Tired of finding trash

[mellowyellow]

We'll, time for me to whine and *****.. Bought a used minelab GP 3000 and a month ago, and have not found a flake yet.. Trying to cross over a bit from dry washing to MD, but boy this is a different animal. I believe I have a good ear for MD, and it will take time to get efficient. I find very very small pieces of lead and trash 2 feet down so I know the detector works.. I guess I just have not walked over a nugget yet! I need a pep talk or a suck it up talk , hahaha..

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[mellowyellow]

Dang, that is double discouraging. I only have to dig a few inches to fill my pockets. What i mean is that that machine has you digging deep for nothing. Still wish I had one. Daydreaming of Minelabs here...

Lol, yes I got lucky, I found a very nice machine at a good price. Just added a carbon fiber shaft, and a doc protector cover. Now all I have to do is find some gold ! Hahaha

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[mellowyellow]

You know, digging trash is all part of the learning curve. I don't even know if I have any idea of how much trash I've dug while learning to find nuggets. I'm always learning something else--it's a constant learning curve. It's very important to balance your machine properly. You can still find all kinds of trash if your machine isn't properly balanced. Undoubtedly you already know this. So, I well remember the first nugget I found. It was way up in North-Central British Columbia in an area known for coarse gold that was famous for its high purity. I spent days and days digging buckets and buckets of trash. That's one of the risks of following the old-timers by the way; they left behind tons of trash: canslaw, bits of lead from the soldering on their food cans, lead from bullets, square nails of all sizes, bits of copper and brass from various fittings, all varieties of wire, pieces of cast iron, lead keys from meat tins, tiny nails of iron and brass from boots and shoes, and the list goes on and on. The point is, if your machine is balanced properly, and if you're using the right sized coil for the size of the gold you're after, you'll eventually find the gold. I did, and I'll never forget that first nugget. It was exceptionally beautiful--a true character nugget, and I'm sure having to work for it so hard made it that much more beautiful. I'm sure the northern woods are still ringing from the war-whoop I let out when I found it. After the first one, I got into an exceptional patch in a completely different location and found dozens of nice, sassy nuggets. Since then, the gold nuggets keep coming, but I'm still digging buckets of trash. The trash is part of the game. All the best, and hang in there until you hit the first one, Lanny http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

Thanks Lanny! Real feast advice there. You are correct sir.. Yes I find small small trash 2 feet down. Yes I have a great ear. But I really not 100 percent my machine gets properly balanced. Detecting is def a new sport to me, which I know will take time to get efficient. I need to understand and "play" with my detector more.. Exp with each setting on the unit...

I must tell u.. I was surprised when I passed my detector over my friends 1 oz nugget on the ground. The detector bonked / overloaded when I put the coil right on top, and a inch over the nugget. It bonked like a trash sound. I'm not sure what it was go a sound like going directly over a huge nugget, but I surely did not expect to bonk like trash.

I learned discrimination is not that great. And dig it All Up.. Until I get to a point where I am better.

Do u dig it all up?

 

[mellowyellow]

Scott, I'm sorry. I thought I had already picked up all the trash down there. I guess I missed some. LOL

Yeah rod, you still left a crap load of small small small pieces of metal from the miners cans.. Can u come back and finish..there's only about 10k cans on this one gulley , guess that's why they call it run can alley.. No one ever goes there due to the cans lol

 

[mellowyellow]

Good Morning class. Your word for today is "canslaw" CAN-slaw. Can Slaw is the annoying remains of shredded aluminum cans that are found by metal detecting. I already learned something and it's not even 9 a.m. Thanks Lanny!

Too funny, and yet so true!!

 

[trinityau]

Hello again Mellowyellow, if you are a subscriber to the ICMJ there is a very short article on prospecting research that I wrote. It may give you some ideas and venues. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[mellowyellow]

Hello again Mellowyellow, if you are a subscriber to the ICMJ there is a very short article on prospecting research that I wrote. It may give you some ideas and venues. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Hello, trinity, I wanted to thank you for your comments and direction. You def hit the nail on the head there. I NEED to change some things and start studying a bit. Im not a member of the ICMJ , but I will find this article u wrote.. And I will read it..

You have been MD for a long time? What is your number one peice of advise to a "newer" md like myself.. ? Thanks again!

 

[kazcoro]

Yeah rod, you still left a crap load of small small small pieces of metal from the miners cans.. Can u come back and finish..there's only about 10k cans on this one gulley , guess that's why they call it run can alley.. No one ever goes there due to the cans lol

If there is gold in the area, this sounds like the place to be. All that trash scares off the regular crowd. Might be a nugget or six directly under those cans that everyone else has passed by.

 

[Jeff95531]

Thanks Lanny! Real feast advice there. You are correct sir.. Yes I find small small trash 2 feet down. Yes I have a great ear. But I really not 100 percent my machine gets properly balanced. Detecting is def a new sport to me, which I know will take time to get efficient. I need to understand and "play" with my detector more.. Exp with each setting on the unit...

I must tell u.. I was surprised when I passed my detector over my friends 1 oz nugget on the ground. The detector bonked / overloaded when I put the coil right on top, and a inch over the nugget. It bonked like a trash sound. I'm not sure what it was go a sound like going directly over a huge nugget, but I surely did not expect to bonk like trash.

I learned discrimination is not that great. And dig it All Up.. Until I get to a point where I am better.

Do u dig it all up?

I for one, dig it all up. And as a result, I found a couple of iron artifacts that could have been passed up. Here's one...



which turned out to be this...



Kelly Works brush Axe. This ax was popular in the 1880's...the same time the Gasquet Toll Road was being carved out of the sides of several mountains....which is where I found it.

