Gold Hound

7 hours ago, vanursepaul said:

way too heavy for you!

 

Are you callin me a wussy boy... ya mug!

Hi Condor

What a bugger stacking the bike, I know what that feels like...

The one I remember most is when a stick flicked up off the front wheel and stabbed into my shin bone about 2in, it was a timber called cooktown iron wood which is one of our hardest timbers and is also toxic. Had to brace my leg and use both arms to pull it out of my shin, then it bled really slowly dark nearly black blood for 3 weeks... ouch.

I've never seen a Rocon they look awesome! What do they sell for over there? We don't get them here. What a weapon it would be in our country!

7 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

You can see coyotes all over Los Angeles communities.  They eat pets and occasionally they try to snatch a kid.  A much more majestic animal would be a wolf.  There are a fair number of them back down in the lower 48 now.

I've already seen wolves when I  was treasure hunting in Europe, I counted 7 of them they followed me for about 6 hrs one night while I was detecting. They are much larger than I thought they would be! And I had a pet full blood Dingo that I rescued as a tiny puppy. Dingo's get miss represented and treated much like your coyotes they are just trying to survive in a ever shrinking environment. I appreciate their intelligence and beauty and would really enjoy seeing them.

I can relate to the Dingo or Coyote as I get treated much the same... my detecting environment is shrinking every year😂

49 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

I grew up in North Florida and the Eastern Diamondbacks were plentiful and big.  I've seen them over 6 feet long.

I'd love to see a rattle snake! What a cool critter they are. I'd also love to see coyotes in the desert and those big curly horned ram's you have in the mountains.

I'm always excited when I get to see a snake or any other animal when out detecting, I just love seeing them all. We are so lucky to share our gold field with so many awesome animals, even if they are dangerous sometimes.

10 hours ago, 1515Art said:

Has he a little tiny rattle on his tail to give a warning or is it just silently dangerous?

They are just silently dangerous they also have the fastest strike and longest fangs of any australian snake. They can easily bite through a thick leather boot unlike all of our other snakes which have relatively short fangs.

The 3 snakes I and most cautious of are the Death Adder, Taipan and the Brown snake, in that order. Although the Taipan and Brown are the two most poisonous snakes in the world the Death Adder has the bad habit of being an ambush predator and loves hiding in leaves and under rocks, where as the others are highly mobile and generally leave as soon as they hear you.

Your nugget looks nice after the acid bath!

 Nice gold 1515Art

You guys are lucky your rattlers aren't as dangerous as this angry fellow... 



That is a Common Death Adder, Australia's version of the rattle snake. But much more poisonous.

If you are unlucky enough to get bitten you have about an hour until paralysis sets in then convulsions followed by death from breathing failure. I found this one when I  flipped a larger flat rock as it had a target under it which turned out to be a 7g nugget!

XRF, is very useful in prospecting both by milling and pelletizing rock samples and soil samples  for gold content and for using more mobile path finder elements to trace gold bearing mineralization. I have used the nitton gold 3 plus series made by thermo scientific for this purpose. There are other brands that are also up to the task but do your due diligence in researching weather they are upto the task. And make sure that you get the program that is specific to mineral exploration. As most second hand units will be programmed for material's testing, which will render it useless for prospecting.

When I  had one it had the same problem from new I  just put a few wraps of packing tape around the batteries so they were tight, on the battery that I put in first I also taped a length of ribbon, long enough to assist in pulling the tightly fitting batteries out for charging otherwise they were hard to remove.

Thats the show Tucson, he was telling me that its huge, mineral collectors from allover the world meet there to bid on or purchase high grade specimens. This guy's shop is called 'Crystal Fraction' I believe.

He wanted to take a whole bunch of other nuggets I had on consignment but for the little extra he was willing to pay it was not worth it.

A lot of prospectors are slow to adopt new technology. I think its due to the average age of prospectors being over retirement age(young people are lazy now lol), and that the zed was the first digital platform minelab gold detector. I had to teach a couple of old fellas I know as they really struggled with the transition. And minelab made it hard by changing the name of settings that were essentially the same function on the 5k which added to the confusion allong with no printed manual for purchasers who don't own or wish to own computers.

