Found a little patch with my GPZ and 15" Concentric X-coil

My friend KiwiJW and I were struggling to think of a place to go detecting, he had a day off work and was keen to go for a detect.  We ended up just going back to an old spot we've done so many times it's not funny, once we got there we decided to go to an area about 10 minutes from the Car park, it's got some old timer workings but the time we went there previously he found 4 little nuggets and I found nothing, he was using his GPZ and standard 14x13" coil that time and I was using my GPX 4500 and Nugget Finder 14x9" Evo.  Seeing we didn't do overly well there a couple of years ago we've since gone further afield thinking this spot must be done to death and not worth detecting.  

Now we are armed with new coils and me now having a GPZ thought it worth another try.

He detected the old working and got one small piece, I went off to the side and detected the hillside next to them, and popped out a nugget, then another, then another, it just kept going.  I ended up with 39 nuggets over the 3 days with about 8 grams in this small area, I let him have an afternoon on the patch and he also got 12 nuggets out of it for a total of about 3 grams.

Here is the gold he got.



And here are my 3 days totals.







I took quite a bit of video on day 1 and day 2 showing the target responses on in situ targets and though out the digs, I'm amazed how well the 15" Concentric coil does on small gold at pretty good depths.  It made it very easy to give the patch a good work over, I just can't understand how after all these years and so close to the car park and some workings all this gold was still there.



And this photo shows the entire patch.



And a couple of photos of some nuggets





I will go back and give it another go yet, but targets are getting slim on the area, I'm sure there will be a couple of nuggets we have missed, I might try the 8" X-coil next just to see how it goes on finding any left over crumbs, although the 15" Concentric really seems like it's similar in small gold performance to the 8"

Well done phrunt/JW. I've been saying this for years, only to to be proven correct time & time again, that but for a few inches more in depth, gold still awaits to be uncovered. We are only restricted/limited by the limitations placed on our detector/coil technology, for we're forever walking over gold, without ever realizing that its there.
When it comes to the gram/sub-gram gold, the new range of concentric X-Coils coupled to the GPZ 7000, have exceeded & excelled in a number of situations/expectations. Once again, this just goes to show, what experimenting in new coil technology, can bring forth to the table. Top design/manufacturing. Well done to the X-Coil manufacturer/s on their new Concentric X-Coil range.
Thanks for the right up, pictures & video Simon.

Cheers Kon.

davsgold wrote:hey Simon that is awesome mate, great pictures and video and the gold on the patch WOW, there has to be more patches like that and now with the CC x-coils which seem to be delivering the goods.

Well done to you Simon and KJW you both put in the hard yards and deserve the rewards.

cheers dave

I was thinking back and I believe this is the place JW first took me detecting when I was completely new to it, and we've been to this area countless times since and the gold has trickled in slowly, and it was only a few weeks ago we went again and JW found a 3 gram nugget with the Concentric coil at this same place further along the hillside right at the entrance where we've detected the most, and now my little patch, it's coming back to life

Hey Grasshopper it looks like you are really making the Master work to catch up with you

On ya Phrunt. Remarkable the sensitivity, depth and stability these concentrics have, they certainly compliment the range of X coils available for the Z. A coil for every situation/environment.

We went back to the "patch" again a couple of days ago to see if we could squeeze anymore nuggets out of it, I was confident I'd get a couple more.  It ended up successful.  JW who came with me managed to get over 15 nuggets out of one hole.  His hole started by using the GPZ with 15" concentric coil which found a bigger bit of gold, then he was sure there was more signals in there, so he used his Gold Monster to get them out, they were tiny bits that appeared to be down to 0.001 of a gram, he just kept digging the hole deeper and getting more and more of these tiny bits.

I didn't worry about doing that sort of thing with my holes, I was aiming to get the bigger pieces.  One of which I detected through a big rock, it was a good signal too, It took me quite a while to move the rock which was probably about 25cm thick and then once under the rock I had to dig down to get the bit of gold out, it probably weighs .4 of a gram, I don't know which piece it was now  Moving the rock was certainly hard work but I knew I had to do it, what else would be under there, certainly not junk.





