Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[GarretDiggingAz]

Finally got my first flake/nugget. First load of dirt from my hole.
Did try another location and had 28-30 course pebble gold. Not fine and salt/pepper like our norm. Quite nice to look at. Not the shiny flaky stuff. This was in a wash.
Same wash 10' away it's the shiny stuff and not the unique coarse stuff. What a find it was.
My sons college fund was producing some nice stuff but haven't run the cons yet.

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Finally got my first flake/nugget. First load of dirt from my hole.
Did try another location and had 28-30 course pebble gold. Not fine and salt/pepper like our norm. Quite nice to look at. Not the shiny flaky stuff. This was in a wash.
Same wash 10' away it's the shiny stuff and not the unique coarse stuff. What a find it was.
My sons college fund was producing some nice stuff but haven't run the cons yet.

That's the way to do it! That's better looking stuff for sure!! Way to stay with the testing program and make it pay off.

Sometimes the only difference between success and failure is one single extra effort.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Herb,

Thanks for the update about Sushi. He's certainly had his share of adversity. Did you get any chances to chase the gold this past summer?

All the best,

Lanny

 

[EagleDown]

That's the way to do it! That's better looking stuff for sure!! Way to stay with the testing program and make it pay off.

Sometimes the only difference between success and failure is one single extra effort.

All the best,

Lanny

OR, one foot to the left or right. (lol)

Once, there was a couple of men dredging with a 6 inch, I got to looking at their holes, and found that the holes were like funnels, down to bedrock. I knew they were getting quite a bit of gold in every hole they punched, so I moved my (at that time, 4" dredge), over to one of their holes. There was only about 3 foot of overburden, so I wasn't really concerned about cave-ins. I cleaned the bedrock over to where the sides of the holes were straight up and down. In that circle of uncleaned bedrock they left behind, I picked up a couple of oz. of nuggets they had left. I guess they had read a book that said to always taper your holes to prevent cave-ins, but didn't understand that that primarily applies if you're going deep, or have large boulders to contend with. (lol)

 

[Lanny in AB]

OR, one foot to the left or right. (lol)

Once, there was a couple of men dredging with a 6 inch, I got to looking at their holes, and found that the holes were like funnels, down to bedrock. I knew they were getting quite a bit of gold in every hole they punched, so I moved my (at that time, 4" dredge), over to one of their holes. There was only about 3 foot of overburden, so I wasn't really concerned about cave-ins. I cleaned the bedrock over to where the sides of the holes were straight up and down. In that circle of uncleaned bedrock they left behind, I picked up a couple of oz. of nuggets they had left. I guess they had read a book that said to always taper your holes to prevent cave-ins, but didn't understand that that primarily applies if you're going deep, or have large boulders to contend with. (lol)

That's a great story Eagle, and it's a great example of some of the golden wisdom you've garnered over the years. Some people will read your story and get the point, and perhaps others like me (in the past) will read it too quickly and miss what you're really saying.

It's great to hear from you again, and thanks for your great advice.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[63bkpkr]

Hello Lanny,
I went out, carefully, three times this season, late at that, trying to locate two different locations and found neither of them. It was good to get out though frustrating. The BGT SuperMini will wait another year to get wet, or more. It seems it is time for me to find work elsewhere that is, other than in the state of CA. I've started that search! We will see what I'm supposed to be doing........................Herb
Part of the second place look see trip and another part of that trip 2cmorau & 'Yuba" watching

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

That's the way to do it! That's better looking stuff for sure!! Way to stay with the testing program and make it pay off. Sometimes the only difference between success and failure is one single epxtra effort. All the best, Lanny

Thx Lanny.

