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Most of us don't have a geology degree but it would probably help when we are out detecting and doing research. Geology has a language laced with time periods that I've never taken the time to learn so this is going to be a ramble. This is a chart which can help us to know history and geology and place the events which formed our detecting areas into the puzzle. We can then use plate tectonics to help us know how our region got to where it is today and understand the mountains and folds in the earth's crust. How do we tell the difference between geologic ages? http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale One article I read said: On Earth, gold finally reached us some 200 million years after the formation of the planet when meteorites packed with gold and other metals bombarded its surface. During the formation of Earth, molten iron sank to its centre to make the core. This took with it the vast majority of the planet’s precious metals — such as gold and platinum. In fact, there are enough precious metals in the core to cover the entire surface of Earth with a four-metre thick layer. https://www.zmescience.com/science/how-gold-is-made-science-064654/ And then came the plates! Tectonic Plates’ Patterns Revealed https://www.livescience.com/38819-plate-tectonics-patterns.html Can someone that knows this stuff make it more simple? haha I mean where did the gold in Arizona, Nevada, California, Australia and New Zealand come from in a geological time frame (the beginning we know from the star or stars) and then the weathering has come into play. I guess every local Mining College has people working on that so that professional miners are more successful than the rest of us. Clay, are you reading this? The topic is too big so old timers learned from each other and passed along their knowledge of specific deposits and veins. The USGS and satellite imagery are probably now the tools in use and maybe we as detectorists could get a drone? Mitchel

I was speaking to a couple who were in the aussie show and they were telling me how once when they were chiselling a small nugget from caprock, either the producer or camera operator got all excited and remarked how it was the first piece of gold he had actually seen dug up. They also told me gold had been buried and dug up sometimes up to three or four times for different camera angles and drone footage. Also mention of nuggets supplied from a dealer in Kalgoorlie and filmed being dug up.

The manufacturer deeply regrets to inform the global detector prospector community that the BastardXWave has been pulled off the market. Chinese industrial espionage together with dirty tactics by other manufactures to halt the development of XWave technology, has led to the last ever BastardXwave being sold to a little-known Australian company called Minelab Electronics (part of the Codan group). This company has reverse-engineered XWave technology and come up with a detector which far surpasses the BastardXWave: The Equinox 800. All they need to do now is bring back the lusty voice-assist girl and attach the Equinox to a drone; away we go!

Hi all, It’s been awhile since my last post, but I’ll be sharing some knowledge and anecdotes more often, now that my summer job is a thing of the past and I’m free to once again roam the desert southwest, wielding the power of the mighty Zed to unearth nature’s golden treasures. I was carefully gridding (or - in deference to Gerry in Idaho - crawling) an old nugget patch during a recent trip to the far flung reaches of Nevada’s golden triangle, when the hypnotic drone of the threshold was suddenly broken by a sharp, double “wee-ooh, wee-ooh”. This type of response typically heralds a small and shallow target, usually within six inches of the surface. “Most likely a boot tack or bird shot”, I thought to myself as I crouched down and scraped an inch or two of the dry and dusty desert soil away from the target zone with my pick. Another swing of the detector coil indicated that I had moved the target, and a quick sifting of the material with the hand scoop revealed a small yellow nugget...the first catch of the day! A few more of these shallow pickers were dug during the the next couple of hours, and then I heard a faint, single “wee-ooh”. Knowing that this meant a bit larger target at depth, I went to work hacking into the densely packed soil with my pick until...well, I’ll let this short video tell the rest of the story: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zzmm1pgdrpaswe7/Nugget dig.mov?dl=0 The actual weight of the nugget turned out to be 5.6 grams, bringing the total for the day to over a quarter of an ounce of the good stuff!

Interesting discoveries of relics, coins and of course the gold. Yes I too enjoy the drone pics. Thanks for sharing.

Drone pics of your camp are cool....whole lotta space and solitude out there! Nice.

I have seen helicopters with large coils around here looking for gold. . These same large coil these 3D Metal detectors use .. IDK if those could be a magnetometor which they could see the depth of bedrock and mineralization of layers. Over here theres very little shallow deposits. . Most shallow deposits here are associated with Hot Rocks and Lots of them .. But finding these mountain areas isnt easyy. . unless maybe a drone with a magnetometer can locate these shallow high mineralized areas. .

