Hard Prospector

Very nice coarse gold and specimen "chips". Those are just the kind of pieces I like to test my detectors on. Great diggs and I'm glad for you guys.

Ivan, Rick, here's The Whites Family

John

Whites Family.

Looks like one big happy family of White's prospecting detectors and just missing one, the GMZ which works quite well but never really took off. Looks like a ton of fun lined up there brother...Enjoy!

John, I hope some day your government lets you people own guns in a practical way for hunting and personal defense. Firearm ownership should be a personal decision, not one made by government.

I have a full time job and investments that I depend on to raise my family and save for our future. All of the gold  I find is very hard earned and saved as an investment kept in a safe deposit box. Some years are better then others and this year has only been so so as detecting is getting  tough and I'm considering all prospecting options these days. Recently I heard of a prospector out swinging his detector(VLF) in a known gold producing district who hit a 60oz pocket of free gold in quartz that only had 6" of soil covering the outcropping. My point is prospecting/mining is unpredictable and hard work with uncertainty yet it would seem once in a while miracles do happen.

My hobbies: backpacking, hunting, fishing, prospecting, kiss my wife's *ss and repeat.

John, I looked into these "mods" as well but just couldn't find anyone who could or wanted to do it(in the US that is) so I gave up on the idea. Besides I haven't had any issues with the SL anyway. Its been my experience that the key to increasing performance while maintaining smooth threshold with the SL is to run modest size coils(6x10 elliptical or 7.5 round) and keeping up on fresh batteries. The TDI really sucks the juice and hundreds of hours on this machine have taught me that when the batteries start to fall out of spec the threshold becomes erratic and it has difficulty staying balanced. When running at high gain I will swap out a battery pack of alkalines every 3-4 hours no problem. I too considered buying a TDI Pro but opted for another SL instead. You may find of interest that I bought my first SL in 2012 and the other in 2014 and have not noticed any performance differences between the two with the coils I use. I don't think it matters much which PI machine used in iron infested sites as they all struggle big time. Facing a similar problem, I recently bought a Fisher F75ltd2 for this purpose and although still learning it (lots of bells and whistles!) it handles mineralized ground better than any VLF I've used by far, also heard good things about the FORS too. I don't consider myself any kind of "TDI Wizard" but it has been my only PI unit for several years and these are my observations...Rob

I can only imagine the tons of material moved and 1000's of calories burned for that hand full gold.......Very impressive to say the least.

Careful guys, plenty of government regulators out there who would love to bust a guy swinging a detector for removing (what they consider) historic relics off public lands. Don't get me wrong I totally believe in "finders keepers" and am glad for your cool finds I just don't want to see a brother prospector rolled up by some civil servant. 

I was out yesterday in Arizona swingin' my Z in 90 degree, muggy high humidity weather made worse by the monsoon rains. Was out for about 7 hours, covered head to toe in dirt and mud, I looked like a real miner

Managed to dig up a little 1 grammer in a spot I've been striking out at for months. Couldn't be happier. Rekindled my faith in the area and was enough to keep me pushing on.

Perhaps time to drag in a drywasher to the spot of that one gramer and mop up his "minions" that are likely about

Would not be surprised if we see a lot more of this stuff, there is a powerful vocal "movement" in the world that considers practises that don`t interest them should not be allowed. They got right behind banning our once enjoyable pastime gold dredging, are actively trying to curtail our fishing, I could get on the band wagon and mention more, unfortunately we who enjoy such pastimes are not as vocal as this "movement" is at pushing their agenda.

Well put Norvic, too many people these days just don't want to see anyone do anything that even resembles work,  productivity or even enjoyment of the outdoors.They would just prefer sitting on their dead lazy *ss complaining and wait for that government check to come in.

 The truth is much of the content in museums was originally found/discovered by treasure seekers, relic hunters and prospectors. The way it often plays out is; A unique and valuable find was secured by a seeker/prospector and ended up eventually being sold to a museum( often below appraised value) or to a collector (usually someone very rich) but it often doesn't  end there. This valuable piece may sit in a private collection(sometimes changing hands) for however many years until the current owner decides that he is in need of a substantial tax write off. Curators are contacted, the value assessed(usually hyper-assessed but the government turns a blind eye because its being "given" to a museum) and the donation made. So now that beautiful ten pound nugget or piece of historical antiquity has been set for all of humanity to appreciate. So what about the guy who spent thousands of hours researching and digging his but off to secure this find from the ravages of mother nature.....He's got my total respect and I could care less what ignorant people think anyway

Jim, I don't even want to think about the silver ore specimens I've likely stumbled on over the years that were probably nice finds (not knowing any better) Gold fever certainly has it hang ups.

