Gold Catcher

Thanks for following up Dave. I thought he meant the bucket lines. I once was at the South Yuba and indeed the metal trash was mind blowing. But good to know that the regular dredge fields appear less trashy. I need to find the dried out ones then 😁

Just tell me the GPS coordinates. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone 😉

Yeah I am not going there at all with a metal detector 🤪

Awesome, thanks GeoBill! I have downloaded the kml file, works great with Google Earth. Now, if we would just have a modern good PI detector that could discriminate. The amount of trash I usually collect in hydraulic pits is mind-boggling. These areas are prime territories for the GM or Nox 8. SDC/Zed completely useless.

This is another good one: Tertiary Gold-Bearing Channel Gravel in Northern Nevada County, California https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1968/0566/report.pdf

Thanks, Steve. I was about to post the exact same document but thought people might not like it because of how old it is. However, it is a great read and a lot to learn in it. I am glad you posted it. This one is also good, it shows all tert. channels and deposits (Clark, 1965-see attached pdf)TertiaryChannels Sierra Nevada.pdf

Thanks for sending, great article and videos. Tertiary channels are plentiful here in the Sierra's. The problem is that some are rather deep with hundreds of feet of alluvial gravel covering the heavies. The trick when metal detecting is to find shallow channels. But those have practically all been mined already.

Great info, thanks. Will play with it tonight.

The county recorder is of course the best option, assuming you have an interest in a particular area already established and you take the time to do a deeper dive, i.e. before staking a claim. However, for rapid screening of larger areas that are potentially open for prospecting, for instance before going on a weekend trip, this is not really a practical method IMO.

Never worked well for me with Google Earth, but I will give it another try

I use Minecache, overlaid on Google Earth, to see all mines and claims (active and inactive). I think it is the best research tool out there. I use Google Earth because you can also display USGS maps at the same time as you see all active and passive claims and mines. Unfortunately, BLM does not have a good Google Earth map feature so I go and check the land status on the BLM site separately. https://minecache.com/

I have to admit I am envious of the life style you are describing. Things are so different here as you know. Yes, we have vast deserts and other landscapes here to explore as well, but the gold rich areas are much more centered around smaller areas, at least those that produce good size nuggets, and we lack the access to vast goldfields like you are having in Au. Also, the gold is generally much smaller and getting anything bigger than an ounce is extremely rare. Once the stupid pandemic is over I will plan an extended Au-trip with a few friends, just like many other DP members have done before. Who knows, perhaps one day we will have some good coffee together. 😁

Aha got it, thanks 👍

mmmmm....you mean Mojave desert but the part that is in AZ? Or Mohave County, AZ?

Greater Randsburg area?

Stunning!! Mojave desert?

That's a great attitude and mentality norvic. Unfortunately, here in the US there are not many of these undiscovered countries left. As off the grid, I prefer truck campers. There you have high clearance with full off-road capbilities, but no trailer. Earthroamers are cool. About 1 Million. I bet they throw-in a high-end espresso machine.

Since lady's won't be around (at least I am guessing they aren't), shower is just optional, espresso isn't 😅

I understand the reasoning. But it would break my heart having to melt such a wonderful nugget. Unless of course I would find them all the time....

Don't forget the espresso machine

I start to wonder if they have serious production issues. That could explain why they are so muted.

And then of course the speculation about the "8000" will also start soon. We will keep ourselves busy I have no doubt.

What a good and productive discussion this has been. Thanks afreakofnature for having started this thread. There are clearly differences in opinions, but I note how much better our discussions have become, void of any personal attacks or nasty comments like we had back in the "X-coil days".

Thanks for your valuable comments, JP, as always! I find your comment regarding the history of the smoothing feature on GPZ interesting (that it is some sort of relict from the past from operators who are afraid of loosing control). When the info about the 6000 started to appear, I wondered why there is no smoothing anymore, now I understand why. I have always advocated to use sensitivity wisely and control ground/target response conservatively via volume and threshold function in Normal, or eventually going to difficult but leaving smoothing off. For me personally, this means that I can go only so high with gain, perhaps to about 10 in Normal and 14 in difficult without loosing my mind after 8 hours detecting, or without compromising to hear faint targets (a more serious matter than just loosing my mind...). At least in the grounds I hunt these gain numbers are about as high as I can go-on good days. But IMHO, this is enough power to hear just every target the GPZ is able to find as long as no filters/processing is applied.

Thanks for sharing, Nenad. This is a very nice demonstration. I usually shy away from high smoothing but I agree in your case this was a nice and clear target ID. A good example of how the Zed can operate in high EMI conditions and still be productive.