The Pyramid Nugget

[matt]

The Pyramid Nugget

The whole week had been rainy and the ground was extremely saturated. The seasonal creeks that flow through this area were running hard and that would limit my hunt the benches above the creeks where they once flowed a long time ago. I previously had some luck finding nuggets in the area.

This area is an old mining camp that the old timers had ground sluiced back during the California gold rush. I know that the prospecting in this area dates back a long time because on occasion I dig up old Chinese coins. I don’t know how old the coins are because I can’t read Chinese. Square nails are in abundance and almost every prospecting trip I take to this spot produces at least one musket ball. Prospectors have hammered the ground sluice areas with metal detectors over the years. Nuggets are not jumping out of the ground, but with a little determination, patience, perseverance, and confidence it is possible to go home with a dink or even a nugget. Swinging slow, low, and really paying attention are the keys to success.

For a few weeks prior to my afternoon outing, I was reading on Nuggethunting.com Forum that Rob had been having really good success with the Coiltek Wallaby DD coil. Back then, I was swinging a Minelab GP3000 and stuck pretty much to the DD coils, mainly the stock Minelab 11†round DD coil or the Joey DD. I decided it was time to break out the money and buy a Wallaby DD coil. I know the big gold is down deeper and if I wanted the big gold, I needed the right tool for the job. In fact, I found a nice two-pennyweight nugget with the Wallaby the first time out with it in a hammered patch. That nugget was around a foot deep and made the purchase of the coil worthwhile to me the first trip out.

I would only have a couple hours to hunt and it would be my second time out using my new Wallaby coil. By the time I arrived at the patch it was almost 2:00PM. Since it was the middle of winter, the days were short and the sun goes down fast. I was detecting some ground in an area I had pulled some nuggets from in the past and was not having any success, not even digging any trash targets. After hunting at most a couple of hours, there was nothing in my poke. I hoped my detector would pick up a target at depth using the new larger size coil, but I struck out.

I headed back to my truck to take off my detecting gear. I sat on the tailgate of my truck and cracked an ice-cold beer. Looking around I thought to myself “why the hell am I sitting here drinking a beer, wasting my time. I could be swinging the detector till dark.†Visually scanning the area where I was parked, I could see quartz all over the place lying on top of the mineralized soil. Piles of hand-stacked quartz cobbles were scattered here and there. Why not give this immediate spot a try? Why had I not detected here before? I put my detecting gear back on and started to detect the area right where I was parked. It was a small area that would not take long to detect. I was determined not to leave empty handed. Trash was not in abundance in this location the way it usually is at old mining locations. Had the trash been removed by prospectors prior to me using detectors?

I made my way up a small trough that was so narrow I could barely swing this big coil side to side. The sweet spot on DD coils is in the center of the coil and I wondered how much ground coverage I was getting with such short side-to-side swings. The trough looked like the old-timers had worked this ground hard, right down into a massive bedrock crevice. Schist type bedrock was exposed on both sides of the excavation for it’s entire 20’ length. Stacked quartz cobbles lined the ground above both sides above the trough. It appeared as though loose material had sloughed in over the years. It was hard to tell how deep the bedrock was in the gut. Detecting up the trough, not even five feet up it, I heard a faint warble in the threshold. Unsure if it was a target or ground noise, I scratched the grass off the ground with the broad side of my pick and created roughly an 18†circle of bare soil. I like to use a pick with a broader size backside for scraping the soil surface and scooping the material out a deep hole. I re-checked the bald spot with my coil and the target was still there, still just barely audible.

