Metal Detecting discussions and finds

Sounds like Whites hadn't been competitive or hadn't produced any innovative features for years. It's kind of a bummer, but it's how the world works...

 

There’s a nice Fisher Gold Bug 2 for sale for $450- I don’t know the guy personally but most members
on this site have good reputations. It’s not a beginner’s detector, but when used right it’s one of the most sensitive small nugget detectors out there. Probably won’t last long.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/12915-fisher-gold-bug-2-metal-detector-450/

 

nice! Except for bees. Bees are ok left alone, hornets need to be cleansed from the earth!

 

You must be close to the hive...also watch out for africanised honey bees they are bad news

 

Nice! Those called nuggets? Or still fragments?

 

You're a brave soul for venturing out in the Mojave heat! Looks like you did very well though! That is some coarse looking gold. It doesn't look like it has traveled very far. Were you alone out there? Congrat's on picking up gold with the Monster!

 

Half a gram! Not bad at all!

 

Looks like a nice place to hike up to! Love the Sierra background in your photos, too. Was there an old trail going up to the mine? Guess they could have used pack stock to get their ore out. How old is the site would you guess?

Does your friend do any processing after he mills his rocks, or just panning?

There’s some chrysocolla stained pieces of quartz that would be interesting to break up and pan, I haven’t tried hitting them with my detector after breaking them though, that was a very good idea. I wonder how rich the ore has to be for a GM to sense it too, and how far into the rock it can be, and does the gold have to be visible?

 

The largest are nuggets, albeit little rough ones. In my dictionary of geological terms, nuggets are “waterworn lumps of placer gold or other metal”, and most of the pieces are grains- “mineral or rock particles with a diameter of less than a few millimeters in size”.

 

Thats cool to find! They are getting bigger!

 

Set a pan of water out a bit away from where your working. That will keep the bee's off of you and help them out.

 

Yes, thankfully there is an old trail that I discovered on Google Earth. We had found this place maybe a year ago while scouting the canyon bottom for placer workings. We spotted quartz outcroppings above with mining remnants visible. We scrambled up to get really close to the workings, but the terrain is super steep and loose. And we had left our 5000's below in the canyon. So yesterday we did it right with a GM and GB II. The old timers' must have used pack animals there was lumber, barrel rings (small) , and other building materials at the site. The square nails suggest that there was activity at the site 100+ years ago.

My buddy has a jaw crusher and will prolly play with the ore like the old timers' did. I could see him playing with mercury. He will research and get that gold out if there is any to be had.

He bought the GM for scanning load gold, and that's primarily what I use the GB II for. Although, we are just kinda getting into the load gold arena. The gold does not have to be visible. This is why we are looking at the old tailings as the old timers' only took visible gold.
We have a geologist friend who gives us a hard time when we talk about placer. He says "why the hell aren't you looking at hard rock? That's where the gold is!" So now we're looking...

 

@OnHartung'sRoad Thnx for posting the video, lots of good info there. That makes for a nice contraption,,, very functional, thnx

 

So are you going to work the lode up there? Ryobi makes a small gas powered drill, and you could use those small little Sierra Blasters https://www.sierrablaster.com/
Jeff Williams likes to use underground, that would be fun:

https://youtu.be/RrCD_MjIKf0

 

No. Not gonna go full tilt on the hard rock stuff. We are gonna clean up any gold left behind. Hard rock sounds like a lot of work.
Our geologist buddy has worked with explosives quite a bit. I have a feeling he knows how to blow shit up!

 

Aww, come on Jimmy boy! You know where the gold is at, cause he told you, right son?! We have the same situation... but there’s plenty of loose rock and float to work over many weekends.

 

@Hobbs- another question- did you try using the GB2 on the same rocks that the GM sounded on? Curious how they compare...

 

My buddy was running the GM with the small round coil (either 4" or 5" I believe) and got a solid signal. My GB II didn't see it, but I had a 5"x10" coil on it. Not sure if the GB II with the Fisher 6.5" coil would see it...

 

Funny, my buddy was talking about the non-collapsable shaft. I'll tell him about Doc's.

 

@Hobbs I live in San Berdu. I drive by the Inyo's at least twice a year heading to Mammoth to do a little fishing. I've done a bit of metal detecting around Randsburg with my Garrett. Haven't found anything but bullets and junk metal. There is gold in the Inyo mountains? I thought gold was in the Sierra mountains.