I never new gold could look so different than just the normal shiny color. Unless of course buried in clay.
So with this gold being so rough does this mean I could be close to the source? Granted the area has been mined pretty heavily and it is a club claim. Maybe the old timers pushed the dirt to this spot as well, and my son's just lucky enough to find this hiding spot.
Unfortunately, I still haven't had time to run the rest of the dirt from the three holes. Tried to today, but the real world interfered and energy level just wasn't there.
So hopefully I'll have some help on Sunday to run it all and then the results from the trip will be in. Lol.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hello Lanny,
I went out, carefully, three times this season, late at that, trying to locate two different locations and found neither of them. It was good to get out though frustrating. The BGT SuperMini will wait another year to get wet, or more. It seems it is time for me to find work elsewhere that is, other than in the state of CA. I've started that search! We will see what I'm supposed to be doing........................Herb
Part of the second place look see trip and another part of that trip 2cmorau & 'Yuba" watching

Herb,

Great to hear from you and to get an update. Thanks for the pictures. The top one is a true classic in the way it portrays your beautiful mountains--I love the way you chose the composition before you shot it. The bottom picture reveals a couple of things to me. For instance, I didn't know you went out prospecting with a dog. How long have you had him, and what's his name? He must be a solid sort to stay calm out there in the wilds with you.

I certainly hope you're able to find work that you'll find rewarding. Things (like the economy) just haven't rebounded like they should have yet, that's for sure.

All the best, and stay connected,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Thx Lanny.

I never new gold could look so different than just the normal shiny color. Unless of course buried in clay.
So with this gold being so rough does this mean I could be close to the source? Granted the area has been mined pretty heavily and it is a club claim. Maybe the old timers pushed the dirt to this spot as well, and my son's just lucky enough to find this hiding spot.
Unfortunately, I still haven't had time to run the rest of the dirt from the three holes. Tried to today, but the real world interfered and energy level just wasn't there.
So hopefully I'll have some help on Sunday to run it all and then the results from the trip will be in. Lol.

Hi there--It's hard for me to tell exactly specifics about your gold by looking at your picture, but I'll take a shot.

It looks to me like the flakes are quite hammered, though larger than your other finds, it appears that they've been well travelled, which means they've really been rolled and hammered by the rocks when the gold moved with the accompanying rock.

Usually gold close to the source feels very rough between your fingers--lots of little edges that haven't been flattened yet (that is, if it's gold with no quartz). If it's float gold/hardrock specimen gold, the edges of the quartz will be well rounded and smooth if it's travelled a lot, and if not, the edges will be sharp.

So, flat, rounded, hammered, lacking in sharp edges=well travelled, and most likely far from the source.

Lots of sharp edges, sharp non-rounded corners/faces on the host rock=closer to the source.

At least, that's the way I've found it to be. There's undoubtedly others that know far more about it than I do. For one thing I've learned the older I get, the less I truly know, and the more I need to learn.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Clay Diggins]

Garret you might need to rethink the area you are working in. Lynx Creek has been turned over three times, including what you are presuming are the "banks" of the creek. Nobody really knows where the original creek bed was it's been moved so many times.

History: Lynx Creek is the most productive gold-bearing stream in Arizona, although other districts have yielded more gold from alluvial fans, floats and arroyos. The Lynx Creek placers were discovered in May 1863 by Sam Miller and four other prospectors of the group lead by Captain joe Walker. Sam miller reportedly panned $4.80 in gold from a gravel bank along Lynx Creek; on May 10, 1863 the party organized the first mining district in Yavapai County, which they called the Pioneer District. The Walker quartz mining district was formed November 24, 1863. Production from the Lynx Creek placers before 1900 is generally estimated at about $1M, although some writers estimate $2M.

​

During the 20th century the placers in the lower section of Lynx Creek have been the most actively mined. Large-scale placer mining was done by dredges operating along 5 miles of lower Lynx Creek from the lower dam in Sec 22 to the vicinity of Fain's Ranch in Sec 28.The Calari Dredging Co. worked placer ground in 1933 below the lower dam that averaged 32 cents per cubic yard. In late 1939 the Rock Castle Placer Mines Co. used a dryland dredge to work the bench gravels in this area. From 1934 to 1940 the Lynx Creek Placer Mining Co. worked the gravels on the Fitzmaurice property; this dredge was the largest single producer in Arizona.
​

Most of the placer mining in upper Lynx Creek was small scale rocking and sluicing, but a few larger scale operations were attempted, especially in that part of upper Lynx Creek just downstream from the old Highway Bridge. (NW1/4 of Sec 33, T14N R1W) During the period from 1940-41 gravels were worked in the area called Bigelow Flat to about half a mile below the bridge, a distance of about 3 miles.

