mn90403

The cabins are part of the Humboldt Home Owners Association. A couple of WSPA members have lots there and make them 'available' for this outing. They are not commercially available.

Chet said he will never take the Xs off and put the 14 or the 19 on again. He used the 19 quite a lot when it first came out. I forgot to add as part of our 'test' of that 150x150 ft area when Chet was 'done' with the area using the 17 I put the 19" Minelab coil for 30-40 minutes at the end of the day. All of the trash was gone except for a couple of spots where some had been buried from camp pits. That coil even with the Hipstick is a beast. I was not able to find any targets to dig. Your question now bring up the fact that I never listened or swung the Xcoil! When I first saw Chet in Gold Basin he had the 10" coil on and I lifted it but I was surprised at how 'head heavy' it seemed. Beyond that I have not handled one. I was told that the bigger coils were about the same weight. The next time I see Chet I'll want to tease the ground and some sample targets with it so I know more.

Simon, I heard there is some gold in Australia but I didn't manage to find much to bring home. The metal detector at the airport was as unimpressed as I was with my 'haul!' Mitchel

It was time for another Rye Patch trip. It was a group outing this time and I had invited Chet. He was already there when I showed up out in the field about 3 on Wednesday afternoon. It was an 8.5 hour drive and I had added a couple of hours onto it getting checked in to my cabin but I was there! Chet had not found anything so he said I'll follow you. We got set up and he said he would catch up on some things and it was near the end of the day so I headed up. Before I got up too far my first target gave me that nice, warm sound. Even with the little sleep I had I thought it was a good target. I scraped and it didn't move and down a bit farther it didn't come out of the hole and then down about 7" I had it in the scoop. I sometimes overestimate so I put on my 7000 navigation that it was 1 gram but later not to be. It is just .72g. It is the nugget on the top left on the scale. I looked around the area and saw old dig holes so I knew I had to stay. I circled and gridded in the late afternoon sun and I got another signal. This one was a little deeper at 8". The size slightly larger at .75g. That was it for awhile until another repeatable signal. I don't remember the exact depth but I think 5" and I didn't really know if it was gold. It is and it is .11g! I didn't have my phone with me but that was it. I was beat and so was Chet so we took the 35 minute ride back to camp. Overnight it was pretty cold at 17-19 so I left the lid on my coolers open in my car and outside. When I got up the drinks had frozen in both of them but we were off for the same location. This time Chet hit the area where I found those three nuggets. I walked up the hill as I had intended. We didn't move the cars all day. Chet was working the little bowl and I was up on the sides of the big gully and anything else that looked promising. I heard a promising signal in a little dry, side run and it had shale type rock around but the signal would go away when I scraped and scratched. I was into some harder rock and it stayed and stayed and then I blasted it with my pick and it was out. It is the nugget in the middle. A solid 1.5 g nugget! I didn't have my phone with me as it was affecting my detector. Down in the distance I could see Chet working his 17" X Coil very slowly over and over the area from the day before. He had been digging some deep holes. When I made it down to him he said he had found one down about 10" that I didn't get. He also found another smaller one. In addition he had dug some really deep holes where some type of metal pieces had sounded off for him. It was a good day. I had a nice nugget and he had a couple. Friday we started at a different location but soon I wanted to get back to 'the area' but a bit higher. We both walked a long ways checking piles, pushes and holes. I was heading back up the hill and hear that nice sound again. This was only 4 inches or so and out came a nice flatter nugget (.84g). When I looked around I saw someone's recent filled in dig hole but they didn't get this nugget. The trash was hiding it! Things die out in the desert but not like they do in Australia! Australia is one big kangaroo graveyard! Here is the total for this trip. (I didn't find anything with a half day Saturday.) If I add in the two nuggets from my last trip then I have about 1/4 oz of Rye Patch gold. Thanks Chet for the companionship and the stories. You have some really great ones about gold, jobs, life and I wish others could hear them. Mitchel

Yes

I saw the 17 inch X Coil in action on Thursday and Friday at Rye Patch. The operator didn't really experience hot rocks as much as deep trash that would be missed by the 14. We had a test area where I had found a couple of .7g nuggets using his max settings. I was there for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon. I dug down 8" which is deep for me on a nugget. The next day (about 6 hours total) he went back over my area which had been gone over numerous times before me and he found 2 additional nuggets. One was at 10" about the size of my nuggets and another nugget was smaller. He also found some deep copper/tin pieces and other things I had not tried to dig the day before. Neither of us was much bothered by hot rocks in that area. He has no plans to go back to the 14!

The SS Central America had lots of coins and lots of treasure to say the least. We has a presentation (with coins and gold nuggets) at a PCSC meeting in Downey, California last year. The author said this book was coming. I don't see much of a preview online but it may be a reference book that will show up in your local library! https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/new-reference-details-gold-silver-recovered-in-2014-from-ss-central-america

Where is he? Isn't his probation over? haha

I am in Rye Patch right now! I know the area pretty good. It has been below 20 the last couple of mornings but perfect during the afternoons with very little wind. I suggest you send PMs and you'll get more details than just open forum. Mitchel

WTG! That is more than I've found in a longer season in a few years.

Micro, I'm glad you posted it here on a forum where everyone appreciates the Nox's abilities but we sometimes don't stretch it like you did! Could you tell us a little more about your 'technique?' I mean did you rake and detect, micro-swing, gully or side hill and was the patch big? Mitchel

JP, Are we throwing things 'off' when we turn the coil on edge to pinpoint? Mitchel

I found two nuggets with the Equinox as one of the first 'customers' to have one sent from Bill's first shipment. This was right after they were first shipped to the United States. Actually I lost the nuggets for a day and my friend Patrick found them for me and I posted the picture a couple of days later. Phrunt said no picture ... no nugget! haha On another note, there is someone who found several little nuggets in Gold Basin this week with a 600. They know about this forum so maybe they have posted them. I saw the post on Bill's forum. Mitchel

Has anyone got any nuggets from these hills/mountains that they put in their collection? A company here is taking a bet on finding more. They said the largest nugget taken was 22 ounces! https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dakota-territory-corp-announces-acquisition-141500469.html

I followed a link to the site and I thought it was a mistake. I left and didn't go back!