nuggethunting

Hey Glenn, Looking forward to getting together with you. I've been pushing it lately, even in the Summer heat. Can't find anyone willing to brave the heat, hiking and the possibility to find a nugget or two. Ya, any spots you think you hammered pretty well, it would be interesting to try the SDC 2300 there. It's for sure a cleanup detector, but I'm using it as my primary detector for hiking and exploring new zones as it's light, compact, crazy sensitive to small gold and even more immune to some hotrocks and volcanics than the GPX 5000 (weird).

Hello All, Thought I would toss these items on here first, then Ebay if they don't sell. I have 3 items for sale below - (1) HP Deskjet 6540 (used, but it good condition). Missing power cord and install software (both can be purchased cheap on Ebay). (1) HP Scanjet G3010 Scanner (used, but in good condition). Have power cord, missing install software (1) Lexmark 3 in 1 Print, Scanner and Copier. Missing install software. Make me an offer on any one or a bundle set for all three. They are work fine. Contact me at 623.362.1459 or cell phone at 602.909.9008. Keep in mind, shipping is expensive on these items due to the size and weight. Probably a good $20-25 per item.

Hey Jen, Great video with JP. I fixed the title also. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Roo, No huge hit, but it was a bit over 2 Dwt's total. So far to date I'm over an ounce with the SDC 2300 in like 4 trips. Going to take another couple of ounces to say it's paid for in full, but it will be done in the next few months just weekend hunting. Not bad when you can pay for an investment in a short amount of time chasing gold.

Hello All, Went out today with some partners working some old ground that has been pounded. I didn't expect to find much, even with the SDC 2300, but at the end of the day I had 8 more nuggets to boot from the new SDC 2300. The unit is amazing on small gold, gets great depth for only having the 8-inch round mono searchcoil and is more immune to some ironstones/volcanics than my GPX 5000. This detector is going to be my primary prospecting detector. I can hike in long distances and I don't have to worry about missing any small nuggets exploring new spots. Here are some pictures from today's hunt.

Hello All, I know some wanted some clarification on the Minelab 15% Military Discount. Yes, it's good for any Minelab Metal Detector, but you must read the information below to qualify - Minelab offers a 15% discount that is shared between the dealer and Minelab. How it works: Dealer Sells a Minelab Detector to a Military Vet or Active Duty for 15% off MAP priceDealer MUST verify the Military ID… all Military whether a Vet or Active Duty will have an IDDealer Submits the receipt showing discount to Minelab for a credit approval

Hey Buckeye Boy, Congrats on the new nuggets. That slug in the upper right looks like it has some weight. What did that one weigh?

Hey Roo, Jen and others, Jen - The NF 8x6 Sadie is a great coil. However, it lacks some depth vs. the Commander 11-inch Round Mono. For small gold chasing, can't beat the small elliptical coils. The 11-inch is a great all around prospecting coil for me, not just for small gold. Also, post those pictures of OZ. Roo - I have heard the Detech searchcoils are making a move on the market. That is great for them and the end-users. Not sure on price, but heard their prices are a bit lower, making them even more looked after if the performance is the same as other major aftermarket manufactures. I haven't used one, but would be willing to give one a try if I knew where to get a hold of one. Chris - Steve PMed me a few days before leaving. I just figured I might catch him before he left, but I think I posted it a day late. Thanks for the heads up.

Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments. I'm a very visual/spacial person, so I like to take a lot of pictures and attach to any story. That being said, the forums make it difficult as you can only have so many pictures before you have to start removing some from older stories or posts. The SDC 2300 is an amazing detector. Its no question my primary metal detector for hiking and exploring. It's so easy to pack in, easy to use and extremely sensitive to the smallest gold allowing me to have confidence that I'm not missing anything. As for the heat, yes you really have to watch yourself. I'm native to Arizona and spent my entire lifetime in the desert. My body and mind is acclimated to this condition, but others have came down from other spots thinking they could do the same and their bodies didn't adjust. I've had a few close calls when I was younger, thinking I could push in further and further with less water and got into a jam. I make sure on long hikes I always have my 100oz Camelpack full, a few extra water or Gatorade bottles along with some power snacks. Even then, you can only go so far, as you will eventually run out of fluids depending on how much activity you're doing. On another note, I have hundreds, if not thousands of great stories I would love to share, so the ICMJ finally convinced me to start writing .... I've never been a great writer, always a much better presenter. I'm hoping I can get some good articles on some past adventures written in the future for the ICMJ. Sally & Scott are great people and said they will help however they can. I highly recommend anyone to subscribe to the International California Mining Journal if you're not already. Talk with you all later,

Hey Chuck, I have an email out to my Minelab Rep to find out again all the details on the Military Discount. I will find out what is actually needed in the form of proof of Military service, as it seems like some say you don't get any ID when you're discharged and others say you do.