At one point I changed over to the 15x10" Spiral X-coil as the 15" round concentric was to big to get in between the sage bushes and rose bushes and I knew there would likely be gold there as I'd got a few nuggets around the perimeter of the bushes, this proved the right thing to do as I got one nugget from in the sage bushes that I'd have missed if I left the big coil on and another nugget that was underneath a rose bush that the tip of the 15x10" was able to detect when pushed up against the bush.  In the photos the sage bush and rose rush are removed as I destroyed them by digging them out to get the gold under them.   I was using my Mini Monster to help recover the targets to speed things up.






Another one of JW's nuggets he detected the other day but it was too far down in the bedrock to get out with his pick however I'd buried it again when I did my tidy up before leaving the previous time I was there, he was prepared and brought along his jack hammer tool to smash up the bedrock but just had to find it again  It turned out to be a .4 of a gram nugget.






A few photos of some of the nuggets






So now, almost another 2 grams out of it for me, and I also got my JW's weigh in which ended up slightly more than mine, all his tiny nuggets added up to a decent weight after all.

And the total for me for the day....




And the total for JW for the day....



We came very close to getting the same weight.

The patch will be starting to run low now, I'm sure there is lots of very tiny bits in the soil however detectable gold is running low, I'd imagine I could squeeze a few more out of it.

The Patch!

Love it JW on the hammer, make the old codger sweat that`s right, sit back and watch him..... bloody young generators.........  

Great going there phrunt, well done in pinging all those tiddlers, especially the one through the large rock.
I must say the gpz looks like a sleek detector now with the different variations of coils it can use, the original coil to me looked thick heavy and slow [if you know what I mean]
Thanks for sharing


cheers moredeep

Hey Norvic....who you calling an old codger? I don't feel a day over 61

Considering I claim jumped Simons patch & re worked his 'old' worked ground from previous days I don't think I did too bad. My conscience wouldn't let me go ahead into "new" ground ahead of Simon. I left that for him as he stumbled onto the patch in the first place. It is his first real patch area that he has found.

Loving these X coils that is for sure. Despite the fall out Simon & I coped & getting banned from Steve H's DP forum all over me blowing up my detector, not from doing the chip adaptor plug but from fitting a connection back on the 19" ML coil that we cut the chip from. Still to this day I have never used that coil. There was a medical misadventure there somewhere & I didn't bother telling the forum that my detector blew up. I made the mistake of being honest to Steve telling him I bricked my detector & that it cost me 3.5k to get a new mother board fitted. Steve took exception to me not coming clean on that fact & his attitude towards me changed remarkably after that. I thought it had been made quite clear from others misfortune that there was always going to be a risk factor in the DIY approach to doing the adaptor if that kind of thing isn't your forte. I paid the price for the repair, that was my punishment as far as I was concerned & I continued using X coils as they are that good over the ML 14" as those of us using X coils know. The ML 14" has never been back on my detector to this day, & most likely wont be.
The 15" CC is just unbelievable on depth on small gold, which ours mostly is. Our ground is insanely mild so we have no Ferrite balance problems that JP kept on banging on about. Maybe in your guys hot ground it was an issue with some of the earlier X coils so maybe JP had a case to which we were oblivious to here in NZ.
Here is a 1.4 gram piece I got a couple of weekends ago with the 15" CC from old ground that Simon & I have been over numerous times. Me a lot more so as it goes back to my GP 3000 days.

The signal was crisp clear & through a shallow pile of old timer placed rocks & down in a crack in the schist bedrock. The scoop is 12" long. I had got numerous bits of gold from this pile over the years with different detector & coil combos. Bring on the Zed & 15" CC X coil & it was game on again.







I will drip feed other X coil finds but this page belongs to the 15" CC

Best of luck out there

JW  

On ya JW, I suspect MLs objection to X coils from the beginning had a lot to do with their impending GPX 6000, plus as you mentioned, last thing they wanted was a range of coils for the Z as good as the X coils whole range and certainly the concentrics as Phrunt, you and others are showing, competing with their new release we should see later in the year. They have proven to be without doubt the best detector company for gold detectors, but as time has shown not for gold coils, but as in all corporate success stories it requires some ruthless action to stay on top. Time will tell if what I suspect is on the money.