There was a lot more than a bulldozer run down that creek between 1863 and today Garret. The dredge below was just one of several that processed the Lynx gravels. Down where you are working the gravels were 1/8 mile wide and every bit of it was processed at one time or another.

This is the Calari Dredge. It was 50 foot long, 35 foot wide and three stories tall. It used 85 gallons of fresh water per yard processed. It had a huge stacker to move the material that didn't make it through the grizzly. It was working away from the creek bed in some of the last of the unworked gravels. The best pay dirt was 15 foot down in the 24 foot of overburden.



​

The point is that you aren't going to find any particular level that pays consistently better than another. It's all hit or miss. The dredges typically got about 80% of the gold there and the rest got dumped randomly throughout the tailings. You are working the tailings of those operations. There is no virgin ground anywhere near water in that area.

Dig and enjoy the gold. You will get different amounts each day you work that area. There are few nuggets of any size there but you will get gold there anywhere and anytime you dig as long as you aren't in a filled area that was just processed.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Garret the source of all that gold is well documented. The area around Walker about 5 miles above Lynx Lake had dozens of rich hardrock mines with fine stockwork shedding gold into the Lynx Creek drainage.

You will not find a source anywhere near where you are digging. The area around Walker is all patented private property. There was good placer ground up around those mines but if you drive up there you will see how there is nothing left of the placer gravels. It's all just clean bedrock now that it's been mined.

If you want to know more about Lynx Creek and other well known placer gold deposits in Arizona you can download and read "Gold Placers and Placering in Arizona" by Eldred D. Wilson, 1961 from our online library. There are lots more informative reports there that should help you understand what you are seeing when you prospect.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Garret the source of all that gold is well documented. The area around Walker about 5 miles above Lynx Lake had dozens of rich hardrock mines with fine stockwork shedding gold into the Lynx Creek drainage.

You will not find a source anywhere near where you are digging. The area around Walker is all patented private property. There was good placer ground up around those mines but if you drive up there you will see how there is nothing left of the placer gravels. It's all just clean bedrock now that it's been mined.

If you want to know more about Lynx Creek and other well known placer gold deposits in Arizona you can download and read "Gold Placers and Placering in Arizona" by Eldred D. Wilson, 1961 from our online library. There are lots more informative reports there that should help you understand what you are seeing when you prospect.

There's some interesting links on that site Clay. Thanks for posting the link to it.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[63bkpkr]

Herb,

Great to hear from you and to get an update. Thanks for the pictures. The top one is a true classic in the way it portrays your beautiful mountains--I love the way you chose the composition before you shot it. The bottom picture reveals a couple of things to me. For instance, I didn't know you went out prospecting with a dog. How long have you had him, and what's his name? He must be a solid sort to stay calm out there in the wilds with you.

I certainly hope you're able to find work that you'll find rewarding. Things (like the economy) just haven't rebounded like they should have yet, that's for sure.

All the best, and stay connected,

Lanny

Hi Lanny,
The person panning is actually 2cmorau with His dog Yuba and she is a great dog. I wish I had a dog to go backpacking with me but alas my situation (apartment living/existing) does not allow that.

I will stay in touch especially as I have a lot of pictures I've just found to share. Herb

 

[EagleDown]

The one that didn't get away

Halito Brother Lanny,

Just thought I'd drop for a minute and update you on my short trip to the river yesterday. I got there about 9:30am, but had to kill time for a half hour, until it warmed up enough to take my jacket off to start metal detecting. I had the TDI on for about 15 minutes when I dug this. Then I started feeling a little queazy so decided to go home. Good thing I did, I found I had "food poisoning". For about 10 hours, I was worried that I was going to die. (lol) Fortunately, I had some MMS on hand, and after 3 doses of it over an eight hour period, I started to feeling better.

