AU_Solitude
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Rick, I have played with the VMH3CS extensively as well, and for a non-motion metal detector they pack some serious punch, even with the factory small coil. I would argue they hit even deeper than a white's TDI on coin size targets.
They are definitely not a machine for the gold fields. Although they can handle difficult ground mineralization, exceptionally well, in my view the sensitivity just isn't there at depth for small gold. (The tool can be used for the job, but it definitely isn't the BEST tool.)
If all an individual is after is larger than gram gold, and/or coins and relics, they are fantastic little machine - as are most of the units that Vallon has produced.
The mosquito-esque piezo will wear on you after a while!
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It's just lead. I was going to suggest essentially what you've already done, lead has a low melting point, put a match to it, a lighter, it will quickly become apparent what it is.
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Looks awesome, Jim! That had to be quite the undertaking - do you have photo's of a prototype? Do you have plans to take this to market?
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6 hours ago, DolanDave said:
Then it's on to mining meteors and mars.
One of the beautiful things about gold is that even if tomorrow massive placer gold deposits were discovered on Mars, the closest and most readily accessible celestial body, the cost of actually going there to retrieve the metal, then bringing it back, would far exceed the value of the metal itself. Even if recovery was simply picking it up from the surface. Moving things into, and out of space, isn't cheap. Gold prices are in no immediate danger from off earth mining - not in our lifetimes!
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This is sad news. This magazine was a major influence in my start of detecting as a kid.
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23 hours ago, Hard Prospector said:
When gold finally hits $2000 (or more) an ounce, people will be shocked by the new deposits "suddenly discovered" by motivated mining companies. ICMJ had a good article on this topic last month too.
This shouldn't be too long from now. I speculate we will see $2000 an ounce gold by 2020. We should be entering a period of economic recession, as we're long overdue, the market seems like it's just figuring this out over the last month. A lot of deep pockets will be moving equity into gold, or gold based ETFs as a security vehicle to carry them through.
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Fantastic piece! Almost big enough to be called a PB&J.
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Thanks for posting those FlakMagnet, I love seeing large Sierra gold. That's a beautiful piece!
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21 minutes ago, auminesweeper said:
I found this posted elsewhere I don't if folks have seen it yet ? if so just remove it.
Enjoy.
Absolutely incredible. Thanks for linking this!
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43 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:
Steve said: "...Odd to think that many of us dream of nothing more than finding a large nugget, but then ignore the kind of sound a monster nugget would make..."
For me that is the quote of the year.
Happily (for once), I did not ignore the booming target that produced my biggest find; a 1.9 ouncer up in the Sierra's.
Do you have pictures of said nugget?
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Thanks for the input. Going to have to weed the trash out piece at a time with the SDC.
As to the above suggestions of the electromagnets, sweepers and such, not even close to being practical in the areas I prospect. Only access is by foot. I spend time shaving ounces of weight off my backpack with most of my packs weight being water.
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I am currently working a smaller hydraulic pit in the sierras that was washed down to bedrock in most places, the bedrock is serpentine but there is also a great deal of ironstone river rock laying around, the ground is incredibly hot. There are areas the SDC struggles with here.
It's no surprise, but there is the usual plethora of iron trash associated with these sites - nails, tin, cans and iron scrap galore. I have been able to pull a few pieces of gold out with the SDC, and I know there is more there, but the SDC is constantly overloading on the scrap iron. VLF's struggle with the ground and have to be fully castrated to the point of being essentially useless to even come close to the serpentine.
How would you go about detecting such an area? Is my only option to vacate the area of all iron one piece at a time with the PI? All input appreciated.
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Very nice! Keep the photo's and stories coming. The heat and smoke have been keeping me out of the hills here in CA so it's always nice to be able to live vicariously.
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Really a unique piece with the quartz crystallization and iron staining - can almost imagine it in-situ. Keep the photo's coming! ?
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Nothing to do with detecting for gold, however everyone should read "Bacon and beans from a gold pan." It's a classic.
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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.
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8 hours ago, mn90403 said:
I just read that story and now I see it here!
One part of the story I read said that the estimate is between 4-17 billion. That is quite a range. How much is it going to take to get all of it to the surface?
Mitchel
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Great looking pieces! That looks far over 1.7 grams, although I guess your scale could be smaller than mine and skew perspective. ?
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Definitely inspirational, I've been following him for a while now.
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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.
GPX 5000 Help
in Minelab Metal Detectors
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I don't know how large your fire pit is, but something sounds fishy...it should be wailing long before that. My initial thought would be some wacky settings but if the problem truly "comes and goes," like you say, factory reset isn't doing anything, it probably needs to be sent in. Maybe it took one too many knocks and got rattled. Good luck!?