dig4gold

37 minutes ago, phrunt said:

If that's all I had, I'd be very content.

Thats already a LOT more than most people have.

D4G

36 minutes ago, phrunt said:

8" and 10"  X-coil for the GPZ

15" Concentric X-coil for the GPZ 

10x5" Coiltek for the GPX 6000

6" Coil for the Nox 800

M8 8 x 5.5"  Coil for the Manticore

Nel Snake 6.5 x 3.5" for any detector lucky enough to have it

6" Concentric for the Garrett 24k

10" Spiral X-coil for the Algoforce / GPX 5000.

And a special mention to the Gold Bug 2 6.5" elliptical for being a brilliant little coil that other manufacturers should have replicated on their more modern Gold VLF's.

If that's all I had, I'd be very content.

Bloody hell, so out of all of those, which do you use that gives you the most success? There must be a favourite stand out. I think your last gold finds post was with the 6000 & the NF 12x7. No mention of the NF 12x7. above yet it found you gold.

D4G

On 4/22/2024 at 9:48 PM, mn90403 said:

There is a bit of rain hanging around here but a mostly clear moon at the moment.  I need to start looking South!

The weather in NZ can be very fickle with 4 seasons in one day. It kind of gets more settled down in Central Otago where you are heading. The West Coast of the south island has the wettest weather in the country. Coming in from the Tasman sea & held up by the Southern Alps. It just drowns the West Coast.

D4G

23 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

That was a 'minor' eruption

GEOGRAPHY

THE POWER OF TAUPO

Lake Taupo lies in the caldera of an active supervolcano, the site of the world’s most violent eruption of the last 70,000 years. Just 10 km beneath it sits another lake of molten rock 50 km wide and 160 km long. With a growing need for alternative energy sources, plans for tapping this latent reservoir are hotting up.

Why would you consider it a minor eruption? It wasn't too minor from what I have read about it. You only have to see the size of the lake. Which you have. According to geological records, the volcano has erupted 29 times in the last 30,000 years with 25 of those in the last 12 thousand years . They reckon it last erupted about 250 CE, that is around 2 thousand years ago. 

Did you consider Mt St Helens a minor eruption?

Would NZ survive if Lake Taupō erupted? This is what they say.

For NZ, especially the North Island, if it's a real big supervolcano eruption, everybody dies (TM), to a first approximation. It could also seriously affect the climate of the whole earth. Well depending on the wind direction, the very least the east coast would be covered in ash, and lots of it.

I could go on but I think I have made my point, that is it wasn't a minor eruption.

D4G

A few more photos of the Aurora Lights viewed over the weekend from various places around the Queenstown area. Very spectacular. I believe Mitchel is heading for Queenstown. 

D4g

Hi Mitchel. Were you aware that Lake Taupo fills the caldera of of the Taupo volcano. That being a volcano that has collapsed into itself, often filling with water to form a lake. As in this case. Believed to have erupted 2000 odd years ago. A super volcano. Now that you have been there & seen the size of the lake, you can but imagine how that eruption must have been.

I hope the weather is clear for you as you travel on from Taupo heading south up on the volcanic plateau & along the desert road past the three volcanoes. Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro & Mt Ngauruhoe. Still classified as active. 

Don't forget to stay on the right side of the road. In our case that is on the left. 😉

D4G

On 4/18/2024 at 12:56 PM, Ethan in Adelaide said:

I am having issues as the bungee wire can’t be clamped the wire very well. every time I put weight on the wire will start moving. The clamp appears very loose. Am I doing it wrong or? 

Why do you call it a wire? It is a cord. As Nenad has said, you need to lock the bungee cord into the grove. You pull down on the cord to achieve the right height of your detector off the ground & then while holding the weight on the cord horizontally pull the cord away from your body & up & it will lock into that wedge shaped groove & you are good to go.

D4G

How come no photos?

D4G

6 hours ago, ChuckScrivener said:

Minelab is finally going to feel some pressure to release something new perhaps?

Or reduce their price.

D4G

Maybe because there was/is lots of gold there. Goes without saying I reckon.

D4g

7 hours ago, phrunt said:

a bit more than the gram or two I've got from the area 🙂

That's interesting. I don't recall any posts you have made of gold you have found from where they are prospecting.

https://www.santanaminerals.com/bendigo-ophir-new-zealand

D4G

Hi Mitchel, what made you go to Waihi? A good walk for you & family would be the "Windows" walk in the Karangahake gorge. Site of the 3rd richest hard rock gold mine in NZ back in its day. The Talisman, which has activity going on today.   The Martha mine was the richest followed by the Blackwater mine in the south island at Waiuta. The Birthday reef was a late discovery in 1906 & was found on King George's birthday. Hence the "Birthday" reef. It closed in 1951 due to the shaft collapsing. Today an Australian company has driven a low level tunnel & have very recently hit the Birthday reef way below the extent of the old workings. Looks like happy days ahead. The Blackwater mine had the deepest shaft in NZ. Sorry I can't recall the depth off the top of my head. Do a google search on Waiuta. Could be worth a trip up to the old ghost town. Very interesting.

