Reg Wilson

My humble apologies for having an opinion. Do carry on.

The big change came with the Codan takeover and Malaysian production. Shareholders became the priority rather than the customer. All the old crew disappeared to be replaced by hard headed business people, contracted staff, sycophant underlings, and associated 'yes men'. Pretty sad, but a familiar business pattern. A once inspiring Aussie company, now like so many others that prostrate themselves at the alter of the dollar. Hopes of a challenge to what is close to a monopoly have so far ended up 'on the rocks'. No one has managed a leap forward, at best the Axiom may have been the nearest attempt so far.

Bruce Candy and Minelab brought out the vlf GS15000 in 1985 and then the first auto ground tracking GT16000 in 1987, when I was fortunate enough to test the prototype, pulling a couple of hundred ounces with it, so by my calculations Minelab has produced the worlds best detectors for forty eight years. In 1989 I got to play with the first Minelab pulse induction machine (SD2000 prototype) resulting in a few more hundred ounces. I had to pay for my first GS15000 up front because in those days they were just starting out and things were tight. In my opinion (for what it's worth) Minelab still produce the best detectors, but have lost a certain amount of the pioneer and revolutionary zeal that they once had. Now they are just another multi national behemoth producing in Asia, with the charisma of a 'pressed rat'.

A magic little town that produced an awesome amount of gold.

One signal turned out to be gold. Very small gold. I didn't persist with that spot as better ground beckoned which yielded a patch of many solid and specimen bits, the best being a fourteen ounce speci which yielded a nice lump over eight ounces when soaked in acid. The patch gave JR Beatty and myself a half kilo all up. The bigger speci was pretty deep but gave a broad but definite signal. I will get round to having another crack at the pellet infested ground down my paddock..... one day.

A few years back I had a lady producer for one of these so called reality gold shows approach me about being involved. I told her that I was a prospector and had given up small scale mining for a number of reasons. Red tape, sabotage, and 'moonlighters' being just part of the negatives. I told her that they could follow me around for weeks or even months without anything of consequence being unearthed because I spent my time in the field attempting to prove up mainly new ground where little or nothing had been found previously. If the country was of geological interest regardless of proof of being auriferous it was worth a look. I was not interested in fossicking or using machinery but did occasionally turn up some nice stuff. She told me that they were 'flexible' and that it is entertainment. In other words they could fake it and do an enactment of my finds, and they would pay me for my time. I told her, "sorry, but not interested". I could just see my friends and real prospectors laughing themselves silly at such obvious fraud. Since then I have seen a few episodes of this nonsense, although I do not follow or subscribe. Some of the participants are known to me and to be honest it is no shock to see them making fools of themselves, although the gullible just soak up this crap, and can't seem to get enough of it. Was it P T Barnham who said "You will never go broke by underestimating the taste of the public", or something along those lines? The production companies that make this fiction know to "never give a sucker an even break" and reap the rewards. You only have to see how popular the most ridiculous 'action' movies are these days to know that the public thrive on fantasy.

I think you have to pay to subscribe.

https://www.facebook.com/ukquest/videos/225717970170967

Digger Dave should be in the fertiliser business. No shortage of BS. Any experienced prospector knows that the picture he paints is a lot less than factual, or honest for that matter. Flash a few colours at the 'new chum' and bingo, he has his (or her) money. The number of expensive near new detectors for sale on various web sites tell the real story. Just as in the old days...If you can't make it as a prospector there is always the option of making money selling the tools. Speaking of BS. Cop this lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQli3a4X38&t=47s

Xcoils, who undoubtedly make the worlds best detector coils dropped dealers and have for some time now have supplied direct. The price has been the same as dealer price, so they have picked up extra profit and don't seem to be too much effected by the change. GPZ coil sales have been such that the earlier GPX (5000) coils are no longer being made. A shame, as adding an Xcoil really picked up the performance of GPX and earlier PI models.

To put it crudely,... Minelab have us by the short and curli's. Due to one man who with some mates in a shed in Adelaide put together a metal detector to challenge the big American boys to now being the detector company that totally dominates the scene. Impressive? Hell yes. What is going on now though is any body's guess. It all changed with Codan take over, and how much of the original genius has been retained? Going offshore to produce cheaper would have been abhorrent to the original Minelab crew (and I knew most of them). They were not the sort of team that was out to make huge money, but to prove that good old Aussie ingenuity was as good as the best. All changed now I guess, and no going back to an age of challenge above making the buck.

The wheeled rig in the photo might be okay for finding cannon balls but useless for prospecting. Note how far the ATV is from the coil. That is because it is 4 stroke and would play hell with the electronics, plus the lead being so long would suffer from voltage drop. I've tried the wheel setup but found it impractical. Too much jolting resulting in false signalling. The conveyer belt is very smooth, partly because of the weight, which makes it impractical for towing by hand. (unless you are Hercules) One option is to build a large coil like Jim Stewart's 'Bismarck' only instead of wearing it in a bulky harness swing it like a line trimmer using a sling and counter balance it with a battery. I have seen this method used to great success in central Victoria and WA by John-Hider Smith, one of the best and most talented prospectors who ever swung a coil.

Jim Stewart had success with the 'Bismark' but sometimes spent a lot of time digging deep rubbish. James Beatty along with John Hider-Smith and Jim dug a piece over 30 ozs using one of those coils. They broke a pick and took until midnight to dig it out. Jim also built a big DD coil, but it had to be swung slowly, making it useless for sledding as the target response was too slow. My sledding experience was nothing to brag about as the best that I achieved was a 6 oz bit. What it did do was to eliminate large areas that could have been productive (but weren't). At least I don't have to lay awake at night thinking about what I could of missed. Mono coils are the go for sledding and having tried different configurations I found that round coils worked best for both coverage and depth. With a grid overlap of 50% very little ground was left undetected.

If you are going to go sledding then you need to spend money. No cheapskate option will cut it. You need a diesel tow vehicle with an alternator cut out switch to keep the coil close behind. ( a 4stroke will send your detector nuts with interference) A diesel causes no EMI. A rigid coil frame attached to heavy duty conveyer belt for rugged or abrasive terrain. (Desert country will shred PVC in no time.) The right detector for the job. (I have found the GPX 4000 the best option) These are just the basics but set up right you will easily pick up targets as small as .22 slugs at several inches. Tested on a real big slug (over 90ozs) at over a meter the detector just roared.

The coil attributed to Jim Straight was built by Jim Stewart in Victoria Australia.