Why I've Found More Ounces Of Au With Sub $1000 Detector, When I Own An Sdc, GPX & GPZ

[Gerry in Idaho]

Norvic asked why I was so proud of a VLF when I own and have posted much success with the other higher end detectors.  It was my post on rating the higher end Minelabs....so here goes.

There are many factors to my craze and style of detecting, but my finds are the facts and not many people can compare, unless they too use the tools (detector) and hunt the style I do. I consider myself a gold hawg or gold pig.  I chase it all in terrains flat or tall. 

Terrain -  I live in the Northwestern state of Idaho and much of my detecting in the surround state of ID.,  is Oregon, Nevada and occasional Montana.  For the most part, OR, MT and ID are pretty much the same with steep terrain mountainous rough country.  A day of electronic prosecting and hiking in such states, is much harder on the body for a guy my age, heck it’s harder for anyone.  Going to Arizona, Rye Patch and other Northern Nevada high desert areas is a treat for my body in more ways than one.  Maybe that is why so many people detect there?  It’s easy to drive and get to without walking…boy are most of us lazy?  YES, including me at times, but not in my home state (backyard where I play).  The ID, OR, MT mountains have steep ravines/canyons and the water is at the lowest point. Here is the many miles of hand placer workings, dredge tailing and hardrock mining ore dump piles.  The gold I am chasing is the stuff the old timers missed. 

Pic below - This huge ore dump pile produced a few thousand dollars in Specimens.  This is the not so steep side and we had to tie off with ropes on the other side.  Half the targets would roll down the hill and need to be found during a break when we were at the bottom.  The PI's can't see this time of gold.

Trash - Trash is my treasure in a way.. as I know the site has not been hunted as hard.  Trash is what most detectorists hate, and I too get that way on occasion, but I know if I'm patient, I'll eventually be rewarded.  A big factor I run into is 100 to 150 yr old man made trash from the early prospectors.  They left much of it on the hill, in the placer digs and tailing piles.  Many of the small mining camps were right on or near their diggings and they just tossed the old food cans, tobacco/coffee tins and worn out leather boots with hundreds of nails and broken, picks/ax heads shovels aside.  

Pic below- In old tailing piles a lighter, faster, better ID detector is best.  He who digs the most non ferrous targets in a day, get to smile all the way home.

Pic below- is the 1 pound specimen after cleanup.

Tools – Know your detector, its limitations, strong and weak points.  Bigger deeper detector is great in flat terrain and areas with limited trash.  Raw depth and power is amazing to have, when the target you dig a foot or so deep is not a sardine can.  How about a shovel head at 2 feet or more?  Think about it and what you do when digging 5 or 6 of those an hour with your big deep penetrating detector.  What does your body have left in the tank?  My lighter VLF is easier to swing in rough terrain,  has better Iron and Target ID, is not as deep or powerful in trashy sites.  It saves me time from digging unknown iron targets, it saves me energy from digging deep holes, it saves me energy from having to pack around a bigger bulky detector.  The proper detector for the site is a must and in many cases my lighter, faster, better target Identification, sub $1000 investment is the right tool.

Pic below - This golden oreo was recovered in old hand placer workings with my VLF.

Having what I consider the best identification VLF gold detector on the market saves me time.

Pic below - It was recovered at 16" with Minelab EQ-15" coil.  Yes I'll be going back over this area with the new CoilTek NOX 15" round as it is even deeper.

 

Gold Knowledge-  This is confusing to so many people as they think gold is gold.  Yes I too used to think the same way.  Luckily I hunt a variety of gold producing locations and sites I like to detect and learn from.  My many years of comparing/testing detectors at such sites has given my staff and I an understanding of gold, its characters, density and how the elusive Au responds to the varying detector models from the different manufactures. Many of the nugget photos being shared on social media in years past were dense solid gold pieces and they are beauties.  That’s what the detector could easily respond to. In more recent years, the sizes of the nuggets became smaller and we started reading about and seeing some nice specimens.  The newer GPX detectors with their advanced tuning and soil timings (Fine Gold) would outperform their older brothers (SD/GP’s) on smaller and courser gold, so when get to make more of those finds and share them.  Most recent years has us using SDC-2300 and GPZ-7000’s.  Again, the gold gets smaller and the amount of crystalline gold, wire gold, salt/pepper specimens are being unearthed with these detectors supersedes that of their older brothers the GPX series.

