BMc

1 hour ago, UT Dave said:

I see those quite often.  Sometimes by the hundreds.

I believe the ones with the knife punches like that, are most often evaporated or condensed milk.  Which I've been told was popular to put on rice (a staple, along with beans), to sex it up a little.

- Dave

Also used to be popular laced in tomato soup . . .

Hey Mitchell (mn90403), since the anniversary of your finding the "Goose Egg" is coming up, (Thanksgiving Day), I hoped you wouldn't mind if I "bumped" the photo to show the good folks and anyone who might have missed it the first time around, what you were alluding to :

"My 5000 and the 18" NF was a lot of fun to run.  I almost got in the pounder club with a deep Arizona nugget."

Amazing find indeed!

Thought I would recycle a previous post from a now defunct forum showing a couple of detecting trips and the end results of getting stuck while crossing a steep and narrow creek in the Bradshaw Mts of AZ.
 Awhile back, a couple of friends joined me to check out a hand dug hard rock mine/prospect in central Arizona that I had recently located but not had a chance to detect. No claims records or markers could be located and it didn't appear to have been worked in years.
The previous miners had crushed the ore and shoveled it onto the crude wooden ore chute that snaked down the side of the ridge to the creek below.
The country rock of the prospect hole appeared to be a mushy red quartz conglomerate that looked unstable. No hard quartz lead was observed. After several minutes of examination, and detecting around a large, indignant pack rat that currently occupied the prospect, we decided to depart the area. No gold was found but in the interest of keeping morale up, we decided to drink some of  the "we found gold" beer anyway.
The next day, I soloed to an area where I'd previously had good luck. It had rained a few days prior to my arrival and the ground was dry on the surface, but still damp a few inches down. I got into the area OK at first, then ran into a heavily washed out cut across the road, so I turned around going back out and as I angled down to cross a steep "V" shaped creek where I'd had no problem coming in, the mushy schist bedrock crumbled and dropped my rear bumper down enough where the Pintle hitch of my military style cargo trailer buried up, causing the bumper to be high centered with no rear wheel traction. Bummer.
I cleared part of the hang up with a sledge hammer and chisel but finally had to resort to a high lift jack and stacked rocks for clearance and traction. While I was gathering rocks in the creek, I noticed that  part of  the bank appeared to have recently eroded and collapsed, exposing a couple of large rusty, vuggy chunks of quartz which looked interesting. After I was able to get my truck unstuck and up the road a ways, I grabbed my EQUINOX 800 and went back and started detecting the stretch of the creek downstream from where I had found the rotten quartz. Most of the pieces were on a shallow compacted layer of gravel in the narrow stream bed, and a few were on top of flat rocks covered with sand and dirt.

After I started finding those little dinks I forgot all about getting stuck!

Sometime in the mid to late 1990’s, I read an article in Western & Eastern Treasures about the tailing/dredge spoil piles in Murray, Idaho left over from the dredging of Prichard creek. The focus of the article was about how the rock/gravel from the tailing piles were being used to build a road to Wallace, ID, a distance of about 19 miles, and how good sized gold nuggets had been found by detecting the unfinished roadway. Seems that an experienced metal detecting couple from Arizona was on vacation and had been driving through the area when they noticed dump trucks carrying loads of gravel from the miles long tailing piles and depositing the gravel in the roadway which was then being flattened by a compaction road roller.

Over the weekend when the road crew was not working, the couple proceeded to metal detect a stretch of the newly graveled roadway under construction and apparently did quite well.

I happened to be visiting Murray, ID sometime later and, although the roadway was finished and paved, miles of the tailing piles, (as shown in the post card photo), still remained. I spent several fruitless hours pi$$ing in the wind, trying to detect some of those piles without any success. The detecting part went fine. The recovery, not so much. As has previously been mentioned on the forum, detecting in loose spoil piles of that magnitude was literally impossible. It was almost like trying to dig in a pile of jelly beans. I tried using a GB-2 with a 14” coil and a ML 2200d. I could only excavate to a depth of several inches before the gravel sides would collapse. Starting over just led to the same result every time.

