum and the one before and all the other forums of the past, which Steve was admin on and placed content, were/ are second to none and on many levels -- not just expertise at a level that's hard to come by, but a man who cares/ gives a damn, which shows in every thread via the responses and posts made, which takes massive investments of time/ energy and a 100% full time commitment, not to mention such high value thoughts/ expertise/ knowledge/ tips/ ideas/ experiences/ guidance/ equip analyses and so on. Just top tier all the way around and rare. And a humble guy despite all of his accomplishments -- here in the great white north he's a bonafide legend among prospectors/ miners/ detectorists. Everyone knows of or knows who Steve Herschbach is. Plus, a talented writer with a knack for teaching and able to dive into complexities with ease and not confuse those who have far less knowledge, namely myself. Prior to 2010 I bought almost everything I own at his former business, Alaska Mining & Diving. I've been a lurker on this forum, and other gold forums for years, but only visting in the winter months when it was not doable to be out actually doing the fun, and yet that's backwards, I should have made the effort to join/ interact during the summer months, during the "in-season zone" and made connections and learned more. My stubborness has a downside just ask my wife. In close, I appreciate the forum including all members. I just wish all the forum posts/ comments could be played on the radio instead of read. That radio would be continuously on and I'd feel no stress about wanting to soak up more knowledge yet also wanting to be outside out of cell range.

14 days off on vacation in spain near alicante. Holy cow! There are some seriously busy beaches over here.. nice clear water, no shells or pebbles .. perfect for metaldetecting. The people over here seem to wear a lot more jewelery than in germany, too. Bummer I have no detector with me..