blackjack

Hey Dean, just my experience, afters years of trying all sorts of matting, door mat, rubber, carpet etc. the conclusion I came to after lots of testing with a known gold amount was they all catch gold, i.e. most of or all that you put through them. I have no experience with high bankers, so excluding them what I know about are simple stream/ river sluices whether set up with a pump or in stream. What became important for me was portability, so sluices that don't use matting. I've ended up with two Angus MacKirk stream sluices, the AU trap and a smaller back pack model, they are simple drop riffle types, no matting, they catch gold, including small gold. The key is setup, depending on flow and what size material you are processing, the angle needs to be as small as possible, while still moving material through it. Keep it simple, because it is. A said at the start, just my experience. Happy gold hunting.

Thanks Lost Scout it certainly looks the same and your description matches. Yes you are right about lead in fact I think they used it below the water line as an antifoul and to protect the wooden hull from teredo worm, but it is in small pieces and shows no sign of corrosion, It's certainly a good explanation. I wondered if it was used to line the oil barrels ? This was a shore based operation one of nine in the bay, Recherche Bay, on the far S/E coast of Tasmania. The whaling was done from longboats in the D'entrecasteaux channel between the Tassie mainland and Bruny island, ships would return to resupply and pick up the oil. This particular station used a natural granite shelf as a flensing deck, it's located at Snake point, just inside of Fishers point on the southside of the bay, near the old Pilot station, for those who like to look at places via google earth.

Good find Erik, hard to top that here in Australia, my oldest piece that can be dated is pieces of sheet lead from a whaling station that stopped working in the late 1830's, I also found a brass button and canvas eyelet at the same site. There is a lot of pieces of sheet lead at this site, can anyone tell me what it was used for ? As far as an undatable relic, it's a cutting or scraping tool, knapped from a piece of hard shiny jet black rock, I'm usure what mineral. I found it in the Weld river valley here in southern Tasmania. This was the route that the local first nations people used to access the west coast in summer. Maybe 40,000 years old ?

This topic reminds me of a quote I recently saw " I may be old but at least I saw the world before it went to sh.t " I will again quote what I have quoted in the past, " Insurance companies, and their lawyers are cause for a lot of concern", I think we can add bureaucrats to that as well. Those with out a functioning moral compass will break the law anyway. It's not about laws, it's about doing what's right. Of course I see the flaw in this reasoning is that we all differ on what the "right" thing is, but in the end a consensus should give us that answer.

Yes Ethan, it's S/W of the Pilbara/ Nullagine, but about as far for you. I have no plans for a W.A. trip at this stage, if I go anywhere this winter it would be to Tibooburra. If I was in S.A. like you that's would be where I would plan to go, you probably won't strike it rich there but you have a better chance of finding gold than in W.A. The West is good if you know where to go [which I don't anymore]. Getting permissions and navigating and paying for permits like 40e could be difficult, but it's been 30 years since I've prospected there, so I'm really not qualified to comment, it just appears to me that it's become harder. Hopefully someone from W.A. will comment on this. I know my cousin and his wife did well on their last trip, but they were working on a friends lease. Good luck, and keep us informed.

Hey Ethan, how's it going ? No I haven't been able to get away, my sniping partners have taken to detecting with some success in the Corinna area [Tasmania ] they are following the gold trail in creeks and are clearing the overburden/gravel and detecting the bedrock. They are averaging 4 grams a weekend, but are working for it. I have done some detecting in the Leonora/Laverton area years ago [ early 1980's ] at Eucalyptus, Pyke Hollow and Pennyweight Point, but other than that are I don't know it well. It would be quite a bit extra travel time for you but the area I would like to get back to is the Ashburton gold fields. My dad and I did that area in an old Holden towing a trailer with two trail bikes in the early 80's, our main destination was Top Camp, we were the first in there with detectors, we did quite well so we didn't look at any other spots in detail. We went in from the western end at Nanutarra to Ashburton Downs station then to Top Camp from there we followed station roads going east coming out at Meekatharra, passing some very promising areas with alluvial workings [ dryblowings ]. We had to get fuel at three stations on that track, and not one station owner would accept any money 😊let me know when you are going and I will contact my cousin, and see what he says about some possible locations for you, he knows all the spots, he had a dryblowing outfit all his working life, of course I can't be sure he'll tell me anything though.

I also had high hopes for a $5 coin, our 'plastic' notes and their durability are to blame, I think. Were you at the Basin by any chance ?

Tony I agree, speaking for myself, I think it's okay to lament. If you think that's a whinge, then you need to talk to my wife about my 'constructive criticism' not directed at her by the way, I may be reckless but not stupid. Criticism [noun] to censure, or evaluate ? I prefer the latter. Not whinging Tony, evaluating.

Thanks Gold Catcher, yes I agree no detector will ever eliminate operator error, there is no substitute for experience. Steve confirmed what I suspected regarding the comparisons between the older models and the 6000. This is something that my cousin Lang pointed out, he was finding gold on ground that had been hammered in previous years by earlier models with his 6000. Given the small size we average here in Tasmania and the recognized ability of the 6000 to find it, a 5000 would be a compromise. For now I will stick with my Equinox 800, a unit that I find gold with, I'm confident and comfortable with it. As usual I think I've got the right advice from DP. Thanks to abenson for the video and phrunt, g-j, Gold Catcher and Steve for there valued advice to me, as well as others who contributed.

I think the 6000 may eliminate some percentage of operator skill ?

