nebulanoodle

8 hours ago, PeterInSa said:

But why do the need to use Mercury, for loose gold in a river bed?

That’s exactly what mercury is useful for; it amalgamates with the gold when they come in contact with each other and basically makes it into “more,” making it harder to lose. The mercury vapors it talks about them inhaling come from cooking it off the gold after their clean up.
These folks are just employing a tool that ensures highest recovery.

Hey awesome finds and all!

Curious: the crystals you guys are finding, are these popping out when your digging targets or are they opportunity finds while you’re detecting along in the float? I read in a post a while back about coming across rock hounds who are actually digging for crystals, so having not been the RP myself, is the bedrock pretty shallow in the flats to be finding veins that are popping out crystals or are they digging closer to the hills where there are more outcrops?

7 hours ago, KD0CAC said:

Still wanting some geological discussion , none above so far ?

Again , it's not a show I watch all the way through , just when I am going through the channels to see what's on , I stop & watch for a few min. , but so far every time I do , the seen is all flat ground , with sometimes hills mountains in the distance  , from most of what I have seen in the US , the big gold is in the mountains , with smaller gold in the flat lands ?

So again some geology explaining , thanks .

Perhaps you didn’t see Trent’s post?

15 hours ago, Trent King said:

The WA side is a lot older and different to the east coast.  

There are hills here and basically all are associated with harder iron sections in the greenstone belts.  Greenstone belts are mostly highly metamorphosed basalt.

The weathering profile here in the deserts are a result of a very long time with no real water flow.  The majority of weathering here is from chemical weathering and wind, but it has been happening for so long that areas have weathered down several hundred meters.  When it weathers like this you end up with the majority of gold patches on the surface, flat ground directly above the source.

A bit simplified but typing interferes with my afternoon beer. 🍻
 

refering to central goldfields, Pilbara is slightly different again.

I like how they’re even nestled into a fault in the bedrock. That’s not just any old run of the mill crevice 😂

I can’t be the first one to think this… but doesn’t that OKM thing seem like the scammiest scam that could ever be scammed up? What is the deal?!

Dig about 80% of that overburden off for as much of the length of those washes as you can manage first and then maybe you'll have a shot at finding something with a detector.

1m of overburden is quite the unrealistic depth to think of finding nuggets beneath, especially when you consider extra depth that crevices and unconformities in the bedrock present.

Digging beforehand will be 100% necessary with that kind of depth unless you discount the bottom of the wash and hunt the banks. Then get what you can afford, learn how to operate it, and if there's gold present, the detector will see it.

Gold ouck!

Hope to see some photos of some amazing gold and scenery upon your return! Will be prospecting vicariously through you  👍

A prospecting trip to Australia is #1 on my dream list. Hopefully within the next 5 years!

Awesome gold! I get mostly flat gold like those at my active patch. Little satellite dishes for our detector beams to reflect off of!

Those are some nice looking nuggets!

Forget about the headphones!

Dude! That is an awesome chunker! Love these extra dense ones.

Great find, thanks for sharing! Could we get another angle??

Nice chunk Rob!

Red, white or black?

3 hours ago, GotAU? said:

...do random transect line sampling first in order to see if there are any targets or patches in the area and then [grid]ding off areas where presence was determined in order to clean up afterwards.

Great definition of patch hunting. 👍

I tend to fantasize about gridding the pits out of 5x5 foot sections of ground at a time. With nice little corner markers and all the skill from years of not coloring in the lines applied.

But! That level of patience is Diamond and the best I can muster is only about Beryl. So it's off to aggressively push at the boundaries of patches with loose grid fundamentals or follow some mysterious terrain features! 

It's nice to feel as if you've covered a sizeable amount of ground.

Sounds like you'll be founding a river recycling company is what you'll find!

Just dreaming...

What'dya think? Minelab technology going on the next moon mission?

X6 must be space-worthy.

Minelab seems to have psychically tapped into my brain then...

Patch Paranoia is real. 😂

You will be in my prayers, neighbor to be loved...

X is for "X marks the spot" due to the findy nature of the detectors lol

Perhaps the SDC was actually the mistake...

My experience detecting is strictly for gold (and trash...) with Minelab SD and GPX machines. After watching Nenad's videos, it looks like the 6 performs (and looks!) like a hot rod GPX-5. That sells me, the fact that Minelab slapped together a spicy SDC/GPX love child. ...And operation of the machine 🥴

Gimme gimme

2 minutes ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

GoldTree - I'm not much of a crusher, but when I do, it's usually the ugly kind that hang around Madtuna.

 

🤯🤣 ...dear God...

Heck finding a scoop in the field may be a bit more of a significant discovery than any nugget in a beaten patch, if ya know what I mean!

ABSOLUTELY. My scoop is an all-purpose scraper, scratcher, raker, flinger, prier, and rehabilitator all in one!

I would not be the prospector I am without it.

I feel my Marine esprit stirring.

"This is my [scoop],

There are many like it,

But this one is mine."

No crush!!!