Trav W

5.5g of 24k is $239. But, it's not 24k. And.. What is someone willing to give you for it, and what are you willing to take for it?

I wouldn't think I'm moving to fast. Yesterday, I covered about <50' of wash. in 4 hours. I did not cover but a very small section of that picture. I'm trying to do the research to find if it is a gold carrying area. I'm out here for work, and normally live in Florida, so I really know nobody around, I was researching using MineCache for google earth, but it's not very accurate in the area, and has already lead me to one "problem". So, the spots I do get to look into, I have absolutely no idea of gold potential. I am digging everything. I have many many sub gram pieces of junk in my collection. I run over a section. Clear it out of all obvious noise, then go back over and find smaller items, and repeat until I find nothing.. I've tried the Mono, as well as DD coils that come stock. I'm really trying to learn this machine the best possible. I just don't have a reference point to compare success or failure against. So, that's why I'm posting so much here, to get an idea and feedback. I have purchased Chris Ralphs book, but it has not arrived as of yet. I understand the "if it was easy" statement very well. With zero prospecting experience really, I also wish to avoid "beating my head against a wall" for no reason.

Here is the area I'll go check out after lunch. At my beginning stages, I'm more looking for how to find the right areas. I'm going to go work the washes around this red patch. Why? Well, I can't say for sure. I'm seeing an obvious change in mineralization, and the washes being the downhill part, should give me better odds at finding hints of gold. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm going on 20 hours of sweeping, with not one single hint of gold. At this point, I would think I'm doing something wrong. I'm betting it starts with no finding a good location in the first place. I've got about 2 more weeks before I can join the local club, and use their claims. So, I'm doing what I can in the mean time to figure things out. I think I'll try to shoot a short video, and try to describe my method of doing things. Maybe someone can point out what I'm doing wrong,

That's my plan once I find an area with any amount of gold. I have found none with the detector as of yet. There are a few clubs with claims locally. I just have not been able to become a member yet. The spots in looking in, I have no proof of color so far. I'm checking through washes that contain mineralization differences. Drastic color differences / highly mineralized areas. I'm sure I'm doing many vital signs but it's a learning process. I'll go back out after lunch, and focus on a 20x20, and so it several times until I find nothing more, and switch to another spot of I have time.

Are there any open spots in Coolgardie, or do I need to be a club member?

This was helpful information, thank you.

The other preferable areas are claimed.

The picture was just to make sure I wasn't far off of target. Would make no sense to pull a rooking mistake day after day, and not learning from it. Hiking for miles is not a problem. I'm just new to the area and prospecting in general. Still a long way to go in learning how to find a spot that may have gold. Hopefully your book will help me out Chris. Just ordered it 2 days ago. The spot I was on, As soon as I would dig some trash, fill my hole. I would sweep left 1x, then right 1x, and I would have found another piece of trash. The string of over 100 holes, looked more like a zig zag trench, becuase they were almost all touching! In 5 hours, I did one path, approx 300ft long. That might have something to do with why it is unclaimed. When I moved for the afternoon, the new spot had much less trash, but every hit was trash. So, I'll find another spot.

Not having much luck finding a place without a claim on it. Once I can join the local club, options will open up. Until then, I'm researching for a place to go. Any suggestions?

Am I safe in assuming that because gold and lead are so close in many properties, they will also sound alike? I've never had a detector that rings out like this 5000. I use detectors at work, including other minelabs. This gpx can find 1/20th gram of lead at 10",and it sounds like I've found 2 pounds of gold sitting in the surface!

I'm down in Twentynine Palms. 2hrs East of L.A. I've had a tiny bit of luck every time I've been out... Until today. The more money I spend on the hobby, the less gold I seem to find. I don't have my own claim, and there are no major club claims in the immediate area (GPAA, etc.) The local club has a total of 8 claims, and I'll be joining them on there next meeting. Right now, I only have a 2wd car, so I am limited on the locations I can drive to. I am also trying to find places that I can frequent. I get off of work at 4, so I'd like to drive to the local spot, and get a good 1.5 hours of detecting in on an almost daily basis. So, that stops me from going to the "good" spots, except on weekends.

Here are the results of day one. Most items were located at 10" depth or less. The stock DD coil seemed to locate most of the lead. When I switched locations, I also switched to the 11" mono coil. At that point, I started finding almost exclusively .22 casings. This spot is close to a target practice area, and apparently in the middle of some hunting. Almost every foot, I find more trash. If Lead ever reaches $1600/oz, I've got a heck of a location. I'm trying to get a good feel for the sounds, and modes. Get a feel for the detector. I'm focused more on learning the machine correctly, instead of just wanting gold. Don't get me wrong, I won't complain if a large nugget finds it's way to me. How much junk are you guys finding?

I've drywashed a couple of pickers very close to where I'm detecting. I'm new to the area, so I don't know what sizes this area regularly produces. Would a 15x12 or 18" mono, drop all the .22 casings that are <1"? I don't know what i can find in this spot, but hiding the surface would be nice.

New guy here, with the gpx5000. I'm in California, and have a fair bit of mineralization, but not bad enough that u have to run iron discrimination. The problem I have, it's this area has lots of bullets. I know the area has gold, from a recent dry washing trip. So far, I'm about 300 pieces of lead and zero gold. I've been trying several settings with really the same results. Lots of lead and buckshot in the 6"and less range. Any suggestions on cutting down the lead hits? I'm running a 11"dd coil in dd mode.