Pretty sure you are on the money Norvic, last thing ML wanted was the rising popularity of these x coils, would like to hear your theory but i suppose that is up to you if you choose to share it
Like to thank Phrunt for all his effort for sharing all his you tube clips and reports, there is no way people would not be impressed by the performance of that 15" concentric coil
Cheers

Bravo, top going. Well done phrunt/kiwijw. Thanks for the right up, pictures & feedback.
The new concentric coil line-up from X-Coils, have once again, exceeded & excelled under most ground conditions & expectations.
JW, as for what happened to you & Simon elsewhere, let it be. Let bygone's be bygones, for running a forum consisting of thousands of members, is anything but an easy task to undertake.  

Cheers Kon.

Hi Norvic, I guess that is why ML didn't make the 10" coil for the Zed like they said they were going to. I wonder how many people forked out the big money on a Zed on the back of that statement from ML. Of course the 10" on the Zed would have conflicted with the SDC 2300. More money in it for ML to sell SDC 2300's than to sell a 10" coil for the Zed. Thank god X coils came along. They proved that a 10" could be made. Hell they even made an 8" coil.  The 15" CC X coil is a weapon to say the least. I E-biked into a spot late this arvo for a couple of hours detecting.



It is an area of old timer workings, stacked rocks, turned over ground & tailing races full of briar rose & gorse bushes.





But as we know the old-timers didn't get it all. I had done ok in here back with my GP 3000 & 4500 & even got some deeper bits with the Zed & ML 14" coil. But of course the time came when it dried up. Bring on the X coils & I first used the little 10" X coil that bagged me a few bits, & then the 15 x 10. The rocky rough nature of the ground isn't really suitable for larger coils, especially round coils. I found a few nice bits with the 15 x 10 & I was keen to try the 15" CC X coil in those spots to get a bit more depth & the extra sensitivity that the CC coil has.  There were a few other small areas where I had done ok on in the past & the 15" would have a bit of swinging room but not much. Sometimes you don't need much. As in the above pic.

The first spot where I had got a few with the 15 x 10 came up empty so I headed to the spot where the 10" had got a few. On the way I tried a spot where I had done quite well on with the GP 3000 & nothing much since, but it had promise. I hit a crevice that I had got gold in before & I was sure I heard a faint signal. I had to remove some of the stacked rocks the old-timers had placed on the schist bedrock. Sure enough the signal improved.



Ended up with 6 pieces initially





When the signals stopped coming I just carried on digging out the crevice & 3 more pieces came to light making a total of 9 out of the one crevice.



That was a fun late arvo dig & bettter than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick of gorse.

Cheers.

Good luck out there.

JW

norvic wrote:On ya JW, I suspect MLs objection to X coils from the beginning had a lot to do with their impending GPX 6000, plus as you mentioned, last thing they wanted was a range of coils for the Z as good as the X coils whole range and certainly the concentrics as Phrunt, you and others are showing, competing with their new release we should see later in the year. They have proven to be without doubt the best detector company for gold detectors, but as time has shown not for gold coils, but as in all corporate success stories it requires some ruthless action to stay on top. Time will tell if what I suspect is on the money.

Hi norvic, Yer maybe, but they allowed NF to make a coil & even gave them the chip for it. I suppose in the end they buckled to the pressure of X coils. It still took a while for NF to get it accepted & drip released out there. It is but only one coil at this stage & from what I have heard, & Simon has one as well, they are not as good as the 12" spiral wound X coil & I doubt it is a pinch on the 15" CC X coil. I always had the feeling it wouldn't be as good as the X coils & even made that statement on DP forum. Funny how some of the ML agent/dealers were praising the NF coil for its ability when, except for JP, they hadn't used an X coil. But of course JP sells NF coils & not X coils so it is a no brainer for him to praise the NF coil & pump it up for sales.

The GPX 6000 will be interesting but I am not going to get caught up in all the hype & speculation. When it is out there in the field is when it will prove itself to me. Maybe X coils are working on their own detector. That would be very interesting.

