Sheppo

10 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

Congrats, Sheppo. Awesome report, pictures and treasure! These kind of loads keep the dream alive for us poor US prospectors. Norvic, I might never leave when I come and visit you next year.....

It’ll probably be the lifestyle more than the gold that’ll make you want to stay (though the gold is a huge help). I miss the FNQ lifestyle, it’s so much more laid back than anywhere I’ve been, but work has drawn me away unfortunately.

9 minutes ago, IdahoPeg said:

Time out in the Bush, time with family & friends, and lots of beautiful gold! Well done!

It was a great time out and time away, and much needed. Just a shame I had to come back to reality 😅😂

On 7/22/2021 at 11:56 PM, Skookum said:

I’ve always just done once. But, Geof has me hypothesizing maybe multiple wraps work better for eventual clean removal. How many times do you other guys wrap?

I generally only go two wraps, this gives me a time frame that once the tape is starting to look battered, it’s time to rotate my skid plate anyway.

Yes sure can, were you anywhere near Georgetown? I just came back from a trip up there for a month. Some of those benign looking granite grounds can be ridiculously hot. Look for the iron pebbles! This generally gives away what‘s going on underneath.

4 hours ago, phrunt said:

That's very unusual, I found the pin very hard to get out, I ended up using a small phillips screw driver and tapping it with a hammer to get it to slide out.  To get it back in I also tapped them with a hammer as there was no way I was going to be pushing it back in with my fingers.  I wonder if your pin is slightly smaller than it should be.

I honestly haven’t chased it up, I probably should but it hasn’t caused me any major problems.

Got to make sure those pins stay in place too, mine have already tried to come out a couple of times and my detector is only about 7 mths old, and is used less than most.

1 hour ago, Norvic said:

 3L water bladder

Unfortunately wouldn’t work for me, I can drink 3L of water in about 6 hours when out prospecting.

Someone spend the $10 or so to see what it can do 🤣

I think the chorus sums up how I feel about it... 🤣

I know it’s not a hip but a mate is currently in WA with a steel knee and doesn’t appear to be having problems with it. He uses it to make sure his pin pointer and detector are working after fire up too 😂

1 hour ago, GotAU? said:

I like the part that says that deposition of bonanza type deposits may be more common than thought.

Yep, try finding it with your metal detector or shovel and pans though. Much of it will be extremely deep in the ground, or in countries we can’t access.

46 minutes ago, Marty said:

Sheppo take a look at the "Fat Bastard Prospecting" on you tube he's over your way and check out his settings 
here is part one on the 6000 , heavy language warning 

Marty

WA mate, other side of the country. Though he doesn’t intentionally scrape the coil either. Will be checking his channel out.

39 minutes ago, Gone Bush said:

 

 

Hey All,

New here.

Gone from SDC and GPZ to getting a 6000 couple of days ago.

Is it normal for the detector to make a noise, almost like a target noise, if you happen to bump the ground while swinging?
Dead quiet if you bump a bush but slide it on the ground and it goes off its head.
This alone seems to disprove a dodgy coil.
Settings seem to make no difference. 
What am I doing wrong or is it normal for the 11” coil to do that?
Never had a GPX before so not sure what to expect.
 

Yes. 
It occurs especially in highly saturable ground.

My GPZ does it (less so with the NF ZSearch coil) and my GPX5000 did aswell. Coil control is your friend, try very hard not to scrape and bump to achieve the best results and keep the coil off the ground (approximately an inch). Slow steady swings help aswell.

Hope this helps.

2 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

These second-hand detectors are for sale in a 500km radius from Townsville, North Queensland.. including a GPZ for $6900..

I’d be wary of a few of those for sale on the list, there’s one bloke in there that carries on like a used detector dealership, which he isn’t.  But yes, the secondhand market here has a healthy supply of detectors all demanding good prices.

