Chris Ben

Wow nice work!! I still have never detected Northern NV. That 3.9 grammer, looks bigger. Chris

Thank you, I'm anxious to get back into that wash and check it out. Chris

No I haven't. I don't have a meter. I'm trying to decide if I am going to crush and pan, or try to soak in acid. Chris

Hi all, I had time for a half day hunt today, so I planned on going back to a couple spots we had found gold in the past, hoping to squeeze out another nugget or 2. Plan a was a bust so I made a beeline toward the truck. On the way walking over random ground perpendicular to all the washes I hit a nice smooth signal on a small ridge. Dug down about 6 inches and got it out of the hole. Turned out being a fist sized rock. Thought it was a hot rock at first, but the signal was too good, so I was hoping it was a possible meteorite. Washed it off and immediately saw quartz. So now I was hoping for a speci. (Which I have never seen from this area) I washed it off a little more and saw some gold!!! Not sure how much is in there, but when I got home and cleaned it better, I found more gold than I was expecting. I got back to the truck and was headed home when my girlfriend said they were running a couple of hours late, so I had a bit more time to detect. I decided to try a completely new area expanding a known gold district on my way home. I made my way into the hills to the place I wanted to check out. Looked promising, very similar geologic to the place I was just at. I only had time for about 20 minutes of detecting. So I headed up the nearest wash. Got a little way up and hit a nice mellow deep signal, dug down about a foot and half and found a 1961 nickel on bedrock, 3 feet away hit a similar signal let than a foot deep on bedrock again..another nickel 1984. Strange this was really out of the way and didn't find any trash. Only detected a small part of the wash when I had to head home. You can zoom in on the quartz and see a couple of spots of gold. Chris

Great looking gold!! I actually love those flattened out pieces, because all I find out here in the desert are chunky rough nuggets....(I'm not complaining lol) your nuggets look cool . Chris

Great work on some interesting looking ground! Chris

Thanks, yes Dave and I both run GPZ's.

Got out with my buddy Dave today to do some detecting. We had the plan to try a new area, and if that didn't pan out we would go back to the area I had had some luck the last 2 outings. We struck out in the new area, and headed to the old one. I went out trying to expand on the new patch...no luck. Dave hung around the area where I found the patch 2 weeks ago. I started exploring a bit looking for good ground when Dave radioed me that he had found a couple nice nuggets. I made a beeline to meet up with him, still working my GPZ when I hit a great mellow signal. Turned out to be a 2+ gram nugget and the start of a 5 nugget patch. Biggest being 3g. We had lunch a made another run for no luck, but a great day nonetheless. My nuggets 6.4 grams Dave's score, with a nice big nugget. Chris

Hi Mac, I appreciate your reply. I was finally able to speak to someone on the Authorization board of my insurance company. She actually seemed very helpful. She laid out a plan for me to follow in order to get this surgery done out of network. I should find out end of this week, early next week. If denied again I will definitely look you up. Thank you Chris

Thank you, will do. Keep sharing yours as well. Hopefully we'll find a big one to post!! When I'm in a rut and not finding anything. I can see a good post with some new nuggets and get inspired.

GPZ 7000

Hi all, had a half day to go detecting today, so I went back to that new patch and was able to find one more small rough nugget. Searched a lot tried to expand the area or find source but no luck. So I want of searching for a new area, looking on a hillside next to a wash where I found a few nuggets. No luck, but I did notice a steep wash up ahead that I couldn't remember detecting. Found some nuggets nearby so I figured it was worth it. Ended up finding 4 more nuggets in a new patch. All small, but way better than a skunk. The darker nugget was from last weeks patch. Chris

Took a close up of bigger nugget which was actually 5.9 grams.

