Gold Bug 2 and gold mining.

[lookin4treasure]

Hey guys, This will be my first year actually "mining" or looking for gold. I was able to find a few claims that were active miines back in the 1800's. I have old maps with the places where the shafts and quartz veins are located. I'm picking up the Fisher Gold bug 2 next month and I just want any advice from anyone who's done this type of thing. Should I be able to find gold or am I just wasting my time and money? I don't expect to get rich, but I'd like to find a bit of gold. Please give me some tips as i'm new to this.
Thanks guys, wish me luck

 

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[Hoser John]

First and foremost-you MUST have detecting experience prior to nuggetshooting. There is no form of detecting that is more expensive, dangerous, time consuming,physically demanding and a real art form. Learn to detect first and THEN decide or just go out with some locals and try before you just go and blow your hard earned dough. Not 10% will stick with it as just demanding on many fronts. Where you live,what you drive and physical condition are a HUGE factor. Now lets bring in the wife/girl friend into the mix and more convaluted as you disappear for days,weeks or months.....Buddy up and survive as laying on the canyon bottom with a busted back,leg, or hip with no cell service is a little problem-John

 

[meMiner]

The BG2 is a great detector for what you are about to try, especially if they were finding visible gold in a remote area. They typically took the best stuff based on sight because they usually had to carry it elsewhere. As such, they left quite a bit behind in the tailings or in the mine itself where they thought the vein petered out. Probably others have known about these mines and checked them out again and again over the years. So check the obvious (which has likely been checked before) and then look for places that are out of the way.

For example, one fellow a number of years back figured out at one historic mine where the ore cart track once went and he did quite well finding places where there were minor spills.

Another approach is to try to find the spot where the old timers might have sorted the "good" from the "bad". If you find something with the detector, then set up on that spot with the detector on its side and the coil in the air. Pass the rocks over the coil one by one. It is quite a bit of work, but can be very rewarding. This method avoids much of the junk that is everywhere on the ground around a once active site.

Lastly, look for places that might have been temporary stashes. I have never found one, but am always on the lookout. For example, in a shaft, the tops of the beams. Think about the individual working away and he chips out a very nice piece. He would sometimes set it aside, rather than put it into his pocket and certainly not dump it with the rest of the rock into the cart. If the mine was worked by guys under hire, they might hide such a piece somewhere that they would be able to come back for it and make sure they would not be caught with it on their person.

Good luck.

 

[prospect007]

don't forget the bank roll, for the lean times.

 

[lookin4treasure]

I have a year of detecting under my belt, rookie you could say. Just took up the hobby last year. Got a used Garrett Ace 150, and got the hang of it pretty quick. Found lots of stuff, coins, bullets, jewelery etc. I"m hooked now, and luckily the wife also enjoys it I'm doing as much research as I can to hopefully help the search. I"m full time military but we are planning on going to the claim during weekends and staying a few days at a time. It's a great hobby, once you buy the gear its free. Really fun to. If anyone has a used Gold bug 2 in good shape, I'm looking to buy.

 

[MXT SNIPER]

You won't go wrong with a gold bug 2, it can even chase vein gold in quartz. And really pops loud on nuggets down to below a grain in weight.

 

[benny]

...look for places that might have been temporary stashes.

I always figured that close to the crapper would be a good place to stash stuff. Gives one reason to leave the camp without raising suspicions..

 

[Hard Prospector]

Every prospector should have a gold detector and If I was only allowed one machine, the GB2 would be it.

 

[Vance in AK]

I know my GB II has really amazed me with the smallness (is that a word?) of the gold it finds.
I have an elderly friend with a GBII that he bought with great intentions but only used it to locate a couple of property corner markers & put it back into the box. He said he was thinking of selling it but I didn't push cause I don't have cash to play with & would love a spare. BUT, truth is I probably don't need a spare & I do have my Whites GM II for a backup so I will see if he wants to part with it & if so how much.

 

[californiagold]

What state do you live in for starters. You may be in a productive area. I ran a gb2 for years. It does have a learning curve of learning the sounds. It doesn't have the display screen, in which i think is extremely helpful for a beginner. Even on iron disc mode on gb2 iron nails and junk still sound off. So you need to dig everything in the begging to learn what the sound was. Personaly if i was starting brand new, i would buy me a fors gold. Has great features and display to give you target ids. I walk past most iron and saves time digging unproductive targets. I still dig a iron signal here and there just to make sure the detector is accurate. The fors gold will get the stuff deeper anyway. I check targets with my gb pro and most of the time it cant hear the deeper ones that fors gold hears. My goldbug pro could keep right up with my gb 2 on depth. And alot of heavy mineral areas the gb2 has some troubles with false signals. It is a very powerful detector 71 khz. It is almost too strong for alot of the areas i find gold. (pocket gold deposits). But everybodys has there opinion on what is best so i wish you luck with whatever detector you get.
I also have seen many many people thru the years get gold fever and buy an expensive detector, only to give it up after a spell. You really need to be interested in going several to dozens of times a year. I personally go out over 50 days a year. Plus continue doing lots of research to find gold bearing areas. You have to get a spot that is on the gold. That is the most important thing. Besides mine shafts, look for surface mining areas. Thats where you are going to find the most success. Alot of people have allready hit those mine shafts and tailings. You might find something. But hillside diggings is where most gold came from. The old miners knew that and washed down and dug alot of hillsides in gold bearing areas to find the deposit or pockets and collected all the runaway gold from them. If you get a spot like that anybody with any detector can find gold. And get you a good apex pick or a boss detector pick. Forget the little plastic shovel or garden trowel. Most hillside diggings have alot of brush and you need a good detector pick for a weapon to smash that brush to get in.
Good luck

 

[meMiner]

I always figured that close to the crapper would be a good place to stash stuff. Gives one reason to leave the camp without raising suspicions..