JW

I myself had trouble believing as well as convincing others on here, of what the first 10X9 inch X-Coil were capable of & fair enough, for who could blame them in believing what I were saying/seeing in way of results, until you, Simon, Rick, Norvic & some others on here, that were game in having an adapter made & trying out an X-coil, in order to see for themselves if all the hype were true. Well, I'm still yet to hear from any GPZ 7000/X-coil user who can say different. (less one copped a faulty working coil from the start)
Shame that nothing could be worked out with Minelab towards resolving the X-coils plug end, so that the coil could be plugged in directly to the control box without necessitating the need of having an adapter made, in order to plug in the X-coils directly into the GPZ's control box, but who am I kidding, for that might have put an end to all future minelab detectors/coil sales, designed specifically for chasing gold.
The X-Coils have come a long way since their first initial release, going from better to better & like yourselves, I couldn't be happier with their performance over that of the standard Minelab 14X13 & 19 inch coil.
Once again, top going, well done JW.

Cheers Kon.

Thank you Kon, I know for many that the risk of making an adaptor is just not an option, & that is fair enough. Thats their choice but I was surprised on that other forum the amount of negativity & bad mouthing & hate of X coils & having to chop a perfectly good coil to get the chip to make, with risk, the  adaptor. Some chose not to accept the fact that by putting a connection back on that chopped coil it could still be used with the adaptor. That was always their ammo. Banging on about having to bin the coil after cutting off the chip. That wasn't X coils fault but there only way around copyright.  For me, I was after any advantage & wanted it so to me it was a no brainer. I really wanted a smaller coil, remembering that ML said they were going to make one , to get into those tight awkward spots that the ML 14 had no chance of getting or was just too difficult to handle on steep slopes & uneven mountain goat territory. Spots I just knew had more gold. The 10 x 9 & the 10" just proved that to me time & time again. Bit like the Coilteks 10 x 5 & 6"  round coils of theirs on the PI's & NF's Sadie coil. Usual story of a certain coil suiting certain conditions. After the free range of the multitudes of after market coils for the PI's ML certainly hamstrung us with the Zed.

It is good to be back & to 'see' familiar names still around. Been a crazy year with covid, & it aint over yet. Hopefully a trans Tasman bubble can open soon.

Take care, stay safe.

Best of luck out there

JW  

A majority of people get their adapters professionally made now so that's resolved any issues around the home made adapters with previously the quality of the adapter depending on the persons soldering skills.  A guy in Australia has been doing them for a while for people there, he's made a lot of them now with no issues.

It is a shame they don't have the chipped cable but I can see why, Minelab would likely never allow the range of coils they've made as the intrude on other models of detector.  They severely limit the coils available for their detectors, even the VLF's have chipped coils to stop aftermarket brands making coils for them unless Minelab say it's OK and even then the aftermarket range of coils for the VLF's is extremely limited.  It was said a smaller coil couldn't be made, that's been proven wrong going right down to 8", it was said Concentric coils couldn't be made, that's proven to be wrong also.  Even the standard coils for the GPZ are bundle wound, X-coils were spiral right from the start.        

They let aftermarket coil makers go nuts with the legacy GP/GPX series which was great, who with one doesn't use aftermarket coils?  You often see people buy a GPX 5000 and sell their standard coils straight away to buy an aftermarket spiral.   Sadly that's the end of that, new models will never have that range again unless manufacturers like X-coils find a way around their protections.  They'd rather us just buy 3 or so detectors to cover all bases than buy one detector and a few coils from an aftermarket manufacturer.  

The GPX 6000 is being touted as their small gold detector, exceeding the GPZ and SDC 2300.  It will be very interesting to see how it compares to the GPZ with 8" or 10" X-coil, or even the 15" concentric coil which I find very competitive to the 8" and 10" and possibly deeper than them too on small gold.   I know I'd rather just use my GPZ with X-coils than have to buy a GPX 6000 as well.

I'm really happy I've got a GPZ now as X-coils have made it into the detector I wanted, without X-coils I wouldn't be even as close to as happy as I am with my GPZ and X-coils and would not have bought one. It was because X-coils made the smaller coils that made me want to buy a GPZ.

Now Minelab have done it again, claiming the GPX 6000 is their detector best suited to finding small gold, yet it's smallest coil is 11" and not even elliptical.  

So to find small gold in rocky or bushy areas you need to buy an SDC as well to get the smaller coil.    It makes no sense other than for their profits.

