Hard Prospector

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. 

Keep in mind that those same "experts" forecasting El Nino for winter 2016 also predicted El Nino storms for this winter(2014) and we all know how that played out. They also said that this May would be hot and dry which turned out to be cool and wet. I've lived in SoCal all my life and plenty of El Ninos and the the best indicator for one building is the presence of  Red Tuna crabs on SoCal beaches the summer before and the absence of Humbolt squid the previous winter around here.  I too think a strong El Nino is on the way but not because of what experts say....I believe the crabs

Doesnt the TDI have a pinpoint mode??

Kind of but not really.....The biggest advantage to this is; no matter where I'm off swinging my PI I will always have fantastic discrimination either hanging off my belt or in my day pack within reach. I suppose I should look at  it  more as a "mini VLF" / pro pointer. Boy am I looking forward to not digging so much garbage. What a great idea and thanks again Steve!

After I bought my F75 it didn't take long to realize that my F19 was no longer needed. I was getting close to listing it and then read Steve and Chris's  "innovative" pro pointer ideas and said to myself; wait a minute time out here.  All I  had to do is remove the middle shaft section, and cut down the upper rod(below the grip) and add a belt hanger like Steve did. Reinstalling the 5" puck coil completed the "F19 pro pointer"  project and it works great. My TDI now has a new work partner and with the F19's back light, detecting at night in the desert should be way easier.

Cool idea Steve....I want one

The TDI SL is a great PI for nugget shooting in nasty mineralized ground and beach prospecting for jewelry in wet salty beach sand. Simply switch out coils and you have a new machine for the task at hand. MXT Pro for multi purpose detecting, coin shooting and nuggets in tailing piles (replaced it with the F75).  For areas known for quartz specimens or I'm digging out crevices in a dry stream bead.....the GMT (or GB2) is  machine of choice. Speaking of dry stream beads; dig out crevices below the water line, classify to 1/4" and dump buckets of material into a couple wide mortar tubs, filling each to about 2" to 3" deep and spread even. Take the GMT w/4x6 shooter coil and go over material at least twice re-shaking between checks. The GMT will find very tiny pieces of coarse gold and most of my finds doing this have come from the minus 1/4" classified tub.  Keep the tubs in a spot that allow the machine to run at high gain and stay balanced. Prospecting in the desert where water is mostly for drinking inspires "creativity" sometimes. I don't know what kind of prospecting you do but I will say you couldn't go wrong owning all 3 of these fine machines.

My daughters asked me this morning ideas for father's day.....Done!

Agreed.....Whenever I hear the so called "experts" making market predictions and giving financial advice the red flag goes right up.

The US stock market has soared to new heights but not because of corporate growth and prosperity. Most of these gains have been made via massive cuts, restructuring, hanging onto capital and in many cases buying back stock. You can only drop so much weight before becoming sick and weak. In 2016 the federal minimum wage is set to go up 10%, which should increase costs of almost everything (inflation,....ouch!)   My take is the next few years  look bright for gold but not the economy

I heard AMRA has ambitious plans to really expand its claims holdings (for members) anyone know if its true?

If these people are true "city folks" you might want to consider a nearby motel, condo or cabin and just taking them out on day excursions and see how it goes. It would likely be a lot easier on everyone especially whoever is in charge.....like you

I would call Whites directly as sometimes just because it isn't listed doesn't mean there aren't some laying around

 nice chunk