Minelab Half Year Report - New Metal And Gold Detectors?

[mn90403]

9 hours ago, Aureous said:

Reg will be the first to tell you, there will be 100's of bigg'uns just out of reach here in Victoria. Over half of all the worlds biggest gold nuggets ever found have come from here.

Reg did tell me when I was there!  I was at many of the locations (nearby) of those big nuggets when I stayed at Reg's nice house and later in Bendigo.  I was even shown one of Reg's finds.

I was going to tell everyone I got to see one of Reg's big nuggets, but we weren't that personal. 🙃

Reg and his wife put me up for 3 nights when I flew in from California while it was rainy and cold.

[phrunt]

The GPZ is not going to be as light as a GPX unless they can do something with the coils, with the 6000 they were able to put a little bit of wire into a recycled ice cream container and bam, a lightweight coil.

With the DOD coils, they're heavy, a lot of wire.  It's why you can get a 22" Concentric coil for the GPZ and it not be much heavier than the stock 14x13" DOD coil.

I doubt a new model GPZ would use a mono coil, after all you can't even use mono coils on the GPZ so it's really hard to know, the electronics they could lighten up a little but the main way to lighten it would be the housing and shaft system, but at what cost? The brute strength of the GPZ and potentially the weight are helpful for me, I bulldoze through dried up grass and bushes with it, I crush down the wild thyme bushes to get some depth under them, I just smash my way through stuff, I can't do that with the 6000, the shaft is weak and flexible and twists if you bump a bush let alone smash them down to get close to the ground under them, even its coils would not handle the treatment the 7000 coils routinely get, I'd put a hole through them as the plastic is so thin.   This type of detecting is way better suited to the GPZ.

 I personally think they took it way too far with the 6000 making it light at the cost of build quality and strength.  I love it being light, but I'd rather it a bit heavier and tougher, it's built like a toy detector, the Algoforce is much the same, the Axiom seems like it got the weight and strength balance right from what I've read.

[Lynk]

Two observations from the call:

1) Management guided 2H revenue at Minelab to be similar to 1H. That means the "6 to 12 months" window is past their fiscal year end, which makes sense give it is June 30.  It also might imply not a lot of information before then as that would likely impact sales as people defer purchasing to wait for the new releases. 

2) The new releases are in gold, recreational, and countermine.  Given the similar housing of the SDC and the MF5, maybe they are leveraging  tech/design innovations there. 

Who knows. Either way, it's always fun to see the forum light up with these releases in the pipeline. 

[Reg Wilson]

If Minelab do come out with something to surpass the 7000 no doubt I will buy one. Both the 7 and 6 both paid for themselves quick smart, so I have no doubt a new model will do also.

Although the Codan version of Minelab give me the 'Jimmy Britts' I am just a prospecting 'whore' and will swallow any objections that I may have.

I wonder whether J P will still be a tester or maybe some new younger 'pretty boy' will replace him, after all he is getting a bit long in the tooth to be the figure head these days.

[Jonathan Porter]

You and me both Reg old sport. 😝 Dinosaurs we be. It’s nice to see that although you have your criticisms you haven’t forgotten who gave you the tools to practice your art and still you have faith in their capability. 😊 From my perspective we’ve lived in a charmed era, I got grounded on VLF then experienced the PI revolution, with every nugget I found I learned something that will not be so readily available ever again. Then I had the honour of being involved in developing the next step namely ZVT and if the magic stops there then I’m content because FOR ME that detector was tailor made for my detecting style and still is the go-to for me, until age forces me to swing something lighter for which we now have the GPX 6000.

When I first started out, 4 1/2 grams a day with a VLF was the norm, an ounce a week was an average wage @ AU$500 an ounce. In todays money 4 1/2 grams is way better than an average wage, yet I consistently find 4 1/2 grams + a session, although the sessions are not quite as long or frequent now, but I have experience to make up for that so the hours I do are highly refined.

I’m grateful for every nugget I dig up, the magic is still there but it’s more than just the gold now it’s the whole combined process. A 7000 with a NF Zsearch12 is a nicely balanced combination, if the body complains then I can go grab up a 6000 and have some fun chasing the micro gold, it’s all got value these days. 😊 

JP

Yesterday’s collection, a 6K round trip walk over a range into a little known area. 
 

 

 

[Norvic]

Not often I agree with you JP, indeed it has been a magic journey for many of us, from my travels 1000`s I suspect. Like Reg and a lot of others I`m just a prospecting "whore", tis just that ML from the PI on have produced the most by far.

[geof_junk]

A good point, a lot of the success is due to experience learnt JP. not so much the "equipment hype" being sold.

[Reg Wilson]

Well JP you are a cagey old devil. I still am none the wiser as to whether you use Xcoils, and no doubt will only ever get a politician's answer. Of course being a dealer you have to be careful of any criticism, a restriction that I do not have, so my beef with the 7000 being a heavy barge of a detector and the 19" coil being a 'dog' still remains. It would be a brave man who would defend the 19" coil today with it's only value being a chip donor for an Xcoil.

 

[Reg Wilson]

A recent 2 1/2 oz bit found while sledding with a big home built mono behind a Polaris diesel using 4000 electronics.

Yesterday detected 7 small bits not worth photographing using a 6000. (petrol money)