I started to give that ground hell. My pick ripped through the quartz cobble laced clayey soil to a depth of about a foot. This clay-type mud is difficult to dig in because it sticks to the pick and everything it touches. The mud is so sticky that it has to be banged off the pick head after each swing and scoop. Placing a cobble next to the hole to bang against helps to rid the sticky mud from the pick. I stuck the Wallaby down in the excavation and got a really nice sounding target. The target was quite a bit louder now that I was closer to it. Back to digging I went, but digging got more difficult the deeper the target got. Water was seeping through the walls of the hole and the hole was rapidly filling up. I had to enlarge the diameter of the hole because it was hard to get the big coil down to the bottom as close to the target as I could get it. It was hard to justify submerging a new coil under water, but I had no choice. There could be a nugget at the bottom of the hole. At around 18†deep, I scooped out as much of the muddy, gooey water as I could and stuck my coil down in the hole only to get the dreaded blanking sound. The blanking sound is the target response that a Minelab GP series detector gives when the target is likely to be iron. I was devastated to say the least. I scraped and picked around the hole a little more, checked the target again, and got the same results. More blanking.

I went back to my truck and sat down to finish my beer. Again, I sat drinking that beer and I started thinking about going back over to fill in the hole. What a drag. I was covered in mud and the fog was starting to roll in. Something in the back of my mind was telling me to get that target out of the hole. You never know what the target is until it is actually in your hand. I did not want to go home wondering why I did not dig up this target. I changed coils to the Coiltek Joey DD and went back to the hole. The Joey coil would fit perfect without enlarging the diameter of the hole any more.

When I looked in the hole, it was almost filled entirely with water. After getting as much of the water out that I possibly could, I checked the target with the Joey. To my surprise, there was no blanking. The target just screamed on that Joey coil! The kind of scream that sounds good. The hole was deep. I could not even get my pick down in the bottom of the hole to dig any more. I took out a plastic treasure scoop and went to work. I was reaching deep down into that hole. It felt like I was almost up to my shoulder, scraping the bottom of the hole to loosen up the material and scooping out as much material as I could. Each scoop was half water and half of the clay type mud with a little quartz cobble in it. As I was lifting out a scoop of material, water was draining off the top of the scoop as it rose from the depths and I started to see GOLD!

I grabbed the big gold nugget and ran down to the creek to wash it off. It was covered with that sticky clay. At first I thought the gold nugget was solid because all I could see was gold and it was heavy, but as the water cleaned off the clay I began to see white quartz rock. The gold nugget specimen is the shape of a triangle or more like a golden pyramid. The gold showing is the brightest that I have ever seen come straight out of the ground. The total weight is 42.4 pennyweight or a little over 2 ounces. By specific gravity test, the gold nugget specimen has roughly 1.5+ ounces of gold locked inside the rock.

Since that day, I have never left a target in the ground that I start digging on. I have returned to every suspect target I didn’t finish digging in the past hoping for the same results. None have turned out to be gold nuggets, but I learned the biggest lesson in detecting for gold that day. Dig every target. If you don’t you will be leaving gold in the ground. I re-checked the hole in hopes there may be more nuggets. There was no target response in the hole or the pile of mud. I happily filled in the hole and went home with a big grin on my grill. That was a day that I will never forget.

[gus in idaho]

Very nice Matt... Your story could/should be in a magazine.

Gus-

[wes]

Great story Matt! That's a real pretty rock too!

[matt]

Gus,

Thanks for reading my story and taking the time to comment. I would love to have my story published, but I would be even more happy with winning a Coiltek Goldstalker coil! I remember when you had a story in the Mining Journal. I really enjoyed reading it. Pretty cool. Maybe one day something I write will be published. I would have to buy a whole stack of the magazine to give to all my friends!

Wes,

Thanks to you also for taking the time to read my story and comment. I think I already told you the story in person. I hope that we can get out soon and get some nuggets. I have always wanted to write about finding gold and this contest gave me the motivation.

Cheers,

matt

[hurthawk]

Beautiful gold and a great story to go with it. The "dig every target" moral is oh so true (I have a huge collection of hot rocks to prove it).

Wtg and happy hunting,

Rick

[lon]

Thanks Matt

That was a very good story with a lot of info that will help me and others newbies now you just need to keep Them coming as i t was a pleasure to read thx LON

[matt]

Rick,

Thanks for reading my story and thanks for the comments! Every nugget that I have dug has been fun. That next hot rock could be a nugget.