Eventually I gave up and drove over the newly constructed road into Wallace where I stopped at a local pawn/prospecting shop. I told the store owner what I had been trying to do and his face lit up with excitement! He asked if I would like to see some of the nuggets the Arizona couple had found? He then went into his safe, pulled out a few trays of nuggets and sat them on the counter. The biggest nugget was quite a bit larger than a silver dollar in diameter and flattened out to about ¼ inch thick. It appeared to be solid gold, as were the rest of the numerous nuggets in the collection. All were flattened to some extent but none were very thin. We both had a good chuckle over the daring and audacity of the AZ detectorists and wondered how many more nuggets they had found.

Finally, I thanked the exuberant storekeeper and drove the road back to Murray with renewed interest. To this day, I sometimes still wonder how many gold nuggets there must be underneath that 19 miles of asphalt.

27-29 oz

I take your point HP. But, I have worked many dredge piles, that didn't have all that much old trash. Newer trash; bullets, especially, not much help using discrimination. I, personally have and still would start with a PI in certain types of piles just to see what it sounds like, then go from there. I've dug my share of Dozer shavings too. As they say in the Military: It all depends on the situation and the terrain . . .

40 minutes ago, oldmancoyote1 said:

I take it you tear down the spoil piles not just detect the entire piles themselves?

Thanks

Some of these piles are extremely hard and compacted, making it difficult and discouraging pick and shovel type work. A large coil PI detector can often be used to good effect by going over as much of the pile as possible before having to break it up, or rake it down. Don't overlook the possibility that the dredge piles may have been used as a base for any roads that lead into the area. I recently saw a nice nugget found in the road leading to a creek that was adjacent to a dredge pile in WY.

Also, the dredge piles that were created on the day or days leading up to the War Production Board order L-208, in effect, shut down gold mining on December 7, 1942, and many of the newly created dredge piles were never worked as a result.

On 9/24/2023 at 5:54 AM, Goldseeker5000 said:

My walco pick was back at camp and the hole wasn't good to swing it in. Nox was back at camp too. Don't care much for the nox. Oh and by the way the nugget weighed 3.14 grams. I totally forgot to put the weight of it up on the video. My bad! 

Nice piece of gold Reese! But I really have to say, you are doing it all wrong! You are using the wrong pick, using the wrong pinpointer, and worse of all, no one is holding you upside down by the ankles so you can dangle off into the hole and get way in there and dig it out!

Reading the comments, I was reminding of what my Oklahoma born mother used to say when I was a kid and tried to tell her how to do something. She would give me a stern look and say, " Who's robbing this train? You or me?" 😊

Good on ya buddy, well done! You're a glutton for punishment and too bad you couldn't make the Wy trip in July/Aug, it was a lot warmer, even at 8000 ft! 😄

1 hour ago, Gold Catcher said:

Thanks Steve, I will be helping you getting all the nails out of CA's mine pits. Everytime I think I finally got them all I find more...Re booming signals, that reminds me of a deep traget I once had with the Z/19 in Quartzsite . The day light was almost gone and I only dug a foot deep with the target getting louder. Since it was total night time then and I did not bring my headlight, I gave up and drove  all the way back home, thinking to myself it would just be rubbish anyhow. Then, it started to hunt me. The next 3 days were pure hell and all I could think of was this target that I left in the ground. It got so bad that I finally had to take 2 additional days off, drove back to Quartzite and kept digging the hole. About 2 1/2 feet down I finally recovered the target, a rusty old tin can. But despite the obvious disappointment, my soul was at peace. And It was worth it!

GC

Must be a true story GC, that's the way I remember you telling it back in Aug when we met up in RP. I just hope I can remember it the next time it happens to me!

On 11/5/2022 at 11:36 AM, Placer Gold said:

Regarding 2 box detectors, I have no experience with those.  Does anyone on here have experience with them?  Can they detect gold bars (the size of a Hershey bar) at 4-6 feet?  I'd like to know before I drop $2k on a machine.

On 11/5/2022 at 11:36 AM, Placer Gold said:

Regarding 2 box detectors, I have no experience with those.  Does anyone on here have experience with them?  Can they detect gold bars (the size of a Hershey bar) at 4-6 feet?  I'd like to know before I drop $2k on a machine.

I am on my second Fisher Gemini 3 Two Box detector and have used them off and on since the 1990s. I carry one whenever I am out prospecting around old Ghost towns and mining camps to search for buried trash/bottle dumps and filled in privy locations.  Over the years, I have found lots of relics and old medicine bottles etc (amongst rusty metal objects), with it.  The Gemini 3 is simple to set up and easy to use. It may not be called "ground balance", but the detector has a turning knob adjustment, (part of the set up), that acts similar to a ground balance feature on a VLF detector. Once set up properly, I rarely had to tweak it any further since it ran smooth and quiet.

