First Nugget For 2024

[phrunt]

I haven’t had much luck on the gold so far this year, a few days of nothing but junk, so today I gave up exploring and went back to my best patch find for another try.  I was there a few days ago with the 6000 and 10x5 and spent the day to find nothing and wanted to move away from the patch into the deeper ground but all the 10x5 will do there is find me pellets so today I tried the 12x7.  

The detector ran perfectly, such a contrast to prior to the EMI fix.

I had spent half a day or so in this deeper ground area a year or two ago with my GPZ and 15” CC and found a few bits, one very deep one too so I had hope there was more if I spent some time there and after plenty of pellets my first 2024 gold, only shallow and small but a notch on the belt.

In the hole with it a tiny pellet, not sure if I first found the pellet or the gold 😁

What I like about the 7000 and DOD coils I really miss on the 6000, the double blip it does on close to the coil pellets, saves so much time.  With the 6000 I have to scrape the ground clear of grass then check it, faint target ok then scrape more soil away in this rock hard ground even though only less than an inch the faint target is now loud, and of course being so shallow a pellet, all of that avoided with the GPZ double blip.  It’s truly odd how faint targets improve so much on the 6000 with so little soil removed.  
 

I gave up on the deep ground as I was only finding pellets and even larger bits of metal were quite shallow yet started off rather faint and brighten up quickly with some soil removed.  I was in normal max manual sensitivity and well ground balanced.

I decided to go back over my patch that I tried the 10x5 on the other day with no success, hoping the 12x7 may find something but an entire afternoon of nothing, I guess the 15cc  and 8” got it all that I can find, you may remember the videos of the patch with those coils a year or so ago, ended up about 16 grams over 40 or so nuggets I think it was.

I think I’m done with the 6000, I’ve given it a good chance but just prefer the 7000 especially with the 8” and 15” concentric coil so next time that’s what I’m using, hopefully my luck returns for a good 2024 on the gold.

[Tony]

Simon,

I've been meaning to ask what's the heaviest nugget you have ever found in New Zealand?

[phrunt]

4 minutes ago, Tony said:

Simon,

I've been meaning to ask what's the heaviest nugget you have ever found in New Zealand?

4.2 and 4.1 grams are my biggest two, a one gram + nugget is a very rare find for me, most are 0.0x of a gram, not sure this one’s weight I don’t have scales with me and I’m away in my caravan, it maybe .2 or slightly less.

[jasong]

Forget the 6000, get yourself a pet goat and take him with you. Chomp that grass down and you'll get a few more outta there. 😄

[geof_junk]

29 minutes ago, phrunt said:

4.2 and 4.1 grams are my biggest two, a one gram + nugget is a very rare find for me, most are 0.0x of a gram, not sure this one’s weight I don’t have scales with me and I’m away in my caravan, it maybe .2 or slightly less.

Well they weight more than a pennyweight so meet the nugget requirements.😜 but I am still waiting for the one ounce plus bit, so you can show JW. 😂

[HardPack]

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

decided to go back over my patch that I tried the 10x5 on the other day with no success, hoping the 12x7 may find something but an entire afternoon of nothing, I guess the 15cc  and 8” got it all that I can find

How did the 7000 miss all those pellets and small brass, did you elect not to dig based on the double blip? The center photo appears to be a shallow seasonal drainage, is this the location you detected the pellets? If so you may want to hit that area again but a little deeper. 

[phrunt]

9 minutes ago, HardPack said:

How did the 7000 miss all those pellets and small brass, did you elect not to dig based on the double blip? The center photo appears to be a shallow seasonal drainage, is this the location you detected the pellets? If so you may want to hit that area again but a little deeper. 

The 7000 only had brief time in the deeper ground and I always ignore double blips as they are targets close to the coil the gold is virtually always deeper and in the bedrock or gravels not in the soil, these pellets and especially the metal chunks were from the deeper ground.  The patch is nearby but in shallower ground up to about a pinpointer deep and the gold was all down on the bedrock on that original patch, unfortunately it must be all gone as I’ve found none with the GPX on that patch which is why I first headed for the deeper ground above the patch on the hillside hoping for the best.

Next time I’ll use the 15” concentric on the GPZ for the deeper ground as I have more hope for it and it did well there the first time, it’s hard to get access as it’s a busy working farm.

 

[phrunt]

I found the original videos of the patch find

 

[phrunt]

 

I went back a couple of more times with the 8” after this  within the week then not again until the 10x5 a few days ago and the 12x7 today. 

[Lunk]

One bit is better than none, so good onya for breaking the 2024 ice.