Yep, and this area is notorious for meth heads too unfortunately. They go scrapping for old junk everywhere, including people's "not junk" behind gates. I also have people saying they track me down from videos I made, so it could be that too. I had a guy seemingly get angry at me for not taking him to one of my patches, so he said he flew a drone around until he figured out where I was at and left it at that "I know where you are". Usually get a few of them with every video, 50 requests to take people out to private patches, then 1 or 2 that really take it personal when I won't and get angry. Suppose it's possible one got angry enough to go burglarize me. Most likely is local tweakers though, they just did it to a guy a few miles away this winter too, sheriff says they get burglaries out there from tweakers year round.

New story thread.... Leaving for OZ around May 4th this year-- Can't reveal the details because it is super secret this year.... But hope to be upload some better video this year--- I have been searching for the simplest way to use a camera while in the field... I haven't found any yet that are that simple, most ways i have tried become so time consuming that they interfere with my fun and relaxation!!! ANd my TAsk mAster dont like it when i am ... "fkn around!" If he sees too many videos or pictures he will scold me... Maybe a selfie, "follow me" cheapie drone----- I could hang a piece of bait meat on it for the flies while it is hovering near me,,,LOLOL This is Jan 20th and I will be traveling to LA on Feb 3rd ..for my last 3 months of "work" Carry on !

Great finds...I had a chance to get away from the Site where i was working at the time, this place was on the road to Ganes.. I parked my truck grabbed my gear and took about 20 steps, the drone was so loud the mosquitoes so thick, i ran back to the truck and drove back to the site. Just wasnt into losing some blood that day

Hi Fred It is all hobby ? There is no leader It's a private expedition , no sponsor unfortunately ? Regarding the money , do not know what you have and where you are coming from. in my case expenses will be a lot For example : Toyota 4 runner $6k for modifications Solar system $1000 Garmin gps $850 minelab gpx 4500 $3500 Rifle $1400 Pal licence $370 Drone $2000 Have to buy honda generator , one more gps 750t , jerry cans 10 pieces not cheap ether ,satellite phone and so on Sponsor will be cool but from where ?

Tomorrow I go out with my drone detector to scan this 10 acre field. Then it sends back the location of all metal objects plus the GPS locations. The only thing left for me to do is grab my hand held GPS and a digging tool . The only problem I see is I won’t live long enough to see it . Chuck

Finally got a video up that goes over and shows some the uses and benefits of lidar maps for the gold prospector and metal detectorist. I also delve into some drone usage stuff at the end of the video. Let me know what you think, and if your interested in some feel free to contact me. I will hopefully have a website up in the near future, when i do i will let everyone know here. Thanks for watching!

I agree--- i would even venture to say that there are very few reading this thread who have swung the detector for 7 hours straight,,, Life is about charging today---- GPS, eperb, telephone, headlight, detector batteries, WM12, BT transmitters, camera, drone, all the goodies.. I just cant see this as an issue. i'm lucky to get 3 hours in at the beach before i'm ready to call it..?

Well Norvic, they are making some amazing apps for the phones. I was just looking at a drone that uses an app for the controller. I don't have one so I don't quite understand the communication range but there you have a phone app. I look into it further or someone can comment. http://promo.blade720.pro/cms/en/root/blade720/promotional?affid=3227&txid=10279e6966d93249367f0a1ad6419b&offerid=3693&show_timer={timer}&linkout={linkout}&aff_sub=&aff_sub2=5apzamkdv&aff_sub3=&aff_sub4=&aff_sub5=&aff_click_id=&recentlybought={recentlybought}&hide_header={hide_header} Transforms your boring photos into amazing footage Controlled via iOS and Android Simply install the App and connect through Wifi to the drone HD video and gesture control Simply draw the flight path you want the drone to take on your smartphone display 3D VR mode Use the joystick and a VR kit to control the drone even easier Real-time transmission Super fast reaction times

That really stinks. We have lots of invasive starlings, but they've never stopped me from chasing the gold, but they sure do make a mess. Hey, maybe I could train flocks of them to act as a collective drone to spot likely looking gold locations? Maybe that way, they'd be of some use. lol All the best, Lanny

Thank for all the feedback! The raw Lidar data that i use is available online for free it just takes certain programs and the know-how to be able to turn it into something useful. The drone was not used for Lidar, only photo mapping of that one river location. As far as i know there is no current lidar systems with under 2m accuracy that can be using by small drones like that pictured above. All the 2m lidar data out there is flown either by fixed wing plane, or helicopter. I believe it might be able to be carried on large fixed wing drones but from what i know it requires a license to fly the larger drones. But the technoloy is advancing quickly and from what i know within 5 years it may be possible to out fit a commercially available drone with lidar that has 2m accuracy or less. For the phototomography that i showed in the video i used a DJI Mavic pro, and i sold just because i never used it enough and i used the money to buy an equinox 800 lol. Afreakofnature - there is lidar available west of the Rockies, the Tahoe National forest area has a good amount including many gold bearing area along the American River and Yuba rivers. Ive made a few maps for a guy out in that area. I also believe Oregon and Washington have some already as well, and both of those states will have a lot more available in the next few years. Sorry about being long winded in the video there was lot to cover and looking back i know that i still missed things. I plan to do a similar video about lidar but more so for a relic hunting point of view. Lots of people here in VA have shown interest in the maps for civil war relic hunting.