One of its best features, IMO, is that it ignores, (doesn't react), to small surface metal items. Refer to manual for detector depth and size of objects capabilities.  www.fisherlab.com  

Based on the information in the manual and my own personal experience, I do not believe the Fisher Gemini 3 Two Box capable of finding a single gold bar of the size indicated. I have detected oil cans and 1 lb coffee can sized metal objects at about 12" deep, and 2 lb cans/buckets at around 24" (or a little more) But if the bars were in a larger metal container or were spread out in a wider target configuration, 3 to 4 ft depth might be possible, IMO.

Hi,

In case you don't have a copy, below is a link to the owners manual. I don't remember seeing any direct answer to your questions, but I haven't read the manual in awhile. It does say that the Gemini 3 is not suitable to search/trace faults (voids), but no mention of using in a cave, as I recall. I have used it for wall searches, but never found  anything, and no reaction/non-positive response from the machine, of course couldn't be considered a success. The size of the items/depth of search are described in the manual. Example:("quart jar of coins) at about 1 ft') It might work if the item is large enough, but might false on you as well. You could try posing the questions in an email to the factory. They did respond to an email I sent to them a few months ago.

Good luck!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwivnLSNnJr5AhV0IX0KHX9OBd0QFnoECAUQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fisherlab.com%2Fhobby%2Fmanuals%2FGemini-3-07.24.14-Reader.pdf&usg=AOvVaw26qVCBwrw6om4YL7LiUjGr

43 minutes ago, bocash3 said:

PLEASE bare  with me:   

1.   I have a perfectly good  White's XLT Spectrum (1999), keeping it
for now.   I set several custom programs on it years ago but  prefer
to get something  "not so advanced"   where owner has to set many manual
settings.

2.  I have a  new  Garrett's  AT Gold  on the way.  It can be returned.   But I'm looking for something to "possibly"  replace the  XLT that can not only do it all but  detect small gold deposits.

3.   Nokta Legend::  Listed as  "Advanced"  machine.   2 rechargable battery packs.  Wireless headphone.    None of this appeals to me.  I don't mind a  wired headphone.   AND  the XLT  is still  a machine with so many  variable settings that I choose not to change what I programmed over the years.   I have had bad  luck  with  any  company's  proprietary  batterys and rechargable batteries in general.    My White's  battery packs finally died and are no longer available, so  run AA batteries and am much happier with throw aways.   And THINK:  How  does one  "Plug in"  a charger when in deep woods?   Carrying extra AA batteries is  a  no-brainer.      However, 2 pluses for the Legend are  backlit and  audio  tones.   AA batteries are one big plus for  ordering the  Garrett AT Gold.

4. Moving to  Equinox 800:    Praised for its pin-pointer (I love the XLT  pin-pointer).   Top reviews are many.   BUT.........lithium ion rechargable and only  ONE  (I assume proprietary)  battery comes with it at that.    I see "Beginner"  friendly.  That appeals to me because I truly don't want to go through the  arduous  learning curve the  XLT  presented to me  23 years ago when new. 

So  decisions, decisions.     my plans were to run the  AT Gold and sell the Spectrum  IF  the  AT Gold  "might" take it's place and be a better choice for small nugget shooting.     

OR................ keep either the AT Gold  OR  XLT  and maybe get the  Equinox 800  too.     I just don't want to get stuck in deep woods overnight with a  dead  detector battery.
 
AND:  I see the  Minelab GoldMonster uses my preferred  AA batteries, and is listed as  "Gold"  and  Beginner friendly.  Would it detect coins too?   I won't rule it out as if it will fits for a purpose, I'm willing to go to $950  it sells for.  
I could  keep one all-purpose machine and one which specializes in gold??  

IF I have not totally scrambled your  brains as I have my own,  what would you do?  

Thanks for putting up with me,   "Bo"

Equinox 800 is considered to be an excellent "all purpose" detector. If you haven't already done so check out Steve's review.

Just hope they can hold the line on subscription costs . . .

15 hours ago, rvpopeye said:

It sounds like a cold solder joint is a possible to me but other faults could display the same symptom..

