HardPack

9 hours ago, delnorter said:

Mike

The Penon Blanco (white rock) was apparently hydrothermally altered basalt, both quartz and calcite veins occur within the rocks and boulders of the formation. Some veins are actually cleavage planes splitting the boulders. I have not seen much sign of mineralization within these veins. I have come across a north/south quartz vein along the east contact between the slate and basalt. The old timers followed a seep at this contact drifting towards the vein. They must of abandoned their efforts based on sampling. I have detected the sampling site multiple times but only more clues. I suspect they were following a trace of very fine gold up the outflow of the seep. Further to the south there is an active lode claim on this quartz vein. For now the snakes and ticks have returned to the old diggings. It’s out there but it may take a gold pan. 

Found this on Nevada Outback:

“Winnowing was the original dry placer method. This process involves screening out all the coarse gravel, placing the fines in a blanket and tossing them in the air, preferably in a good wind. The lighter particles are blown away by the wind and the heavier, usually more valuable minerals fall back onto the blanket. The weave of the blanket tends to hold fine gold. Winnowing is a very primitive method and is not used today. Basically, all it really does is remove the light clay dust particles from the mix.

Dry panning is a similar winnowing process, and is only slightly better than blanket winnowing. Shaking the pan while gently winnowing allows the gold to settle in an action similar to a jig. A far better and more successful method is dry washing, also called dry blowing in Australia. The dry washer allows for the processing of gravels at a much higher rate than possible by winnowing or dry panning.”

So far 1900 is the earliest date for use of the puffer type bellows dry washer found online.

9 hours ago, Doc said:

THIS THING" is really killing my back

Give the “Qweegle” a try, it”ll save your back. Any finds?😁

Does anyone have any information on the date of original development and use of the dry washer? 

From a prospecting prospective, imagine detecting downslope from a ridge into a deep ravine moving from deeper soils to shallow bedrock. As you move out of the ravine up the opposite slope you discover a surface quartz vein hidden under the brush; or you find yourself in the middle of the original old mining site. By now the truck containing the second detector is a few brush covered miles away plus several 100 feet in elevation change. Yeah, I would be definitely be interested in a dual PI/VLF metal detector. 

Bill Southern mentioned in a Nugget Shooter video that the small tacks found while metal detecting were often misidentified as boot tacks. The tacks were actually used to attach a drywasher bellows. Found this older video of a homemade drywasher that helped to demonstrate what he was explaining. In the foothills of the Sierras the temperatures during mid to late summer in the river canyons get hot enough to dry the pay dirt for processing in a drywasher. When I now detect a tack upslope far from water I start looking for drywasher piles. Either way great idea for a DIY non-motorized drywasher.

A Garrett Storm hint?
Check out the photo above, there’s a wooden post on the hillside right, the post has a beveled top.

Could this be a  “mining claim marker” ?

The Nokta Name that Detector Facebook window is apparently open:

The Nokta Pulse Storm Gold, The Nokta Pulse Storm Relic

Sender's message was sent successfully.

Firmware update notice from Nokta DT Facebook:

Nokta Detectors

Dear Valued Legend Users,

Thank you for testing the Legend software update v.1.14 Beta 1 & 2 test versions and your valuable feedback. We have now removed the Beta versions from our website and we're ending the testing stage here.

We'll work on a few more tweaks and release the final version in the upcoming weeks. Please use v.1.13 until we give you the final update of the v.1.14.

Back in the day when a kid could purchase caps by the roll, missing the old Fanner Fifty with its hand crafted plastic ivory grips. Slap leather pilgrim. 

The reservoirs are reaching capacity with rain and more light snow in the forecast for Friday April 26th. 

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

THE NOKTA LITIGATOR

No other detector can do it justice!

Submitted my choice of names for the new gold/relic Nokta PI today and received the following reply:

”Submission was referred to as spam.”

Double checked the correctness of the  “Naming Contest” submission https address, apparently my ideas for naming was rejected immediately by Nokta Detection Technologies. 

Nokta Detectors

The Legend - Version 1.14 Beta 2 Test - RELEASED!

Updates Made:

1) When switching to Beast mode, All Metal discrimination pattern will be selected automatically. When switching from Beast mode back to Gold Field mode, the last selected discrimination pattern in Gold Field Mode will be restored.

2) Update in the Ground Balance Menu

a) When selecting between FerroCheck (FC) and Mineralization Indicator (GI), the 'FC' or 'GI' indicators displayed on the right side of the screen have been moved to the left.

b) The 'FC' or 'GI' indicators which remain on the screen until exiting the menu will be automatically cleared from the screen after 2 seconds.

c) When the Tracking feature is activated, the ground balance level flashes on the screen. In Beast mode, when the Ground Balance 2 is activated while the tracking feature is on, the ground balance level will be shown steady to avoid confusion.

3) General improvements have been made.

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I am going to guess that performing both ground balances creates a ground balance "window". 

That would be consistent to what I was seeing, the primary ground balance would be approximately 42, the hot rock 2nd ground balance was approximately 47. While sweeping the coil away from hot rocks the Legend was still balanced to the mineralized ground. The ground balance reset operation may be a benefit on sites where hot rocks widely spaced.  

6 hours ago, Nokta Detectors said:

The Legend Beast Mode Demonstration

In Multi BE mode, A discrimination pattern, I have performed the primary ground balance over the mineralized ground; then performed the 2nd ground balance over a hot rock.

