mn90403

That's a nice day. Well done. Our 'storm' was not that much in the way of waves at my beach. It was the hardest rain I've ever been in to find less than $.20!

Well, I just read this thread and as incredible as this find is I want to also congratulate you on the 99 previous finds that caused you to go out and reach 100! Each coin has a story and you told a very good one about number 100. Have you ranked them? Mitchel

Norm, Those will last forever. I hope you gave some DNA info or maybe some pictures of the nuggets to the recipients that they can see how much love you put into finding all the gold. I'm glad to see Steve's new work. Did you get some of the gold from his Orange Peel Patch? Mitchel

I use a hip stick with my harness for the 5000. It makes it 'weightless' as you know or your can rig it to be front heavy to the degree you like. I don't use the swing arm and I don't know anyone that uses the arm AND the hip stick. It just never occurred to me to ask but JP thinks coil control on the GPZ is right at the top of the list. In the beginning of going back to your old beat up patches you'll find missed and unseen nuggets. These are the 'easy' ones. When you look at posts from Gerry, Lunk, JP and JW you'll see that they take it a step farther on the second or third time over the old patch WITH the GPZ. They get the deep and subtle ones and then there are the 'other' coils available now which make the GPZ sound off differently. Then you have HY normal/difficult/deep ... vs ... you'll be busy finding your favorite settings.

Get a hip stick.

It is great that he has an interest at that age. My soon to be 3 year old son has been out on the beach with me. We've also detected one of his playgrounds and his friends grabbed a few coins that I found in the sand but he was ok with it. I'm anxious to get him out to the desert but he likes the moon so that will be a bigger event for him than what is out there. We'll get out there in a couple of years. The one month old will just have to wait his turn. haha Mitchel

We have been waiting in California for many snows and many floods to dredge again also.

How long from time of find until you have the button? haha

He knows they are there so ... the mind set and read on your task was excellent JP.

I used this online gold calculator. It does allow you to take into consideration a lot of different host rock/quartz if you know its specific gravity. I 'played' with the formula years ago when I found a couple of nice specimen and there is a margin of error for quartz. I also found a specimen with my 800 a couple of years ago that had very little gold. I had to be very, very careful in my weight measurements in order to get a 'reasonable' estimate as I'm not going to dolly it up. It is also possible to come pretty close by weighing my specimen and weighing a similar size piece of local quartz. The difference in weight between those two in dry air give you the weight of gold. http://www.desert-gold-diggers.org/gold/specgrav.htm#:~:text=Specific Gravity Formulas,all in some other unit.&text=Wg %3D Wsa * A,sw * A * B).

68.4 g of Gold! WTG JP What a great read. You loaded up for big nuggets and you did it.

Do they all sound the same? I found a specimen in in the Southern California Mojave that just stuck on 1. It is much more quartz than gold but we could candle the quartz and see pockets. It is about 2 grams of gold vs a weight of about 40 grams if I remember correctly. Were you using the 11 in coil?

It seems there is a considerable amount of gold in Wales. Is there any that can be found with a metal detector? https://dailytimes.com.pk/706546/wales-braces-for-new-gold-rush-as-700-million-seam-of-precious-metal-is-discovered-in-snowdonia/

I hope we are 'remembered' for our troubles and helping to work out the bugs. 🙃

Those are nice. I haven't made it to Idaho yet for a hunt because Gerry didn't invite me! haha I've had other friends find some unique gold up there. I'd like to be able to have 1 Idaho nugget. Mitchel

Are you going to Queensland?

We all have them in our cars now too so you are never without a charging source. I have one of the car starters/usb quick charge batteries that I can charge something with my car off. Chet uses solar.

Here is a bit about some recent history of prospecting and fossicking in Queensland. Good news for JP's business but some gold will be taken out of the ground. There’s been an upsurge in the number of people fossicking for gold, sapphires, emeralds and opals in Queensland’s hotspots for precious metals and gems. More than 18,000 fossickers’ licences have been issued in just the last two financial years. https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/91243

I had 'noticed' the rig it took to get there and said WOW! Boston Whalers eat your hearts out.

Gerry has just defined PATIENCE!

I've found coins with my Zed but I wouldn't consider them 'deep' like what you describe. I'm certain lots of us with Zeds find coins but as you said and Gerry said they seem at first disappointing when we are after nuggets. I bet there have been gold coins found with the Zed and we'll just have to wait for the stories or maybe go to the Minelab site and see what they have there.

This pendant has been identified as an RBG pendant! It is silver with 3 microns of gold over the chain and pendant. They state that this is 1 micron thicker than the normal process which may explain why I heard both gold and silver when discovering it as well as testing it on the surface the next day. Would this be my first gold discovery for the AQ? It may also be the first gold/silver 'discovered' while it is in the shop! haha

Unique is what we seek and you got it Strick. Well done once again. Mitchel

You NEED a place where you can dig big, deep holes and I doubt that is on a golf course or in a city park! Oddly enough that might be the dry sand at some of the beaches. I personally haven't tried it but ...

Are they just 'fakes' for a costume or something or did they ever have a use?