Any way, here's a couple of photos to keep you warm for a while. (lol)

 

[Lanny in AB]

Halito Brother Lanny,

Just thought I'd drop for a minute and update you on my short trip to the river yesterday. I got there about 9:30am, but had to kill time for a half hour, until it warmed up enough to take my jacket off to start metal detecting. I had the TDI on for about 15 minutes when I dug this. Then I started feeling a little queazy so decided to go home. Good thing I did, I found I had "food poisoning". For about 10 hours, I was worried that I was going to die. (lol) Fortunately, I had some MMS on hand, and after 3 doses of it over an eight hour period, I started to feeling better.

Any way, here's a couple of photos to keep you warm for a while. (lol)

Nice find Eagle! I'm glad you found a chunk of that sassy California gold.

I'm a little stressed that you had a run in with food poisoning though--thats's way too scary! However, I'm glad you're doing better.

Thanks for the warm, yellow golden color to warm me up. There's a big winter blizzard on the way, and I'm not looking forward to it one bit.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[EagleDown]

Nice find Eagle! I'm glad you found a chunk of that sassy California gold.

I'm a little stressed that you had a run in with food poisoning though--thats's way too scary! However, I'm glad you're doing better.

Thanks for the warm, yellow golden color to warm me up. There's a big winter blizzard on the way, and I'm not looking forward to it one bit.

All the best,

Lanny

I don't blame you one bit. (About the storm). They're forecasting temps. down to 18 degrees here for Tuesday night. And a full week or longer of temps in the 20s. Brrrrrr.

I plan to go back to the river in the morning to see what I might have missed. (lol)

Stay warm Brother.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Eagle, search well, and I hope you'll be amply rewarded. Nuggets often have friends.

You've put me in a bit of a writing mood, so I'll post one for you (an early Christmas present) from this past summer's chase.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

How To Pinpoint . . . But What?

My prospecting buddy, who I admire greatly, as he just turned 82, wanted some specific instructions on how to use his Minelab GPX 5000. He’d had his for a couple of years, but he wasn’t understanding some of the functions very well.



Clearly, complex technology is a bit of a bug-a-boo to his brainwaves, considering he grew up in the ‘30’s when electricity was being used for running lights, clocks, and industry, not for powering silicone chips and microprocessors.

Specifically, he was having some trouble comprehending how to move from detecting a nugget while using the functions on the front panel of his machine, to flipping the switch located there to grant him access to the digital display on the back of the machine. It was there that he needed to locate the pinpoint feature.



So, I told him I’d go with him to an old placer pit I’d detected in the past, one that since my last visit had been hammered to death by every nugget shooter in the country, several times over.

I surmised that it would be a great place to detect, as I'd been assured all that was left to find were ferrous (iron and steel) targets. The reason for the abundance of iron was that the placer pit had been opened over a series of old bedrock drifts (tunnels that followed the contours of the mother rock) worked in the 1800’s, so there were lots of square nails (whole ones, and bits and pieces). The abundance of steel came from the shavings of bucket, blade, and track rollers located on the large Cats and excavators that had worked the pit to get the gold to the wash-plants.


(Original timbers from the old drift workings.)

However, I have to back up a bit in my story. The whole conversation started by my buddy about how to use his detector properly originated on our long drive back from some claims we’d gone to investigate earlier in the week. We’d headed north and west four and a half hours from where we normally hunted the gold. A friend had told us we were welcome to check out his claim that had some nice bedrock on it. So, of course, since it was a new area to us, and since it was a chance to see some new country and chase some shallow gold (easy diggin's), we loaded our gear and headed for the hills. And what gorgeous hills they were. I’ve posted a selection of shots of that rugged, mountainous area in some of my more recent entries on this thread.