Hello All, Yesterday a partner and I had a plan to quad in many miles and then hike to some old gulches that produced some nice gold many years back. Not sure what the weather was going to be like, we decided to start out the quad ride early in the AM and get to the hiking spot right when it turned light. We suited up our detectors (Minelab SDC 2300 & Minelab GPX 5000), backpacks and plenty of fluids/foods for the long hike. It took us a good hour or so to get to the first gulch that was placered probably in the early turn of the century. We both had high hopes the Summer Monsoons ripped and tore the gulch down to bedrock, but that wasn't the case. For some odd reason, the drainages in this area didn't get as much rain action, so this meant we would really have to hunt hard. There were a few new bedrock spots here and there, but for the most part we couldn't seem to pull any easy gold nuggets from the newly exposed zones. Communicating back and forth throughout the early hunt, I finally was able to find one of my smallest nuggets of the day within about an hour. This first little nugget was tucked under a small bush overhanding the gulch. It was a nice, strong signal for the Minelab SDC 2300. The nugget was probably a few grains in size and was down about an inch in the bedrock crack. For some reason the EMI was really bad in this area, making it difficult to really hear faint targets. We both talked about the EMI and what the other was doing to battle it. The "Interference Tune" feature on both detectors didn't seem to eliminate much of the EMI, so we just had to listen carefully and re-investigate any signal that was unclear. Within about another hour I had a good handful or rubbish and lead bullets along with two more small nuggets in the range of a few grains. By this time it was getting really warm down in the gulches, so I called my partner to discuss what we could do next. He wasn't having any luck, so I told him about a small patch on this hillside we found that wasn't too far away. As stupid as it sounded, we both really wanted to find some more gold, so we braved the heat and hiked another 1/2 mile further to an old nugget patch on the ridge. After walking around the ridge for about 15 minutes I was able to locate where some nuggets were found before. Since my partner didn't have any gold yet, I figured I would let him loose on the patch in hopes he could snag an easy one quickly, while I dropped into a small gully below. I wasn't more than about 100 yards when my partner mentioned he snagged a small 4-5 grain nugget right on the exposed bedrock. We decided to stick this area out for a bit, while I worked down the small gully and my partner continued on the patch. After about an hour, the temps seemed like 150 degrees in the gully, but I continued to work in hopes of a nugget somewhere left behind. As I got down towards the bottom of the gully, I noticed my partner under a tree resting. He said the heat was getting too him, which I had to agree. Pretty much right below him I got a small, faint signal in the bedrock. It was so damn hot by this time, I didn't even want to mess with it, but rather crawl under that tree and rest for a bit. My partner ended up helping me did the bedrock up and low and behold it was a small, one grain nugget. Man, this damn SDC 2300 is amazing on small gold!! We decided to take a short break in the shade and talk about what was the plan. By this time we both were running low on water, but we still had a good mile or so hike back to the quads. As much as we both wanted to hunt more, we thought the smart thing would be to haul butt back to the quads, replenish our fluids and talk about leaving or hunting more. About any hour later we both arrived back at the quads (Thank God) and were able to eat a bit and drink some very cold drinks we both had in our small coolers. Our bodies were telling us to get the hell out of here, but our minds were saying stay and hunt. We both still wanted to finds a few more pieces of gold and had higher hopes the last spots were going to produce more. There was one spot on the way back out where an old river channel crossed over some hillsides and there was a small ravine where I found some nice, water worn slugs many years ago. The last time I was in this ravine was at least 5 years ago, but only found a small dink or so at that time. I wasn't sure of the potential, but it was one last shot at the both of us scoring possibly another nugget. On arrive at the last location, I noticed the water done more action in this area then the prior spots, so this could be good if it moved material in the right locations. I ended up working the top part of the ravine, while my partner worked the bottom end. I found a few spots that seems to have some material moved around, so I concentrated on those spots. Not long into the hunt I scored a nice 1/2 Dwt piece, then a few feet away another piece. I called my partner and told him I was onto a few pieces, he mentioned he just picked up a small one. Within about 10 foot of the prior two nuggets I got a very, faint signal on the SDC 2300. I moved a few inches away and the signal got much stronger. Digging down another 4-5 inches I finally seen some bedrock popping up, so figured if the signal was still there it was a good sign. I re-scanned the hole and signal was still there. By this time the signal was very strong, but I didn't want to get my hopes up as I have dug hundreds of lead slugs from spots just like this. I started to use my fingers to sweep the dirt off the bedrock and seen a nice, smear of gold in a crack (pictured below). I then knew it was GOLD, but not sure how big. I knew from the depth and signal strength it was going to be at least a few Dwt's. I finally was able to pluck the nugget from the crack and guessed it was going to be a good 2-3 Dwt's in weight. Not a bad score for the SDC 2300 at 8-10 inches. We both ended up working this ravine almost until dark, but was unable to score anymore nuggets. It ended up being a full day hunt, sunup to sundown with a few nuggets to boot. I ended up with 6 nuggets totaling nearly a 1/4 ounce, my partner had 2 smaller nuggets for about 3/4's of a Dwt. P.S. I'm by far no author, but hope you enjoyed the short story.

