Chris Ben
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Posts posted by Chris Ben
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46 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:
Thankfully four times the money does buy a little something extra! Hang onto the ATX if you can - it easily handles hot rocks and salt ground that can be problematic for the GPZ in some places. I think a GPZ and GPX pair would be perfect but for me a GPZ and ATX works better reinforcing each other. The ATX folds up nice and is easy enough to take along as a backup.
Steve, I was thinking about selling it, but may reconsider. Maybe
Chris
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2 minutes ago, strick said:
Perfect christening for a new machine. So how does it compare the the ATX ?
strick
We'll not to bad mouth the ATX, because I did well with it and learned a lot about detecting for gold with it, but I had been through this wash with the 3 coils and didn't find anything. The gold was either too deep or too small for the ATX. I think it says more about how good the GPZ is.
Chris
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Hi all, finally got to take me new GPZ out for its Maiden run. To my girlfriend and her daughters out with me, but had to promise to take them to see the snow in the mtns after. I hit a wash I had found a couple of specks with my GMT, but struck out with my ATX. In 5 minutes I had my first signal, a sub gram specie at about 6 or 7 in. A few moments later hit another subject gram piece. A few minutes later dug up a 2+ grammer. Then I was notified by my girlfriend that the kids were cold and wanted to leave. Lol that was quick but I was happy with 3.5 grams for the day. Better than I had been doing.
The next day was to be a more serious day detecting. Met up with my buddy Dave and headed out to a new area. Walked a few washes for nothing then got a high pitched signal. Dug up what may be a small meteorite. I don't have a picture but Dave might. Then found the tiniest speci with the smallest speck of gold visible. Wow! the power of the GPZ.
After basically striking out Dave and I decided to head back to and area we had done ok. Which happens to be near the wash from yesterday. So I got right back into it and was back on the gold. I have to say this was the first true patch I had found. Tried to radio Dave and tell him how I was doing, but he was out of range. When I got up to about ten nuggets I got a call from Dave and he said he had no luck. So I told him there was still 40 or 50 yards left of this was. Told him to start at the top and we'd meet in the middle. He even picked up a couple I missed. I ended up with 20 nuggets for the day, and Dave got 9. Best day ever detecting. 13.6grams for the day 17grams for the 2 days. I'm on a quest to pay for my GPZ and 17 grams takes out a big chunk. Completely amazed at the power of that detector.
I'm sure there is still some gold left in that patch. Can't wait to get back.
Chris
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32 minutes ago, kiwijw said:
Crickey, is that what your ATX is good at finding. Obviously he slipped on in & slipped on out before you
LOL :) You could show us some gold pic finds from your ATX.
Good luck out there
JW
As requested, to prove me and the ATX can find some gold and not just lube lol
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You guys are cracking me up with the responses! Lol. But I figured other people would post some strange things in crazy places lol.
Chris
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Hi everyone, I saw one comment in other post about square nails being dropped in places they shouldn't be by pilots, and it got me thinking about some I found detecting last weekend. We find some of the most random things, in some of the most out of the way places. I found this after a several mile drive off a dirt road, then another couple mile hike in a gold bearing area in Nevada. No trash, no cans, no roads...? How and why did this get there? It is scary to ask, maybe I don't want to know lol the only thing around for miles are the burros...hmmmm?
What strange things have you guys found?
Chris
PS that was my last hunt with my ATX , I picked up a GPZ this week, and hope to be posting many nuggets.
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That's horrible, sorry to hear that. I am looking for a really good deal on A GPZ, but not that way. Best of luck on getting your detectors back.
Chris
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10 hours ago, Reno Chris said:
The gold mining district near Pahrump is more commonly known as the Johnnie District. It is mostly hard rock, but has some good placer too.
I have had some success there. It has been getting tougher, lots of overburden. I need to get a GPZ and go back !!!
Chris
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Wow!! Great collection. Love those rounded nuggets.
Chris
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2 hours ago, Reno Chris said:
I met some guys recently who got some nice gold digging down into the gravel of a desert ravine to get gold that could not be seen by a detector until some of the over burden was removed. The gold was so nice I told them that they needed a bulldozer.
That has been the method I have found most of my gold. It's a lot of work to dig off overburden. Never really found a patch where I could just detect nuggets. Found a few stragglers, but not patches...unless I dig off the overburden. Sometimes 3+feet... yikes.
