GotAU?

A foot and a half for an aluminum can isn’t bad, at least you know when you finally put your coil over the big one you’ll be able to detect it! I was going to suggest you should spend the night out there guarding it, but it’s good you didn’t. 😉

To be honest, I think getting more grab samples across the area would be more effective than drywashing in fewer spots for testing to verify the presence of gold. Keep track of where you got all the samples, and if any of them turn out positive, then bring the drywasher there. Also, if youre sampling gravel and dirt fines, then dig a hole because any of the gold is buried below it.

If you’re thinking gold, why don’t you grab a bunch of samples and hand pan in it? These little piles in the center are kind of interesting, if I saw them in person I would be sure, but could they maybe be drywasher piles? Can’t quite tell from the photo.

There was a photo floating around the internet of a guy’s 7000 with a crushed case from doing just that.

…or when you can’t figure out why a target is still there under a bush when you dig and dig and dig, only to notice then that there’s a little bit of wire tucked away up inside the branches of the bush?

Hi, my name is Anthony and I watch Jeff Williams. OK there since no one else has openly admitted it! 🙃

Also keep in mind that the hills were most likely not there when the gold deposits were formed, so as for placer gold, it could have come from an area above you that is now just sky…

And if you use it and like it, be sure to throw them a bone or two also! Thanks Clay!

I was in a narrow and low mine adit once that had so many daddy long legs on the ceiling that it looked furry. Then my idiot coworker touched them causing them to panic and they all started falling down on us in a wave as we ran out of the mine. It was like Indiana Jones and the tarantulas. That was pretty funny.

Travertine with plant fossils mixed in?

Are they a mineralized part of the rock or a separate recently deposited organic thing like an insect casing that you can pick off with a pin?

Knowing more about the age and type of formation of the surrounding rock it came from would be really helpful, e.g., marine or terrestrial?, but I think it’s a fossil - maybe a tooth or horn coral? http://earthsci.org/expeditions/fossil_shapes/fossil_shapes.html

You’re right… good way to help out!

Remind him not to break the meteorite, it’s worth more that way! 😉 What an interesting find, any photos and has it hit the local news yet? Keep us posted!

OK, I have to admit that Valen’s Legacy’s account of the meteorite reminds me of this classic…

Cool!

What a cool sighting, especially if you heard it! I think their distances can be deceiving though, it was probably very high up and looked like it was falling locally but was merely following the curvature of the Earth as it fell while still traveling away from you. If we had a flat Earth that effect wouldn’t be so dramatic! Go to this website site to track it and to see if it was close though - if pieces of it landed near where you live there will be a lot of competition to find it if you don’t go soon - if not already! https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/how-to-find-meteorites/

Yeah, a lot of my favorite ones caved in as well. We were surveying some back in the ‘90’s when there was a large local earthquake and it really messed them up. Too bad also, they had cool stuff still left inside that we didn’t get to take photos of (we weren’t allowed to collect anything).

I used to do mapping and surveys in abandoned mines for the Forest and National Park Service. As mentioned by others, any adit that heads downhill or is below where you are standing can be a pocket for dead air, particularly heavier than air gasses that you can’t smell (some in high concentrations) like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and methane. That’s why we had to carry gas detectors for it. There are winzes that lead to different levels that as Steve mentioned, that can be covered by debris and easy to step into. Many old mines have weak and deteriorating collars that can collapse if you are standing near a shaft opening, and some mines have winzes that lead all the up to the surface where ore was dug out from below so there is no tailing pile nearby indicating there is a hole in the ground. There are people who didn’t notice this and drove into them. One year a couple marines drove their SUV into one, and one of the guys survived the initial fall. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning though when he lit one of their tires to make a signal fire. Another guy died when he and a bunch of friends were out exploring a deep mine when the battery of their only light, their video camera, died and they had to crawl around in the dark to find their way back out. Unfortunately, one of them fell into another winze and didn’t make it. Another thing to look out for are things that jump out at you from the side walls, seriously! A coworker was doing bat surveys in mines and was capturing them with a net. Something flew by her from the side wall of an adit and she caught it in the net in mid air, but then the net started buzzing. It was a rattlesnake that jumped out from high on the side wall! They apparently can climb up walls to catch bats.

I only have a minor in Geology and am an amateur rock hound, but I’d say those “conglomerated” rocks are breccia, a type of sedimentary rock with more angular materials cemented together. If the breccia and bedrock (can’t tell from photos) form an edge like in the 2nd photo, that contact between it and the gneiss (metamorphosed granite) can make for good gold potentials in gold-bearing areas as they may collect gold washing downstream. You could take soil samples from the cracks and in the very bottom of that area above the bedrock and pan it.

Doc, there’s survey data posted online by CDC and NASA on firefighter and astronaut anthropometry- it may help but as a lot of us, including myself, don’t have bodies like astronauts and firefighters (anymore at least 😉), maybe it won’t… 😆 Anyway, if it helps, mine’s 18 inches, unless I’m hunched over with my shoulders drooped like when wearing a pack, so an adjustable rod would be useful.

Mitchel- if you’re worried about it, sell it before you use it and perhaps trade it for a Garrett carrot or something like that. i’m still using mine because it’s used, still works well, but won’t be worth much to sell.

They are good for coins and other bits, especially when you dig deeper or off to the side of them, then it’s a timesaver. I use mine while prospecting to weed out iron for my PI. It does go bonkers sometimes, you will have to turn off and then back on occasionally. Keep in mind it’s my first Pinpointer, so I don’t have much to compare it with. Others with more experience about these probably have a more accurate opinion and review.

Sold out, my eye! We know your warehouse has more in it somewhere, including all those little hard to find Minelab pouches and a truck load of Thompson drywashers! 😉

Welcome! There are certified Minelab dealers all over the world, and as you did not mention which country you are from, perhaps going to the Minelab website will be a good place to start your search from: https://www.minelab.com/where-to-buy Return to this forum if you have any questions! The Equinox 800 is a great machine, you should do well with it! -Anthony