mn90403 Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 15 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said: Non-Ferrous only reacts to one aspect of the detector Rx creating an Eddie current which when the detector coils Rx passes over causes a signal to be created. Ferrous does this too but ferrous is attracted to a magnet and seeing how the detector is magnetic in nature there is a bit of extra signal created on ferrous items that blends in with the Eddie current signal. This causes two things, one is a brighter harsher more aggressive signal on ferrous objects (Especially tiny ferrous stuff) and secondly due to the over exaggerated discordant signal it makes it very hard to pinpoint the target when your trying to retrieve it. If you find yourself flapping around in the dirt swearing a lot it’s more than likely going to be a ferrous object that is refusing to be where it sounds in relation to the coil. JP, You have just described hunting for iron meteorites in Franconia, Arizona. The tiny little pieces are loud and hard to pinpoint and they are near the surface. There is no gold in the area where these are found. Now I know why they are 'easy' if you know the area. It does take a bit of coil control on the small ones. In some areas where I detect for gold there is a tiny wire that we hear. It is loud and hard to pinpoint also. All of this time I thought it was because of size but now you have explained it. Unfortunately in some of these areas there are some hot rocks of varying size that will be loud also and I have wanted the gold sound to be as 'bright' as those but now you have explained a difference which may improve my gold recovery. Mitchel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mn90403 Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 15 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said: Think of it as the gold having a lot of country move past it rather than the gold moving around the country??. In high volume water environments (volatile areas) the gold is always extremely worn and rounded. I think the exception is when the gold is locked up in specimen form, the specimens can get quite mobile because the gold weight too quartz ratio does not dictate the specimen to go to the very bottom so can remain with other rubble being transported about shedding gold as they weather away. JP I have a large specimen that I believe got trapped in the rubble and cobbles because it is smooth on one side and rough on the other. I've come to learn as you suggested that my specimen didn't move as much as all the material that moved over it. I'm glad to know I'm reading some of the clues right. Now that audio stuff ... haha I hear it but don't know what I'm hearing it seems. Between the two threads I'll be a better detectorist. Thanks for the efforts on posting. Mitchel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardtimehermit Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Very educational geology JP, thanks for the pictures and info. I like the way you wrap your head around the bigger geologic picture and try to solve where and how the Au is coming from. ? ht 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jonathan Porter Posted March 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 18, 2020 Today was a bit of a late start as I had a few things that I’d been putting off for too long, the reward getting the job done was a few hours detecting which was fun. I wandered around a pretty large area this morning, going back over my “Sun baker” Patch and then working out from there. As I worked my way away from the main run I heard a channel flip confused signal that was subtle but present. So I pulled out the phone and captured the audio to share with others here. You will notice I’ve scraped some lines either side of the target to indicate the width of the response relative to coil motion, any narrower than this and these deeper targets become lost in the general busyness of the threshold because they are not being given a chance to develop properly. Pics of ground with mark lines before digging and after for comparison. The rest of the mornings gold found As always it was fun to be out and about and nice to be able to share my experiences with others. JP 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jonathan Porter Posted March 20, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 20, 2020 Thursday was an experimental day going back over an area I worked with my son over a year ago, when you work with someone there is a tendency to crowd each other out a bit when the gold starts to come out. Distance is necessary because of cross talk so in fairness to each other you tend to wander into the hot spot then wander out again to give the other operator a chance to ping a few bits as well. Because you can always come back the thought of missing a few due to a bit of crowding is not an issue. This time I was able to just cruise around the hot spots and go about things systematically taking my time. The old boys have gully raked this spot so there are piles of stones thrown up onto the high banks, working these banks is hard work due to the angle of the slope and the annoyance of a bit of EMI getting into proceedings from a high Voltage power line some distance away. This just means an extra bit of threshold warble at times requiring a bit more concentration as the coil is tilted out of flat plain. Working my way through the zone produced a few tiny bits that had been missed then I got a nice low/high response on the high bank which required a bit of huffing and puffing and my detector going off on a little excursion of its own rolling down the steep slope. You can see the thrown out stones in the top of the pic You can see the ground is extremely oxidised, this is due to weathering and the high iron content of the country rock. Next pic is of the country rock that has had all the oxidised layer eroded away leaving the un-oxidised bedrock layer exposed. It looks very similar the Yavapai schists I saw when detecting Arizona with Chris Gholson many years ago. This is what Arizona would look like if it had had the same amount of surface weathering Australia has had! This type of compressed Meta-basalts has quite a coarse crystal structure so is really bad for dam building because water flows/leaks through it really easily, on the way it collects all the calcites and deposits them further downslope or within the soil profile (similar to Caliche in the US). Once I’d gone over the obvious spots and pinged a few bits it was time to go for a meander. In situations like this you tend to become exposed to a lot of trash, in my case the area has been habited since the 1860’s both by miners but also timber cutters and cattlemen. Horseshoe nails and bullets became the norm and because a lot of them are caught up under the grass roots it becomes a real chore to dig them out. With this in mind I went into super choosy mode and only dug the best sounding signals and targeted quartz wash exposed areas in the hopes of pinging a little nugget to then force a slow down and more concentrated detecting to try and extend on any gold being found. Huge BIF dyke indicating the fault line Near the end of the session I came across some really nice quartz wash in a bare area with pieces of ironstone mixed in and pinged a tiny little nugget for my troubles. Careful detecting brought out a few more bits then a nicer piece to finish off the morning. I will head back here at a later date and go over it more throughly. JP Last few bits for the day 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenCrow Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Thanks for taking the time to report on your adventures JP. Great info and the consistency of you finding gold is incredible. Cheers, GC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Porter Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 Been pretty busy lately organising our business and finalising last minute preparations for the global lockdown associated with current world events. I am so lucky to be able to self isolate in an area where I do not need to travel to go detecting, therefore contact with others is near zero. I encourage readers of this forum to understand the importance of not moving about where there are others present, the risks are too great at this time. Please do not respond to my comments about COVID19 on this thread, I am just explaining my own personal situation and why I‘m able to continue detecting thanks to my location and circumstances and do not want to seem to be encouraging others to take risks if they have to travel any distances to get to a goldfield. I am able to literally step out my front door and go detecting more often than not with my detecting buddy Mia. Here are a few pics of some of the gold I’ve found over the past week between tasks. Gold is a very big part of my usual income and now because our shop is effectively defunct it has become a vital component to our survival strategy. I live where I live for this very reason, having ready access to gold bearing ground was always the main driver for this decision. I am happy to share my finds here so long as it is not seen as rubbing salt into the wounds of those of us who can’t, the primary focus is about sharing something I love with others and I sincerely hope it’s taken that way.? Speci found sitting on an old timers pile Yesterday I revisited a favourite old gully where I found 1 1/2 ounces quite a number of years ago, there is always some left behind in scrubby terrain like this. Gold bearing gully Nice solid chunk that made me smile when I weighed it The aim is to ‘try’ and find an ounce a week to keep ourselves afloat during these trying times, any gold coming in is better than nothing! Going detecting and finding nothing is way better for my mental health than being stuck indoors and I hope my sharing goes some way to helping others cope with the magnitude of what is happening to all of us collectively.? I will not be mentioning this subject here again as there are plenty of other places for those discussions to take place, but felt I should explain where I‘m coming from in case it is seen the wrong way. JP Yesterdays take 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmason Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Thanks for sharing, Jonathan. I am always interested in your finds and your methods. I love the pictures too! fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatup Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Thanks JP on sharing your photos and tips on finding gold with a detector Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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