1.6 ounces of SDC 2300 gold from Alaska and California


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Well, I am just back from Alaska, and here are 50 grams of SDC 2300 gold I have dug from California and Alaska. The fact is that if you keep hunting small stuff and you will probably find some big stuff too. Finding a little gold regularly can help keep you focused and listening closely. The weight of the little ones does add up.
(and yes, it bangs hard on those big nuggets)
The bigger nuggets and those to the left of them are from Alaska, and the ones to the right of the big nuggets are from California.

The largest I have found with the SDC 2300 is 0.75 ounces, but it was only about 2 inches deep and could have been found with any metal detector. The nugget was in a hole dug previously and made a very loud down-up signal (as you might expect). The previous digger walked away from it as trash. I decided to get it out of the hole as big loud trash can overwhelm smaller more subtle signals from nearby gold. I was pretty shocked when I took two swipes at the bottom of the old dig hole and out popped this big flash of gold!

The other large piece is a specie which is one of those where you can debate if its a nugget or a specimen. It has lots of quartz, but there is more gold than quartz by volume. It weighs 8 dwt and was a good, easy to hear hi-lo signal. It was down a good 10 inches from the surface, which is good depth on something like that.

The third largest piece weighs just under a pennyweight and was a sharp lo-hi signal at 4 inches deep. (interesting that a less than pennyweight solid nugget was a lo-hi, and a much larger specie was a hi-lo tone.)

What is surprising is the very notable, hard to miss signals the SDC gives on stuff that weighs less than a half gram buried down several inches.

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Hey Chris,

Thanks for posting and sharing your experiences with the new SDC 2300 here. I'm real impressed with my SDC, but have only managed to find small nuggets, largest being about 3 Dwt's at 7-8 inches. Most of the nuggets are under 1/4 of gram in size. I'm really excited to use the SDC as my primary prospecting detector in remote country.

How did Steve and the others do up there?

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Holy smokes Chris!
And to think someone walked away from that blob of gold.

WTG.

Thanks for posting the gold and good luck to ya.

Tom H.

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Hi Rob -

Steve has a little more than an ounce. He has opted to dig deep signals hoping for a large nugget, and his luck has not been the best. Last year in this same area it was like he could do no wrong - in everything he came up smelling like roses. Last year after a month, he had over a pound. This year his luck is the opposite, and after a month of digging he has an ounce. He has a number of smaller pieces of a few pennyweight, but no larger ones and its these that make up the bulk of the weight. This in spite of working very hard and digging lots of targets - but nearly everything turns out to be trash. The tailing piles are so random. His brother Tom has one larger nugget around a half ounce for a total of a little more than an ounce. I was spending more time on bedrock benches, getting some gold, but my chances for a big one were less - still I got my second largest piece on a bedrock bench. He and Tom are still up there for at least a few more days.

Here I am just after digging that 3/4 ouncer. The existing hole that it came from is where the coil is sitting.

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It ain't over until the fat moose sings! I got three nugget today, 2.1 dwt, 1.9 dwt, and 0.9 dwt, for just shy of a 1/4 ounce. Tom unfortunately came up dry. Two more days for him, but after I take him to town I intend to continue if the weather allows. Ongoing saga at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/244-steves-2014-alaska-gold-adventure/

I have only been posting there because as Chris can attest internet sucks here. It can take a day or more to get a post to take.

The SDC is a great little detector. After watching Chris for two weeks I may as well sell my GPX and stick with the SDC!

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Hey Chris, Steve and All,

I still remember sitting at Starbucks here in Surprise, Arizona talking with Steve and Dennis about making the trip to Jack Wade. At times I sure wish I was single and free where I could break away for long prospecting trips. I sure miss those times, but then again I would never give up the times I have shared with my family and young Daughter. Searching for gold has been a big part of my life growing up, but at some point I have to remember I have other priorities that are more important now.

Chris - One year Glenn and I were at Moore Creek and we hiked many miles down creek where Glenn was having great success. On one of the piles Glenn called me over and said he just found a 3 ounce gold/quartz specimen right on top of a big pile. Someone the day prior (we guessed) dug a huge hole, down about 2 foot in depth and then abandoned the target once it was out of the hole. We mentioned it back at camp, but no one really wanted to admit to it, but who would ....

Steve - Thanks for your ongoing report. I will check out the link from time to time to see any updates. When you get back home, copy/paste a final report over here if you would. Wishing you much more success with the Minelab SDC 2300. It's a great metal detector, but I have to find some more batteries (still researching).

Talk with you all later,

Rob Allison

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Rob -

Check on Amazon - they sell Tenergy C cell rechargeable batteries about as cheap as you are going to get them. I bought 8 batteries, (2 sets of 4), and with the ML set that comes with the SDC, the 3 rechareable sets will give about 24 hours operation - plenty enough for any long weekend without recharging.

I don't know how many years you and Glen were at Moore Creek together, but one of the years Glen did so well, I was with you guys. I hurt my foot so was limited in how much hiking I could do. I will also say that though I was very limited in the prospecting I could do when my kids were little, I am so glad to have them with me now. My kids and my wife are great, and Rob - there will come a time when you will be more free to make arrangements to get out to unusual places, it just wont be anytime real soon......

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I got a chance to hunt with Steve at Ganes and he talked about Moore Creek and his run and gun approach to finding gold on tailings piles, so I simply imitated the master,lol, Moore Creek Is just one of those places well suited to gp detectors and hot coils, mono works great there and the trash is very reasonable, as I recall Rob, you did quite well there, remember the bear?

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