Chicken, Ak. Tips And Tricks ?

[LipCa]

Yes, GB2s get noisy on hot ground.

[Reno Chris]

Some of the ground was so hot that it was difficult even with the Minelab SDC 2300.

[Steve Herschbach]

3 hours ago, Roughwater said:

I think I may have laid an Egg here with that statement.  Glad you all read too.  But in my defense, look at what Steve is using and not as much with the review.  If you don't know what he is using, it's the Gold Racer.  Why?  Ask him.  Just remember, when you find that 1/10th of a grain flake, you only have 4799 to go to get you an ounce of gold. But then again there are many, many more of those flakes out there than there are one ounce nuggets which ups your odds of finding something.  Terry 

I ran the Gold Bug 2 at Jack Wade with no problem. But yes, it's harder in hot ground and depth is minimal.

The GMT (48 kHz), Gold Bug 2 (71 kHz) and Gold Racer (56 kHz) will all bang hard on gold specs under a grain in weight. If one has an edge over the others for tiny gold I would lean Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil personally. However, the GMT and Gold Racer have the edge for larger nuggets at depth because the GB2 hot 71 kHz has poor overall ground penetration. Both the GMT and Gold Racer can employ DD coils that are lacking on the Gold Bug 2, which only employs concentric coils. The Gold Bug 2 has nothing that comes remotely close to matching the 15.5" X 13" DD available for the Gold Racer. I also like having an adjustable disc mode and target id readout on the Gold Racer.

Variations on a theme with the units leaning one way or the other for capability. If all a person wants to do is chase tiny bits, you just can't beat a Gold Bug 2. It is as proven as a machine can be, and tough as nails. I can also give anyone with a Gold Bug 2 a run for the money with a GMT. In my opinion however a GMT new at $729 and 3.9 lbs does not compare very favorably to a Gold Racer at $699 and 3.0 lbs. for price and features. I am not saying the GMT is a bad machine at all, just that it needs a $100 price reduction.

To bring this all home however I think it does not make a lot of sense to drive 3000 miles each way or to fly to Alaska to chase tiny bits. There is not that much exposed bedrock on Jack Wade and it has been hunted hard. I would concentrate more on looking for larger nuggets and at Jack Wade that takes no more than a very good mid frequency VLF. The White's MXT is a sort if benchmark unit when it comes to hunting tailing piles, and it or any comparable machine can do as well. If you wish you can use a PI but be prepared to dig tons of nails if that is the case.

Lower Jack Wade including all the public area is pretty mild ground. If you can get access to private ground upstream the ground gets hotter and hot rocks more common. The upper valley is full of large magnetite stones that are very rare in the lower valley.