D4G

The Martha Mine in Waihi. Yep, still mining there.

D4G

Some nice stuff there for sure.

D4G

8 hours ago, Bedrocker said:

Obviously Jacob didn't let fear control his life.

No, but there were other peoples lives involved in this last incident. It didn't need to happen.

D4G 

On 4/7/2024 at 8:40 AM, GhostMiner said:

Jacob laughed and said that the low life loggers didn’t like him talking with the two ladies. I for a fact knew that Jacob despised loggers and he may have come over there just to get under their skin. 

That's the way I see it. He knew what he was doing & must have known what the result would be. I reckon you guys got off lightly.

Makes for a good story though.

D4G

19 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

   September 15   2002     Part Four

 

   The guy that Clay had sent flying over the barstool was not getting up but the one I had punched was turning towards me. I started to raise my hand to block his punch but it turned out I didn’t have to worry. Clay clocked him but good with a blind sided right hand from hell that sent him flying back over a table near the crew that was still sitting and taking everything in.

   Now there were five more coming towards us and cursing up a storm. By now Conor was looking for a weapon and latched onto a beer bottle. Jacob had pulled his buck knife and was standing with his back to the bar ready for action. All I could think was that this awful place hadn’t changed much since the 1930’s and the plan of having a relaxing evening had vanished with the first punch. 

   Somebody in the barroom hollered that the police should be called but I heard the bartender behind me say that there was no one on duty right now. We decided quickly to make our stand at the bar by letting the loggers come to us. Jacob was hollering for them to come on ahead and he’d cut them to ribbons. He looked half crazed. Come ahead they did and the punches were flying. Conor and I took care of one of them while Clay sent two of them reeling backwards. Conor turned and caught another one of them on the head with the bottle he was using as a weapon. Then I got caught with a punch that sent me crashing back into the bar but Jacob grabbed the guy from behind. He had a hold of his hair and had stuck the knife across his throat. Everything stopped. Jacob told him that if he even breathed hard he'd cut his throat. And I think he meant it.

   Lucky for us the logging crew was drunk and they didn’t have a lot to bring to the fight. The two gals that had been sitting at the end of the bar were long gone. The second logging crew had not made a move. There were only two of the loggers we were fighting still on their feet now and one had a buck knife to his throat. Before we could figure out our next move the bartender had pulled a shotgun out from somewhere under the bar and he squeezed off a shot into the ceiling. The entire place went quiet except for the jukebox. He told us to clear out. He said he was going to close the place for the night and wanted us gone before anyone else left. I looked over at Clay and he said “Let’s go.” Jacob released the logger and we eased on out of that sh.. hole. 

   TO BE CONTINUED .............

Jacob can take full responsibility for starting that s#it fight. Not fair on the rest of you. What was he thinking??

D4G 

23 hours ago, phrunt said:

 I'd only use the 15x12" for larger targets.

Exactly.... like large gold at depth..... Sounds like a win to me. You might find you will not fill your pockets with so many lead pellets either. If you don't search for large deep nuggets you are never going to find them.

D4G

1 hour ago, kingswood said:

The 3000 combo with the 24x12 UFO mono found buckets of deep gold years ago, theres no reason why it wont do the same now. Use whatever you can afford as a second machine.

Agree totally with that. A 3000 was listed on our online auction site for NZ$800 & got passed in but it did sell so a deal must have been struck. I was very tempted myself.

If your spot is virgin ground you are very lucky & a 7000 would be a killer. Even with the standard 14x13 coil. Whack on a 15" cc X coil & you just might be blown away from what I have heard about them.

D4G

That is a very generous offer from DrillerDave. I reckon you should take him with you.

D4G

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

I have a 15x12" Commander, probably never use it.

So are you saying you bought one & have never used it? You might be surprised if you hook it up to your Algoforce.  I have found deep gold with my one & it wasn't too shabby on smaller shallow bits either.

D4G

I would have to wonder with using an older model ML PI or GPZ 7000 that the bigger deeper gold you are looking for has not already been found with them back in there day. Hence the GPX 6000 mopping up the crumbs these days. A very high chance that any ground you go over has already seen many a coil over it. The gold doesn't tend to grow back.

D4G

5 hours ago, phrunt said:

I can't remember the 14"x13" weight.

Just weighed my ML 14x13 & it is 1239 grams. That is just the coil with skid plate & curly cable.

D4G

11 hours ago, Renatsvarog said:

I noticed in the last few years the picture quality has decreased

Yes, absolutely. Hence going in with the drone. You can't zoom in as much as you could do on Google Earth without it losing a sharp focus.

D4G

That's a tease showing a recreated photo of gold found years ago.

D4G