GotAU?

Aw, you cleaned it up for the PI’s to play, thanks!!??

Good try today and I have to commend you on your efforts, with all the hard work you’ve put into prospecting those Mtns you deserved to find those nuggets! I’m looking forward to the day we can go together, just take good care in the meantime and good wishes for a speedy knee recovery!

-Anthony

Cool idea Doc, sorry it wasn’t a EMI mask, just give me credit if you ever make one! So I have a money pit right now we’re fixing up and maybe the Gold Pit can help with that some day. When are you planning on distribution?

14 hours ago, phrunt said:

You could make a range of stickers with different picture designs, even custom printed ones where people could submit photos and you turn it into a coil protection sticker.  Would be quite a successful little side business I'd think. 

Yeah, the advertising possibilities would be great, “sponsored by detector prospector.com” and so on.  It can also have a printed scale of concentric circles on part of the sticker where you put your nugget in the center and it shows how big it is for your photos. We could also sell a Aussie version which has a smaller scale to enhance the bragging factor! ?

23 minutes ago, phrunt said:

A vinyl sticker to put on the GPX 6000 coil to stop wearing a hole though the top of it with the scoop?

There’s not enough likes up there ^^^!

If it’s the wrong answer I am stealing the idea! ?

The DREAM

Doc’s Relaxing EMI Attenuation Mask

10 hours ago, Redz said:

Looks like a piece of quartz

@Rikki not a diamond, sapphire or any other type of crystal- but keep looking!

Also get this guide to minerals and rocks, we used it in my beginning geology class and it is really helpful for identifying rock and minerals the field:

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks & Minerals https://a.co/d/36PyOWu

If you collected it in Central California, it looks like radiolarian chert from the Fransican formation.

In addition to date purchased as JP mentioned, amount of use would be also be an important factor for a poll like this.  I have only owned mine for a couple months, but decided to wait to answer the poll until after I have had more time using it.

6 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

Thanks, GotAu. The 14 inch is pretty big for small washes, I even had a struggle with the 12 NF. But as you say, let's hope smaller DDs will be on the upcomimg coil list. I will definitly try it out however. Good to know that it works for you.

GC

All I want for XMas is a 10x5 DD! ?

3 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

Hi Lunk, no unfortunately i did not have the 14DD with me. But for sure I will try next time, good advice. I wagely remember that you suggested that before. My bad that I haven't tried it yet ?.

GC

Would’a, could’,. should’a!  Yeah, except for its size and bit of extra weight, that 14” is awesome.  It is really stable in the hot rock areas I went through, including around basalt and other types of hot rocks.

4 hours ago, Lunk said:

GC, just wondering if you tried the 6k with the DD coil in that environment? I had great success running the older GPX machines with a DD coil in cancel mode (just like the 6k DD in EMI cancel) in the volcanics of the El Paso Mountains. The conductive ground cancel may work as well.  
 

That does work with the DD in volcanics, I used mine in the El Paso’s like that as well.  Hope to see smaller versions of the 14” soon!

@Andyy - don’t be too quick to write off volcanic fields for detecting, especially if they are old and eroded and you see river worn rocks and gravels mixed in with them. There are many places where a volcanic flow once covered river canyons filled with gold-bearing alluvial placer deposits, e,g., the Table Mountains near Angel’s Camp in the mother lode country.  As the old  igneous volcanic rock erodes into boulders, the softer underlaying auriferous deposits become daylighted. So the gravels and sands seen around the volcanic boulders in GC’s photo may have been there first before volcanic activity covered them up.

Another reason to like the 14” DD- it can open up places with powerlines where fewer people could detect before: 

38 minutes ago, jasong said:

Why not just toss JW's new coil on your 6000 in the same spot, should be able to tell pretty quickly if there is an issue.

I think the real strength of the 6000 is just running it in Auto+ with no threshold and using it for prospecting/exploring for the easier targets, covering ground. Usually they are 50%+ of targets in new spots, especially where bedrock is shallow, so can be cleaned up quick with the 6000. Don't really need to listen for every tiny faint threshold warble doing that, bring the GPZ in later for that. 

Interesting idea, certainly would increase the area one can cover in a day, making the chance of finding something a bit more. But it would also be like turning up the speed to high on the treadmill! ?

