jrbeatty

Hi Jin: The answer to your question is "Yes, but - - - " Gold is heavy and therefore is reluctant to move far horizontally from where it was eroded from its host rock - however, erosion over geological time is multi dimensional. That, in a nutshell, is the complication. The gold we detect may well have shed from sources which no longer exist. - - - all adds to the joys and challenges of prospecting though!

Hi Whitbey. Here's another QED link: http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/4255-gold-found-with-qed/ Haven't been prospecting since those finds last year. Too busy farming through a drought ATM

Well done Lunk. It comes as no surprise that someone with your level of experience and expertise can land a piece like that ? Kiwijw: I've said it before, yours will come soon. Anyone with your level of dedication and persistence will eventually be rewarded.

Love your work, Klunker Having begun my electronic hobby career fiddling with the things, I sometimes wonder how much a thermionic valve powered smartphone would weigh (including "A" and "B" dry cell batteries) Okay, I'll get back to farming sheep now - - - sorry.

Probably an NLIS ear tag. These RFID devices store information which identify the owner. Although passive electronic devices, it's possible the detectors transmit pulse was activating it. Must try one and see -

Now you know some of his story Reg ran into Ian a while back, but I haven't seen him for many years.

Well done! No need to press that "panic" button now - -

The big brother's hiding somewhere - -

That's correct, Jin Higher sea levels meant auriferous paleochannels formed deltas where they met the shorelines of the time. For example, the Murray basin was an inland sea during much of the Tertiary epoch. The problem, however, is the shoreline changed as the seas retreated - and the auriferous gravel deposits moved with it. This means that there is no particularly enriched contour elevation for prospectors to follow. Nonetheless, I've discovered certain elevations are noticeably consistent for alluvial gold. Now, I could tell you, but then I'd have to --- well, you know the rest!

Big coil Jin. The impedance of the windings would need to match the GPX specs (among other factors) for it to work though. At that price I'd personally take a rain check. Tony mentioned that it was not a straightforward coil to make (unlike mono's) with a lot of interacting factors to consider The ground loop type coil is intriguing though, the principle being that you walk around (within the laid out transmit windings) with just the receive coil. Tony and Jim were developing a working prototype when Jim died. Tony tells me the depth advantage is staggering, but he hasn't got a reliable system perfected yet. Nenad probably has more info on the subject:

According to my sources, Nuggetfinder have been field testing prototype coils for the GPZ for some time. These are somewhat lighter than existing coils. I suppose, in relation to aftermarket licencing, the ball is firmly in Minelabs court.

Tony (an old detecting friend) has inherited Jim Stewarts coil winding expertise. They spent a lot of time together in the workshop at Laanecoorie Park experimenting with ground loops, different coil configurations, etc. He also communicates regularly with Rowan (Nuggetfinder) Tony has wound a number of concentric (coplanar) coils for the GPX and demonstrated some of them to me at the Laanecoorie test site earlier this year. Here's one not yet painted: On deep targets this type of coil clearly outperformed (depth wise and size for size) all the other coils we tested. These included flat wound and DD's. Tony related how, using this type of coil he had clearly heard a 14 oz colour deeply encased in solid ironstone (in WA, dug up with a Makita jackhammer) when no other coil he tried could hear it, even when partly excavated. Although we didn't test one on the day, Tony is of the opinion that this type of coil (size for size) will outperform the GPZ on deep targets: So far I'm unable to bribe him into making me one

Right on the money! I've had good success on old deep patches doing just that with an 18" Coiltek DD. Jim Stewart and I found that using DD coils larger than 18" (on SD/GP detectors) gave minimal advantage and any slight depth advantage was outweighed by the inconvenience factor. Apart from the obvious size and weight issues, this includes deep false signals caused by mineralisation when running in "sharp" timing.

It's amazing how much expense anyone with a bit of imagination can save by making or modifying/repairing their own prospecting gear. In this day and age of diminishing gold returns every penny saved is important. It seems to me that the market for prospecting and after market gear is heavily loaded towards the affluent weekender. Sorry Mitchel! Off topic, rant over!

Aha! That's where I found my first piece (1 oz) with my brand new GT 16000. John H S had a lease encompassing the area where the "Pride Of Australia" had been found, and allowed me to detect it. This was long after you were there. My piece was about 40 meters from the worked discovery site. John and Ian then pushed the area where I found mine (result unknown) The day I bought my SD2000 (later again) I found a sharp 6 gram "splinter" of gold on the nearby ironstone blow. That area must have been a "jewel box" to the first detector operators.

I have a 20" of similar age which I no longer use. It dates back to when Rowan and his dad Barrie were working together. For a time it was my main search coil but I eventually downsized to a 14" Coiltek orange coil. The Nuggetfinder was quite light for its size, but it became touch sensitive, which usually indicates shielding failure.