The reality of the market is that you have to find a buyer. Which is not easy especially if the nugget is over half an oz as not to many people have the lazy cash to invest in a larger nugget.

I did sell the crystal nuggets in these photos below for 150aud a gram 2 years ago. The fellow who bought them took them over to America and got 500us a gram for them at that big gold show you guys have every year. It was just over 3x the gold price at the time so I was pretty happy with that. The one at the top is 89g crystal and the 11 small ones on the left are also crystal the rest just got melted.

Thankfully I didn't have to melt the crystal nuggets.

5 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Now, if I was selling the nugget or something similar I'd have to say I would want more than the nugget price but maybe less than the price with commissions.  We could split the difference but if I really liked the nugget ... it is priceless!  (My wife might not think so.  haha)

Then on the other hand if it was an attractive specimen I'd want double or triple or XXX the gold price.

You would cry if you saw all of the nuggets I have melted... and every specimen I have ever found has gone under the hammer!

Hi Nenad 

I did quite a lot of detecting in pine forest around Bathurst in NSW. Its really nice how the coil glides over the needles. It's also dark and eerie when in the older growth and the cold wind howels as it blows through the tree's.

Much different to all of our other types of terrain. I cleaned up in one spot where they had graded all of the drift mining piles flat.

Your video brings back memories, thanks for posting.

5 hours ago, Hard Prospector said:

Yes,  I've had good luck dry panning with the Garret Super Sluice Pan,  I think the best pan for such a method.  When you get down to just a bit in the pan  bottom;

I carry the small 10in Garret Super Sluice Pan for the same reason. The garret pans are easily the best pan wet or dry.

Most of the time I don't even have to pan as I usually find gold with the detector anyway. The 5 and 7k are that good that you can pretty much loam with them.

I prefer to go to places where even the old timers didn't get to, no recorded finds no exploration reports nothing. No rubbish at all in these areas! If its hard to get there even better... if there's no water even better again, this weeds out the unfit, lazy, or inexperienced and when I talk to the land holder and ask if anyone has been in there and they say 'No, no one ever goes in there' I get real exited.

I use my knowledge of geology and modern satellite and servey images to target area's, I look for specific anomalies and geology I know to hold potential.

When I get to one of these prospective ares that I have pinpointed I go back 100 years and revert to old tech and whip out the small 10in gold pan that I carry everywhere with me. I sample the junctions of feeder systems as I walk all of the main creeks quickly detecting the probable gold traps as I move along, and when I get colors in the pan... I look real hard!

And if I find a nugget with the detector I methodically work the whole area!

4 hours ago, vanursepaul said:

Hey Dale,

Would you mind explaining to the group why you decided to cut the 100 series down instead of using the commercially produced Extra cab?

I know you have already explained it to me , but i think others here may enjoy the story of how you came to this decision.

It is obviously a lot of work,  but you will end up with a masterful bush rig.

The 105 series landcruiser is the last real 4x4 that toyota built. It has a heavy chassis that flexes and the live axle coil spring front and rear suspension setup handles heavy 4x4 in rough terrain way better than any of the IFS models. And the leaf sprung live axle utes have way too limited suspension flex in the rear as they are trapped by the springs. And it has the bulletproof 1hz disel motor in it. No electronic fuel injector pump to stuff up in the middle of nowhere. But I still needed a ute to carry the bike or quad bike as there is no way I'd get a trailer into anywhere I work.

So I  decided that if I wanted my dream prospecting rig I'd have to build it as I couldn't buy one and I didn't want to compromise on the way it handled 4x4 but I still wanted a ute and I still wanted to be comfortable.

4 hours ago, vanursepaul said:

She's turning out to be a beaut mate.------ Is that the same size box on the back we put on mine??? 700mm?

