2010's Gold - Finishing up the details

[63bkpkr]

Hello All,
This has been a fun year for me as I came across a small paystreak of gold nuggets and had a great time learning many new things about prospecting. My equipment has been cleaned up, put away and its all nice and ready for next year. The last thing to do was to combine "all the gold" I found, weigh it and shoot a couple of pictures of the pile. It weighed in at less than 1/2 ounce Troy and at about $1400/oz it totals to $325. That is not much for all the work it took ME to locate a spot and do everything else to have a pile of nuggets to look at but then I was a novice 3rd class with much more to learn and besides it is about the adventure and memories not necessarily 20 or 30 lbs worth of gold, right!?

In 2011 I will start as a novice 2nd class with a whole new river bed and side banks to work with. I will use the GMT a great deal more and with what I learned in 2010 I will be much better off in performing all of the other work required to end up with clean gold. I think you can tell I firmly believe there is more out there afterall, I found it this year.

Attached are two pictures: one of the pile on a silver half dollar and one of all the gold in a small sample bottle - 1 3/4" tall x 1/2" dia. It took me about 4 weeks of off and on work to process the raw materials down to clean gold but again I also have the enjoyment and memories of being out in this beautiful river canyon for that time, to my way of thinking that is worth more than the gold itself. The square thing is an Iron Pyrite Crystal.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Hunting! 63bkpkr

[img][/img]

[Lanny in AB]

63--now that's a right fine catch of gold for a novice 3rd class! A lot of novice 3rd class ratings only find a speck or two, and some never even find a speck--so--give yourself a pat on the back. Nice shot of the gold on the half dollar. Makes me want to get out there and get some, but the weather has me shut down cold in the ice penitentiary.

Nice post, and all the best,

Lanny

[63bkpkr]

Hello Lanny,
Thank you for the kind words. I enjoy the challenge of prospecting as it just adds even more to my enjoyment of the outdoors and then I get to try my hand at taking pictures without spilling the entire pile of gold. The picture did turn out well and I'm even pleased with it.

Question for you: Have you any opinion on the original Fisher Gold Bug? Have you ever used one and if so do you have any thoughts to pass on about its use? Can you compare it to any of the newer detectors? I have one and I've just never done much with it and now with the GMT working so nicely I'm just wondering what I may have missed out on in understanding the GB.

Thanks in advance for your comments! What sort of projects are you taking on for the winter? 63bkpkr

[strickman]

nice gold 63 ,those are meaty pieces . next year will better.you should get promoted to 1st class !

[Lanny in AB]

63--you know, I did use a goldbug, but it was up north where the bedrock is insane, and no VLF would run up there. I tried it on some cooler ground where they'd been moving a lot of dirt around, but there were a ton of hotrocks there as well. So, I didn't warm up to it very much. So, I really can't help you. Others on here are probably a far better choice for feedback on that machine. I kind of pioneered in the use of pulse machines because the ground I detect is so hot--I've never gone back to VLF's, but if you've got one that you like and your ground allows you to use it, I'd stick with what's working as long as you're finding the gold. And if your GMT is playing your song, keep pumping the quarters in!

I'm just doing a lot of researching and writing in the winter time. Tinkering with and repairing equipment, looking at new equipment, that sort of thing. I don't know if I'll get a chance to head back to Arizona at all this winter to detect--that sure is a nice break when I get to do it, but I'm not sure it will happen this time around.

Well, all the best, and congratulations again on your finds,

Lanny

[stryker-one]

Very nice pile of gold you liberated from mother earth. I think you did very, very well. Nice photos too. Thanks for sharing. Good health and living to you and yours in 2011.

Stryker

[Woodland Detectors]

I think you did extremely well. Your love for the outdoors, and being content with what you found is refreshing to hear. Nice story and good luck next year.

Mike

[calisdad]

63 the gold was just a portion of what you found. I know you found some great places you will revisit and hauling a loaded backpack is sure to keep father time at bay, although it probably didn't seem like it at the time. With your attitude and desire to learn you will indeed have your golden days in the sun.

enjoy-
C-dad

[maui]

63, you did a really nice job of cleaning it up and wishing you the very best of luck when the weather
warms up. take care and be safe out there. ron

[63bkpkr]

Maui ron,
And Howdy to ya! As far as cleaning it up, when I looked at this picture enlarged I could still see some black sand in there and that's ok as these materials are naturally together. Myself I was impressed with the picture and I look at it often to remind me of the Adventure of 2010! This winter I'm being real safe and I'm building my safety plan NOW. I started exercising roughly two weeks ago and I feel better and better every week. After the rain slacks off a little I will do my floor exercises still and add in bicycle riding up towards the top of Mt. Diablo, notice I said towards. Earlier this year after many weeks of riding I was maybe a little over a third of the way to the top and then backpacking season started and I was off the bike and on the trail.

In addition to the exercise and doing some handyman work I'm looking for work. If you or anyone else knows of a medical device company that needs an Extrusion Specialist for making catheter shafts or other types of medical device tubing I would be grateful if you would pass my name and email address on to them.

Herb Rettke pawhrettke@outdrs.net

I wish you and yours a Joyful Christmas and a Wonderful New Year, 63bkpkr

[CGC Miner]

Nice looking gold, good job out there!

