nuggethunting

Hello Guys, One major advantage of the Minelab PI's is the fact you have so many "after-market" products to use to even increase the performance better than stock. With Minelab, Coiltek and Nuggetfinder making coils you can't go wrong. I haven't personally tried a NF XP, but know they change the phase. I heard on deep targets the sound is just the opposite than normal coils. I'm sure there is some learning curve, or at least you have to get used to the new sound on deep targets. I've heard the XP's are cranked up to what they say, but know it's the same as people saying the Coiltek DD Pro's aren't any better than normal DD's. I think both coils have advantages over the standard searchcoils that have been available for years. I know I have personally found over a pound (12 ounces) with the Wallaby DD Pro, so I know it works well. Give the Coiltek DD Pro and NF XP a whirl ... Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, What I forgot to add was the fact someone found a huge piece here about 10 years ago with a VLF. From what I was told, it was about 250 ounces and very similar to what I found from what the person told me after I found mine. I would take a 250 ouncer! Rob Allison

Update: All headphones are SOLD. A few pairs were bad and I wont sell. Thanks, Rob Allison

Hello Gary, Congrats on the new finds. I seen where Bob "Montana" Dansie mentioned on another forum where you find copper you can find gold. This is dead on when you're hunting within the Bradshaw Mountain Range. You might not find them in the same wash, but when you start finding copper nuggets you need to examine the area closely. Most of the time you will get into some gold nuggets also. Looks like you're on a roll finding nuggets. Any success out at Rich Hill? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello John, Anyone wanting to give me $400 cash can walk with the detector. Really, I'm selling the detector for under $300 since the new Jimmy Sierra Goldmax coil cost me over $110 from Ron Long (AZ-Gold) when he sold White's detectors and accessories. Not interested in Credit Card purchases for this unit. Cash talks ... P.S. John, GM3 straight across for the 13-14 ouncer! Talk with you later, Rob Allison

Hello Mike, I must admit, when I first heard about the X-Terra series, I wasn't real impressed. I thought, just another VLF that looks pretty! I did test it (X-Terra 70) out briefly last weekend and it does have some features like the Explorer II that I really like. Also, I was impressed with the depth on small gold and how well in ground balanced around the Black Canyon area. I like how you can toggle back in forth (if needed) from the Prospecting mode to the "Coin/Relic" mode. It might be a great tool for those very trashy placer areas. I'm still learning the coin/relic mode features, but the "Prospecting" mode is pretty simple and user friendly. P.S. Seems like the inner searhcoil ring is the most sensitive, rather than the outer ring? Have you played with it more? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello John, I'm not certain what I want for it, I'm looking for someone to make me a fair offer on it. I have the detector, stock coil and a new Jimmy Sierra coil for it. What's it worth, about a Grand? Mike K. also wrote me an email about it. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Guys, Already received about a half dozen emails on the headphones. I'm going to go out today and check them all out. I will check to make sure both sides work, the volume control works and there are no shorts. Like I said, they are used, but should work fine. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Everyone, Cleaned part of the garage up (the prospecting gear side) and found approx. 5-6 pairs of used headphones this evening. I believe most of them are Gray Ghost Ultimates (retail $140). Anyone interested in a used pair of good headphones? I'm thinking $25 per pair + Shipping. Interested, email me at - auplacers@yahoo.com Thanks, Rob Allison

Hello Everyone, A handful of potential customers have contacted me about the new Minelab X-Terra 70. I just sold the last one I had in stock and Minelab USA said they are currently on backorder. They should be available within a week or so at the latest. If you need one right away, I might sell mine for double the price~! Just an update, Rob Allison

