Nothing found at Mill Creek . . .

Skywola

Sr. Member
Jul 5, 2009
282
27
Phoenix, Arizona
Detector(s) used
Whites TDI
Went up to Mill Creek Saturday, searched the area by the square iron beam, found nothing but nails. Searched in the area farther up in the stream bed by the two markers, found an old beer can about 18 inches deep. Weather started getting bad, so I went back to my car, just made it there before the downpour. After the downpour, decided to go to the place Blackfoot had told me about farther down. Got about 3/4 of the way there and the weather started getting bad again, so I turned around again and headed for the car . . . just made it back to the car before it let loose again. Stayed there overnight, got up this morning (Sunday morning) and headed back to the place Blackfoot told me about. Found the place with no problems, it was easy to spot from the directions. Went up and reconnoitered it, and knew for sure I was in the right spot when I saw the rock pile. Searched the area, found a spent shotgun shell and a spent bullet, but no other hits. By that time I was completely exhausted, and decided that I had had enough . . . :P After I recover I think I will go up the the spot near Sugarloaf Mountain where I found the flake of gold and see what I get up there.

The metal detector seems to be working fine, this thing finds stuff very deep, some of it about twice as deep as the Ace 250 would go. It also ignores aluminum, which is a real plus. On the minus side, this thing is heavy . . . but you can detach the box and put it on your belt.

This detector is by no means as simple to operate as an Ace 250, so I expect it may take some time to really understand the workings, I would bet on it that it has some serious capability in the hands of someone who knows what the h**l they are doing.

So far, one thing I have learned is that the ground balance can be set to discriminate out specific non-targets . . . this should help a lot to avoid iron. It seems that iron has a different sound if you raise and lower the coil over the target. All Metal mode also has a higher noise level, so hunting in high or low conductor mode may be better in areas with iron.

Just found a video that shows some of the discrimination ability, albeit for coins :
 

BLACKFOOT

Full Member
Jan 17, 2007
247
8
Heavener oklahoma
Detector(s) used
fisher gold bug2
a little of the gold I have found at those places .
 

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Skywola

Skywola

Sr. Member
Jul 5, 2009
282
27
Phoenix, Arizona
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Looks like the targets are mostly relatively small, which might mean that I have to find a specific setting that will detect them best. I know the area at Sugarloaf where I found the flake of gold, if I can get it to detect there, then maybe it would be worth another trip up to Mill Creek. Meanwhile I also want to do a little coin hunting too, from what I have read, this TDI can really kick *** coin hunting. I have found a way to set it to ignore nails! With my Ace Garrett 250, nails were a huge problem. The TDI also ignores aluminum, which will eliminate a lot of trash. I still have not completely given up on the idea of Arivaca either, it would be an area less searched, and, there would probably be a better chance of finding some larger nuggets. Weather is still to hot for that now though.
 

BLACKFOOT

Full Member
Jan 17, 2007
247
8
Heavener oklahoma
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fisher gold bug2
Did you find the cement slabs where the apache s house was?
I had been shown a fist sized nugget that i was told that was found at Arivaca in a gulch called Yaqui when I was told by the law I was UNDERARMED because i only had a 22 auto pistol, never could find the gulch either on map or in person.
 

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Skywola

Skywola

Sr. Member
Jul 5, 2009
282
27
Phoenix, Arizona
Detector(s) used
Whites TDI
"Did you find the cement slabs where the apache s house was?"

Yes! It was funny that I missed it before when I was up there. . . . I also found the geological survey stake you mentioned.


As far as Aravaca goes, to me, it just seems like that area around Aravaca or the area north east of Nogales would be good areas to look, there can't have been as many people looking in that area as in areas near the larger cities, and since many people are afraid to go anywhere near the border areas, that is even less people have been there looking around.
 

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Skywola

Skywola

Sr. Member
Jul 5, 2009
282
27
Phoenix, Arizona
Detector(s) used
Whites TDI
According to the geological map here, http://www.azgs.state.az.us/services_azgeomapg.shtml this Mill Creek area is Pliocene to middle Miocene, geologically speaking.

I believe I have figured out why I was not able to find any gold at mill creek . . . from the photos Blackfoot posted, obviously the gold is all relatively small nuggets . . . the TDI is not made to find small nuggets like that . . . which is no big problem for me, I would prefer to find the larger ones anyway, rather than spend all day finding flakes. All I have to do is find the right place with nuggets large enough. Time to join a club or two so I can get on some land that is proven to have gold . . .
 

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Skywola

Skywola

Sr. Member
Jul 5, 2009
282
27
Phoenix, Arizona
Detector(s) used
Whites TDI
Went back up to Milk Creek last weekend, and I believe I found some gold dust near the iron thing, (I did a little panning) I looked at it using a microscope and it sure looked like gold, just very small. Need a brighter light for the microscope.

I also found a grey-colored rock that was about 200 pound size that was setting off my metal detector, and this metal detector does not detect lodestones, so it is some type of metal or it has some metal in it. Guess I'll have to chip a piece off of it, and see if I can determine what it is, cause there is no way I am hauling it out of there! It looks like a normal grey stone, maybe it's got something on the inside. I guess next time I will take a photo of it and chip off a piece and see if the piece sets off the detector too.
 

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