Pic below - This softball sized specimen was found with a VLF and has multi ounces of gold.  VLF picks it up deeper than many bigger detectors.

Pic below - This beautiful 3" long quartz and gold specimen came from a trashy ore dump pile with a VLF.

 

 

 

Pic blow-  These quartz cocoon wire gold specimens bring a premium and come out of hard rock ore dump piles.  

 

Pic Below - The PI's don't see these rare pieces, the 7000 barley does on a select few.  

 

Pic below - I have a feeling the extra sensitivity of the new GPX-6000 will do even better.

 

 

Proof – The facts are in the vault at the bank.  I own beautiful specimens pieces recovered with detectors and have tested many on a variety of detectors.  I have gold finds that are multi ounce pieces and they contain 2 or 3 ounces of gold in them, but for some reason an SD or GP don’t see them, even less than an inch.  I also have such pieces my GPX 5000 does not see, but my GPZ-7000 does.  What is most amazing, is I have pieces of gold with multi ounces of metal and even the ZED has issues or can barely respond an inch or two away.  If this is the case, then why do I have these find gold pieces of art?  I’ve taken the time to test and learn my detector tools and have found a certain trusty VLF sees them all, can ID them all, is lighter in weight and so I get to hunt longer, saves me energy since I don’t dig as deep for unwanted targets.

Pic below - This specimen came from dredge tailing and the speckled pieces like this get missed by most PI's.

 

Pic below-  Over $800 in gold in this 3 ounce specimen and my VLF does better than my GPX-5000 and my SDC-2300.  The SDC goes deeper than the GPX.  You better know your gold and your detectors capabilities or lack of.

 

Pic below - This 3 ounce specimen was found in trashy hand workings.  I actually had a GPZ-7000 here for a couple hours and gave up because of the amount of item trash.  A GPX-5000 with DD coil run with DISC mode would be better than my GPZ, but then again my NOX does even better.

 

Better target identification of my NOX, is most important at the site this 3+ oz'er came from.

 

GPX-6000 – A new tool and one that has Gerry very very excited. Now we are about to get a revolution of Geo Sensing Technology with PI power and capabilities for a wider variety of gold textures, densities, characters and sizes.  Minelab (and their track record) is even telling us some of such capabilities and so I and a few of the guys who do not like to miss gold, are getting ourselves prepared, getting our old sites, lined up and making sure we are going to take advantage of the stragglers.  Remember when the SDC-2300 and GPZ-7000 came out and all the slow response from the majority.  You folks missed the opportunity of a lot of gold.  My guys and I were killing it in NV and AZ on those so called worked out sites.  Was it a gamble to spend that kind of money?  If that’s what you love/enjoy and if you have a good track record with Minelab, it’s bet I’ll take most every time. I don’t lose detector bets very often.

Pic below- This stunning collectible specimen was found by my brother with his SDC-2300.  It came from a place he had previous hunted and found gold with his GPX-5000.  The 5000 does not even whisper on it.  Minelab claims the GPX-6000 is more sensitive than the SDC-2300 & GPZ-7000.  I can't wait to use the GPX-6000 at the site and many others.

 

Hopefully this story and the pics I shared will help educate some of you on how the different detector technologies produce more gold.  I realize it's hard to put down your old reliable detector as it has probably and hopefully served you well.  If your sites are getting thin of targets and or gold, just maybe a new detector can put the smile back on your face? I'll go back to this simple statement I have said below in other posts and it is the absolute truth.  You can't find what your detector don't see.

PS - I’ll be honest though, for me it’s the lighter weight, better ergonomics, not being tethered in a harness and User Friendly that has me sold.  The extra gold my new GPX-6000 is going to find, is a bonus.

PPS – I’m just as eager to test the GPX-6000 with some of my gold and see how much better/worse it does than my GPX, SDC and GPZ. (I'm educating myself).

PPPS – I still feel there will be a place for my VLF, as it’s lighter, and have better target ID.

See you in the gold field, where the most knowledge is learned.  Or speed it up with our 3 days Field Training at www.gerrysdetectors.com

Happy Hunting.  Gerry

 

[Gold Catcher]

Fantastic write up, Gerry! 100% agreed on everything you write. Also, a reminder for desert operators who mostly look for brutal force and depth that many terrains here require a different approach and equipment, mostly enabled with some sort of discrimination. This is a must have in super trashy old gold mining areas to be productive, and currently no high end gold machine is fitting that need!