Hello All, Anyone interested in a used White's GM3 with the stock elliptical searhcoil plus a new 14-inch Jimmy Sierra Elliptical? Any good offer won't be refused! I now have two good conditioned GM3's, but can only use one. You can email me at - auplacers@yahoo.com or reply here on the forum. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Newby, I think everyone gave you some good advice. I'm not certain of the richness of the ground you're working, but hopefully you're working where there's gold. I would also take Big Ed's advice and call Proline directly. I would ask about why the water is lesser on one side than the other and maybe some info about the running slope. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Shep, The only advice I can give is that you need to think about where you're going to use it and under what conditions. Ultimately everyone can tell you to choose one coil over another, but you make the final decision based on what you know about the coils. You mentioned you were successful with the Coiltek Wallaby DD Pro in the past. However, you then mention you're not certain if you want one again? If I think back over the years, I have found more than 3/4's of all the gold I have found with the Coiltek 14-inch Round Mono. I still wonder today why the hell I'm not using the coil again? You would think you would go back to something you used successful in the past, but then again people like to experiment. All I can say is that I wish you the best on your choice. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Newby, I have used plenty of High-bankers over the years, but never the 2-inch Proline. I heard they make really good dredges, but never personally used one. I know I used to own a Gold King 2.5-inch High-Banker/Dredge combo and I didn't have to wait from shovel to shovel. I would think if the 2-inch Proline is set up correctly you should be able to move a good amount of material. If I remember correctly, the general rule of thumb was 1-inch angle for every 3-foot of box. I used to have a small "Level" that was set up just for dredges and would adjust the box with it. I always seemed to recover a good amount of fines. If the riffles are filling up more than about half, then you need to adjust the angle more or increase the water volume. However, you don't want a steep angle and the motor just blazing away! The water should be even across the box. If not, you will not recover well. Something must be wrong, maybe it's not mounted correctly? Do you have pictures of the unit? Once you get the unit running correctly, you might have to pause between shovel fulls. You don't want to over feed the box, you could start to loose color. Would almost have to see the unit. Hope I was able to help a bit though. Rob Allison

Hello JoefortheGold, I'm sure there are some pieces in this area that would be picked up by a PI, but most of the stuff will just scream on any detector. VLF detector without a doubt have their places, but the GP series are getting close when it comes to "solid" small gold. For some reason the PI's love the "solid" stuff, but when it comes to porous small gold, the PI can miss a lot. I've seen several porous pieces over a DWT in size that the PI's won't even hear with a small Mono coil. Back to this area, the biggest piece, almost 10 ounces was found in a small wash almost two feet down. The smaller stuff from 2-3 ounces down was found on the hills and benches ... GO Figure! The theory of all the big gold is on the hills is not always true. Hoping to someday get back to this location and spend some more time. I'm sure there are more pieces to be found. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Just-John, Those are hard lessons learned. Trust me, when the Super Magnets first came out on the market for prospectors I must have wiped out a dozen credit and debit cards. I finally just stop carry my wallet with me. Nothing sucks more than not having an cash on hand and you're credit card is wiped out! Take care, Rob Allison

Hello Flak & Grubstake, Ya, a nice truck load of this stuff would be nice! I know there is more and had plans to work the area this year. However, it always seems like I get side-tracked and never make it out to the location. The stuff is just shot full of gold, from one end to the other. I have several other small pieces like like the big ones. I also think there might be some pieces that a PI might not hear. Some might just have a few "blibs" of gold on them. Take care, Rob Allison

Hello All, I never cared much for hunting around old prospects, mines or dumps. It always seems like they are loaded with trash or at least the surrounding area. However, I know in the right locations it can be very rewarding to the electronic prospector. Many years ago I found a small, overlooked dry placer location. The area had several small prospects throughout the rolling hills. After many days of prospecting I found several washes that contained smaller gold nuggets and quartz/gold specimens. I realized by the nature of some of the gold that there just might be something lying above the dry washes. I started gridding below the small prospects and above where I found some of the placer gold. Using a systematic method I was able to locate several pounds of high-grade ore on the hills. This was one of the first times in my nuggethunting career that I was able to find something worthwhile out of the wash and much bigger in size. Just goes to show, some of good locations just might have some goodies on the hillsides or benches. Pictured below are a few shots of the ore I found. This area holds extremely high potential for rich hardrock and float. Happy Nugget Hunting, Rob Allison