Thanks phrunt I would like to see that video, I also remember reading that you thought the GPX 4500 was in the same class as the 5000. Do you still think that ? g_j I do understand where you are coming from, mentioning bigger nuggets, are you suggesting that the older models are more likely to find a deeper large nugget than the 6000, something I suspect may be true but have no experience to back it up. My problem is simple my sniping partners have moved to detecting using 6000's they have had success and are crowing about the virtues of the 6000 telling me that a 5000 won't cut it. This is where my problem comes in, budget, I can't justify the cost of a 6000 even second hand, but given the success of the 6000 the price of a second hand 5000 has come down to a point that I'm willing to pay especially when you consider the amount of coils and accessories that can come with a used unit. In Tasmania the nuggets mostly are small but they are finding a good proportion of 1 gram + Assay results of gold that I've sold previously show that we have high purity usually around 95% most nuggets are quartz free but do sometimes have a small amount of ironstone. I was of the opinion that I would go as old as a GP 3500 but given the price of used 5000's I'm not sure about that any more, the advice is usually to get the latest model you can afford. But if a good 3500 came up at a suitable price, would it be a good choice. Thanks

Yes g_j I laughed at you reply but I hear you, I do dislike digging. I's a conundrum that requires some serious thought though. I spoke to my cousin in W.A. he's found more gold than most, he's firm on the 6000. In worked ground on a recent trip to Meekatharra between him and his wife he said they found something over 600 pieces for 138 grams. Yes that's 600 holes at least but it's also $14,500 Au

Thanks phrunt an informed and comprehensive reply to my questions. Given the extra depth and coverage for nugget shooting I need to rethink my use of the 11" coil on the nox. At what point [gram wise] do you think the 5000 betters the 6000. Also it was good to have a user confirm that the 5000 can handle hotter ground. Have you or others worked out the 'right' gold composition. You mentioned the Axiom, it's been around for a while, I would like to here from people who run one especially those who have also used the 5 and 6000. Thanks again.

Hey abenson thanks for taking the time to do the test for us, I was particularly interested in the results for the Equinox and the GPX 5000. I have an Equinox 800, for the smaller pieces I was surprised to see the 11" pick them up, I would have thought only the 6" would have targeted that size. Maybe I need to rethink my use of the 6" coil. It did appear that you were using full sensitivity ? I'm thinking of getting a GPX 5000 partly based on budget, but also I'm thinking it may be a bit more versatile than the GPX 6000. I was surprised to see in your test that even with a small coil the 5000 couldn't pick up the smaller targets. How would a 6000 have performed on the smaller bits and how does it compare with the 5000 on gold over say 1 gram ? Your opinion and other peoples would be welcomed on the performance of the 11"vs 6" on the Equinox for gold and their opinions on the 5000 and 6000, Thanks

The GPX 5000 discontinued ? That's news to me, as it is still on Minelabs Australian website, If it's been discontinued in the U.S. then I'm sure the same will happen here.

Sorry Rick, you're a bit behind the times, Fred and Bert are now in nursing homes, Bruce is more appropriate now, regards to you and all the Nigels in pommie land. Pip, pip old chap.🙂

Yes mn not accurate, as you say but, good reading just the same, thanks. I'll let geof_junk tell us about the largest nugget ever found 😉

Unfortunately some some people will go to extreme lengths to cash in on other peoples hard work and success, Levi at Tassie Boys Prospecting told me that he has found trail cameras set up in an effort to pin down his locations. And despite all the effort and amount of followers him and Rob Parsons have, thereby attracting tourists to Tasmania, Parks and Wildlife have fined Rob for filming on their land without a permit. Sorry, abenson for going off topic, it looks like your research has paid off, nice gold coin.

This may be under the heading of too much 'information' but way back in the 70's and 80's I did enjoy a day at the beach. In particular 'free beaches'. Back in the good old days even at normal beaches, going topless for the ladies didn't even raise an eyebrow, but back to my point, the one feature that stood out [no it's not what you're thinking, that's just the way your mind works ] at 'free beaches' was the amount of jewellery that was worn, by both men and women. The only thing that was frowned upon was having a camera, I'm guessing that in high summer a metal detector would draw a similar response so winter would be the best time, you'll get the beach to yourself. I still can't get the image of Erik Oostra detecting in his thongs out of my mind.

I did notice that as well. But to the critics, all I can say is, as a 'guide' it's a reasonable starting point. For someone from overseas what better place than Kalgoorlie in W.A. for gold, or Leonora. The golden triangle would be a 'fair' starting point in Victoria, the list did include Wedderburn and Castlemaine. Derby would be a great place to start looking for sapphires in Tasmania and there's definitely opals at Coober Pedy and Lightning Ridge. The Tanami Desert may be a stretch, but I have found gold on it's far western side S/W of Halls Creek.

Yes I agree with George Kinsey and Doc Bach, if the find was on public land keep it to yourself, obviously if it's on someone else's land they need to get a share. With out doing a fact check, but from what I've been told the government changed the 'ownership laws' in the 1970's when people started finding shipwrecks on the West Australian coast, mostly Dutch ships on their way to the 'Spice Islands'. It was at a time when longitude was hard to calculate and many ships following the westerly winds didn't turn 'left' in time and ended up wrecked on the W.A. coast. Strangely since the laws have been changed few shipwrecks have been discovered !

It's easy, just go back to the first place you looked for it, it will be there somewhere. Also if like me you have domestic blindness sometimes you need to look twice to see it. Last week I lost my oil filter wrench, it was in the first place I looked for it, but I had to look three times !

He looks a lot like 'Pioneer Pauly' It's rumuored that he's a vampire.

Thanks Ethan, we will stay in touch, I'd love to meet you and find some gold. Message me before you go, I'm from W.A. I have some contacts over there, and maybe some unfinished places I'd like to get back to. I may not be able to but you might. Looks like you had some flooding over your way, there may be some new ground to look at locally, keep us posted.

Hey Ethan, mate I'm putting it back till next year, a bit busy atm. Let us know how you go if you get there, post some pics. and a story, good luck, you can show me around next year.