A tech checkup would make sense.

So maybe it just comes back after or maybe they send you a new one.

Have somebody run it and check it out before shipping if it is the new one option though.😏

And then no worry about if it's working as it should. 

 

What a novel idea! (tongue in cheek), That sounds a bit like that old fashioned, outdated notion of Quality Assurance! 

1 hour ago, maxxkatt said:

That must have been behind a old long gone saloon.

 

Yeah, it was called, "Jed's Place"! 

Sure looks like glacier gold . . any large boulders?

Glad you got there first  

On 4/16/2022 at 3:22 PM, GotAU? said:

Animal control in the US uses coyote baits with cyanide- a friend’s family dog died from one while he and his son were out for a walk. It was really tragic.  I hope your post helps protect some family pets. Thanks!

Please forgive the intrusion: "Animal control in, (a few states}, in the US uses coyote baits with cyanide" 

• U.S. NEWS DEC. 6, 2019  EPA approves coyote-killing 'cyanide bombs' for five states, South Dakota, Texas, Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico.

I grew up on a cattle ranch in the state of New Mexico, and at the age of 12, my dad and I  hunted and trapped coyotes in a very rural desert, and mountainous environment.  In order to protect the newborn calves from increasing coyote populations, ( as cruel as it may seem), we used lengths of barbed wire to insert into coyote dens, and "twist out" the coyote puppies in the spring. At that time, the use of poison to kill coyotes was illegal, and steel traps were not a perceived threat to pets, although they can be, especially near urban environments.

For an incentive, there was also a $5.00 dollar state bounty on coyotes, (plus the value of the pelt)  (Yes, they will chew their leg off to get out of a trap, but not if you run the trapline in 24 hrs, and if you use a "Drag" ( heavy, metal hook shaped anchor), so that the coyote can drag the trap, thinking that he/she is getting away; then you are able to track and find the trap/coyote in short order by following the drag trail to to the bush that the drag is hung up on.

Eventually, "coyote calling" became a popular sport and a more effective and humane method of controlling the proliferation of predators, without threat of harm to people's dogs. Later in life, after I moved to sheep country, It also provided a great opportunity to approach sheep ranch owners for permission to hunt/call coyotes on their land, which then opened the door to return to hunt during deer season. Coyote calling contests became popular for predator control, which seemed to be quite effective until public sensitivities brought that to a halt, and now, alas, it's back to the extreme danger of poisoning ☠. 

1 hour ago, Aureous said:

I'll be in a position in a week or two, to provide a fresh-start view on the 6000's reliability when I pick mine up. I will give mine an instant run for a few hours prior to taking it home, just in case its a 'dud', I can take it straight back to the dealer. Fingers crossed!

Thank you Sir! You are a brave soul indeed, I am hoping for the best! 

On 10/16/2021 at 10:01 AM, Gerry in Idaho said:

As a dealer who sells them and tries to keep up with my customers, I've had a few with issues and would say it is more than the norm.  No excuse at all but I would guess they are having the same issues we are here in the US for keeping people at work.  Just imagine the demand for a new product and at the same time so many people don't want to work don't want to be about anyone and then the Covid protocol kicks in and if someone tests positive, every person around them is sent home.  The reality is there are issues with many companies and products right now.  I would expect this to go on for another 6 months.

My issues with the GPX-6000. 

1) It finds gold so easy, I have to bend over more than I did with the other PI's and that's not good on my bad back I got from swinging a GPZ-7000 for so long.

2) It finds smaller nuggets so easy, I have to actually wear my glasses and filter the dirt.  Now I have to carry glasses.

3) It's so much lighter in weight and better ergonomics, I find myself detecting longer hours and finding more pieces of gold.  You would think this is great, until you realize you didn't get time to relax and have a beer or shot of whiskey with your comrades.

4) I'm finding smaller nuggets with this PI than any other before and sometimes I easily lose them before I get back to the truck.   It pisses me off when I admit (easy come - easy go).

5) I find the external speaker works so well and is so loud I just assume the target is near the surface and then find out it's actually deeper.

6) The detector is so compact, it gets lost in my camper.  Heck I even lost it in my truck one time and actually drove back home thinking I forgot to pack it.  I'm wasting precious time trying to find it.  In days past, the GPZ-7000 would take up the whole passenger seat or half the bed in my trailer.  No more with the 6000, but I might put one of those beepers on it and keep the fob with me.  I lost full size F-350 long bed 4 dr super duty truck one time in a parking lot.  That beeping fob saved my ass.

