greendave41

5/12, 6/2, 6/19

GPX 4000 GB2

I recently got to spend a week with my dad out in the goldfields. I had been on numerous trips before that had only yielded 2 detected nuggets, so with 6 days to look, my goals were simple. 1. Find atleast 2 nuggets with a detector (size does not matter) 2. I have owned a Goldbug2 for 4 years (primarily used on the east coast, and have yet to get it over a piece of gold). So goal #2 is to find atleast one nugget with the GB2. Well, 20 minutes into day 1 and the GPX-4000 w/ 11" commander mono hits on a small but nice specimen gold piece. Day 2- was spent mostly investigating a recent small patch, did some detecting, but mostly drywashing, 2 sample holes, not great gold, none detected. Day 3- more drywashing in a different wash and explored an area that had yielded some small gold in quartz specimens in the past, perfect spot for the GB2. As luck would have it, found 7 small specimens with the GB2. Both goals checked off 3 days in...success. Day 4- 6 more with the GB2 in the same area. Day 5- spent 5 or 6 hours exploring and then hit an older patch that yielded some larger nuggets, tried the 11"mono and an 18"or 20" with the 4000, no hits. Took the GB2 over, and alas 4 small nuggets. Day 6- explored all day for a lonely isolated nugget with the gpx400 11" mono, no success. All in all, not that i didn't believe before, but I can now say with confidence and firsthand experience that the GB2 is an unbelievable machine. Nothing against the minelabs at all!, but for this situation and type of gold, the GB2 allowed me to come home with 18 pieces of gold (+1 from the drywasher) instead of 1. I ran the 11" mono on the GPX-4000 on the hillside patch that yielded 13 detected nuggets prior to taking the GB2 up there, and didn't have any hits. In the photo, the nuggets circled in the top left, we tested with the GP3500 with the joey coil and only the 2nd from the right within the circle registered a hit. All in all a great time spent with my dad prospecting, great weather and scenery, and gold to carry home. -Dave

I hope i'm not off base with this suggestion, but with the grey, sounds like you've got mercury covered gold. What about using mercury to separate the gold from the sands and then build or buy a retort? If you've got that rich of dirt, a retort would pay for itself immediately. -Dave

sounds and looks good Bob for your digging season to get going. I'm actually headed out this wknd. for some Eastern Gold. Heading to Northern Georgia for some dredging. They actually have water in the mtns there. Here in NC, it's been drier than the SW deserts. Only 3 of the last 43 days with rain and the most in one day was 3/10". Anyhow, looks like some nice weather out by you, sure it feels much better out there now than it did when I was out there. -Dave

ha, Ray's a popular guy as of late, he went under the radar, I was just making sure nothign had happened to him. Ray if you're out there, let me know if you plan on coming east at all anytime soon. I'm heading west in mid-may for a few days. -Dave greendave41@yahoo.com