Hit it and quit it. 2 hrs in Nevada - 600 acres

[Danhobie]

Ok so have a close buddy that owns 600 acres in Nevada (humbolt county) who laughs at me every time I tell him I want to detect on it.
So next month we are going up there (flying) to meet with some people that want to throw some solar panels up in the desert on his land.
That gives me about 2-3 hrs to swing a metal detector around and cure my need to know if there is anything on the surface.
There are some clear erosion lines / stream lines from the months when the snow melts and flows. (See pic)


It's at base of mountain and gold mines are everywhere up in that area. Although they look to be going very deep at the industrial/commercial level. I'm really only equipped mentally to dig 8 inches. If anyone has worked in this part of the world and has opinions on if I'm wasting my time I would love to hear from you.

So my thoughts and I welcome yours-
Get myself a gold bug 2 and stick to the obvious places cover as much ground as possible. Plot my finds and when I come back in few months I will drive up there and collect some concentrates and bring back home. Or if I'm having success I will put my son on another detector.

Ideas
Any objections to a gold bug 2 up there? Any better options you want to throw at me?

Any advice welcomed.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Danhobie, welcome to T'net and Merry Christmas. I see you're from CA too. What city ?

As for Nevada, it's lots of fun there for md'ing, in its own way, IF you can get into a "spot". Unlike CA, where most every city has grown 7x to 10x the size since the 1930s and '40s (hence history covered over in asphalt), Nevada remains sparsely populated. So you can sometimes research out un-spoiled un-trashed spots of yesteryear. I've gotten seateds in the past from ghost townsy spots in NV

I can't tell from your picture where that 600 acres is. But have you studied the earliest existing topo maps to see what was there in the past ? You'd be looking for black dots which evidence structures. If a topo exists going back to the turn-of-century or teens, they can be helpful. But some parts of NV didn't get mapped with topo's till the 1940s or whatever. You just have to check your area and see:

http://historicalmaps.arcgis.com/usgs/

Type in the name of the closest city. Then "drag" the map to your area. The click on a random spot by/in your zone. It will bring up a list of the topos (arranged by date). Click the oldest, and so-forth.

Ultimately you are not looking for the mines (IMHO). So just because you deduce mine shaft openings or tailings, is not where you want to hunt. Instead you want to figure out where the workers lived and slept ! There would usually be some sort of tent-city zone nearby.

Unless you're into prospecting (nuggets), in which case, sure, they're work zones (tailings) is where you'd try . Assuming it's gold they were working in that area (as opposed to silver or some other mineral ).

 

[cudamark]

If you're looking for gold within the top 8 inches, you've got a good machine for it. If you're relic hunting, there are much better choices.......F75, Deus, CTX, come to mind.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Oh, after reading Mark's post, I see you have a prospecting-nugget machine (gold bug). Then in that case, it's not suited for coins/relics.

So what kind of mining did they do in this region ? Unless it was gold (versus all sorts of other mining that went on in NV), then that doesn't bode well. There's only certain regions/terrains there that were gold producing. And also watch out for geographic areas where it was gold occurring in placer (versus nuggets). If it was gold that was produced by processing ore (ie.: dust that occurs in rock, versus actual nuggets), then that's the wrong kind of gold regions as well, for detectors capable of finding gold.

 

[Danhobie]

Thanks Tom! These maps will keep me awake for weeks!

the spot is located out near Valmy NV. Marigold mine is located out that way-


Im located in Orange county and been looking to prospect Trabucco Canyon. But it looks a little sketchy out there for not much return. I will try the maps you sent me on Trabucco and see what I find. I am only out for nuggets and flakes right now but Im starting to get more interested in Relics every day.

 

[Danhobie]

Cudamark- Ok awesome! thanks!!! Am I the only person that wants to swing 2 machines at once lol?

 

[cudamark]

Yeah, it would be nice to have one machine that will find anything, but, unfortunately, it doesn't exist yet. If you're after several different kinds of targets, you will need multiple machines if you don't want to waste your time. Hunt the area for one type with one detector, then hunt it again with another detector for a different type target. Matching your detector and equipment to what you're looking for makes for a much more enjoyable and easier hunt.

 

[kenpodetector]

What you are going to possibly find: Some small nuggets if you're very lucky, or you will find your detector going nuts in a somewhat defined areas which what this is showing you is a large area of heavy mineralization. If you keep running into this and you are not hitting much in the nugget realm ( IE a couple hours of total detecting isn't much time for nuggets). You better bet is shovel up that mineralized area and pan it out or if you have some sort of gold cube classify it and run it you might be surprised at the amount of micron gold you pull. Nevada is known for its micron gold. I have more a handful of gold mines in Nevada and been out doing this for 20 years, so pretty familiar with the state's resources. So bottom line you are on the right mindset. You can alway do some test pans as you run along if you are good with dry panning or carry a little water and a small pan in say a UTV or something. Now if you want to only go for nugget hunting get a PI detector if you are serious about that business because nowadays a PI will find that small gold too depending on the coil you use and you wont be bothered by the hot rocks at all. Best of luck to you and dress for cold and wind.... Break out the Gore Tex.