Steve Herschbach

He found the nugget and the relative got the shaft? Sorry, could not help myself.... Here is the link to the ICMJ online archives where current subscribers can read the article: http://www.icmj.com/article-notloggedin.php?id=2561

There is also the old original vibrating pinpointer, the Vibra-Probe. It is a PI based unit so not as sensitive to small stuff but is waterproof to 100 feet. http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Vibra-Probe-580-PinPointer/dp/B0032D0ADO I do not use the audio on my Garrett and so I sealed the speaker shut with glue. It is now waterproof, but I do not know for how deep or how long!

1. Location, location, location! 2. Work, work, work! 3. Right tool for the job. Pretty much in that order. Love my Gold Bug 2 though. Had one now for 20 years! I am getting ready to sell off most of my detectors but the Gold Bug 2 will survive the cut. Hard to believe in twenty years nobody has built anything better or even as good for hitting the tiniest stuff.

Wow, congratulations Ray, that's awesome! Your first, or just one of many? Never found a gold coin myself but now that I am in gold coin country it is for sure on my list of things to do. I suspect I will have to work a bit harder than you did for that one. That's detecting for you; sometimes great finds just happen.

Last fall I ordered the North Fork American River edition of the FootPrints mapping software produced by Miner Diggins at http://www.minerdiggins.com/ I am far from expert with the software, but my stock in trade is research and I immediately saw the value in this series. In theory it is information I could find on my own for "free" but my time is valuable. Any shortcuts I can take when getting the information I need to go prospecting I am more than willing to invest in. I just ordered the Middle Fork American River, Gold Basin, North Bradshaws, East Bradshaws, and Black Canyon editions, all for less than the cost of a Minelab coil. The most valuable part for me is the current mining claims mapped to more than section level accuracy, which is all you get with other software. Not knocking the other guys - I subscribe to them also. There is a lot of additional value in geologic and historical map overlays. All in all, an excellent product well worth the investment. Now if Clay and Ruby can just get those other California editions completed and available, the sooner the better, I will add to my collection. Great stuff - I just love maps!

From the Fisher Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FisherResearchLabs?

A 65 ounce gold nugget and 72 ounce gold specimen were recently found near Bendigo, Australia by a prospector with a metal detector. I particularly like the 72 ounce specimen, a fine piece with a nice contrast between quartz and thick gold seams. Great story and more photos at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2801160/return-gold-rush-young-dad-strikes-gold-finding-two-large-nuggets-worth-two-thousand-dollars.html The photos in the article are clearly meant to be shared so here are a couple of them. The 72 Ounce Specimen The 65 Ounce Gold Nugget

I stuck with single solder point stuff because it is easy. If you have a good nugget with minimal or no quartz it is no harder than soldering electronics. Take that nice quarter ounce nugget, toss a bail on it and a chain, and watch the price soar. Getting solder to flow correctly for overlay work takes more practice than I ever mustered up.

Another GGG (Gold Getting Gizmo). It even has its own website at http://www.hogpan.com

Hi Greg, Not only not much better, but not as good as. Unless you have money to burn stick with units others have proven can be used successfully for whatever task you envision. Rough rule of thumb is that at least so far when it comes to prospecting a screen is of little use except for making menu selections, or in the case of a VLF detector, displaying a target id number. Most nugget detecting simply focuses on hitting a gold nugget of any size as deep as possible, and all that is needed for that is an audio indication. I can assure you serious gold prospectors will spare no money getting the best, and a good place to watch in general is Australia. Whatever most people use there gets used for a pretty simple reason. It works. And if something better comes along, people are pretty quick to jump on it. Right now the machine of choice would be the Minelab GPX 5000 and bang for buck the Garrett ATX. Except for tossing a gold nugget in their ad to imply the unit can be used to look for gold the Makro units seems to offer nothing of interest to most nugget hunters. The ATX is a very capable and underrated detector. Best of luck with yours!

No books that I have seen but a great video on making gold nugget jewelry. Learn to Make Gold Nugget Jewelry, Instructional DVD by Paul J. Badali http://www.ebay.com/itm/Learn-to-Make-Gold-Nugget-Jewelry-Instructional-DVD-by-Paul-J-Badali-/111151310850 The guy that did the video has a great free article online at http://www.goldgold.com/making-gold-nugget-jewelry.html

Both good machines for working around and in water. Frankly, if you can afford it, get the SDC. But if not the ATX is close. I used to make simple gold nugget jewelry and may have to get back into it. Just pendants, ear rings, and tie tacs. Does anyone buy tie tacs anymore?

