Mark Humble

GPX 4000

I would say the GPZ is well on it's way to paying for it's self. Very nice gold for sure, looking forward to seeing more of it. Mark

Got out this weekend with Big Ed for a short hunt in a new area, and got some gold. One of the small ones was a sun baker, my first. The big one was the last to be found, it was down about 8 inches and weighs in at 4.7 dwt. Happy Easter. Mark

I would like to know if there is any gold in the mercury too, but my son took it home to show his wife. I don't think there is much if any as it was found in a high spot in the bedrock. Looks like it was spilled from a jar or flask on the ground. I do plan to run the mercury through the retort just in case. Mark

An outting with family and friends is always a good time. Especially when gold is found. I got a chance to try a new spot with my brother, son, and a friend and his 81 year old grandfather, Carl, for some nugget hunting. Carl has been a gold miner and trapper for a long time and has no problem getting around and is damn good with a medal detector. After we arrived, and a quick look around we each headed off in different directions to see what this new spot might have to offer. My first target was a very strong smooth signal, but it seemed kind of spread out, more so than a singal target, but not quite like multiple targets. I wasn't sure what to make of it or exactly where to dig. So I just started digging in the center of where the signal was comming from. Right off I was hitting bed rock and had to start breaking apart the rock. After pulling out some big chunks of rock and dirt I saw what the signal was. Small beads of mercury. Now this is a first for me, I have never found mercury with a metal detector before. I got a pan and scoop and started loading the dirt and mercury into the pan. The more I dug the larger the beads became. So I called the others over to have a look. It soon became clear there was a lot of mercury in there and a scoop just wasn't going to get it all. Thats when my son had an idea, he had with him a sniffer bottle, so he took over the recovery of the mercury and I went on looking for gold. After a while I came back to see how much mercury he had gotten, much to my suprise he had collected almost 3 ozt of the stuff (2.73 ozt). Turned out there were 2 really big pools about 10 inches apart and that was why the spead out signal. And then it was back to looking for gold. I soon found the first gold, a 1dwt chunck only 1 inch down. Carl wasn't having much luck, so my brother handed him a beer and told him this would guarantee that he would find a nugget, he just didn't say when. After Carl finished the beer he turned on the detector and found a nugget not two steps from where he was drinking the beer. Might be something to this. I didn't get a picture of Carl's nugget, but it was about 1 dwt also. Nobody else got any of the metalic gold that day but they sure got gold of another kind. Mark

Trying it again.

Yes Chris, can't get it to upload. It was 7.8 dwt. Ill keep trying. Mark

Got out today with Big Ed for few hours west of Redding. Been too busy to do much hunting so it was good to get out. Only found the one nugget, but should be able to poke around more often now that the weather is cooler and things aren't pressing at work. Found with the GPX 4000 and Blitz coil at about 6 inches. Mark

Got out today with Big Ed for few hours west of Redding. Been too busy to do much hunting so it was good to get out. Only found the one nugget, but should be able to poke around more often now that the weather is cooler and things aren't pressing at work. Found with the GPX 4000 and Blitz coil at about 6 inches. Mark

Had to get out of the fog shrouded and frozen Trinity County. So Big Ed and I headed down to Shasta County for a little time in the sun. The weather near Redding was great Saturday. Was nice just to get out and do some beeping and enjoy the nice weather. We went to an area that has been hunted really hard for years just to see if we could find a crum or two that had been overlooked. Ed took the F75 and I had my GPX4000 with the Blitz coil. The soil had just the right amount of moisture for easy digging and target enhancement. I like to target the small stuff with my settings and let the larger nugs take care of themselves. Started off finding only little bits of iron that had been missed by myself and others. Then I started to get a little warm so I moved to the other side of the gully to get in the shade for awhile. First target I encountered on the side of the hill sounded like a 22 bullet. To my supprise, it turned out to be gold, a nice 1.2 dwt piece. The nice weather and good company made for a great day, finding gold made it even better. Ed wasn't able to get over any gold, but I think he still had a good time. Mark

You could try dumping lots of goatheads on the lawn, not fun to sit on. If you get a chance, post a pic of the area you need a box for, might help us come up with some ideas. Mark

Reality TV is the gold mine. I know someone that works in that end of show biz and everyone in Hollywood is jumping in with both feet. Look for a butt load more showes like that to come. Mark

Hook the outside outlets up to 220 volts, they won't try those outlets again. Mark

We in Cal. need to outlaw the damn politians, not the guns. I'll build the guillotine if someone wants start lining them up. Mark

Hey all, Got out yesterday for a hunt with my son (29 y/o). A while back I gave him my SD 2100 V2 and he has gone out many times with me with no luck. He's been getting all the regular stuff like bullets, boot tacks, and nails. A lot of the blame has been on me as I just haven't taken him to a place that hasn't been hammered. I can manage to find a crum or two with the 4000 but the 2100 with a big coil has a hard time with the small stuff. He's been doing it right, he finds the small stuff at depth but hasn't got the coil over a nugget and was starting to get a little discouraged. So yesterday we meet up for another day of hunting and he pulls out a barrowed GPX 4500. This time we took a long walk in to a place I've got gold before but never worked very hard. After showing him how to use the 4500 we split up. Later we met up for lunch and neither of us had found any gold. After lunch I went back to where i had told him to hunt and he went his own way. I soon found two small nuggets, so I went to find him, but by the time I did, he had already found his first nugget of his life. It was a small one, but he did it on his own. Nothing like a father's pride. He then came up to where I had found the two nugs and picked up where I left off. In no time he had his second nug, a nice 1.2 dwt chunk. I then took a turn at it and found another small one. He took a turn and within a minute he had another one, about .9 dwt. Thats when he exclaimed how much fun this was and I realized, I was getting spanked. Ok, game on. My turn. Soon I had one more, even smaller than the others. I've got him mached in numbers but he's got twice the weight. By then it was time to call it a day and head home. I don't have pictures of his nuggets but here is one of mine. Maybe next week I can redeem myself. I fear I have created a monster. Mark