Question: Which of the two ground balances is the Legend now utilizing or is the Legend using both the primary and 2nd ground balance?

Question: In Multi BE mode, how is the SMF weighted.

34 minutes ago, Digalicious said:

Now I'm wondering what would have happened if A was used in Park and Field

That’s where the Iron Rejection (Ir) setting kicks in, the video demonstrates the setting at 2. You will get a lower tone response over iron targets. The audio response/volume for non ferrous targets will vary based on target size, shape & depth and ground mineralization. If you use the G discrimination pattern you will lose TID 1 & 2. In Beast Mode I have yet to see a TID over 3 so you would be losing the majority of the target TID. Try using the Goldfield mode on some buried coins and listen to the target audio response & volume. Beast Mode helps dealing with hot rocks that will often suppress target TID and/or mask small or deep targets. 

Note the low TID for coin size targets (dime, nickel & quarter 1 thru 3). Similar results I experienced prospecting a claim with mineralized soil plus saturated with both basalt and ironstone hot rocks. Lead bird shot, small ferrous boots tack and 22 caliber lead bullet were within the same TID range, no higher than TID 3. The hot rocks would also TID at 1 but there was either no audio response or the response was broken. Worked for me in the all metal A discrimination pattern with both the LG 30 & LG 24 coils. I always do a frequency scan and ground balance. The 2nd ground balance over any hot rock(s) is critical.

Found this notice posted on the Nokta Facebook account:

Nokta Detectors

ATTENTION!

Dear Valued Legend users,

It seems like many have not understood the Beast Mode! This includes even some of the more experienced users.

Please be patient and we will make a demonstration of it for you! Please refrain from making comments such as ''it doesn't work'' unless you really understand the goal of it and how you can test it.

Testing it with coins that you can already detect in other modes will not demonstrate the capabilities of the mode!

Hang tight...we will show it to you soon! Thanks in advance for your patience.

Spring in the Sierra foothill gold country. The runoff is flowing. GPAA Founder George "Buzzard" Massie and his sons may recognize this river canyon. If I remember correctly their take was 880 ounces. 

41 minutes ago, Tyler said:

Which Coiltek are you speaking of?

The Coiltek Nox 10x5 DD coil for both the EQX 800 & 900.

After using the EQX 900 & CT 10x5 for gold prospecting the trick is the Sensitivity setting. The CT 10x5 is very sensitivity to EMI, ground mineralization, hot rocks and small shallow metallic targets. I have found sensitivity settings between 10 to 14 on mineralized soil works. On highly mineralized ground loaded with hot rocks a VLF detector is probably not going achieve depth on small gold targets. The ground mineralization alone will mask and/or eliminate small gold with increasing depth. 

An advantage I have discovered regarding the EQX900 compared to the Legend when prospecting for gold is the EQX 900 TID range. The EQX 900 wider TID range from -19 to 0, 1 to 99 allows for a slightly wider detection range for small gold in mineralized ground and hot rocks within a lower range of 1 to 5.  Ground noise will normally be in the -19 to -16 TID range with hot rocks at TID 1. Highly mineralized soil will suppress the TID for small targets including gold, often between 1 & 5 with the EQX 900.

The Legend  TID range of 0 to 60 has a tighter lower range of 1 to 3 which allow hot rocks (TID 1), small ferrous targets, such as boot tacks, combined with the soil mineralization to mask small gold. The new Legend Beast Mode suppresses the volume level of hot rocks, such as ironstone & basalt, but the small ferrous and gold targets are still packed into the tighter lower TID range of 1 to 3. I have also experienced “coil knock” with the Legend Beast mode even at lower sensitivity settings.

7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The last thing I expect is anything related to any prior White's product.

Just an observation but don’t see either the AT Gold nor the ATX currently listed on Garrett Direct. A lot of existing AT Pro, AT Max & AT Gold inventory would be directly impacted by a release of a AT SMF.  Perhaps a AT PI under $2k?

On 4/5/2024 at 6:20 PM, phrunt said:

Yup, see Garrett's reply to this guy asking if it's an AT Pro replacement.

I’m suspecting a waterproof, rechargeable, wireless headphone, collapsible carbon fiber shaft upgraded version of the GoldMaster 24k. Or at least I’m holding off until the storm fills the sails. 

On 4/11/2024 at 8:49 PM, JCR said:

It is worth experimenting with.

I did notice “coil knock” on ground stubble in Beast mode. Lowering the sensitivity did reduce but not eliminate the knock. Good coil management is a challenge on a 60 degree brush covered slope but possible. The big plus with Beast mode was the ability to prospect for gold on a site saturated with hot rocks at depth. The Legend 01-60 TID range does concentrate a lot of small shallow targets in the narrow lower range. The LG15 6” coil may be better for those tight rocky target holes. 

https://a-storm-is-coming.com/. “a storm is coming in 2024.”

…. just in time for Christmas?

52 minutes ago, JCR said:

That sounds like an educational & successful hunt to me

I am thinking the 6 inch LG15 might be the best for this site. Plus a trackhoe to get down through the basalts slope sediments to the slates. Found a few stranded wire ties left behind by whoever packed bags of pay down to the stream. May explain all of the boot tacks. Spring is bringing the poison oak and snakes up & out. I am liking the “deep target” (dt) combined with a LG24 on a site with far fewer hot rocks. At least the Beast works to reduce the hot rock impact on small shallow targets. We need input from a cache hunter.