Same timeline was announced at the dealer meeting last October in Las Vegas and again last April. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/209-new-minelab-flagship-super-gold-detector/ The Australian forums are certainly all abuzz! FCC documents filed are referring to it as the GPZ 7000 or Jupiter. Lots of people seem to be lining up to buy one not knowing a thing about it. That bodes well for Minelab. I know I have immediately upgraded with each new version of the GP series and not regretted it. Looks like another new detector in my future. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8936 http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t19976-well-could-this-be-it-minelab-s-new-jupiter-gpz-7000-detector

Hi Glenn, Looking great for first day out. I think you beat my total for last three days! May have to drift south soon myself - cold weather finally hits here in a couple days.

Too much to wish for but you never know. I would be thrilled with a more common $5 gold piece.

Yup, I have to have both the ATX and SDC. I am getting ready to sell half the detectors I own, and both will survive the cut.

It looks more like a cache hunting detector than a prospecting detector.

From my perspective Minelab has come close to eliminating my need for high frequency units like the GMT or Gold Bug 2. It actually does better than them in any kind of mineralization and they only still really have an edge on sub-grain gold in low mineral ground. Or of course for sorting through small ferrous trash.

The recent sale of a 75 ounce nugget for around $400,000 equates to over $5000 per ounce, even more considering the nugget is not pure gold. This illustrates something I have told people in my classes in the past. It is only half about how much gold you find. The other half is how much do you get for the gold you find? A person finding an ounce of gold and selling it for $3000 is more successful than a person who finds two ounces of gold and sells it for $2000 total. The first person may have a nice specimen piece and sells it to a collector. The second person has some small gold sold to a refiner. Just something to think about. We all want to find a lot of gold. But think also about the quality of the gold you are finding, and ways to sell your gold to obtain the best price possible. Currently I never sell gold for less than $2000 per ounce, and sell it steadily for that or more. Most of it is in the form of gold I package up and sell as panning gold though my old shop in Alaska. In fact, they are sold out and I need to ship them some more as soon as I make the time. Just one of many ways to maximize the value obtained for gold you sell. Mine I sell simply because gold itself holds no real value for me. It just sits in the safe deposit box doing nothing. I can't even show it off except for photos, and those are good even after the gold is gone. So my goal is to just get a price for it that I consider acceptable so I can use it to fund my prospecting activities, buy equipment, etc. I prospect as a for profit business and I have to maintain a positive cash flow to stay in the black. That being the case, getting top dollar is the name of the game. There is always the other strategy. Never sell it, until you die, then let the wife or kids sell it for you! Chances are they will not get a good price for it though, so best you do it for them.

Hey Bob, Good for you! Great detector for sure, the SDC 2300. It was screaming on specimen gold the TDI could not see when we rolled it on the coil! Amazing stuff to see in person, and most would not beleieve it without seeing it. Frankly, I would not have. The SDC is a game changer in several ways and a real asset for the serious prospector. The only trick is to make time to use it, and I am heading out again right now to do just that. May be offline a couple days to Chris will keep the riff raff away in my absence. Good luck with the new detector!

Hi Chris, Welcome to the forum! Sunriseboy is in Oz and has the AT Pro. I like to keep threads on subject and so split the AT Pro thing to its own thread at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/373-problem-on-beach-with-garrett-at-pro/ AzViper (Keith) is of course in Arizona and has a Nokta like I do. FYI dealers are welcome here as long as they are being helpful. Direct selling is a turn off. That said, the reason I welcome dealers here is they are often the most knowledgeable people around, but business being what it is they tend to shun each others forums. Everyone is welcome here. Selling detectors is a super gig in my opinion. Get to play with the new toys, get to use them free or cheap, and get to talk detecting all day. Does not get much better than that! I would miss it but between the forum and prospecting I get the best of the best and do not have to deal with grumpy customers! Anyway, I am threatening to take the thread of course myself so will leave it there. The Nokta are great units, you guys are going to sell a few. I need to get back out with mine soon but am fortunately into some pretty clean ground right now so it is PI time. I want to take the Nokta out for a spin ghost towning soon though looking for gold coins. That is still something I have never found and the FORS Gold is just the unit to do it.

The new Owners Manual is now available for download

Great looking site, I am looking forward to seeing it develop.

Be nice if you could try another coil. Coils go bad far more often than control boxes. Does sound like an issue with the unit. Sadly, being in Oz it is the Garrett made far away in a foreign land. I liked my AT Pro and have considered getting another one. But my CTX 3030 does everything the AT does and more so no realistic reason to. Great little detectors though, Garrett hit a home run with the bang-for-the-buck. When they work right.

That was a year ago but there is not much to set on the GMT. Probably full gain, audio boost on, manually ground balanced, SAT on preset. My guess is I was running too hot, should have backed her down a bit to smooth out the ground noise. It was extremely windy that day which did not help.