7) The simplicity of the GPX-6000 is boring my brain.  Who the hell sells a $6000 detector and all you pretty much have to do it hit the power button and a couple others.  How can my brain grasp something I have no control?

😎 Not wearing a big bulky harness anymore is not what I expected.  Now I have nowhere to pack my pick and I have no bungee to get in a fight with each time I bend over.

9) The cost of coils and battery is not inline with a $6000 detector.  A GPX-5000 battery is $441 and this is only $165.  A GPZ-7000 coil is $1000+ and this is less than $400.  How is a dealer supposed to make a living selling accessories.

10) The amount of gold nuggets my customers are finding is the best Success of any high end gold machine in many years.  Now I am getting accused of planting gold and taking pictures of the same gold over and over.  

I'm a Karma guy, just saying.

Minelab,  You ever pull this shit again and I'm done buying detectors.  You could go out of business, me too.

6 Month Bump:

Issues with the GPX-6000. "The reality is there are issues with many companies and products right now.  I would expect this to go on for another 6 months"

I am wondering if there has been any noticeable change for the better regarding the aforementioned quality control issues of the GPX-6000?

Thanks!

Good Stuff you got there Mr Toad Sir! Nice to see that park keep producing for you!

25 minutes ago, bklein said:

The Havasu Goldseeker people helped me out with a Suburban with a dead fuel pump. Nice group of people.  There’s gold there for sure. They were going to try a new location for their monthly dig then covid hit and I never heard if they did. Anyone know?

https://www.havasugoldseekers.com/ 

If you haven't already, take a look at their website and see for yourself if you like. Explore the categories; activities, gold found and club record, a 41 oz speci with about twenty oz of gold. They have quite a few good claims and the surrounding area produces good gold also. Much of the larger gold is being found near the claims but not actually on the claims, at least as of the last couple of years, (based on intel from club mgt) I am currently a member. 

5 hours ago, GotAU? said:

It must’ve been a bit scary driving down what looks like a solid road and having that open up underneath you. I apologize, meant the photo just in joking, you are right, I’ve never been there but would love to.  The closest Ive been to that area was SE Oregon and then down through Black Rock, sure is a nice country out there! I am hoping on going to that region for an extended trip soon, maybe if you are around I will check in- appreciate the invite and if you’re ever in So Cal desert, same invite goes for you! Will PM you my contact. Thanks! 🙂

-Anthony 

Not scary. A bit jarring but it happened fast and was over. No apology necessary Anthony. I knew you were joking and I was joking back at you. I usually don't get up there until after May 15th to let it dry out a little.  If you get a chance, drop by the BLM office in Winnemucca and check out their Gold/Mineral specimen collection, especially the Chevron Gold nuggets. On second thought, Gerry probably carries a few with him! 

19 minutes ago, GotAU? said:

This story is a great lesson! Lots of holes out there- the worse are daylighted winzes with no signs of tailings or a dump nearby (a tunnel dug upwards from underground that has been exposed at the surface). People fall in not knowing there’s a mine opening.  Two guys in a Samurai went down one one year and one of them survived until he made a signal fire for help with one of the tires and got carbon monoxide poisoning.

Glad you got the truck out safely! - beautiful country by the way, must’ve been a memorable trip!

Don't know if you understood that there was no opening or hole in the road. Not even a depression! The water flowed from uphill, (sagebrush area), and eroded the ground structure beneath the surface of the road, giving no indication of its weakness.

Glad you located the gold for me though. Lol! How much did you recover? Mr GotGold, with all due respect, I have hunted this general area (Northern NV), for (going on 30), years and know several very accomplished nugget hunters who have done the same. I have photos and GPS coordinates of large multi-oz nuggets that were found, as often as not in places where you would not suspect, nor anyone at the time might have predicted, until they actually tried it. Based on your pictorial gold pointer, I suspect you haven't hunted for gold anywhere near that general area, (which can apply to both Humboldt and Pershing counties)

The upshot is, In that area, Gold can be anywhere! ( A lot of gold found way out in the sagebrush flats)

Let me know when you are going to be up that way again (Rye Patch, Eugene Mts), maybe we can get together and swing a coil!