Chris
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4 hours ago, Sourdough Scott said:
I kep trying to upload photos of the event. Keeps giving me a -200 code. Getting frustrated. Tried opera mini like Steve suggested. Still same problem.
I edited my photos, shrunk them down a bit. That did the trick on my last post. I've been to that claim but didn't do well. Looking forward to pictures.
Chris
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Fascinating!
Chris
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I always like when people post their recent finds, it motivates me to go out and find my own.
Had some time to do a short hunt this am near Johnnie NV. Walking a small drainage with the 8 inch coil on my ATX I find this 1.7 g specimen about 4 inches down, not even on bedrock. It was underneath a shoe sized rock. Clear strong signal. Detected the majority of the wash for nothing else. I am notorious for finding single nugget washes lol. Was still happy to find this, lots of character.
Chris
Closup
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I use one, really like it. Butl I never ran a Minelab. Still trying to figure out best applications for the 3 coils. I have found some pretty good southers NV nuggets.
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4 hours ago, Clay Diggins said:
Meadview is in Lost Basin, Gold Basin is to the south and west of Lost Basin. They both have gold but different geology.
In Gold Basin look for the older fanglomerate underneath the newer gravels. That old fanglomerate is poorly consolidated. The old gravels have gold, the new ones don't. The gold distribution in Gold Basin can seem pretty confusing if you don't know that fact.
The areas where these older gravels are exposed and then concentrated through erosion are where you will find the nuggets. The bigger washes are mostly filled with new gravels but the older gravels are exposed in some of the smaller side washes. Follow the old gravels. White Elephant Wash has several areas with exposed gold bearing gravel but there are other areas scattered throughout the upper basin.
Taking a good look at the geology before you prospect there will give you a leg up. Combine flood modelling with the geology and you have a good chance of walking right to your first find.
There is good information available on the Gold Basin deposits in USGS Professional Paper 1361. You can download a searchable copy of that paper at this Land Matters LINK. 74 Mb PDF
A similar situation with placer gravels is going on in Lost Basin but the gravels are entirely different from the gold bearing gravels in Gold Basin.
Thank you Clay,
I appreciate the detail. I will definitely look up those links. How do you tell the difference between the older and newer gravely?
Chris
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4 hours ago, jasong said:
There are guys who've gone 2 or more years without finding a nugget out there. I met a guy who detects Meadview who hasn't found a nugget since 2012! It's easy to find dinks there with a GMT/GB2/etc , but 1/2 oz + not so much anymore.
Give it a try but don't get obsessed with finding one of the extremely few big ones remaining out there, it's 100% luck now these days. Time better spent exploring!
Thanks for the advice, I know it's tough out there. I heard about a guy that found a 2oz nugget at 2ft, then a week later got a 3/4 Oz, supposedly with a 4500. That's what got me fired up lol
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I have a plan to give myself the best chance at finding a larger nugget. Being in Vegas I figure the 'best' closest place is Gold basin (Meadview). Heard of a couple of larger nuggets coming out in last few weeks.
Plan:
1. Put the Deepseeker coil on my ATX
2. Cover as much ground as possible (slow and low)
3. Hit the hills and benches as opposed to gullies.
Any added advice, or change to my strategy would be appreciated
Thanks Chris
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Fortunately all the signals I get in the current area I'm working are gold. Zero trash, but not necessarily a lot of gold lol
Chris
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And in a list of not so smart choices, I actually swam on that exact same beach, LOL It is a very beautiful area though.
Chris
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Great job!!!
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Now I'm inspired again to go find a new patch.
Chris
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I decided to take a break from hunting for a new patch and went back to an older one I gave up on too soon. Spent half the day digging, raking and detecting. I ended up with 2.6 g. Mostly with White's GMT with small coil. (Great on small gold) At one point I dug off the overburden and went over ground with ATX no signal, then went over with the GMT and got a strong signal...? So I went back to the ATX and found the signal...not slow and low enough. Big learning point...lesson learned. The 2 bigger ones were 0.7g each. Definitely headed back to this wash. (Still want to find a Virgin patch though)
Chris
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Some of the gold I have found from the Johnnie area.
Maiden Run With My GPZ
in Minelab Metal Detectors
Posted
Skill and determination? Thanks man, but I'm learning from you, seriously. Not nearly as much determination as much as just plain stubbornness. Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to next outing.
Chris