To bad no Lidar really from Rockies West. Here in SD its still in progress. The drone mapping intrigues me. What drone did you use for that PG? Why did you sell?

Fantastic info/advice and story. I go to MX each year with detectors. Last year my buddy was pulled aside and they found his detector. They wanted money and after him telling them to keep it ($2500 machine) he agreed to pay $110 and it was on his birthday of all days. Me, I smiled and kept walking. He is the 2nd of my friends to pay some made up tax to get his detector in country. Another friend of mine had to pay for his drone. After you get through the border crossing and lines, I feel most of MX and their people (most of) are good. I have another story of MX down the road but for anther time. Good to see some nice gold recovered. As for my trip next week, I just cancelled as I did not want to be in MX if the government declares a State of Emergency. I might be over reacting, but my gut said it would not be a good time to be down there. Maybe in a big tourist destination (Cancun) or for dental (Yuma crossing) but we had planned on Lukeville crossing. I've yet to do the Baja crossing, but will make sure not to in the evening. Thanks again for sharing.

Thanks...I havent tried the voice command ones, but i have used a GP3 and 2 knock off 4Ks--- i seem to always ruin the camera lens by scratching it . And the audio is non existent if i keep it in a waterproof case---- and i even scratch up the lens on that plastic case and they arent replaceable. Voice command??? I dont know how that would work in a waterproof case..... I was looking at security/police body cams but if im not wearing a harness i wouldnt have anywhere to mount it... So i am thinking back to the tripod----- or the selfie follow me drone... How long the drone would last is another iffy thing--- Taskmaster has dubbed me "Conan the Destroyer" after last year, so I am thinking the drone wouldnt stand much of a chance---it would probably end up flying to Alice Springs or somewhere in that general direction..... I liked the Solo Shot, --~~~~ but ...spendy and bulky--- I just found a DJI pocket that looks nice, it is a little spendy, too--- but thats why I am working on the Holiday today!!!! Holiday pay buys tools for, " Aussie Mission 4 " There are a lot of good videos on the DJI and thats the way I am leaning.... Cheers!

The wireless coil for couch potatoes.? Land drone with wireless coil + GPS logger + physical marking chit(drop plastic poker chip) etc. Folding lawn chair with umbrella and beverage holder(very important!). Useful for athletic fields, flat beaches, and golf courses(night time only). ⛳

Yeah, for EMI problems when using my Samsung S6 with the mapping app I set to airplane mode, with the mapping app I set the screen to 1minute on, this allows 8 hours use but that would depend on how often you access the screen. From my use of the S6 (screen on all the time) with my DJI drone 3 hours is max. thus I suspect the screen on draws the battery down quickly.

Looks like that "capacitive discharge anti-drone thingo" is a goer Paul, BBs getting desperate and leading you behind the loo to get a proper lock, although judging by the gold, Paul might be over with JW, but the ground looks WA. I`m confused but a bit dirty about sending you a working coil.

It would be nice to have a drone overhead videotaping the coil coverage on a hunt. I think that would be very enlightening. I was out 4 1/2 hours this morning with the Eqx 800 at my favorite park. The first 3 3/4 hours were fresh real estate but not finding anything older than a Jeffy I decided to spend the last 45 minutes in a section which has produced very well. I found a Jefferson nickel at about 4.5 - 5 inches and a Wheatie between 6 and 7 inches. I could have sworn I'd been over the place I found the nickel at least 3 times in the past. Likely hit the spot with the Wheatie at least once. The penny was in a trash infested location so maybe it was masked previously (hunted with the F75). But the nickel should have been cleanly signalled with any of my detectors. (Hunting in Park 1, noise cancelled and ground balanced, sens. = 21, custom 5 tones, iron bias = 4, recovery = 5, no discrimination.) I'm agreeing with you, Chase. At least in my case I'm sure my coil coverage is far from complete.

Crikey Fred your a hard task master, but I sent him a new pair of flip flops and a pick sharpener as a peace offering. I`m also sure that strobe light on his vehicles dash is flashing indicating BBs drone has a lock on him.