Apparently, the outhouse hole was a old time favorite for hiding valuables (tied up with a string) or under the seat boards. Sounds like a disgusting place to search, but things rotted away years ago.

 

[lookin4treasure]

Great info guys, thanks a bunch. I'm not expecting to get rich off this, but it would be nice to find at least one nugget. I'd be happy to find a few flakes to be honest. It's all about the hunt and being out in the woods away from the internet and noise. I have a rooftop tent for my SUV and I can stay out for days. nova Scotia has a ton of gold mines, both active and older ones. They say Nova Scotia gold is the purest in the Country. I added a pic to show you the historical gold locations. I plan on following the veins with the GB2. I'll be looking for old tailings also. Searcing around the shafts but probably not going into any, not worth it.
hopefully it pans out, no pun intended. I'll be sure to post updates when I begin. Wish me luck

 

[meMiner]

There is some gold placer in a few of the creeks in NS and NB. Also, they found some in the beach sands outside of Halifax (too small to metal detect).

 

[lookin4treasure]

If you know where those creeks are, let me know

 

[63bkpkr]

Lookin4, you've gotten some very good advice especially from the firs response's hard core look at this and he is correct. I've prospected for a long time the hard way doing it on my own and then I ran across Tnet and learned a lot. I had the original gold bug as my first gold detector and did not find a thing with it likely as I just did not have the time to learn it. Learn the machine before you Go Out There! A common nickel will for all intents and purposes make a detector think it is over gold. Then brass, especially.22 casings, and lead also cause the detector to sound off like it was over gold. So use these metals as your targets in various sizes glued to bright poker chips so they can be found easily. When I go out into the field I Always take a poker chip with a hunk of some sample metal so I can get my brain back to listening for what the right thing sounds like, there's a lot of signals out there and you will have to learn what they are so dig all of them for awhile. Also, if your detector really screams at you check out what the target is as one fellow with a $5000.00 machine thought he was over junk, the gold nugget was so large and he'd never heard gold sound like that and almost passed it by.

Be safe out there as any damage to the self is tough to deal with once you are in the outback! Best of success and remember to enjoy yourself out there..............................63bkpkr

 

[meMiner]

If you know where those creeks are, let me know

If you Google "placer gold nova scotia", "gold deposits nova scotia" and "history gold nova scotia" you will be busy reading for the next month and be ready for spring.

 

[meMiner]

Lookin4, you've gotten some very good advice especially from the firs response's hard core look at this and he is correct. I've prospected for a long time the hard way doing it on my own and then I ran across Tnet and learned a lot. I had the original gold bug as my first gold detector and did not find a thing with it likely as I just did not have the time to learn it. Learn the machine before you Go Out There! A common nickel will for all intents and purposes make a detector think it is over gold. Then brass, especially.22 casings, and lead also cause the detector to sound off like it was over gold. So use these metals as your targets in various sizes glued to bright poker chips so they can be found easily. When I go out into the field I Always take a poker chip with a hunk of some sample metal so I can get my brain back to listening for what the right thing sounds like, there's a lot of signals out there and you will have to learn what they are so dig all of them for awhile. Also, if your detector really screams at you check out what the target is as one fellow with a $5000.00 machine thought he was over junk, the gold nugget was so large and he'd never heard gold sound like that and almost passed it by.

Be safe out there as any damage to the self is tough to deal with once you are in the outback! Best of success and remember to enjoy yourself out there..............................63bkpkr

Honest and accurate advise. Only thing to add is watch some of the online videos as they will give you a quick start, plus learn how your VLF machine responds to hot rocks and the techniques for dealing with them.

 

[lookin4treasure]

Thanks a lot guys. I think I might have found a gold bug 2 for under $400, so thats one thing down. Got a few claims now, lots of quartz veins and old shafts.
Hopefully I can find a few nuggets this year. I"ll post pics in the spring when I hit the woods. Thanks again, the advice is priceless.

 

[boulder dash]

Make sure you master the basics. Like being a fast accurate panner, learn and master where gold likes to hide in a creek. Master a sluice, drywasher, and a dredge. Then after a few hard earned ozs you should get a detector. Most people want to skip all the leaning stages and just jump into detecting. Detecting is the hardest form of mining there is.

 

[meMiner]

Or hook up with somebody who really knows what he is doing and have him show you the ropes.

Or in the internet age, look at a bunch of relevant howto Youtube videos and go out there and hit it. Not all are good but some are excellent. I avoid the ones about unboxing or "my first time" videos. I used to read the manuals cover to cover countless times, every time I got a new machine and then digest the related books and magazine articles. The advise I got with my last purchase (member on this forum), was check out the videos. Man he was right! It is a huge head start.