Well done on that gold JW, I know how hard that area is getting to get anything so for you to get that out of there is pretty incredible.  I bet you rode out of there with a big smile

Like you say phrunt/JW, there were always going to be a risk in making ones own adapter & although it isn't rocket science, to many with no electronic soldering skills, it might as well be, but like anything that one is not sure of, bring the wiring diagram to an electronics workshop repair & have it done by a competent electronics repairer. Just like any job one is not sure of, get it done by a pro & I'm not referring to the stiletto type.     Hey, no offence to the stiletto's hey?    On the other hand, I fully understand & respect the wishes of any GPZ operator, who prefers not to take that chance. We do have a choice & its up to each & every individual GPZ operator.  
Minelab were bought by Codan, so it is quite clear the path that Codan/Minelab have chosen to take, for what Codan says, Minelab does. Loyalty has become a thing of the past, where the dollar is concerned, as is seen by first servicing the higher profit margin countries, leaving the Australian/American markets for last.
This brings me to another question (by ruffling some feathers on here) as to what restrictions the new Nugget Finder Z search coil might have had to adhere to, before being allowed for sale on the open market by Minelab?  I know, I'm rotten to the core for forming another unsubstantiated conspiracy theory claim, but I'd hate to think, I bought a coil for $1300, just for the slightly smaller in size & weight advantage, but no depth advantage on gold of say 2 grams & above, over that of the standard Minelab 14X13 inch coil? 
Anyways, what is is & we can jump up & down as much as we like, only to have the monopoly company's hold us to ransom, while they do as they like.

Cheers Kon.  

I`ll take the bait Kon, the Z search coil was built as per the ML Zed coils... upside down, great for finding nuggets hanging from the low branches of those annoying low bushes we have in most our gold fields. I never said that

Said what Norvic? How can one not wonder? All we buyers/consumers of Minelab or other aftermarket products for Minelab detectors live in hope. Hope for the best possible outcome to ones purchase. Lose that & we have nothing left.
My comments are not meant to nor aimed at degrading the new Nugget Finder Z-Search coil, nor upset the status quo of what buyers/users of such a coil praise, but more so to what rules would have been set down or required to be adhered to by Minelab, so that the new Z-Search coil, don't end up clashing with any other current or future Minelab products, before being approved for release on the open market.
Lets face it, very little if any comparison on or over gold nuggets, has been seen nor mentioned by anyone concerning the differences between the two coils (Minelab GPZ 14X13 as compared to the newly released 12 inch Z-Search coil from Nugget Finder). Is this not what GPZ users really want to know about, the differences between each coils capabilities over/on, or in ground gold?  Everybody so far is happy to state how good the Nugget Finder Z search coil is at finding small gold, that otherwise would have been missed by the original GPZ 13X14, but not one report on a clear cut comparison between the 2 coils over a variety size/shape gold.  
We all know & regard Nugget Finder (like Coiltek) to be the best Australian aftermarket coil manufacturers for Minelab detectors, by offering a vast variety of quality aftermarket coils/products over the years, satisfying the needs of each Minelab detectorist/individual. I hate to see something like this be slowly taken away, leaving us Minelab detector user/operators, with little or no choice to aftermarket products/options.

Cheers Kon.

Bigger coils for deep gold and small coils for shallow gold, if you haven't compared your coils on a faint target before you dig it up you'll never know which one is best.

Big or small, i prefer to think my machine is doing the work.

Loyalty has become a thing of the past, where the dollar is concerned, as is seen by first servicing the higher profit margin countries, leaving the Australian/American markets for last

You're not wrong Kon.

Like kiwijw, I won't be rushing out to drop at least $8K ( plus whatever the 17 inch coil costs ) on the GPX6000, when I have a perfectly good ZED and X Coils !

It is going to have to be some kind of special for me to add it to my stable.