4 hours ago, Aureous said:

Another recent experience (that others have talked about) is the 'disappearing target'. Apparent, shallow'ish (all less than 2" deep) signal that vanishes once dug... I've had to give up on 3 of these now. I'm strongly anticipating that these are tiny iron/steel wire fragments that need to be oriented correctly for the signal to appear. Once dug, the orientation changes and the signal evaporates.... I hope 

You are right, I had tiny screen wire bits do that and they kept reappearing as I disturbed the pile. Then I ran my magnet across it and found the bit of wire.

11 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Yea sure I'll film it next time, I avoid them with the GPZ too as with the 8" you get the double blip as you pass them, it's mostly an odds game, pellets are often on or near the surface, with the GPX it's pretty easy to avoid them in this scenario as it really ROARS on them when they're right next to the coil, so if I do a few scrapes with my pick and signal is no longer in the same place and moved into my dig pile then it's less likely to be gold, combine that with the GPX losing the roaring target signal as soon as the pellet has any depth by being buried in my dig pile under a few inches of soil and the GPX signal becoming much more faint or even disappearing on some smaller lead pellets then I write it off as a pellet.  We don't have many surface type nuggets around here unless on bedrock so this only works when there is a decent amount of top soil on the bedrock.

As you can see by how many pellets I dug a lot of them are too deep for this trick to work.  These were all pellets that survived past the first few scrapes and could have possibly been gold.  I rejected just as many as I dug I would guess.

Thanks for the help, Gerry is going to have to put you on his payroll!

Nice writeup Simon, thanks! Say, when you mentioned avoiding pellets with the GPX, what were you doing and listening for? If possible, can you post an example video with the sound of doing that with your GPX? 

Greg- welcome! You picked a great detector.  Do yourself a great favor and try these- perfect with the Nox and Aptx-LL low latency (not waterproof though):

Avantree Torus Wearable Wireless Neck Speaker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y56W9XQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4K66K8APQDZ8SC2REE8H?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Americans scratching their heads over what the Aussies and Kiwis are laughing about what Gerry is saying here….  ?

Steve’s suggestion for a 10x loupe is very useful- I use a geologist’s style one  for inspecting specimens… get a triplet lens type for better quality.

And there certainly are lot of helpful people here, that’s what is so good about it!

I’d also try local clubs who may have claims in that area- the members may have better local knowledge.

Nice Wendell! Assume you were using the 11” mono too?  Congrats!

19 hours ago, Aureous said:

Havent been out for 3 days....family gets in the way of fun... Still, I got out for 4 hours this afternoon and got another 8 little bits for 1.15gm. Now just 30.5gm to go... just under the ounce mark. 

Nice little bits, but “family gets in the way of fun...”??  You’ve got it bad.

In fact, I think so do I! ?

Oh, that’s what you meant for a jumper! It’s a “hoodie” as my students call them, and I’m sure what the connected kids all over the world call them. I’ve always called them sweatshirts.  Adult jumpers are totally different- shorts and a zippered shirt all in one.

Interesting note about how lead pellet signals fall off faster with distance from the coil vs those of gold- an effect of being a better conductor? I will have to be more observant of that- I just always spread out the pile a bit more to refind a target and have not noticed it yet.

Nice writeup Simon, glad to see your GPX working for gold too!  Say- can you expand on what you meant by the signal dropping off on pellets? 

Also, I can’t really see how any adult guy would want to wear a “jumper”- there’s one on Amazon with a flamingo print ?  

Is that a wind breaker or slicker in American or common English?  Similar languages can have so many different vernacular meanings!

Pair your Avantree with A Giveet transmitter on your 24k, 4500 and other non-bluetooth enabled detectors- it has aptX LL/FS low latency and works really well:

Giveet Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07198BBZN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_NYWHGM55SX2EJA12GNSH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Can’t wait to see the movie when it comes out!  And will there be a sequel?

On 5/20/2022 at 7:49 PM, Gold Hound said:

A larger round coil like 14 or 18in size would go really well on the 6k in my opinion even if extra noise has to be dealt with. Im very dissapointed that neither of the manufacturers have made any larger coils.

They are all that close in size to the 11in except for their smallest offerings that I won't be buying one. 

I have to say I'm very very disappointed.

I wore out 17x 14in coils on the 4500 and 5000 as 14 was easily the most versatile allround sized coil for the gpx and I suspect this is why the 7k comes with a 14in coil standard.... very very dissapointing!

The 6k 17” Minelab elliptical is sensitive and not bad to handle, I like using that to cover ground quickly in the flats. Not bad for $360 US either.