Hey Steve H., I seen on another forum you posed a question about what small coil was best, NF 8x6, Minelab Commander 8-inch Round or the Coiltek Joey 10x5 Elliptical Mono. This question lead me to what I'm doing now, using Minelab Commander coils. Ya, I know it sounds silly, but several years ago a good friend told me he was having great success with Minelab coils, but mentioned the larger ones were heavy. He said he thought there was something to using Minelab coils on Minelab detectors. For years I have always been a huge aftermarket searchcoil fan and had a lot of success with them. Some of my favorite all time coils were/are the Coiltek 14-inch solid Mono Round, Coiltek 17-inch Elliptical Mono and DD Pro (Alaska favorites) and the newest Coiltek 14x9 Blitz. That being said, I was also a big fan of the NF 14x9 Solid, which is one of their newer coils and some of their larger, lightweight round Mono's. Last year during field instructions with some customers, I bundled a bunch of 15x12 inch Elliptical Commander coils with the GPX 5000's. During some of the instructions I was running the customers GPX with the 15x12 using the Slimline external speaker and noticed the detector was very stable, much more than mine with the Coiltek 14x9 Blitz. Now in all fairness, Coiltek claims to optimize the Blitz with the GPX series, which could lead to a bit more noise and extra sensitivity. After last years instructions with hundreds of customers, I seemed to observe the Minelab coils being much more stable. This lead me back to the conversation with the good friend about Commander coils. I've always liked to experiment and change coils and manufactures from time to time, so I figured I would give Minelab Commander coils another run. Within the last couple of months I have dropped the Coiltek 14x9 Blitz and moved back to the standard, stock Commander 11-inch Round Mono and love it! I'm not sure what it is, but it's so smooth and Im finding stuff very small and getting good depth. The last 3 trips out, I have outscored my partner using the GPX 5000 & Blitz 12 to 1 on nuggets. I know it's hard to say I really beat him, but we have been working the same ground and he has mentioned several times his detector and coil were very unstable while my machine was just purring along! Just thought I would share my findings. I'm not saying I'm not going to use any aftermarket searchcoil (Nugget Finder, Coiltek or other brands), but right now I'm very pleased with the results on the ground I'm working.

Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments. Yes, that is the stock Commander 11-inch Mono Searchcoil, which is very deadly on the GPX 5000. Placer Chaser - Skunked? What is that .... LOL I will never get skunked going back to old patches, but will get skunked prospecting for new patches and locations.

Hey Chris, Some very great suggestions and I agree with you. A cover would be nice to protect the bottom and feet would help with it not rolling around on the ground when you're pinpointing. The arm rest sides always fold down and the armrest strap always catches my arm and I have to pull or jerk it out. Someone I was hoping for was a few more inches of length. I'm 6 to 6 foot 1 and sometimes it feels like I'm bending over detecting. A few more inches would really help the taller 6 foot + user out a bit in my opinion. The audio of the Koss headphones always seems light. I prefer my Black Widows and would love to use them on the SDC 2300. Hopefully Minelab will be able to read some of these suggestions for the next model.

Hey Guys, The Military discount is still in play for all metal detectors. I believe it was 10 or 15% .... my mind is blank right now .... It's expensive to own and operate both a high end PI like the GPX 5000 and the SDC 2300. For the most part, there will only be a very small percentage of end users owning both. I love the SDC 2300 for small gold and prospecting new regions, but the GPX 5000 is my choice for all around detecting. There is no questions the GPX 5000 gets more depth, but the SDC 2300 has some nice features such as waterproof to 10 foot, you can break it down, really sensitive to the smallest gold and it's ignores some hot rocks the GPX 5000 still picks up!!