39 minutes ago, strick said:

My wife keeps up on world news better then I do... told me about this the other day https://www.wsj.com/articles/renesas-chip-plant-fire-spreads-concerns-about-global-auto-production-11616414181

I do a lot of driving for my job and I drove by a couple toyota car dealerships the other day and there is no inventory to speak of..there were some used cars but the new car's are drying up...

Went to Costco for a food run the other day. 4 t bone steaks were around $ 49 couple months ago now your looking at $69 and over for the same steaks...were going with chicken...time to fill the freezers up fellas....and I'm keeping what detectors I got left until things get better...

strick

Luckily my local butcher sources local meat so I can’t see a problem there.

52 minutes ago, phrunt said:

  The next thing will be dealing with will price inflation.  The second hand detector market may shift with more price rises soon.

Price inflation is a very real thing and is taking hold very quickly on things second hand and brand new on this side of the pond. The secondhand car market has gone gangbusters on pricing and trying to get a house for a reasonable price is the same.

4 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Cars in a city like Santa Monica get street crud and the blooming trees this time of year will match just about anything a desert has.  This old 4Runner has been over the dirt roads of California, Arizona, Nevada and Wyoming but these trees and birds here give it a patina unlike those roads.  The Jacaranda is a dirty tree.

I thought I recognised those purple flowers in the background. Jacarandas are horrible trees. Those flowers when it’s wet just turn to mush, same with Hibiscus flowers. 
 

As for the bush patina on cars, that’s exactly why I just bought a plain white four wheel drive. That poor things is going to see some horrible conditions in the near future but having the white paint will help hide a bit of damage. Great ideas for the blowers too.

On 5/13/2021 at 5:49 PM, geof_junk said:

I found the best outfit for me was a light weight Khaki electrician full cover overalls (no metal). I always got a size larger and cut the legs down a bit. This gave me plenty of room for air movement. As for the head I used a hat with a cap and a long tail to cover my neck. So you can't call me a RED NECK.😁

Definitely not recommended where I am, especially if hunting an prospecting exist together.

1 hour ago, PhaseTech said:

Okay here's a little tip. Twice now I have found "lead shot" only to realise it was a perfectly spherical ball of ironstone, with you guessed it, gold inside. Only when rubbed/scratched hard and not revealing that dull lustre of lead did I realise there may be gold inside. If you're not sure, put it on a flat bit of quartz and tap it with your pick.  

 

I check all those targets regardless, I’m yet to have any turn golden but the possibility is always there. Either a quick scrape on the pick or a thud with the pick sorts them out.

1 hour ago, Northeast said:

  A few short breaks for water, apples, bananas, chick peas and sardines - tasty detectorist menu 🤣

Sardines (especially the ones in tomato sauce) on hot toast with a sprinkling of pepper make for a fantastic filling and nutritious breakfast (no I’m not being sarcastic, I grew up on the stuff and love them, plus they have the benefits of eating fish) Also spread on crackers while out and about make for a good belly filler. Just don’t let the missus near you afterwards or she might gag.

Back on topic, that’s a great little write up @Northeast and full of great information once again.

That was a brilliant video showing how similar the performances are though I feel if the swings were slowed down on both coils a bit, they would’ve yielded better results.

Take that with a very big grain of salt though as I’m still perfecting and slowing down my swing.

3 hours ago, Norvic said:

Does it compete with my ZX combos...... no way it complements it.

As I said yesterday on another post, it’s a great weapon to add to a good prospector’s arsenal. 
I was impressed with it in the very small amount of time I got to see it and cannot wait to get my hands on one.

Lookout gullies and creeks!

Nearly ready!

31 minutes ago, Northeast said:

Teddy Long Legs - such a way with words  😆

I'm very surprised you let that stay up Steve.  I'm even more surprised you liked it  🤣

 

That is exactly the way a good friend is acquainted here though. Much of our banter here would get a gun drawn on you in other parts of the world.