Very droll, Reg Here's our old cocky mate working another patch he found: Don't worry Jin, I'm always in trouble one way or another! Helping others with basic information (most prospectors know this stuff backwards anyway) never does harm and often has benefits eventually. Jim Stewart was worse than me, often revealing his finds exact locations to others (top bloke he was!) I suppose he figured he'd done his best with them and left little behind, but I remember when I first stayed with him, he let me loose on one of his patches within walking distance of his Laanecoorie Park. He had flogged it with an SD prototype (pulling about 15 ounces) but this machine had developed a fault and was no longer sensitive to deep gold. I dug several nice slugs with my 2100 before feeling guilty and showing him what he'd missed. He seemed shocked momentarily but absolutely refused my offer of an even split, insisting I keep it. I shouted him a slab of beer and we drank most of it that night, with the stories and gold theories flying freely. Next day we dug the rest of the gold, and that was the beginning of our partnership. I sure miss him. Like Reg, he had a great sense of humour as well.

Hi Mitchel: This low quality image (also from the Reg Wilson album) of Jim Stewarts "Bismarck" (36 inch mono) is the largest I've carried. Jim wound the coil and used to struggle carrying it until I designed and built the shoulder mounted PVC pipe frame shown. This used the SLA 6v battery as a counterbalance behind the operator, with the coil height adjustable by the nylon rope. The shoulders were well padded. Although heavy, the rig was surprisingly comfortable and well balanced. You swung it by moving your shoulders and the coil could be tilted on edge (for "pinpointing") by rotating the handlebars. You could actually operate it with your hands in your pockets in cold weather The detector is mounted on the frame on the right hand side of the operator (not visible) We also used a "36" double "D" but this was not as successful, and heavier. This setup found much big gold. Later, John Hider Smith made another variant which consisted of a long pole (8 foot or so) with his 36" flat litz wound mono on one end and battery on the other. This was attached via quick release hook to his belt at the balance point and also found much big gold, just how much we don't know because "Mr Secrets" never told us the full story.

Sometimes we are, unfortunately!

Hard to know what the story is with that run, Egxie4, but if the gold was not too jagged then you were possibly working the shallow beginnings of a tertiary lead. These can be phenomenally rich but sometimes missed by the old boys since, as you noticed, they have few clues to identify them by. The reason they were missed is because early prospectors usually started further down the lead and followed the run upstream, guided by the pipeclay (Pipeclay is the kaolinised (oxidised) bedrock material from the lower levels of an ancient streambed) Once this thinned and disappeared the only clue to continue searching by was following the line of colours in the wash. If these stopped appearing then they often moved on, sometimes incorrectly assuming they had reached the start of the lead. The Chinese diggers were more cautious and often puddled large areas around the heads of old leads. The Whipstick forest north of Bendigo has many examples of this practice. Had the Chinese been working your area then chances are they would have found your 600 oz. That's a large quantity of gold, BTW. I'll be applying for a loan from you and Yellowfin shortly. How are you finding the QED?

Some more gold I almost missed. Not in the same league as Reggies missed monsters but glad I eventually found it. After my sobering experience on old Harrys place I began thinking about other signals I'd ignored. Only one stood out in memory. A few days earlier I'd been detecting alongside the Kingower-Arnold road in an area where the once impenetrable scrub had finally died and disintegrated. Right on the edge of the dirt road I'd heard a good strong subsurface signal, which I attributed to roadside rubbish buried by the grader (of which there was a great deal) I now resolved to return, and up came this pretty 1.7 ounce bit: I then observed that the road had cut through an alluvial tongue of auriferous wash which had crossed the road, so I detected the adjacent paddock and turned up a couple of ounces in bits. Heck! Makes me shudder to think how much gold I've almost certainly left for others to find.

I very nearly missed this 2.5 ouncer: It was part of a multi ounce patch I discovered years ago, on the late Harry Evan's property at Tarnagulla. I heard it, but assumed it was another one of many near surface shotgun shells. All the other pieces were deep signals. Left it for two years until eventually (on another occasion) I dug it with my boot. What a dill!

Good work JP. Who said Clermont's done?

Certainly pretty gold at the Corfu, JP. One of Jim Stewarts favourite places and he found a lot of bits in the surfacings over the road from the dam. Got my last bit there (a 3 grammer) following the burn off a couple of years back. It's another one of those areas where you were once sure to find something, having suffered a goldless day elsewhere Speaking of Jim, Robyn is scanning his gold album over coming weeks and I'll be able to post it shortly. Sorry to derail your topic Phoenix, feel free to reciprocate on mine any time you wish!

Absolutely. Count me in as well. Every time I think I've got this game sorted, something unexpected emerges from left field just to remind me that I haven't