Rick

Spot on Rick & even without having used the new Minelab 6000 vacuum cleaner, I can tell you, we are way ahead when our GPZ's are coupled to any one of the X-Coil range. As for the smaller 10 inch or 8 inch X-coil on our GPZ's, try a whopping minimum of 30% greater depth on lead shot over that of the SDC 2300 (in mineralized ground) not alone on the same in size slug of gold, where an extra 10% can be added to the 30%.    
Ahh Butch, after 30 odd years of detecting for gold, using several a different metal detector/coil combo under the sun, one would think I might have learnt something by now no?
I take it when you say bigger coils for deep gold, you mean mean bigger coils for locating larger slugs of gold at greater depth, than that of a smaller coil & smaller coils for smaller gold found at greater depths than what a larger coil is capable of finding the same nugget at?  For even small coil can achieve great in ground depth, when the slug of gold is of the multi-oz size/type.
I prefer not to think, but know exactly what my detector/coil combo are doing or capable of, over the type of ground I intend on covering.
Comparing coils on an in-ground undug target before digging the target out, is one way of seeing what does what (amount of height above, ground as well as strength of signal response, given by each coil), but even this means little when both small & large coil are capable of detecting the in ground target, stopping one dead on their track, for a scrape.
What I'm interested in seeing is where one coil regardless of size/type picks up an inground signal where the other coil can't.
This is the only true indication of what one coil is capable of doing over the other.
No two nuggets are ever the same, neither are they ever found siting in exactly the same in-ground position with one another, hence giving results such as these. For example, an 11.7 gram, smooth gold nugget (flat like a ten cent coin, sitting face flat on the ground) can be picked up by my 17 inch X-coil spiral in General/Difficult at 20 inches deep & a 6.3oz slug of gold (three times the surface area size) sitting in the same manner, in or on the ground, is struggling to be picked up at 18 inches depth? Another example, a smooth clean water worn nugget of 19.6 grams in gold weight, found buried down between two slate bars trapped in a pocket of clay, were tested by both my 14X13 Minelab & my 18 inch X-Coil DD, the moment the signal were heard, with the 14X13 struggling to hear it at 10 inches in measured depth, before it were dug out, whereas the 18 inch DD could barely achieve 13 inches deep (a measured 3 inches more above ground).
Now if anybody is finding all this a little to confusing to comprehend, don't worry to much about it, for natural, undisturbed, in ground gold nuggets, regardless of their size/type, come with one to many a ground/gold type variable, in order to fully understand what the hell is going on, between detector, coil, or settings used.
Sorry phrunt/JW for hijacking your thread. You'll hear no more conflicting/confusing, head scratching crap from me.    

Cheers Kon.  

With you Kon, our so called hype over the X coil that is putting weight in our pockets is countered by an anti-X coil hype from a Company that doesn`t want X coils out there. I also am with you this is Phrunts and JW Concentric thread so I`ll butt out with my dribble.
As yet I have only spent some 10 hours behind my X Concentric Coil in the field, but as FNQ dries out and cools down I suspect I`ll be full of X CC hype once my pockets weighty and of coz the usual Z hype.

It matters not what anyone thinks of the aftermarket X-Coil range designed for the GPZ 7000, together with any negative hype, for one will never know, about what one never gets to use. The facts of the X-Coils capabilities over natural gold nuggets, found in quiet or mineralized ground, where all else has failed, cannot be denied. They simply speak for themselves.
Norvic, have no doubt, the more ground time you get to play around or use your concentric coil, the more you will get to like it/enjoy it. As for your pockets of gold, trust me when I say, they pull out gold, (as JW/phrunt  as well as others on here have shown time & time again) from the most thrashed out localities, not alone over ground that has had little if any detectors go over it. You will be more than happy, even more so if you intend on pursuing gold close to, or under power lines.
Oops there I go again, breaking my own words & putting up posts where I shouldn't. I'm a bad boy that deserves a good whopping.

Kon.

Kon said, "My comments are not meant to nor aimed at degrading the new Nugget Finder Z-Search coil, nor upset the status quo of what buyers/users of such a coil praise,We all know & regard Nugget Finder (like Coiltek) to be the best Australian aftermarket coil manufacturers for Minelab detectors, by offering a vast variety of quality aftermarket coils/products over the years, satisfying the needs of each Minelab detectorist/individual. I hate to see something like this be slowly taken away, leaving us Minelab detector user/operators, with little or no choice to aftermarket products/options."