Hi Gerry, thank you. Btw that is southern Nevada gold. Chris

Its been a tough year so far. Many a skunks. My Buddy Dave and I have been trying to think outside the box, looking for new areas with very little luck. Our old areas are pretty damn pounded by us. Dave had some family obligations so I went out this past Sunday myself for a short hunt to beat the Nevada heat. I decided to go back to an area where i found 2 random nuggets about 30 yards apart. One was 1.5 gram in a tiny negligible small dry tribal. The other was a nice three gram solid found in a flat spot over a foot deep. I got to the area and hit a couple of nearby washes for nothing. Working back to where I found the nuggets I started grinding the area, working up hill from the nuggets. I was just about to the point where I had planned on quitting when I got a trashy chirpy signal. It moved on the first scrape with my foot, and I figured trash (this area has very little trash, almost none) got it in the scoop and it was a tiny specie. It was in the trailing of a rodent burrow so I wasn't sure if it was from deep. I started slowing down and overlapping my swings and got a solid signal next to a creosote brush. Turned into a nice sub gram nug. Made a circle around the Bush and got a screaming signal that I figured could be a bullet. Only 4 inches down in some soft overburden came out the large 5.1 g nugget. I back tracked a bit from there working the same line down the slope and got a nice deeper signal next to another creosote. Nice 1.5 gram nug. All very rough with rock and quartz. I tried working the line up the slope for nothing else. Going to go back and work the bench at top of slope. I had been getting discouraged so it was a nice shot of adrenaline. I was supposed to be getting hip surgery today but insurance denied my claim last minute. Filing appeals and grievances so we'll see what happens. I was supposed to be on crutches for 3 months after 1st surgery then have the 2nd which is a hip replacement. So I would have been on the bench for a while. The surgery is supposed to be in Vail Colorado so I was thinking about doing so prospecting there before the surgery. Stay out of the heat! Chris

Thanks for the great question and the great responses. For whatever reason, I have not gotten around to doing the software updates on the GPZ. I run in auto, but I usually do some sort of scrape on most signals I get, sometimes a couple. I've been hitting signals on layers of black sand that disappear after a few scrapes. I also usual run really hot settings. I guess I need to do the updates. Chris Picture was from last weekend out with Dave, we broke a skunk finally. Dave good luck on your mission this weekend!

New ground is always fun!! Good luck! Chris

Congratulations!! Great job! Chris

I have a 9in metal plate in my hip with 17 screws, and am able to work a GPZ 14 coil. The big coil on the other hand goes off on swing towards my affected hip. I would think a knee replacement would be more problematic, but not impossible. Chris

Hey Condor, done any more prospecting in Baja? Your last trip was very interesting. Chris

There are some people way more qualified to answer than I, but my steps are a follows. 1 I try to see if the signal is repeatable. 2 I look to see how large of an area I'm getting a reaction from my detector. Is it pin printable? Or a large area. 3 next I start to scrape off layers of ground. Does the signal change? Lighter or stronger? This may take a few attempt to find a difference. 4 If it gets stronger I dig. Now with all this being said, I have been fooled on a few occasions. Once specifically by some red clay. The signal got louder on the first few digs, then never changed even after more than a foot and half of digging. My 1.4 ounce nugget I initially thought was ground noise. It wasn't till after a few scrapes and dig I realized it was a target (which I thought was trash lol) So I guess I rather be safe than sorry. Good luck! Chris

This was a sunbaker on top of a hill 10.8 grams. In the Johnnie district in NV. Chris

Jim that 18 to 20 inches, is impressive...for the GPZ...Lol. I just happened to get my coil over the right spot. Chris

Dave and I went out last Sunday and had some success. First I heard a slight but repeatable whisper in the center of a flat wash. Dug down about 20 inches and got an attractive 3 gram nugget. I really am amazed I found a nugget that small, that deep Next I headed to the other side of little valley and hit a wash (tiny drainage) I wasn't expecting much but came across these 2 nice specie. They cleaned up pretty nice. Very spongy gold, again impressed with the 7000. Dave found a nice 2 gram sunbaker!! Chris

Joining the club's is a good place to start. It's where I started. I learned where people "look" for gold, and next where people "find" gold. As well as how people "look and find" gold. I stayed a member for 2 years, then I went on my own. I still keep a GPAA membership just in case I travelto a place I am not familiar with. It gives me a place to start. And yes by all means, learn as much as you can from this forum. Best of luck. Chris