Steve in Idaho

I had some sulfides that turned the ground a dark smelly color and it killed the grass around it.

I had to have open heart surgery the first of the year when I found that big nugget at Ganes. My doctor told me before I went to Alaska to take it easy. Ya, sure... when I found that nugget, I did what any prospector would do. Scream, yell, and do the old prospector dance. Every one at camp had to hold it and have their picture taken with it. The owner of Ganes cr. bought it back from me and he gave me a fair price for it. That was easier than keeping it in a bank vault. I still have the pictures and memories to last a lifetime.

My old Gold Bug II has found more gold for me than any other gold detectors that I have owned (many pounds). I would not pay 10 K for a heavy detector that has not proved it self here in the USA and I have an ATX but wish that it was in a lighter box.  

I use my 14" coil most of the time. I have found small gold up to a 33 oz nugget. I have found gold as small as a small bird shot. I chest mount the box and this makes a lighter load on my arm. I only use my 6" coil when there is tight places that I cannot get the 10" coil into. I was in to Ganes last year when a friend found a 12 oz nugget with his GB II and it was down deep on a side of a pile up high on a hill side. I still use my GB II and my Minelab 705 along with my ATX. I only wish that they would open up Ganes cr again.

Nice gold Chris. I enjoyed your book " Fists Full of Gold" I bought it several years ago when it was first released and I still go back to it for info on different subjects. 

I have found more gold with my GB II than any other detector.

You can only use one at a time. I am down from 7 to 4 now. I think that I need to get rid of another one. 

I think that I am going to sling mount my control box around my neck and use an Infinium DD coil on a "S" handle  and see if this will work as to rebuilding the complete unit. I like the idea that you have Steve. I rebuilt a MXT one time with a chest mount and the control panel attached to the box. This worked out OK. 

My first detector was a Garrett Deepseeker and I found a 3 oz nugget with it. I met Charley Garrett at one of our hunts one time and he was a very interesting person to talk to. He will be missed. This news is so sad.

Hey Lunk, when you get back to your home base, call Sharon and have her set up a meet with you. I have some inside info on this area.

This area was sold last year and it still is private property. All I can say is that if caught you may be fined for trespassing. They will not give permission to hunt gold or be on it. There is always some one watching it. We tried to lease part of it last year and were refused.

We use the same method on tailing piles. We put down a 2' X  6' piece of ply wood and rake about 3" on the board and go over it with my trusty Gold Bug II then dump the board and rake more dirt onto the board. We work the piles in strips from bottom up hill and dig into the old dirt hill side. We have taken a lot of gold from old gold mine tailing piles.

I went to Cabelas and bought a binocular harness to chest mount my Gold Bug II. When you bend over, it holds the GB II against your chest and the elastic will stretch so that it does not bind. 

Hi Chris, It looks like Rye Patch gold to me. 

I just cannot justify 10K for a new detector. If I lived in the desert states in the south west, I may go for a 7000, but when you live on a fixed income then it won't happen. I have found many oz. with my old trusty Gold Bug II and my Minelab 705. I also have found many, many $$$ in silver with my Minelab. Both of these detectors have paid for them selves in a few weeks use. In my area, there is gold and lots of trash. The old timers threw out everything that would rust and decay in the creek beds for us gold hunters to find. I had a SD 2100 one time and it found gold, but I dug 10,000 pieces of garbage for every OZ of gold that I found. I love hunting in the desert for gold, but I cannot get my wife to move to a warm dry climate. I just do not want to cash in some of my gold. I guess that I am a hoarder. May I should sell or trade some of my gold before I get to old to move around. Hunting gold keeps a person young. 

I know Dave Varabioff and he and I use Liberty Refiners in Hayden, Idaho. The owner of Liberty Refiners, Rick Hurt is a honest person to deal with. He will refine to .9999 for gold if you want and his charges are low. You can e-mail him at:  rick@libertyrefiners.com 

We have a RP-4 table that works well for hard rock gold. We crush ours down to 16 mesh and smaller after screening. We then run it through our RP-4 table. A new RP-4 runs about $2600 plus shipping. There is an ad in the ICMJ for the RP-4.

They sound like a loud hot rock, then I dig and use my super magnet. They just jump at the magnet. I have found them lying on brush pieces where some one tossed them thinking that they were a hot rock. These were the stony type that we found in Gold Basin.

The last time Allen and I went out hunting meteorites in Gold Basin a few years ago, we both got 1200 grams apiece. We were using gold bug II's. 

Gerry told me that the rumor is at $9000 to $11000. I would never spend that much money for a gold detector, no matter how good it is. I think that Mine Lab is way off base with a price like that. 

I hope that Minelab will keep the price down so that us retired people can afford it. As long as they don't want $7000 for the GPZ 7000. I would love to have one to find the deep gold in my area.

That looks like a 6 oz'er that I found at Ganes cr a few years ago.