Hey Chuck, Thanks for the comments. The SDC is now becoming a very sought after metal detector. Sales were a bit slow out of the gate, but they are really taking off once guys have shown handfuls of nuggets with them. I'm finding smaller gold that the GPX and other detectors have missed. I even recently went back to a very shallow patch that was really mineralized, soil and bedrock that I worked before with the GB2. I found 3 small nuggets right on bedrock the GB2 missed due to the mineralized bedrock making noise.

Hello All, Minelab used a few of my Youtube clips in their new Minelab SDC 2300 Metal Detector video. Thanks Minelab. Minelab - We Change People's Fortunes! For more information on the new Minelab SDC 2300 metal detector, contact us and we will gladly help you out.

Hello All, Minelab used a few of my Youtube clips in their new Minelab SDC 2300 Metal Detector video. Thanks Minelab. Minelab - We Change People's Fortunes! For more information on the new Minelab SDC 2300 metal detector, contact us and we will gladly help you out.

Minelab GPX 5000 scores some specimens!! This last weekend I managed to escape into the goldfields and give the GPX another workout. After a few hours of metal detecting, I was able to score 3 decent Dwt+ pieces in a small ravine. You can view the pictures below, including the one specimen (gold and Quartz) piece hiding in the bedrock. The second part of the day I played around with the Minelab SDC 2300 and scored 4 small ones. Ended the day with 7 nuggets for a total weight of around 1/4 ounce. P.S. Notice the amount of lead and casings I dug during the day

Amazing Sensitivity of the Minelab SDC 2300 Metal Detector!! Hello All, this weekend a partner and I went back to some spots that we hammered in the past. Someone a few years ago placered this gulch. They hand-stacked, drywashed and metal detected this gulch to death, but the SDC 2300 was still able to snag 4 small nuggets in a few short hours. The first nugget was under a grain in size, weighing 0.9 grains (480 grains to a troy ounce). The second nugget was 2 grains and the other two were 3.5 grains each. Yes, I understand it takes a lot of small nuggets to pay for a $3800 metal detector, but when you're prospecting you don't have to worry about missing the very small ones and still maintain the mineral immunity to mineralized ground, ironstones and volcanics. The little ones do add up and I have found places in the past where I have picked up 400-500 small nuggets over a period of time working it. Excited to get back out and give it a try on some other pounded patches.

Hey Chris & Steve, Congrats on the SDC 2300 finds. I managed to hunt yesterday all day searching some worked out spots and found 3 nuggets with the GPX at depth, 4 small ones (smallest being 0.9 grains) with the SDC 2300. The little nuggets do add up, especially when you're getting the numbers like you guys are getting up there. Just a short time you will have those units paid for in small gold.

Hey Jesse and Guys, Looks at the 4 small ones I found with the SDC 2300 yesterday on the right side. The smallest was 0.9 grains, the largest two were 3.5 grains. All were down about 1-2 inches in the bedrock. The three larger pieces (1-2 Dwt's) were found with the GPX 5000 at depth.

Hey Relichunter, That is an amazing piece of gold!! Congrats and Thanks for sharing with us.

Hey Jesse, Thanks for the business and congrats on the first SDC 2300 finds. I went out today and scored 7 nuggets, 3 with the GPX and 4 with the SDC. I will post picture later. The smallest SDC nugget was 0.9 grains, then 2 grains and two 3.5 grainers.

Hello All, Over the years I've had customer ask if I'm willing to trade quality gold nuggets (clean nugget gold) for gold prospecting equipment, searchcoils and metal detectors. For the longest time I have stayed away from that market, as it's work for me to resale the gold trying to make a few bucks. Talking with a customer on the phone today, he said he was waiting to get his funds from the refinery and then he is going to purchase a new SDC 2300. I asked him how much he was getting per ounce and he said 80% on gold that is .900 fine or better. If anyone is looking for a prospecting item, I would consider trading items/searchcoils or even maybe a detector if the gold was good quality. I'm willing to give you 80% of current spot value for the gold nuggets towards any purchase. This at least allows a customer to get the product(s) in their hands without having to hassle with selling gold. I would prefer to see the gold nuggets first hand before the trade. I want to inspect for quality and purity (Yes I have access to a XFR Allow Tester). Just something to consider.