GPX 5000 on small nuggets


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I am sure this has already been covered, but I will ask anyway.

How small of a nugget can you get with the GPX 5000?

And do the settings have to be different if you are looking for bigger deeper nuggets?

I have been thinking about selling my dredge and buying one. :):(:wacko:

Big Mark

Mark:

I will throw my 2 cents in here...

I use the 5G a lot.

I have found my best over all set up is with a 9x14 mono. I usually run fine gold at around 11-13 on the gain. The rest of the settings are personal.

The settings will vary with the ground your hunting and how your hunting it. (slow in a patch or a bit faster moving up a creek.)

If your looking for bigger deeper nugs you will have to set the machine up to do it.

Bigger coils shoot deeper but I have had great sucess with the above mentioned coil.

I have found some very small nugs with the 5G set up correctly but every patch of ground is different so you will have to

experiment. Also....it depends upon the density and the way the small nugget is sitting in the ground.

I will admit.............Bumping it up against a Gold Bug 2............The GB2 will get the smaller nugs at 3 inches and less.

Its just what it was made for and its a great detector.

But, those nugs are going to be about the size of #8 bird shot.

You can get a small 5" coil for the 5000 that will come "pretty" close to the GB2 set up.

If your in HOT ground (lots of hot rocks and black sand)............the 5000 will definetly out perform the GB2.

Guess what im saying is the 5000 is good machine...but like any machine you have to know how

to set it up and use it. Time, patience and practice......................

Tom H.

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Mark,

I don't know the forum rules for posting links to to other forums so I sent you a pm with a link showing some of the small gold I have found with the 5000. There was a bit of a debate on what a 5000 will do. Some good reading there but oldies pretty much summed it up.

Best Regards,

also Mark

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Hello BigMark,

I will post some pictures later, have to make a quick run and get some of these boxes out this morning that I packed.

The Minelab GPX 5000 can find nuggets down to under a grain in the right conditions. There are 480 grains to 1 troy ounce, so that gives you an idea how small of nugget the detector can find. Under most normal detecting applications, you won't have a problem finding a gold nugget in the range of 3-5 grains at the surface or up to a few inches down if you're paying attention and hunting with the searchcoil close to the ground.

I will dig up some small nuggets and post them later to give you an idea of small gold with some weights of each piece included.

If you have any questions on the GPX 5000, post them here on the forums or you can email or call me anytime.

Talk with you soon,

Rob Allison

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Hey Guys,

Here is a picture of some small gold nuggets I have on hand. Pictured on the gold scale is 21 small gold nuggets for a total of 3.1 Grams. I have broken down the math quickly to let you know the average piece on the scale is 2.21 grains (very small).

3.1 Grams x 15 = 46.50 grains of gold. 46.50 / 21 small nuggets = 2.21 grains of gold average for each piece. Some are a bit smaller, some a bit bigger. Nuggets probably in the ranges of 1.5 to 4 grains.

There are 31 Grams to 1 Troy Ounce

There are 15 Grains to 1 Gram

There are 480 Grains to 1 Troy Ounce

I found all of these nuggets this year with the Minelab GPX 5000 using mostly the Coiltek 14-inch Blitz Mono coil. Most of the nuggets were either on exposed bedrock or only an inch or so deep max.

With smaller monolooop coils (Minelab 8-inch round, Coiltek 6-inch Round, Coiltek 10x5 or NF 8x6) on the GPX, you can find them down to under a grain in size.

smallgold01.jpg

smallgold02.jpg

Hope you enjoyed.

P.S. DirtScience - Feel free to post the link or post your pictures here so we can view them also.

Rob Allison

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Heres a pic of my small ones.

I actually found the smallest one with the 9x14 mono at about 1 1/2 inch deep. Two of them were found with the 6 inch mono at 2-3 inches deep.

Tom H.

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Rob and Tom,

Those nugglets look related to mine LOL.

This is one of those post that get off topic so I just posted a link to about where my pictures are. Started off as a battery upgrade question then got off on to not being able to get small gold with the 5000 which we all know isnt true :).

http://arizonaoutbac...289

Best regards,

Mark

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Hey Mark,

The Minelab GPX 5000 is a big investment. As I tell every customer, owning the GPX 5000 don't mean instant gold. Without a doubt you will have the most powerful handheld detector on the planet, but you still have to get the searchcoil over gold. Proper training, working in the right locations and overall time and experimenting will mean success at some point.

If you have any questions on the unit, don't hesitate to post them here, or you can call me anytime. You know we do offer one of the best bundle.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

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SINCE I HAVE UPDATED TO THE 5000 I HAVE HAD HUGE SUCCESS WITH THE COILTEK JOEY MONO.

SMALLEST NUGGETS ARE AROUND 0.1 OF A GRAM.ALSO SOME 3 TO 4 GRAMMERS UP TO 8 INCHES DEEP.

MOST OF THESE HAVE COME FROM MY OLD PATCHES THAT I USED MY 4500 ON. ROUGHLY 50 GRAMS OVER 5 WEEKS.

GOING SLOWER SEEMS TO BE THE BEST FOR ME

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You are getting the idea! Rob's bundle deal is a very good starting point. As you get more experience in operating the detectors and hunting various area with their varied mineralization, terrain, and vegatation, and size of gold. You may developed a favorite coil, detector setting that works for you. I like the GPX 5000 with a NF 9 x 12 Elipical coil in FINE GOLD setting for probably 80 % of my nugget shooting. As my experience grow I am trying to learn and recognized when I should try some different settings, and or even a different coil combination.The two Minelab 11" coil are great coil, their 8" coil is very sucessful in finding sub gram nuggets as you can see by other poster. It is a learning curve, but everybody here on the forum are a great bunch of guys and gals and are very generous in giving answear and their opinions... just don"t ask where the "BIG DIG HERE" sign is. You may be digging something very foul up!

More Au to you, Robert

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The first time I went out to the desert to drywash I had joined a club and had no idea where to start. I had my drywasher a shovel and a bucket. I asked a guy where a good spot would be and he said "if i knew where the gold was I would be digging it up". Makes sense. But he did take me to a spot and pretty much said "dig here" as he pointed at the ground. So I ran dirt for hours and hours and hours in that spot. Turns out he was right. Got a couple of 1-2 grain pickers and a bunch of fines. I showed him the gold at the next club meeting and his eyes lit up. I went back to the spot about 6 months later and that area was all dug up! One of the best spot I ever drywashed.

Good for him.

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