Lon,

I enjoyed reading your short story as well. All it takes is that one nugget to get the fever boiling! Next thing you know you will have a nice collection. Knowledge is gained with every nugget that you dig. In no time you will notice things you did not before. It is funny, I have a calendar in front of me that has the Subaru Rally car during a race in Washington state for this month and all I see is the red dirt flying out from under the tires and wonder if there is gold there! Thanks for the comments on my story, I really appreciate them.

Take care.

Cheers,

matt

[fredm]

Matt, that is a beauty...I almost walked away from a 3/4 oz nugget in Australia because the signal was so loud and I knew it was shallow...the usual junk signal many people claim they can tell from a shallow gold signal...anyway, I decided to dig under the bush to at least see what kind of can it was...imagine my delight when the biggest nugget of my trip came rolling out...I thought I had my one oz-er but it didn't make the scale...after that I decided to dig everything there and here in the States. If you don't see it and touch you don't know what you left behind.

all of these were found with a colitek and 2200-d back in 2000 too bad I don't have coil pictures to go with them....the one between the coins is the nugget i just mentioned.

Fred

[El Dorado]

Matt,

Great story, nice find to boot! I can just imagine you covered in that super sticky red mud!

[matt]

Fred,

Those are some nice looking nuggets. You are fortunate to have been able to go prospecting in the land down under. It is always a suprise to see gold when you think it is going to be a trash target. I really like when it happens though. It seems like just when you think you have a nugget and are down in the bedrock digging a sweet sounding target, out pops a bullet or musket ball and when you think you are digging another bullet or musket ball out pops a nugget. Sometimes I try to use reverse psychology on the target! I have really done well with that Wallaby coil. Thanks for reading my story.

Steve,

Yep. That clay mud sticks to everything. Thanks for reading my story. I am looking forward to hearing your many stories about your adventures in Brazil. That will be a trip of a lifetime. Please take a lot of pictures when you are there. I hope you can give some updates on the forums while you are down there. I'll see you soon. My wife has a new pendant in mind using one of those slabs from that other specimen you cut for me. That one was also found with my Wallaby coil.

Take care.

Cheers,

matt

[Hammer]

Matt: great nugget and well written story. Contact Chris Ralph on the Nuggetshooter.com forum and I feel he will want to publish your story in the ICMJ's Prospecting and MINING JOURNAL ( he is the Associate Editor) he goes under the nugget shooter forum name of Reno Chris--he is a real great guy. I believe he is on an Alaska trip for a few days but send him a PM--look forward to re-reading your story in the Magazine.

[matt]

Hammer,

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for reading my story. I have never written this type of thing before. I would be a happy guy to have my story in the Mining Journal. Hopefully Reno Chris will see this thread when he gets back. I am trying to put together a prospecting outing with him and some other forum members up in the Downieville/ Sierra City area for later this month. Hopefully that trip will make a good story. Thanks again. Take care.

Cheers,

matt

[1dredger]

Way to go Matt. That is one nice nugget. Is that the one you had slabed out? If not I'd like to see it someday. I found 2 nuggets a few years back, a 1 dwt. and a 2 dwt they were both sitting in the dirt dug out of the hole, maybe that person thought they sounded like iron too. The chinese coins a strange. I found that the coins have different writting on them based on the current Emperor at the time, and often times different diameters witch can break the date down within a few years. I have found 17th century coins.

[matt]

Dustin,

No way would I ever slab that specimen! I haven't heard anything from/about you for quite some time. Thought maybe you gave up detecting? What have you been up to lately?

matt

[Hawkeye]

Matt

Ya Matt, nice nugget and entertaining story. I wouldn't slab that one up either. I take it that nugget came off the property in folsom you have permission to hunt, looks like gold I've seen from that area. I've been out on my own looking for new areas to hunt lately when not in the garage fixing cars. I've got a weeks worth of that ahead of me this coming week. You would think I would have some money with all this work I'm doing, don't know where it all goes. Anyway, lately I've been doing my own research and keeping my new spots to myself. I'm tired showing people where to go and the in's and outs of detecting just to get screwed over by them and lose access.

Take care, Wes.

