AU_Solitude

If I had to guess, sponsorship/publicity. Also, for what they do scraping with the loader the minelab probably offers little advantage; whatever they miss they'll probably hit after the next scrape.

Is this a trick question? It's just an ATX.

That's a great ratio; I'm at about 50-1 I would say in the few productive spots I have. Love the suddle "eee-yoooe," of those very small pieces with the SDC.

A large range, but still simply amazing being in the billions...Pretty cool that they say most of the gold was mined in Peru as well. It would be quite an undertaking at those depths - I don't know much about Columbia, but it is going to take a significant investment on their part as tech is going to play heavy into this retrieval given the depth; you're talking millions upon millions of dollars, and since it's the Colombian government, most likely they will want to put this in a museum of some sort, not cash it all out...who knows. That said, there are always those rogues with money and resources and once something like this is in the wind I am sure you'll have a few people trying to see what they can do to get a slice of the pie.

https://www.livescience.com/62638-san-jose-shipwreck-cannons.html Pretty amazing - the article is worth a read if you love anything to do with treasure hunting. It's great how over the last few decades underwater ROV's are putting these treasures/history back in reach.

https://www.americanminingrights.com/dredging-in-california-next-year/ Whether there is any truth to this, or it is stonewalled by legislation remains to be seen. Interesting though.

Better than the skunk, but not by much of a margin. Worked an old tertiary river bench for a few hours and managed to pull these two pieces from behind a protruding knob of bedrock. Both were only between 1-2 inches deep in compacted gravels. I continued to work that immediate vicinity with no success; they didn't have any other friends, at least not that the SDC could find. Combined weight is 0.17 grams.

Great looking pieces! That looks far over 1.7 grams, although I guess your scale could be smaller than mine and skew perspective. 👍

Definitely inspirational, I've been following him for a while now.

If you are new to the hobby the 70 or the 705 are fantastic detectors. I found my first gold nugget with a 70 and they can still hold their own to this day against any of the other mid-frequency VLF's. You've been given a lot of advice here, if there's one thing I would add, it would be: Pick one detector and stick with it! The guy with an older model detector, who knows it well, will do just as good if not better than the guy that has a 'flock,' of metal detectors, none of which he has put enough hours on to truly learn there nuances. It takes a lot of time on a machine before you develop a connection to each and every quirk, sound, breach in threshold, etc. It's very easy in this hobby, as in any, to get caught up in having the latest-and-greatest equipment - try and resist the urge.

The SDC! Just kidding, I know some people find it cumbersome but I've gotten used to the weight and am very fond of the machine. A great story as always Lanny! I'd never thought of checking disgarded bedrock in the area you described, definitely something I'll have to keep in mind.

Very nice!

I finally got out yesterday for the first time since February I believe, rain and other obligations have kept me away. It's a very strenuous hike into a secluded spot - rope is necessary in a few spots - every time I go here, I always tell myself I won't touch it again unless I overnight it. However the draw of the yellow, even when I rarely break even with the cost of gas is too much to fight off.The weather was perfect. By the time I made it to my hydraulic pit I had maybe an hour and fifteen minutes to detect, fifteen of which I spent scoping out the terrain for what looked like good spots. I settled on what looked like a ground sluice blow out, or, possibly the end of a sluice run? Hard to tell. The area was probably 100 square feet of loose gravels that seemed to have spread out in a rather precarious position 3/4 of the way up the hydraulic pit. I spent about thirty minutes digging boot tack, iron scrap, and finally got this little bugger. The SDC nailed it on (2) at about 5 inches deep - weight is about half a gram. The rest of the short time I had there yielded nothing but iron. I hope to get back soon and really work this pit as it seems to be a relatively untapped spot.

Is this AZ gold? Incredible.

Personally, I wouldn't spend money on it. As much of a hassle as it looks to be, and as little as it seems it would offer you in the way of creature comforts, I'd think in most situations a plain ol' tent would be a better investment - that or the bed of the truck.