(Lots of Alders along the way.)

When we got to the area, we started talking to any miners we could find (something I always do to quickly learn the area's essentials as it relates to local gold deposition), and they filled us in on the current operations, and the history of the old time workings as well. There’d been lots of hand mining in the area, some larger commercial outfits (drag lines and stackers, steam shovels, etc.), and the venerable Chinese had done limited hydraulic mining in restricted areas.




(There are several varieties of woodpeckers as well, constantly drumming away as they rustle up a meal.)

The valleys were alive with Alder, Birch, Spruce, Pine, Aspen and Larch (Tamarack). High in the shadowed crooks of the elbows of the stoic mountains, ice and snow held fast against the summer's heat. A healthy population of resident birds set forth to entertain us: spruce hens darted across the logging roads, hawks and eagles soared on thermals offset against the cobalt blue purity of the pristine alpine sky, song birds composed a symphony of relaxing music that serenaded the woods. The black bear, rolling fat from the countless berries they were harvesting, looked dumbly at us until they caught our scent which prompted a rapid, crashing retreat through the living wall of Alders that lined the trails. Cleverly camouflaged cutthroat trout lazed in the pools downstream of the numberless boulders that constantly diverted the liquid crystal flow of the glacial fed streams. Elk and deer appeared, then disappeared as the forest played an ongoing game of hide-and-seek with our eyes. The scent of pines was a pungent, healing, magical mountain elixir, one unavailable, anywhere, at any price, in any city drugstore. To say we were treading through paradise and thirstily drinking of its potion is a bit of an understatement to those of you familiar with that of which I speak.




But the secret locations of the gold had proven elusive to the former argonauts that had chased the gold in the area we were prospecting. The mighty glaciers had lain down the gold in their classic, puzzling fashion, and if you’ve ever been in pursuit of glacial gold, you understand that it’s quite the enigmatic effort. For the glaciers were never fussy about patterns when it came to dropping the gold. Furthermore, the valleys we visited had been glaciated numerous times, not just once.



This talk of glaciers reminds me of another story I heard when we were twelve-hours north of the present location of my current story. The miners there had been having what they termed to be a “hey day”. And to quote them, they were “drinking champagne every night”, for that’s how good the gold was. To elaborate, the gold was all coarse, ranging from three to four gram pieces, all the way up to two and three ounce sassy nuggets! It was day after day of hefty pounds and pounds of nuggets in the sluice. Then, one day, there was absolutely nothing in the cleanup. Zilch, zero, zip, nada—the gold was inexplicably gone.

That is, gone without a trace until upon closer inspection of their workings in the bedrock they could see what had happened; a glacier had beaten them to the rest of the golden prize. There were huge striations (gouges and cuts) all over the bedrock where a perpendicular (to the pay-streak) running glacier had bull-dozed with unimaginable force deep down through the pay layer until it had hit the resistant bedrock, and then the icy white Robber Baron of the north had stolen the pay-dirt and spirited it off to who knows where, only to re-deposit those sassy nuggets in a still secret cache when the glacier ran out of energy.



But, once again, I’ve wandered from my main tale. So, I’ll get back to my story.

(More to come later, as I find the time.)

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

How To Pinpoint . . . But What? (Part II)


We arrived at the previously mentioned placer pit on a hot summer’s day. Small puffs of almost transparent white cloud built above the mountaintops, only to disappear as they sailed on to hit the warmer currents of air rising from the valley floor. There was just enough of a breeze to freshen the air a bit. Down by the river, we could hear the monotonous hum of a gasoline-powered pump—someone, somewhere was placering a deposit in the forest that lined the slope below us. I heard a gentle growl zip past my ear and knew that I’d just been buzzed by a hummingbird. Nature had provided a fine day for detecting.

No one was in the pit, which wasn’t a surprise, as word gets around when there’s no more gold left to be had.



