Glenn in CO

Great Find, I and my wife are planning to be out to Gold Basin this October to nugget hunt, hope to have the success you've had. Congrats!

There has been large gold specimens found in "Float Gold" where a vein has decompose and exposed gold on or near the surface. I had a friend several years ago searching a area where there had been hardrock mining in the past and found float gold specimens that sold for around $8,000. Apparently the miners back then had missed the vein or felt it wasn't worth pursuing. Maybe Eolian Gold deposits and Float Gold are the same.

Congrats on a very nice nugget - WTG

Anyone using hydrofluoric acid in high concentration form please be extremely careful even if you know what you are doing. It's bad if comes in contact with your skin, bad if you breath the fumes, it will eat through glass containers. Any specimen that have been treated using hydrofluoric acid, the specimen need to be neutralized. Unless you know and fully understand all the risks don't consider using hydrofluoric acid for treating gold specimens. Again please use caution when using this stuff.

I believe White's did a good job in notifying people of the firmware issue. I truly believe that the factory and their distributors respond to issues they may have on their products as one of the best in the industry, their dealer network is a issue in responding to customer complaints, problems and training. I believe when a problem is brought to their attention from social media or others sources, they need to address that problem and monitor that problem thru feedback from customers having issues. Also consider using customers outside their circle of field testers, in testing new products or designs.

I and my wife have been most productive detecting hard rock tailings for more than twenty-five years. Both the VLF and PI have there place when detecting for gold in mineralized and low mineralized tailings, but the type of detector used for the type of gold you are seeking also must be consider. A VLF will usually detect all types of gold in low to somewhat hot ground with a limit to depth that can be achieved depending on the size and weight of the gold. A PI will detect gold at greater depths than a VLF, but it will not detect all types of gold. It comes down to using the right detector for the area and gold you are seeking. In my opinion there is no detector available today that can be used for all conditions that one would encounter at in the field.

I believe Rye Patch Ron has some very good information for anyone starting out or is average in using a metal detector. When you become a professional is when you learn to read between the lines on information that anyone may offer you on your search to better yourself. In fact that applies to anything a person reads today.

My wife and I use a Bullseye TRX for coin hunting and a Falcon MD20 for nugget hunting.

We use a rare earth magnet on the end of cultivator for prospecting tailing piles, never had a problem with magnet near a searchcoil, but would not have it near a control box of the detector. You might want to consider a magnet rake ( Harbor Freight has them) for metal detecting old sites that have a large amount of trash. We found Seated Coins, Indian Heads after removing the iron trash at a Railroad Stop that was in use in the 1880's.

I and my wife have joined a Gem and Mineral club and have signed up for classes to learn more about gem and minerals. Planning more outings to nugget hunt, prospecting for gem and minerals and metal detecting for coins, jewelry and relics. Doing lots of research now and will be ready to hit the ground running when the weather decides to cooperate.

Nice nugget and great photo! I use a DSLR camera with a 50mm Macro lens to take close-up shots. I'm learning a new photo technique called focus stacking where you shoot multiple photos with different focus points and then merge them together in post-processing. The focus stacking requires the correct aperture to be used and some of the final images may take from three to fifty or more photos that are combined for the best results. Here is a photo using this focus stacking technique ( I still have alot to learn) of one of my favorite gold specimens that I have found:

This last Saturday we attended the Lake George Gem and Mineral Club meeting where Richard Frettered and his partner Jean Cowman spoke about how they found through research from numerous sources a topaz source and filing a mining claim where a number of peachy colored topaz gems ( which are rare ) were recovered. The largest was 3,634 carats and faceted into a 1,345 carat gem. Here is a link for more information: http://ganoksin.com/blog/tucsongemshow/2014/03/13/tucsongemshow-master-cutter-and-a-prospector-on-the-weather-channel-display-record-topaz-in-tucson

Anyone who has anything of value, be it coins, jewelry or nuggets etc. should keep those items in safety deposit box.

Both I and my wife with a GMT, still waiting for the first nugget with the TDI

What are the majority of collectors looking for? I've asked that same question to collectors, dealers and museum directors and it comes down to what type of gold (nugget, specimen) and where the gold comes from is what a collector is seeking. The type of gold varies greatly from placer nuggets, crystalline in wire and leaf form, to how unique the gold nugget or specimen is. The consenses is the majority of collectors want to see "flash". That means seeing gold that has been cleaned to some part or all of the specimen or nugget and again it depends where and what type of gold it is, to how much and what type of cleaning should be done. There are some purist that wish to have the specimen or nugget in natural form, but I found that is a very small percentage. Cleaning specimen gold can vary greatly in leaving none, some or all of the host rock. Cleaning gold, especially specimen gold is a art that is aquired through trial and error using different chemicals, acids and equipment. Cleaning specimen gold is like opening a Christmas present, you never know what is inside. Here is some examples of gold that I've cleaned, partly cleaned and left natural:

Here is a couple photos. Armrest is from a detector and the handle is from a ski pole. I used 1/2" conduit and welded all together. If you like a close up, I will have to dig it out and take some photos.

The rake I use for tailing piles and mine dumps is a cultivator rake with a super magnet attached one end and a arm rest and handle the other end. I can move alot of dirt with this setup. The super magnet is your best friend and trashy areas.

White's E-9000 Koss Headphones

What was the depth 1.7 grain found at? Thanks! for providing a great forum.

What is the smallest weight in grains or grams will the GPZ find? The area where find both leaf, wire and sponge type gold on mine dumps and tailing piles a SDC, ATX, GPX or TDI will not pick up the wire gold, where as the GMT will pick up both wire and leaf specimens that are the same weight.

Both I and my wife do gold, coin and relic hunting since the late 1970's. For now we both have GMT Body mounts with standard coils, 4x6 coils, and Sierra Max coil and a TDI with a timing mod done by Reg with a 12" and 7.5 coil for gold. For coin and relic we both have V3i's with standard coils, 4x6 coils, 6x9 coils, 5.3 coils and Super 12" coils. We also have a MXT300, Coinmaster GT and Goldmaster 4 Body mount for backup machines. The TM808 for deep stuff. Waiting for summer to get here to head to the high country for another season of nugget hunting!

What if any discrimination capabilties does the GPZ 7000 has? If hunting in mine dumps or tailing piles what would you suggest for a work around on ferrous targets?

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Here’s our rig, we find a spot to park our diesel truck and 24ft travel trailer for our base camp. Then we use the RZR to get around with our metal detectors, mining gear and whatever. Nice to have a UTV close by when hunting, especially when the weather turns bad. Plus getting from base camp to a prospecting area is a lot faster in a UTV than a full size 4x4 pickup and a lot less wear and tear. The RZR fits in the pickup bed when we are towing the travel trailer so we don’t have a large train traveling down the highway. It makes roughing it a little more bearable, especially for my wife.