Lunk

With all the rain we're getting, make sure to bring your gold pan! 😀

While exploring an old desert mining district yesterday, I came across a small drywashed patch. I like these kinds of spots not only because detecting them usually guarantees a few bits will be added to the poke, but also searching the surrounding area can potentially lead to more nuggets or even another small, overlooked patch. Slow and thorough coverage with the mighty Zed netted five pieces of the good stuff, including a sweet gram and a half nugget at eight inches in a coarse tailing pile, and two bits that each weigh in at a mere zero point zero four of a gram. Over 2.5 grams all up, and at today’s gold prices, even that small amount adds up to some decent pocket change.

Thanks Jim, we had a great time talking gold and detectors with you! Also ran into a fellow forum member at the show, Don71, who regaled us with some great gold stories of his own.

Great post, Jason. Just goes to show there is still good gold to be found in Q for the dedicated detectorist...well done!

Great arvo, JP!

😀Flak, as a matter of fact, I am on my second one, but only because the warranty expired on the first unit; there was nothing wrong with it. Thanks amigo, much appreciated! So true; after all this time swinging the Zed, I still marvel at its capabilities...such an amazing piece of technology. Shoot me a PM if you can find time for a hunt, it's been too long!

Extra Deep, to be exact.🙂 Quite often, which could just be because I typically target areas that have been flogged, so the shallow gravy is long gone and there is still gold at depth to be found by the savvy Zed operator. I have found that most desert placers I hunt can indeed have gold at any depth within the gravels.

A couple of years ago I was prospecting an area in the southwestern Arizona desert and picking up a few small bits, mainly in drywash piles (dryblower heaps), when I received a decent, deep sounding signal from the detector in bench gravels above the present dry stream bed, which turned out to be a solid, dense 1/2 ounce beauty of a nugget. I searched the surrounding area thoroughly and turned up a few more small bits, but nothing more of any size. Recently, I decided to target the same area using a different detector mode that is designed to punch deep on dense, sluggy gold. Sure enough, in a spot that I had gone over multiple times before, I got a faint, repeatable signal that ended up being a lovely 2/3 ounce chunk of a nugget at nearly 2 feet (61 cm) deep. I’ll be giving this location another good going over with a large coil to see what other golden goodies may yet be lurking in the depths.

Excellent thread, JP. I very much enjoyed your instructional DVDs back in the day, as they taught me a great deal about the detectors' features and functions and when to use them according to the different ground types and the nature of the gold being chased. You touched a little bit on the actual prospecting - what grounds and areas you were targeting - but the videos were mainly equipment oriented. So to now have a thread that concentrates on the actual gold finds and prospecting side of things is most welcome. Since you said, "ALL DP members are more than welcome to comment and ask questions about detecting related subjects, especially about targeting locations and mind sets and approach", I'll add an experience here and post pics of it in a separate thread of my own. A couple of years ago I was prospecting an area in the southwestern Arizona desert and picking up a few small bits, mainly in drywash piles (dryblower heaps), when I received a decent, deep sounding signal from the detector in bench gravels above the present dry stream bed, which turned out to be a solid, dense 1/2 ounce beauty of a nugget. I searched the surrounding area thoroughly and turned up a few more small bits, but nothing more of any size. Recently, I decided to target the same area using a different detector mode that is designed to punch deep on dense, sluggy gold. Sure enough, in a spot that I had gone over multiple times before, I got a faint, repeatable signal that ended up being a lovely 2/3 ounce chunk of a nugget at nearly 2 feet (61 cm) deep.

Freaking fantastic!

Me too! Odly though, even after all the mayhem and havoc that mischievous blob caused, I felt sad for the poor thing when they dropped it from the helicopter to sink to an icy doom in the Arctic Ocean. I wonder if watching that movie as a kid was how my fascination with space rocks started...🤔

Yeah Steve, I hate it when that happens.

You got an "A" for effort, amigo. Sooner or later you'll get that new coil over a piece of gold.

Thanks Chef Rusty, you’re one helluva camp cook!

Already posted at top of this page.

Thanks for calling me out, Mike; I haven't made the time to post my experiences during the trip with Gerry yet. No better time than the present, as they say! I was able to stay a bit longer in Mexico than Gerry, and my Zed located 50 grams of the good stuff. The large piece at the top of the photo has been dubbed the goldfish nugget - a very unique piece. It was fairly deep and manifested as a faint warble in the High Yield / Normal combination. Weighing in at over 27 grams, it was by far the largest find of the expedition. Except for the two days in a row that the rain came down in torrents, the weather was great, with some spectacular sunsets. As Gerry mentioned, the plentiful array of cacti made us very mindful of our surroundings at all times. Our foray south of the border was filled with many memorable experiences, and we were most fortunate to have been given the opportunity to chase the elusive yellow metal in the beautiful wilderness of Mexico. Muchas gracias por nuestro anfitrión y al propietario de la tierra para extendar su generosa invitación.

I find that it works very well for me, personally. The bungee transfers the weight of the detector to the crosspiece to which it is attached, and then it is distributed equally to the left and right struts. Before the GPZ 7000 harness was released I used a hipstick, but my right shoulder would get sore because the weight was only being transferred down the right side. Now with the crosspiece and double struts distributing the weight to both sides, I can swing the Zed all day without fatigue.

That is the WM-12 strapped to the cross piece with a couple of elastic hair-ties. The speaker is oriented straight up so that the sound hits both ears equally.

Actually my look was a “quit wasting time taking photos so we could go find some gold” kind of expression, LOL!

Super awesome; congrats to you both! A few years ago I was hunting an old school ground when the target ID on my Minelad X-terra 705 read the exact number for a $5 gold piece. The school was built in the 1950’s or 60’s era, so I knew it couldn't be a gold coin, but a non-ferrous item that just so happened to ID the same. At a depth of 6 to 8 inches I saw the glint of gold at the bottom of the hole...could it be after all? It did indeed turn out to be gold: a 14k Black Hills gold locket sold at Kohl's Department Store!

Still using those general settings, but running the threshold at 27 or 28. Change the Gold Mode and or Ground Type according to ground conditions and type/depth of gold. How are the settings working out with the SteelPhase?

Sorry Mitchel, I would but I will be out of town during that time and will regrettably miss out on the super hunt. Good luck, and find lots of prize tokens!

This article describes a gold pan developed by the ancient Mayan civilization: https://www.keeneeng.com/pamphlets/goldPan.html

I use an aftermarket discriminator when prospecting with my GPZ 7000. It is 100% accurate at identifying iron, doesn’t require batteries, and it will even remove the iron from my digs for me...it's a neodymium super magnet!

At a Q&A session with Minelab CEO Peter Charlesworth and Engineer Mark Lawrie at the Minelab Partner Conference 2 years ago, I asked if there would be an update for the GPZ 7000 that would include discrimination. Their response was that discrimination is not possible with the ZVT tech.😩