PS: A high end gold machine (PI or ZVT) with advanced iron probability meter, kind of a supercharged and more sophisticated version of what the GM has, would make a nice next gen. flagship detector, and worth likely >$12k. Of course, the ultimate (and perhaps pipe dream) would be to discriminate for lead as well. I wonder if this would be possible in my life time.

[Gold Catcher]

And those pictures are mouthwatering! Thanks for sharing.👍

[Glenn in CO]

 

Gerry,

Your backyard and my backyard are pretty much the same terrain wise. Have the same experience with how a PI and the VLF respond to the type of gold specimens I find. Very interested on your reports on how the GPX-6000 responds to the different type of gold specimens you have.

Those quartz cocoon gold specimens are outstanding!

Working on some gold specimens now and will have a write up on how they were cleaned.

Randy Smith of Treasure Electronics who was our distributor at the time:

 My wife on a steep tailing pile:

[Norvic]

On ya Gerry, so different our ways to get that weight, with your permission maybe we should call our styles "evolution style", you and as Jeff has shown have evolved to hunt in the environment you have in your respective backyards. My backyard is similar in terrain but I have learnt to hunt for virgin patches well away from old mining in country no wheeled vehicle can traverse, shanks's pony is the only transport. My backyard has some spread out reef/lode mining and very little alluvial, patches are usually on slopes very few in creeks or gullies although sometimes the initial pieces that lead to those slopes are found in the creeks and sometimes by "electronic" loaming likely slopes.

It is years in between times I run across other prospectors out there, most are as you say too lazy and only venture as far as wheeled transport will take them. That 6000 might be the detector that encroaches into our evolution style of mining. Many thanks for your detailed post, may many more illustrate their style in your thread.

[Dances With Doves]

 Good write up Gerry.Those tailing piles are huge and there   has to be more gold since you  are only hunting the top. Do they move around those  piles so you can find more ?Did you do good with the X-terra on those tailings   piles ?Those (Nox and  Xterra) machines sound similar so  those who hunted with the x-   terra were able to   adjust to that machine easily.The multi  Iq stable id gives the Nox the big advantage over the X-terra.If you forgot the Nox but could   choose any other vlf machine     what would be your choice for  this type of hunting ?Also is the Vanquish able to  handle those piles for  people who have that machine or those who have limited funds to spend on a machine.

[jasong]

2 hours ago, Glenn in CO said:

Your backyard and my backyard are pretty much the same terrain wise.

I think I recognize that. I took a 4500 up one of those slopes towards the top of the hill about 10 years ago and within a couple hours of turning the machine on I started tumbling down a slope and dislocated my shoulder/tore my rotator cuff. Drove home with 1 arm. No gold, just a handful of square nails that were like 10" into shaley bedrock somehow. 

Tried again some years later with a Fors Core, and it broke down within 15 minutes of turning it on, and I had no backup with me stupidly. If I ever go back it's going to be something light and with discrim for sure. 

I was wondering if other people detected those steep slopes at the time, I had only read reports about the place and never had yet to meet or talk to anyone who detected there so I wasn't sure where to look. I thought I was being pioneering climbing up there. Nope, ya'll had me beat by a long time. 

[Reno Chris]

Detectors are tools, and in the same way you dont want a crescent wrench to tighten a Phillips head screw, if you are tightening a bolt you dont want a screwdriver.  VLFs are better choices for hard rock mine dumps, no question about it. On the other hand if I am detecting highly mineralized ground with deep gold, I am going to want a PI or the GPZ. No matter the work, you want to be using the right tool for the job. Here is some Nevada hard rock gold I detected with a VLF...

[Aureous]

Out of the last 10,000 pieces of gold Ive dug, maybe 8,000 have been with a VLF. Lions share with the Gold Bug 2, then various Whites Gold masters including the 24K (which I absolutely love). Oh, and maybe 20 with the GM1000. Seriously thinking about a Nox 800 now and retiring my old T2 after seeing Gerry's post LOL

[Valens Legacy]

Gerry,

Thanks for sharing the information on the detectors as I am now more excited about the 800 finding gold.

I hope to soon be able to get with you and take a few classes on nugget finding when I get back home.

Thanks for sharing the photos and giving such a great write up about the different detectors.

Without people like you and Steve H. where would somebody get good information from.