fredmason

I think Chris did a good job of providing his own rough estimates of the time for him to produce an ounce of gold. I think he wanted to give nubbies some realistic idea of what is involved.... I don’t pan anymore, way to much work, dry washing is too much work...sniping is fun and easy; but, I don’t live near a river anymore. Metal detecting is my thing! I would not even guess the number of hours it took to get the gold I found. The thing is, if I was doing it just for money working at Walmart would have been a much better choice. fred

Klunker we should all suffer from so much gold under the coil that our detectors will not ground-balance...poor thing! fred

Great pictures! I have to ask, did you make an omelet with those Emu eggs? fred

Welcome back, Condor. I hope Minelab can and will fix your Gpz. According to Paul they have a heart these days. good luck fred

A man has to know his limitations!

Pretty heavy for a screw cap, I think. In the thirty or forty’s screw caps were fairly common on whiskey and condiment bottles...my time line may be off a bit, just my memories from hunting old dumps. Phrunt...??? Even coin hunting requires decent ground coverage and coil control, listen to the Master! with respect fred

Aluminum was not a commonly used metal until they figured a way to process the ore cheaply...a picture of the bottle cap would help. fred

Oh dear, now I need a thermometer??? Jonathan, what temp, how much change? I don’t think I knew about this...or my little brain leaked.... fred

Rob, I always tell people not to expect the gold to pay for the trip! Go for the experience, for the adventure and the memories...Or go for the love of Australia. I went three times and cherish each trip. I may go again if things get better. regardless, I went, I seen Oz and will always be glad I did,

This is part of a post by Daniel in Tennessee from Dan Kankowski forum....if This infringes on someone's rights, please delete. Good news for gpx users... For the effective depth of the iron discrimination part...I have found this actually varies quite a bit in your overall settings AND coil used. I ditched the stock Commander coils and bought all DeTech coils for my GPX. I found a new site back in the spring while hunting with the 15 inch Spiral DD coil and it had a little more iron mixed in with the site than what I liked. I could hear the iron and know it was iron. Didn't dig a single nail or anything with the 15 inch coil. On a return visit, I opted to put the 11 inch DD coil on there because I have to use a harness system with the 15 inch due to the weight. I wanted to be as light as I could, because it had started getting into the 80s in the temps and that harness is hot. I got to my little spot and started rehunting in the iron. I bet I dug 50 nails in the first 2 hours of hunting. They all sounded like deep bullets to me. I went back to the truck and put the 15 inch coil on. I didn't dig a single nail the rest of the day and all I found were bullets, camp lead, buttons, j hooks, etc. All good stuff except the occasional shotgun shell. So coil size and how it is wound does impact the iron disc range and sound nuances. I have since bought a new DeTech 11 inch coil to replace the 11 inch Commander. I've yet to find time to use it but my hope is that it has the same effect as its big 15 inch brother on the sounds, and will help me get away from that harness.

Thanks Jonathan you are always teaching... fred

Thanks but I have all I need... However, I would love to find some multi oz nuggets. I am not trying to tell you your business,but; if you are serious about this you might want to post some real information about the trip. What you have posted so far is a dream not a. Plan. I am not criticizing just saying... fred

Well, good luck and have fun! I won’t be joining you fred

Many, many more details would be nice... how much money who has permission what are your credentials for leading this expedition so many questions? fred

Thanks, Paul get some big ones! how are the boys doing.? fred

I was just curious...a friend told me he read a post on another forum that indicated excellent discrimination with the 5000 and a Detech-dd coil.... If true that would be great for many people... not me, I have a 7000 and 800 sitting around, lonely and blue. fred

Yeah, but the bigger the more fun... the memories are the best thing fred

Detech dd coils say they can give good discrimination with Minelab PI machines, can anyone give a forum or reference discussing this fred

Oh, Steve, Solomon would be proud of you! Personally, I love the drama...much better than Days of our Lives. And I learn stuff fred

I doubt your 5000 can "see" through the iron to get to the goodies. The discrimination is and always has been questionable on Minelab PI machines. let me know how you do... fred

You might not have bought it for sub-gram bits, but it will find them... just a pinpointing tip for hard to find stuff; turn the coil perpendicular to the ground and use the edge of the coil ... fred

Just keep at it, Steve...you and Dennis are worthy of some big nuggets! Detecting is a manic/depressive activity. The days I found gold I was happy and the days I didn't I was sad. But through it all were flies, flies, flies... fred

You can wait...or not. If you buy a used gpz or some earlier pi you will still get less IF a new GPZ comes around...when you sell to buy the new model. I don’t think Minelab ever introduced a next generation detector for less money! what is it worth to you. fred

Fascinating to see the results you and others are getting, Norvic. I expect some person will step up with an adaptor for these coils...of course, they will disavow any responsibility for warranty or repairs...unless Minelab steps up. Thank you for reporting your results! fred

The pic is not very clear, but, I would say it is a natural stone that has the appearance of being chipped... fred