Where is the gold

Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

When detecting in most areas where you would expect plenty of detecting has taken place I still end up with half a pocket of targets mainly lead shot and the odd musket balls,buttons etc.Now either the gold is extremely hard to find or can other detectorists pick the gold from other targets.How can there be so many obvious targets left ?

Last trip my mate took 5 days of anguish to get his first piece digging hundreds of targets.His expression was "this just isnt possible,if i'm digging tiny targets deep I should be getting something".He returned for another week and got nothing.

Our total for three weeks was 7 small nuggets for a total of about 5 grams,two old coins and a gold plated broach.Im wondering if this result is typical for most people.

Gold is rare, otherwise would not be expensive
Finding bullets is good, means you are doing it right. Lead sounds pretty much like gold does to me, but bullets tend to be closer to the surface. Look at it this way - if any one of your gold bits was a bigger one, your perception would change.

One word of advice though - if you find one nugget there is probably more near by. Mark the spot and search in expaning circles around the first one.

It is not uncommon to find 10-20 "good sound" trash targets before gold comes up. Think about all them shooters huntin wabbits But then the longer you do it, the more chances you get for finding an untouched streak or "poket" or patch.

One area i frequent ususally produces bullets by the handfulls, and only occasional nugget. But one day i went there and my first 4 good targets where gold! rest of the day produced trash. Just luck.

I think the problem is in the idea that if there are man made targets there then gold should be there also, sometimes the gold just is not there in the first place or was in very short supply which sometimes answers the question why so many un-dug targets remain. I tend to ignore most surface or shallow targets unless the gold is coming in thick and fast and prefer instead to focus on the deeper more subtle responses that are more likely to be gold, using coil sizes to dictate the sweet spot on how these targets sound to the ear helps, this way I can get away without having to dig vast amounts of rubbish and still maintain my sanity.

JP

Morning Kingfish,
If I read between the lines of your post I believe you are puzzled no one else has found these buried junk targets but left no gold behind. As mentioned above it is unlikely any gold was actually on this site anyway.
It is however exciting when you search an area and uncover some nuggets along with deep junk targets. This gives you an immediate indication that either the last ones to walk this way either didn't search thoroughly or their equipment couldn't reach the deep targets.
If it is any concilation, earlier this year while using a GPX-4500 and searching for new ground I went 9 days without a single gram of gold. Even though indicators suggested this was likely ground, it obviously wasn't, so that area will be scrubbed off the list.
Don't give up, just move on and expand your search.

Good luck

Peter

Many thanks for the contributions here,whilst the gold is few and far between,the enjoyment and challenge makes it all worthwhile.Thanks Nightjar thats what I was trying to ask.One thing that has really helped as of lately is targetting those deeper signals.If Im using the 18" eliptical mono the edge near the tip is great for a quick check for a shallow target in trashy areas and for pinpointing.

Listening for those faint deep signals helped me find more gold to trash targets, but the three biggest bits of gold I have found, where loud trash sounding signals.
Mark

Hello Kingfish.........I too often think about that, and it still baffles me. A mate and I have a small alluvial area where we have got lots and lots of pre grammers. We have flogged this piece of ground which is about the size of a footy field. When we go to this goldfield area in nsw and search around for a day or two and find nothing, then we go to this little area and ALWAYS get another piece or two. Go figure.
PS......you probably know the spot spider

treatable
 there is i little gold field that me and the better half go to in new south about 3 or 4 times a year,we got back yesterday from a 5 day trip.its about the size of a footy field (maybe a little bigger),this time i got 4 pieces for 3.8 grams and the missus got nothing.  last time we did a 4 day trip and all we got was bullets and little bits of wire.the trip before that we each got a nice 5 grammer.
   i keep saying "thats it , i`m never going back there" , but i allways end up going back
 

Thats exactly what we have been saying for the last couple of years!!! " oh well we've flogged this place to death, no good coming back here again" yet always go back and get gold and old bullets etc.
One idea I have is that over time the grass and vegetation change. Where as last time you got zilch, this time you find a piece because it was where a piece of tussock was and you waved your coil around it or too high over it,...... next trip through drought or stock or some other reason that tussock grass is gone and you can get your coil a lot closer to the ground and hence cover a bit of ground that you missed last time..........Fordy

[quote="TreatableRiverrat"]Hello Kingfish.........I too often think about that, and it still baffles me. A mate and I have a small alluvial area where we have got lots and lots of pre grammers. We have flogged this piece of ground which is about the size of a footy field. When we go to this goldfield area in nsw and search around for a day or two and find nothing, then we go to this little area and ALWAYS get another piece or two. Go figure.
PS......you probably know the spot spider [/quo


yea mate i know the spot,, you take the western highway and take the 2nd turn off on the left,, but i remember i didnt do any good there, , and do i need a passport for the trip down south

Rat
Thats a good point about changing ground conditions.Tussocks branches and anything that gets in the way of that perfect swing.Its amazing how in time the terrain changes.Theres an area in Avoca that multiple 5 ounce plus pieces came from,Now because of whipstick you cant even get a swing in there.I dont know what the percentage of ground here in the triangle is covered by trees and bushes but it must be considerable.
Cheers Dig
Theres also a point to be made in running in fixed and ground balancing often to obtain the best out of our machines on every swing,It can make the difference between a good and a bad day

Spider.........2 weeks in september, about the 3rd or 4th starting at your home town for a couple of days and working our way down through cowra, temora tumby......bendigo and end up at dunolly for a few beers, oh oh oh oh I mean prospecting.......no passport needed mate........can't wait