I would just like to clarify that I too are not bagging the NF Z Search coil either. May not look that way but but I aren't or I don't mean to. Like Kon said NF & Coiltek gave us some brilliant coils for the PI's over the years. The only range of NF coil I didn't end up using was the Evo series as I got a couple of the Coiltek Elite flat wounds & then I got the Zed. I am picking that NF could have, & probably did, make a hotter 12" Zed coil but ML got them to dumb it down a bit to protect other detector products of theirs, SDC 2300 & maybe even the GPX 6000. NF have filled a void to give Zed users the choice of a slightly smaller coil than the ML 14" without having to do a patch lead adaptor. I don't know why ML called the 6000 a GPX as it is in no way similar to the GPX format & doesn't even take the same coils. The only similarities are the colour & round white coils.

Kon, Norvic, I am the worst at taking a threads off on a tangent from its original post. I am sure Simon will take ho offence & I certainly don't. Hell, here I am carrying it on on Simons post. Sorry Simon, but I know you are good for it. Everything being said is good reading.

I tell you what....It is so good to be openly able to talk about X coils with a like minded bunch of guys without fear of repercussions & without having to defend myself & my actions & still end up being persecuted, hanged, drawn & quartered. The bliss. Good to be home.

JW

Hi guys, Simon & I headed back to his wee patch area yesterday with the idea of going a bit further & a couple more gullies along but at the same horizon level to see if we could pick up on a continuation of his patch. No joy so we ended up going back to his area. Simon snagged a couple more off his old ground early in the peace but I had no luck so I dropped down a bit below the main patch area & ended up getting 22 small bits by days end. Simon ended up with 4. Crazy small for a coil of this size I thought. Smallest was just .03 of a gram & the biggest .24 for a total of 22 at 2.06 grams. I think this patch has now come to an end. The only hope for us now is after a bit of rain & a good soaking of the ground to give a bit more of an edge in depth & sensitivity.





Loving this 15" Concentric X Coil in the places I can swing it. It will be very interesting to see how the GPX 6000 compares. Admittedly we can run in high yield, normal & I run in full max sensitivity of 20. I think Simon runs 18.

Cheers.

Good luck out there

JW

Yup, I run my sensitivity on 18 when JW is around as the two GPZ's are within 20 or so meters of each other as I find it runs nicer wound back a bit, I sometimes bump up to 20 when I'm on my own as I know for a fact when looking for this tiny gold being in 20 does help quite a bit (I've experimented on in situ gold targets before digging on the patch), with the Concentric coil the threshold is really nice on 18 for me, it seems to be my sweet spot as I like a quieter running detector, it's HY / Normal all the way too.    

I was honestly surprised to get anything, I went back to the spot hoping I'd squeeze out one more nugget so to get 4 I was very happy. We've been over the top part I was detecting so many times now and the ones I did get where mainly because they were in difficult areas where I just hacked out thyme bushes or bowled over rose bushes in the hope there would be a target there as they were bushes right next to where I'd found gold the others days.  I've barely done the bottom part at all where JW was, I did it for half an hour or so the last time we were here and pulled up two absolutely tiny nuggets but the problem down there is so many shotgun pellets, they chased me away, JW must have more patience

The patch to me is just odd, it's on a hillside, and if you go outside of it the gold just stops, it's concentrated into quite a small area, there is no rounded river rocks or any sign of water, it's on top of a ridge more than in a gully.  It's confusing to me why it'd be there so if anyone can shed any light on it I'd appreciate it.  The gold was densely packed into a 20 or so meter wide by 30 or so meter long stretch if that and then there was a few outlying nuggets but really not all that many compared to how many were within the small area and down the bottom where JW has been detecting was where a vast majority of the really small nuggets were.

My nuggets although quite small were all down on the bedrock, the bedrock is mostly pretty consistent in depth around the patch area where most of the gold came from, between half and three quarters of my scoop in depth.








I didn't weigh each nugget but they were pretty similar in size




It was a bit of fun while it lasted, it'd be pretty hard going to get much more out of it now although I'm still confident there is more to get there

Hopefully another patch reveals itself in the near future.

This photo is a bulk of the best part of the patch, the red areas are where most of my nuggets come from, and most of the larger ones I got were in the red areas, the yellow area and down the bank a bit from there are where JW's tiny nuggets have been coming from.  You go down further and they stop too.  

There were a few outlying nuggets that aren't in this photo but the numbers significantly dropped off outside of those areas and were dense in the red areas and the small gold in the yellow area.