Using The 7000 To Pick Up The Scraps Missed By The 6000

[dig4gold]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:52 PM, Lesgold said:

Had to walk about 40m to get to water so it lost its appeal quite quickly. Here’s the result. I was quite impressed. If I was keen, I could classify a few buckets and have a play in the water. The problem with doing that is detecting time would suffer. So maybe not just yet. Lol.

Only 40 meters??!! I reckon you were lucky to have any water for miles. Sounds like you need to set up a highbanker or dry washer & work that ground. If you were impressed by what you got in a pan imagine what an hour or two through a highbanker or dry blower will produce.

D4G

[dig4gold]

14 hours ago, phrunt said:

I just wish Minelab would give in, disable the chip and let the aftermarket coil manufacturers go for gold on the 7000.

That will never happen as it would most likely effect 6000 sales drastically & SDC 2300 to a certain extent. Although the 6000 would rob many 2300 sales these days I would think. But like you say, Our ground being very mild it isn't a level playing field compared to overseas areas of hot ground & that is where the 2300 appears to do well.

Minelab play their cards to mine the miners these days & not give them an easy, "cheaper" alternative. Like aftermarket coils. Unlike the earlier GP GPX days.

D4G

[Lesgold]

Thanks for the feedback Simon. Much appreciated. I have seen the 15” concentric in use and was very impressed with it. Not really suitable for this type of prospecting with the large rocks but it would be fantastic in open country. 
 

Yes I was lucky to have some water reasonably close and I should do something about it. It’s a pity high bankers are illegal for us to use in NSW. The material would have fed through quickly as it was all contained within gravel with next to no clay. My grandson took some footage of some of the gravel that I ran through the pan.

 

[Lesgold]

Just put up a clip of a couple of the small pieces that my grandson found on his first trip out in the bush. Phrunt’s earlier comments about the 6000 having a narrow range in relation to small gold shows through a couple of times in the video. 

 

[phrunt]

yep, the 4 minute 40 second mark you have a screamer that just disappears with a small amount of soil movement.  Once you're aware of it and just know to flatten out any soil it isn't an issue, but it sure goes from hero to zero with the smallest amount of dirt.

You're training the little tacker well; he'll be going at it himself in no time and be hooked! 

He certainly has a keen eye for it, finds it in the scoop easily by eye.

 

[mn90403]

On 3/30/2024 at 10:46 PM, phrunt said:

 

If you wanted more depth, with near GPX 6000 sensitivity/depth to very small gold the 15" Concentric coil is probably a better choice, it gives near 6000 performance on small gold with superior GPZ style depth on bigger stuff.  

I don't like recommending coils for people though, as my soil conditions being mild maybe very different to someone elses, I just know what works best for me, best thing to do is ask around, far more 15" CC users than 8" users though, most don't care enough about finding the tiny bits to justify an 8" when the 15" is close but deeper on all else.

I have a 15" CC and it was recommended by Simon.  I have complete confidence in it when running it at 18 sensitivity/high yield/normal.  I can go to mineralized areas and hot rock areas and just know what I'm hearing.  The coil was actually of enough weight I used it this past year to work a patch that had dried brush on it.  I could push it down with the coil and know where I had been.  I had 6000s work before and after me in some cases and I think it was mostly first one there.  I didn't think it was worth going over the patch again.  My trip to a similar area this week with a 6000 user showed similar results.  We both found meteorites.

I've got a good bungee system or I would consider the lighter detectors ... when I go with my wife she needs something better than the 2300 form factor.  I hope she likes the Algo.

[Lesgold]

Speaking of hot rocks, I found one today. Joe and I decided to cover the rest of the gully with the Zeds and 12” Nuggetfinder coils to see if we we could pick up some more deeper gold. A few small pieces were found early and after a break we continued to move upstream to a narrow area that we had covered well with the sixes. While detecting a spot that had produced some small specs on previous trips, a really faint change in the threshold tone was heard near a rock bar and I decided to move a few stones to investigate. After digging down about 4”, a faint, repeatable signal came through. The hole was enlarged and deepened until the target finally popped out. We had been digging huge holes all day for bits of rubbish and by the time this target was out in the pile, it was screaming in a similar manner to many of the earlier digs. A few rocks were removed from the spoil pile and the target suddenly disappeared. I thought that it may have dropped down a hole but after flattening the spoil pile no signal was heard. I eventually ran the detector wide of the pile and it went off on this rock. 

It didn’t look like a hot rock but the detector went nuts when it was anywhere near it. The answer was obvious when the rock was turned over.

A nice flat piece was the result.

We found some more gold but it is currently in the ultrasonic cleaner.  I will post up a few pics in the morning. 

[Gold Seeker]

That's the very best kind of "hot rock" to be finding!!

[Redz]

On 3/31/2024 at 1:33 PM, Lesgold said:

It’s a pity high bankers are illegal for us to use in NSW. The material would have fed through quickly as it was all contained within gravel with next to no clay.

If you cant use a highbabnker that gold is about perfect for drywasher/blower. With no clay it should process well and pay for itself fast

[Gerry in Idaho]

Both detectors 6 vs 7, have their strengths and weaknesses. When the GPX-6000 was 1st introduced into the Goldfields in the United States, it was easily the King of recovering missed gold of the GPZ-7000. 

As time has progressed and the options of smaller lighter coil options for the GPZ, it's showing more small gold capabilities (at an expense).  Sure wish the coil manufacturers would be a little easier on the wallet, but at today's gold prices, they can get away with it.

Sometimes just the change of Settings will help gather a few more nuggets and that's why so many hard core hunters realize, a site is never 100% hunted out.  Heck, just a simple thing as soil moisture content or EMI, can easily effect a detectors capability and miss a nugget that otherwise would have been heard. 

Very interesting read and just goes to prove that not 1 detector is best for all situations.