Priceless

 

[Lanny in AB]

I just have to jump in here and say that I second what Ray has to say about research. Ray is very generous in sharing what he's learned in the field, and I applaud him for that.

I posted this reply of mine on another thread, but it applies here as well.

Research and gold

When it comes to metal detecting for gold, research is critical.

I do a lot of my research out in the field by talking to the local claim owners, or by finding names or former claim owners and then having a chat with them. I've found out many excellent tips on where to go that otherwise I'd have never known. I've also emailed former claim owners that can no longer get out in the field and had lengthy correspondence with them to learn many valuable secrets on the area. Moreover, I'll get telephone numbers of retired miners as well and talk for hours with those that are willing to do so.


I've used books and maps myself, but one of the problems with the area I'm in right now is that they kept terrible records. So, from the local miners I glean as much as I can about soil conditions, size of gold found, depth to the gold, patterns of glaciation, etc. Furthermore, such information is invaluable when it comes to chasing the gold.

In the desert (I've detected for nuggets in Arizona before) the rules can be the same where there once was water action, and the rules can be very different as well. I spent time with the locals, and while with them (as they understood the area's conditions) they found some incredible solid gold nuggets and specimen gold. One of them only searched old drywasher tailing piles and he did well. The other used more knowledge gained from others and he found fantastic specimen pieces and solid gold nuggets by gleaning knowledge from his conversations with them, and from tips garnered from others.

If you can find someone that's worked the area you're detecting in to give you some ideas it will go a long, long way, as will book and claim research on size of gold recovery, patterns of deposition, geological reports, etc.

In the end however, you'll still have to do what you're currently doing, and when it comes to detecting for gold, digging trash is part of the game unless you're lucky enough to get some virgin ground. And, it's still out there, by the way.

All the best, and keep digging and detecting and you'll hit some big stuff one day,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Thanks Lanny! Real feast advice there. You are correct sir.. Yes I find small small trash 2 feet down. Yes I have a great ear. But I really not 100 percent my machine gets properly balanced. Detecting is def a new sport to me, which I know will take time to get efficient. I need to understand and "play" with my detector more.. Exp with each setting on the unit...

I must tell u.. I was surprised when I passed my detector over my friends 1 oz nugget on the ground. The detector bonked / overloaded when I put the coil right on top, and a inch over the nugget. It bonked like a trash sound. I'm not sure what it was go a sound like going directly over a huge nugget, but I surely did not expect to bonk like trash.

I learned discrimination is not that great. And dig it All Up.. Until I get to a point where I am better.

Do u dig it all up?

Most of the time I dig it all. Sometimes I get a bit lazy or too hot in mid-summer and I don't. But, it's come back to haunt me often enough that I know it's not very smart not to dig it all. I have three nice nuggets in my possession that would still be in the ground that I definitely would not have. All three sounded exactly (exactly!) like trash, but I dug them anyway, and no one was more surprised than I was when they turned out to be nuggets. They all came at very different times of course, but they all are definitely nuggets that were masquerading as trash.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[augoldminer]

i metal detected for gold years in the Randsburg El Paso mountains area and never did find much but bullets and trash.

Then i went to the rye patch NV in the early days(late 1970s) and found gold.

I later used my metal detector under ground in a high grade mine and found a lot of gold specimens. (over 15 pounds)

I have been back to the El Paso mountains many times since and still don't find any gold nuggets. Have found a couple meteorites that most likely missed because of the hot rocks in the area.

Never can understand why i can find nuggets in some areas and not others.

 

[mellowyellow]

i metal detected for gold years in the Randsburg El Paso mountains area and never did find much but bullets and trash. Then i went to the rye patch NV in the early days(late 1970s) and found gold. I later used my metal detector under ground in a high grade mine and found a lot of gold specimens. (over 15 pounds) I have been back to the El Paso mountains many times since and still don't find any gold nuggets. Have found a couple meteorites that most likely missed because of the hot rocks in the area. Never can understand why i can find nuggets in some areas and not others.

The El Paso range is where I do all my minjng, lol. Hmmmm

 

[socalal99]

I have recently started MD for gold, in the El Paso Mts for now. I know a very few people who find nuggets and all of them have spent a great amount of time practicing and learning their machines. One good way to learn is to bury a small nugget at different depths and in differing amounts of mineralization, then run your detector over them and learn the sound and best settings. These people have learned to notice the very subtle change in sound that most people pass over.

 

[rodoconnor]

The very first time I MD I found 3 pickers [Bonanza Gulch]. I thought how easy is this. I didn't find another piece for 90 days ! Persistence, dude. And luck. I know you're lucky. I saw that nugget got a while back. Of course a guy's luck seems to improve the more time he spends with a shovel or MD . You'll do good. Jim Straight [I think] said he picks up 75 pieces of lead for every piece of gold. GL

 

[rocme44]

I'm use a dry washer, high banker, all kinds of water methods, and MD. I've found more nuggets with MD than any other method. Don't quit! Keep trying, keep trying, keep trying. I had the same experience as you 25 years ago until one day, then WOW. within the next week I had 4 nuggets including a 3 1/2 pennyweight. That area was near water where duck hunters shoot shotguns. Little lead balls all day long! Trash!
Sounds like your method is right on. Now find the AU.
Don't give up.

 

[mellowyellow]

I'm use a dry washer, high banker, all kinds of water methods, and MD. I've found more nuggets with MD than any other method. Don't quit! Keep trying, keep trying, keep trying. I had the same experience as you 25 years ago until one day, then WOW. within the next week I had 4 nuggets including a 3 1/2 pennyweight. That area was near water where duck hunters shoot shotguns. Little lead balls all day long! Trash! Sounds like your method is right on. Now find the AU. Don't give up.

Thank you brother!!