Hello 29Prospector, Damn, your just moving right along on that hole. Any chance you can explain the procedures of when you process the material? I would assume you dig the material down (overburden) and muck it out of the way, or do you drywash the overburden also? When you get down into the paying layers, I would assume you're using a drywasher. Are you using a detector to scan the floor and walls when you're done digging? Do you also scan over your coarse tailing pile(s)? I have a good understand of what you're doing as I used to drywash, vac and dredge for years. However, some of newer people might not understand the process behind it all. Seen on another forum where you mentioned you might start a few more holes. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Jonathan, Thanks for the detailed explanation. I have heard of the "Swollen" coils before in the past, but never personally seen one. I'm so hard on searhcoils I wear then out way before one could get swollen. I could see how a swollen searchcoil could do all the things you mentioned in the previous post. I cracked a searchcoil once and then moisture entered the searchcoil .... well you know the rest. I would assume the weather is nice over there now. Getting up into the 90's here. Going to be another hot Summer .... Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Shep, Glad Doc was able to help out with a possible solution. You probably just wore the coil out finding so much gold! The Coiltek Searhcoils are highly reliable. I have heard about the "Swollen" Searhcoils, but haven't personally seen one. Hopefully that solution will work. Shep, all the Coiltek Waterproof coils are epoxied solid like the UFO, Mini UFO and the Platypus. I would love a bigger DD Pro that is waterproof. There has been some talk about some new line of Coiltek coils, but I know just as much as you about them right now. Maybe Doc or Trev @ Coiltek could give us some more information? Congrats on the new nuggets from the patch. Rob Allison

Hello Shep, What has me thinking it might not be so much the coil if the fact the coil works for part of the day. If the coil was bad, it shouldn't be so much intermittent. It would act funny from the start to the end. I'm not an electrical guru, so maybe Doc and others can give some better information. I haven't had a problem with my Wallaby or anyone else that I hunt with that owns one. The Wallaby DD Pro draws more power than most coils. What battery system are you using? Hope we can get this issue resolved soon. Rob Allison

Hello Reg, I just tried it with my GP3500 and the both coins turned to gold. Just kidding, I wil give it a whirl tomorrow and see what happens if no ones beats me to it. I just wanted to let you guys know this is a very interesting thread you guys have going. Great to have Reg and Pat both contributing great information. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Steve, Thanks for all the info. I pretty much told everyone in my group to mention you're with the "Moore Creek Mining" group. Everyone in my group is very excited about the upcoming first week at Moore Creek. We are going to hold a small meeting probably at a Restaurant before the trip to make sure everyone from Arizona has everything they need. We can also compare notes with each other to make sure we have all the bases covered. I will be cutting you a check by the end of the week. Just waiting on one more payment and will have the entire payment ready to send. Speaking about Moore Creek, what can we expect as far as bugs/mosquito's in early June? How about ground visibility? Will there be less vegetation (leaves, grass, shrubs ... )? Talk with you soon, Rob Allison

Hello Nick, Thanks for joining the forums and posting. The depth questions always seem to come up when people start to compare DD to Mono. There is no doubt the Mono will get a bit more depth, but I think you're on the right track when you say 1-2 inches. I wouldn't think even under the best conditions you would get more than 3-4 inches, if that. If you're looking for something really light and will get a bit more depth over the 18-inch DD, you might consider the Coiltek UFO. This coil is a 24x12 inch elliptical Mono that is extremely lightweight due to the "spider-web" design. It's also completely waterproof, also dubbed one of the "All Terrain Searchcoils." You would get more coverage per swing due to the length (24-inches) and at least 1/3 the weight of the Minelab Commander 18-inch round. There are coils even larger if you're looking for maximum depth penetration. The major disadvantage is the fact you can't use discrimination with a mono coil. As for the tone questions, you will get just the normal tone you mentioned until you get close enough to discriminate the target out. None of the Minelab's will discriminate at true detection depth, but I'm sure you know that. You may get a faint whisper type signal, but you probably won't get an accurate discrimination until you're fairly close to the target. I'm sure I didn't answer everything; so feel free to post back. Talk with you soon, Rob Allison