Side steps??? Look more like rockers to me--- I know how you drive haahahaha--- I think they will be strong enough to let you slide into those places you are going.

How many batteries in the back for the fridges etc? we had 2--- Are you going with 4? Wouldnt hurt to have the extra capacity the way you roll for weeks.

I LIKE IT!!

 

The box is a 900mm wide, its only temporary until I custom make one.

The side steps are made out of 4mm chromemolly box section and 6mm wall  molly tube connected to the chasis with custolm made u bolts made out of spring steel...extra bloody strong!  Strong enough to drag or drop onto a pointy rock or jack off any point along them. Way stronger than any you can buy.

I have 2x 120ah agm deep cycles under the tray for camping and fridge use and an e xtra duel purpose agm under the hood that runs the winch and accessories but can also start the car if need be.

I'm tig welding various ferrous and non ferrous. I don't have a mig at the moment so argon is more convenient.

3 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

Seriously Dale, you guys continue to amaze.

Thanks Flackmagnet.

Should see the looks I get when I'm driving around town😕😮🤔😀

Sort of looks like a vehicle out of the movie mad max. And its always DIRTY... unlike most set up 4x4's.

I'm starting the fabrication on the quad on Friday once I pick up some argon gas for the welder.

I'm getting the bush basher serviced and ready for action.

Last year in the off season I bought a 100 series landcruiser and cut it into an extra cab ute and built heavy scrub bars and side steps and a heavy roof rack out of 3mm wall chromemolly tube that acts as a exo roll cage. Then added a 4in lift, adjustable shocks, 33in tires, lockers front and rear, 270L diesel capacity, 180L of water, ect ect.

Side steps fabricated.

Bash plates 

Cut off back

Fabricated new back and doors

Fabricated tray support and chassis strengthening

Build tray and roofrack

Cab finished with tray skeleton installed

Install battery carrier, water tank, recovery gear drawer.

Now I'm about to start building a prospecting specific 4x4 quad bike. I recently purchased a Polaris 570 sportsman that I'm currently stripping off all of the plastics and non essentials like indicators, brake lights, ect.

And replacing them with custom front and rear trays, scrub bars, bash/skid plates, storage, roll protection, larger battery system, solar charging system, extra fuel, water and winch front and rear. All designed for extended prospecting trips in remote locations and safety in rough terrain on my own.

Should keep me busy until the wet is over

Just waiting for the last of the rains to finish then I'm in attack mode shortly after. Pretty much waiting for the tracks to dry then I'm off.

Dave (Davesgold on the forum) sent me a 20in spiral wound X coil to try out. I'm really itching to put it over a few deep areas and give it a thorough testing.

Also helps maintain socal distancing at the moment😂

Come on Paul...

Didn't you learn anything when you were with me...

Best way to deal with trashy piles is jump on your bike/quad and go to the middle of nowhere where there is no trash!

Forget about Geiger counter its a waist of time for a seroius exploration project for all of the reasons stated above by the learned memers of this forum.

What you need is one of these:

https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/XL3TGOLDDPLUS#/XL3TGOLDDPLUS

Get yourself a 'Niton, xl3 gold plus' every serious gold explorer needs one! An xrf will definitely help you find gold if you apply it right. If your smart about it, it'll pay for its self very quickly.

Nice country side and gold guys...I've always wanted to prospect in Mexico and the Mongolian step. Must be a real prick (😂) detecting in cacti though!

A couple of your pieces look like worn crystal gold and your biggest pice looks like rope gold which is a type of crystal also.

We are definitely on the same page jasong!

Interesting about Vice... that is one of the few current affairs shows I can watch. I never got the fake propaganda vibe off them.

I haven't watched/had tv since 2003, when I made the decision to not watch their mind numbing corporate agenda machine anymore. I mean who cares what Brad and Angelina or the Kardashians are doing anyway😂, that and sports are what they push as news these days. Or all this fake smoke screen politics while the polly's and their corporate master's run around in the background pillaging and plundering.

Way better to actually live your life and way more peaceful in the bush finding gold.