[63bkpkr]

Thanks CGC Miner,
It has been a good year for adventure and a small pile of nice nuggets. TNET'rs have taught me a lot and I'm thankful for that. Then I've learned more from my own experience "Out There" so that 2011 will be another exciting year for me with lots to do.

I see you use a GB2, have you ever used the original GB? It was my first Gold machine though I never found any gold with it and I'm still wondering how to use it.

Enjoy and good hunting, 63bkpkr

[CGC Miner]

There sure are a lot of knowledgeable folks on here!
The adventure of prospecting can't be beat, even if you just find a few colors one day you go home feeling accomplished and atleast know one more spot where the gold isn't
I keep around 1/2 of my gold to document the characteristic of the gold in certain areas and I just love looking at it!
I have only used the gb2, minelab eureka, gmt, and dfx300.
I like the bg2 sensitivity but sometimes I wish I had a digital readout of the mineral and id % for something more to look at and better trace zones of black sands and heavies concentrations.
CGC

[63bkpkr]

CGC MIner,
How does your GMT compare to whatever you consider to be your best machine for gold? Or possibly you would want to qualify that by area conditions and/or the alloy of the metal.

Thanks, 63bkpkr

[AU Seeker]

Herb,

Nice ending to a GRAND ADVENTURE, and now on to 2011!!!

NICE GOLD AS WELL!!

That little "pyrite cube" is Limonite pseudomorph after pyrite and when finding them it is most of the time a great indicator of gold being in the area.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=Limonit...=n&sk=&sc=1-33

Thanks for posting I love to look at GOLD , the only thing that's better is to find some in your pan!!!

Skip

[2cmorau]

sweet

when the GM2 first came out, i bought one and the first year of detecting I saw a lot of California and had a good time, but it was not until the second season i found my first nugget

HH

[XT18000]

From the looks of the replies you have received it looks to me like the owner's of GB2 or GB's
have not taken very much time to understand them ( no offense meant just an observation ).
First let me make it clear and up front I do not own or use a GB or GB2, I use Minelab and
Garrett machines, just what I started out with and have stuck with. EVERY detector made
to find gold, will find gold if the person using it will take time to learn it. The GB and the GB2
are two of the best machines for finding gold to come along since VLF machines were put on
the market, but they do have there weakness. The higher freq. they operate with is great for
shallow small bits but lack the punch to go deep in ground that is hot. To get deeper gold
you need to use a lower freq. or a PI. Hunt where there is more shallow gold and milder
ground. Research, Research, Research, hunt ground that your machine can handle and no
matter what that machine may be named it will find it's share!

[63bkpkr]

Hello XT18000,
I can only speak for myself about the GB as I did not put in enough time with mine and became discouraged due to a lack of results because of the lack of using the machine. I still went off into gold country but more with a pan than the GB. Of course that IS NOT the way to learn a machine as practice, practice.........etc is the only way to learn a machine and then the same goes for 1) knowledge about the area one goes to 2) learning about "what" is in the area and what the geology of the area is and 3) keep trying, trying.......etc.

In some respects I am the 'typical' lazy person and when one is attempting to find natural gold that is not the thing to be. I'm learning that to find gold one truly needs to immerse themselves into the how to's and why's and wherefore's of the "ART" of finding gold. Some of the folks on this site that helped me to improve my techniques must have the equivalent of Bachelor's degrees and working on their masters as far as understanding this "ART" but still I suspect they also do not know everything. Me, I know I have a lot to learn and I have to stop thinking I will just be walking along and find this 4 pound nugget laying right on top of the ground. It takes effort and hard work and training to do what we do "out there" and for much of this we are our own teachers so we must think about our results and try to understand why we are not getting what we want.

Now last year I really had to struggle with myself to get up off of my dead butt, walk across the river and inspect this potential location I'd been looking at for several days and not doing anything about. Talk about lame, that's lame. As it turns out the downstream end of a large boulder does collect gold, now how many times have I read that, I mean really! I am my own worst enemy, so true, so true. As humans we have a lot of flaws and we bring them into contact with everything we do and we get the results we get. Now last year I had a lot of FUN and ADVENTURE and I recall what I did do and realize there is so much more I can do to make my trips even greater than last years and I'm all for that. So here's to 2011 and using ones intellect, research, practice, knowledge, observations and theory's in a practical and useful way to find good old "Lazy Gold"!! Oh, this year I also hope to add fishing for rainbow trout back into my adventures as well as inviting them back to camp to take part in dinner.

Thank you for your comments! Do you have any pictures you'd like to post as I know at least I'd love to see them!!?

Happy Hunting, 63bkpkr

[XT18000]

Hello 63bkpkr
Enjoyed your reply, you seem to have it figured out so won't go there now. what part of N. Ca. are you in? When I retired
I moved to N. Ca. ( Happy Camp ) on the Klamath River. Spent almost every day in it dredging. Did detecting when not
dredging. Had to move back to Texas for family reasons and health. If you do not have Delos Tooles book " Nugget Teering
in Northern Ca. you need to get it. It will put you onto more places to detect than you will ever be able to get to. Most gold
I found by detecting was small stuff so never bothered taking photos, just put it in with the dredge stuff. Can't post those
because there on 35mm and no scanner. I sure miss that area and hope to get back up there someday. If I can be of any
help in your quest by all means let me hear from you.

XT