So, it presented itself as the perfect training ground to illustrate how to use the pinpoint function of the GPX to my buddy. I dropped the tailgate on the side-by-side, and then I opened my detector bag and assembled my detector on the tailgate. After plugging it in to the battery pack, I tested everything to make sure it was running properly. I then ran my ground balance and electronic interference protocols for the detector.

Next, I picked an outcrop of bedrock that protruded from the clay right near the bottom of the ramp that led out of the pit. This was the area where everyone stopped to set up his or her gear for detecting, and I knew this particular spot had been very trashy.



So, I headed for the exposed friable rock (lots of perpendicular sheets of bedrock, ranging from half an inch to three inches thick). As I swung the coil over the ground, it wasn’t long until I had a signal, which was to be expected. Next, I started calling out to my buddy what I was doing with the switch on the front panel so that I could access the back digital panel to set up the pinpoint feature.



Once I had it set, I called him over so that he could try on the headphones to listen to the difference of the signal sound in normal vs. pinpoint mode. I showed him how to use the edge of the coil to narrow down the signal’s location even more.

I went back to the side-by-side and grabbed a pick, a plastic scoop, and a pry-bar. Because I’ve chased signals in friable rock before, I knew that oftentimes, metal signals would drop once the perpendicular sheets had been disturbed in any way. So, I needed the bar to work the sheets apart, the pick to loosen things up as I worked my way down, and the scoop to trap the target.



Now, the signal I was chasing, well I assumed it was the tip of an old square nail--lots and lots of those around for sure. I kept showing my buddy how to use the machine as I worked the levels while digging my way down to the target. I reviewed with him how to switch from the front over to the back of the machine so as to then scroll up or down through the menu to find the pinpoint feature, and then I showed him how to store the setting for future ease of use.

Finally, it came time to dig the signal, as it had stopped dropping and I could get at it. I used a magnet to check the dirt and clay in the hole for iron. However, somewhat mysteriously, there was nothing on the magnet. It occurred to me that things were a bit odd, but I had my suspicions.

I scraped all of the loosened material into my scoop and verified that the signal was in the scoop. Well, to return to an earlier suspicion, the obvious conclusion was that the signal was nonmagnetic; it had to be some of the higher-class trash in the pit: lead, copper, or brass. No matter, it would still be a good demonstration for my partner.

I kept sluffing material from the scoop until I had the signal trapped in a small amount of soil. I ran the magnet over it once again in the scoop to make sure that it wasn’t just a well-corroded piece of smaller iron or steel with a weak magnetic charge, but there was nothing on the magnet whatsoever, and the signal still rang clear as I passed the scoop over the coil.

So, it had to be high-class trash.

I started to shake out and drop small bits of dirt on to the detector coil, shimmying off the dirt whenever the threshold remained silent so as to start the sorting process all over again.

However, it wasn’t long until I heard the distinctive “whap” of a metal object coming to rest on the coil. Methodically, I started to carefully move the bits of individual material around on the coil, waiting for one of them to betray itself.

At last it did, and no one was more surprised than I when that “piece of high-class trash” turned out to be a nugget! It was only a half-gram piece, flat and oblong, but as I had set out to dig trash, I never could have set up a nugget demonstration like that, not ever.



It was a total fluke.

Well, that's how it goes sometimes.



All the best,

Lanny

 

[63bkpkr]

Thanks Lanny,
As always, great reading. Armchair prospecting is what I'm doing at this time as well as searching for a new job. Had a great interview at a company just out of Houston TX 2 weeks ago and I expect to hear back from them. I take off for Salt Lake City UT on the 17th of December for another wedding and possibly another interview, seems like the younguns are getting married in droves and God bless them for it.

From the story you are still using and having good success with the 5000. Have you had your hands on the Garret ATX yet? I'm still hoping the ATX will cause other companies to come out with their own new units to compete with the ATX, we will see.

Well, back to my day and let me know when your book comes out so I can purchase a copy! Each copy will come with a 'free' gold nugget won't it? Hmm, I think that could be an interesting idea!..............................63bkpkr/Herb