GPX 6000 On Small, Porous Gold

[Skookum]

Here are some recent finds using the the Minelab GPX 6000 with the 11” monoloop coil and the Gold Monster 1000 to finish the job. What was impressive to me was how small and rough/reefy/prickly/spongy were the pieces. The location was on an extensively worked, old club claim likely pounded by every previous detector. I collected very little trash. In a half day of work, there were only two pieces of bird shot, 3 pieces of rusted iron flake, 3 bits of aluminum, and many small hot rocks found. The small hot rocks were picked up when trying to localize the targets with the Gold Monster. Only a couple larger hot rocks were heard by the GPX. This would have been different if there were much ironstone. So far, it has seemed to me that the new GPX really prefers the signal from rounded gold. Nevertheless, it was able to sniff out these very rough pieces even at sub-grain weights. They were mostly only ghost-like deviations in the threshold betwixt the warbles. (You know the kind of change that is so subtle that only your subconscious brain picks up on, but then when you focus with your conscious brain you’re not really sure, so you decide to dig anyway.) I was pushing both the machine and my attention pretty hard. This is the same area I’ve previously mentioned that causes a lot it EMI for the 6000 due to heavy overhead air traffic. The settings were Auto 2, either Normal or Difficult ground, and with the threshold on. The two largest pieces are just over 2 grains each. The rest were less than a grain each. Impressive machine. 

[Valens Legacy]

Very nice hunting and I will be lucky to find anything like it. I need to learn my detector more when I am able to and learn the tones much better.

Good luck on your next hunt.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Yes that's certainly some rough looking gold.  Your description of "focus of detector and operator" is exactly what it takes to still find more targets from those heavily worked areas.  Did you notice any difference when going from NORMAL to DIFFICULT on the signals before you dug?  So far I have not missed hearing a true target when comparing, so far.

[Skookum]

So, seems to be the truth. I had passed over this area before using only the GM 1000 and had nothing to show for it.

I’m right there with you in trying discern the differences between the normal and difficult modes. As of yet, I haven’t been able to decide what differences the modes make on these targets. Hopefully, it will become apparent with more flight time. 

Simply based on history with the GPZ, I’ve been trying to keep it in normal, as much as possible, but as of yet I can’t tell. 

There are other things I have noticed, but it seems variable as to when they occur. At times, it has been a little less sensitive to EMI when in difficult mode. But, what really shocked me was when on this recent excursion and passing from exposed bedrock to silty overburden, switching to normal mode significantly calmed the threshold. It had me scratching my head with how striking it was. Coincidentally, afterwards I read JP speaking of the same thing in another thread.

I’m all ears if someone else is noticing a pattern with the modes on targets.