Hey Dustin

Where have you been? Haven't heard from you in about a year. You move outa state or something. Not I jail I hope? LOL.

Take care, Wes

[matt]

Wes,

Thanks for the positive comments about my story. Bummer on the access problems. Finding legal places to hunt is sure a challenge. Good luck.

Cheers,

matt

[1dredger]

Only jail I'm going to is one that I'd work at. Kind of been an off year for me with super high gas prices I've been sticking close to home. Got to take the kids to Disneyland for a week, which turned out to be real nice. I've been having a great gold summer went snipping once and got about a half dwt. worth. Few months I can knock the dust off the detector.

[Hawkeye]

Matt

Ya all of the stories are interesting and the gold is all pretty nice. I don't participate in these things to offen, I don't have the writing skills to compete with most. Some can come up with some pretty good stories. I've been doing most of my research lately up in the high country most of the ground up there is forest service and SP land. I've never had any problems with SP as a long as your not cutting up trees they leave you alone. I'm using the computor to find the spots that look promising then load the cordinates to my GPS and go on my search. I think the last straw for me was the end of last year when we were hunting the spenceville area. We were told straight up by a fish and game warden that he didn't care that we were there detecting and he wasn't going to enforce the regulation and to have a nice day. That was until everyone and there brother shows up out there in the next couple of months detecting, then he has no choice now but to start citing people. There was never anything posted at the entrances stating you couldn't dig but I guess if you dig deep enough in their web site you'll find the regulation that says your not suppose to disturb the soil. I found that interesting since they plow under acres upon acres of ground to plant grass or whatever they need to feed the cattle that they allow to graze out there. As far as finding legal areas to hunt, its a concern as it should be, and a challange, but I have yet to detect with anyone in the last 10 to 12 years who hasn't hunted ground they didn't have permission to hunt, knowingly or otherwise. Anyway if you ever find time away from these forums give me a call and we can go and try to find some legal places to hunt.

Take care, Wes

[LuoJiang]

hello,I am a Chinese in mainland China.I am a newbie of this forum.

I am interested in the Chinese coin you found. Can you show me the picture of the coin?

Thanks.

[matt]

LouJiang,

I will get a picture up when I get a chance. I have found 2 of them.

Cheers,

Matt

[LuoJiang]

Hello ,Matt:

Thank for your answer.Actually I am an amateur coin collector .But I have several friends who are experts of Chinese coin.

I guess the coins you got are normal Chinese coins after 1800,if coins are copper.

If they are silver,there is still a small chance they are precious.Ancient China seldom publish gold coins.

Although I am still very interested in what your found. I look forward to your pictures.

Luo jiang

[Bandana Don]

None of the attachments would open so I was unable to see your pictures.

VERY GOOD STORY BUT I WOULD SUGGEST YOU EDIT IT TO CLEAN UP THE PARAGRAPHS AND MAKE IT MORE READABLE. ONCE THE EDITING IS FINISHED I THINK YOU COULD EASILY GET IT PUBLISHED.

Good luck, Don

[Tony Teixeira]

Hi Matt,

GREAT STORY! Good thing you went with your gut feelings. Your story is sure an inspiration to dig all targets,

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Tony Teixeira

[matt]

Bandana Don and Tony,

Thanks for your comments. Maybe you guys were not reading the forums when the contest was going on, but I took second place and won a Goldstalker 16" round mono coil. Thanks Coiltek. I have not logged much time on the 16" coil since I have been kicking ass with the 14" eliptical Goldstalker coil. By far the 14" is the best all around coil I have ever used. I normally don't post my finds, but this is what I got yesterday braving the heat for four hours. Six gold nuggets for 3.9 dwt. Biggest weighs in at 1.5 dwt. The small ones add up. Thanks again for the comments and good luck out there.

Cheers,

Matt

[matt]

LouJiang,

Here is the picture of the Chinese coins that I found. If you could provide any information on them, I am sure everybody would be interested. Let me know what you think. I hope the picutres are close up enough. If not, I will try tomorrow to take pictures outside in the daylight. Take care.

Cheers,

Matt