Just seeing such a treasure and a brief story is enough for me, many thanks to the finder and Gerry for sharing.

Did you mean to attach a picture?

No, there are several already in the classifieds

I bought this from El Dorado it arrived last week and man is it cool ,the craftsmanship and detail is just great.  I wore it to a gathering the other night and the comments and inquiries were non stop. Until I found this the only thing I've wore on any chain is a dog tag or a couple of nuggets I had a loop fastened to. So if your looking for something to wear on a chain (without feeling like a chick) this one is bad *ss and just drips testosterone.......Rob

Man what a great find, good for you

Hard Prospector partial quote:

"the writings still  on the wall. All  the pieces I've  detected in the last 6 months came from moving tailing piles, raking or digging  BEFORE  swinging, resulting in some nice finds but it took lots of work and patience. Wandering across the desert while swinging is what I enjoy most but I'm beginning to accept that to stay productive with my detector, this is what I have to do."

 

Rob... a no BS observation that applies to my area as well. Oh sure, we can still wander about and occasionally find something worthwhile, but most such surface material is long gone. And despite occasional superlative large silver floats found in the outback, 99% of such floats are comprised of undesirable arsenides, not to mention that it is an iron-clad bitch to dig any of it in the heavy bush.

 

I've been doing exactly what you suggest for many years and doing it successfully. I pick my sites based on firsthand sampling experienced over the years and move a lot of material as per the photo below. In this application, I feel no motivation to acquire even deeperseeking units. What I do make good use of is a strong back, good leather gloves, a sturdy pick and shovel that can get the job done as efficiently as possible. Welcome to the real world of mineral collecting, or in this instance silver collecting. Thanks Rob.

 

Jim.

 

TRENCHING FOR SILVER ORES.JPG

Jim  that trench is impressive to say the least, "Cross Fit" for prospectors comes to mind. 

I agree with everyone's comments but especially the Aussie's feeling that most undisturbed larger deeper nuggets and patches have been pounded and cleaned out. It would seem thirty years of improving detector technology has caught up to the resource. I know of several accomplished nugget shooters who have made very good livings doing it full time for the past 15 years in in Arizona, California and northern Nevada and this is their feeling as well. They say that the SDC and GPZ came along just in time to breath new life into their old patches making for a good year  but the writings still  on the wall. All  the pieces I've  detected in the last 6 months came from moving tailing piles, raking or digging  BEFORE  swinging, resulting in some nice finds but it took lots of work and patience. Wandering across the desert while swinging is what I enjoy most but I'm beginning to accept that to stay productive with my detector, this is what I have to do. Too bad we won't be around in a 100 million years when mother nature has had the time to "re-shuffled the diggs" 

I'll bet collectors and jewelers are "licking their chops" at the sight of that one. Beautiful piece and well done.

Sounds like a fun time and good luck!

I use the GB Pro, F19 ,and F75 exclusively for prospecting trashy tailing piles for nuggets and specimens. The superior discrimination of these newer machines make tailing pile work much easier (a F75 in the classifieds right now cheap for $400.) Good luck

When Steve see's your post I'm sure he will have some great tips to share.

Tesoro Sand Shark has my vote( I've got 2) Performance, cost and lifetime warranty are great.  Cons; They can really suck down the AA's.

Prospecting and poison oak in Ca go hand in hand. I always wear a dust mask when digging placer spots and carry extra cloths in truck for drive home(bagging up trail cloths and using rubber gloves when in doubt) Soap up with dish washing liquid BEFORE getting hands/arms wet as the oils bind much better to the soap from your pours. Washing cloths in Simple Green works well for me. I also wear snake chaps over my BDU's and two layers of lite weight long sleeve shirts and leather gloves when diggin. Yeh i sweat like a pig but it beats having rash all over my body. When I get home i go into the shower with a bottle of dish soap and lather up from head to toe THEN turn on the water. If I have any doubts about it being on my detector or tools I'll wipe them down with a rag and rubbing alcohol. I always take my boots and chaps off/on with rubber gloves. Fun..Fun...Fun

I've swung most every coil made for the TDI and those that work best for small gold in nasty soil are the 6x10 elliptical DF, 6x10 folded-over Miner John or the 7.5" round Aussi mono. Bigger loops and the machine just struggles because it  doesn't have the power for consistent depth and stability.