Re: Are we focusing too much on small nuggets?

Guest Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:41 pm

No i believe i gave just a murmur and was 51 oz -- it took 21/2 hrs to dig it out Very Happy

Guest Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:50 pm

that is one awesome nugget Murachu. if i am ever lucky to find something like that i reckon id be on a high for a very long time

Guest Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:55 pm

ahhh i didnt find this a friend of mine did
Very Happy

Guest Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:03 pm

lucky lucky bugger. geez i cant wait to get out again

alchemist Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:21 am

Murachu wrote:No i believe i gave just a murmur and was 51 oz -- it took 21/2 hrs to dig it out

"just a murmur" if we were dreaming about how that first sip of beer is going to flow over our dry and dusty tongue tonight, instead of concentrating real good on the threshold, or were swinging the coil way to fast for the detector settings, well we'd be leaving it for the next Guy, or the next if he's not in the zone as well Sleep

90% the operator and the day.

Cheers Grey

blackwhisky Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:42 pm

Interesting thread lol.
Being a newbie and all I have gathered a few bits of information from this thread.
1. Not everyone agree's on everything all of the time. (I may have already known this lol)
2. Mono's are more sensitive and powerful but DD's will always have their place in very heavy mineralization.
And to the original subject: -
3. Seems as though we do try to concentrate more on smaller gold then big monsters due to the fact there is possibly more small stuff about.

Cheers and beers,

Blackwhisky

Guest Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:58 pm

Here's a bloke who by the looks of his set up and the nuggets he has pulled focusses on the larger gold. Nice flanged button tektites at the end too!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhtlt8Xli1s

kon61 Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:33 pm

Moonlight,don't be to fooled by the larger coils,their main use is for patch finding (covering as much ground as they can first),and second for larger nuggets at depth,but if the operator finds a couple of sub grammers on a particular ground and nothing else with the larger coils,you can bet your sweet boots,they'll have the smaller coils swinging over the same ground.

Cheers kon61.

kiwijw Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:16 pm

kiwijw wrote:Hi Guys, Yes this has been a very good thread. Sorry to see the conflict between a couple of you. I respect you both & follow your threads & info with huge interest. I guess there will always be differences of opinions & thats human nature & that can make for some interesting debate.
In NZ our gold is usually pretty small & we are lucky to have pretty quiet ground. Hence mono coils are my coil of choice & I will only use a DD if working close to powerlines or an electric fence or EMI is making the mono too noisy. Small gold is better than no gold.
I have just got back from 7 days detecting down in Central Otago. The only DD I took was the standard 11" coil that came with my detector. The rest were all mono's. I am using a bit of an old detector by todays standards. A GP 3000. The mono's I took were coiltek 6", coiltek 10" X 5", nuggetfinder 12" X 7", minelab 11" commander, minelab 15" X 12" commander, coiltek 18" & coiltek 24" X 12" UFO.
I used the nuggetfinder 12" X 7" & the coiltek 6" to go over some shallow ground just above some old workings that I had gone over the last time I was down there. I managed to get 14 bits with the nugget finder on the first day. They were all sub grammers except two. One at 2.55 grams & one at 1.05 grams. they were all very shallow.
The next day I put on the 24" X 12" UFO coil, my patch finder, to cover new ground more quickly & try to hit on to another patch. Only managed a 1.37 gram bit & a .68 after covering quite a big area. Getting a bit frazzled I went back to the spot I was on the day before & put on the 6" mono. Managed to get 3 more bits. A 1.09 grammer & 2 sub grammers.
On the third day I used the 24" X 12" UFO again & hit on to a small patch of 8 pieces with it in a small area. Lots of .22 shells from rabbit shooters & lead bullet heads. I started to ignore those type of signals as it was bloody hot & I only started digging those sure sounding soft mellow signals that were usually gold or lead. I then put on the 15" X 12" commander & went over the same ground & got 3 more bits. 2 sub grammers & a little speci that was 1.30 grams. This was the first time I had used this coil & I was gobsmacked at its sensitivity & depth on these small pieces. I like it. Total for that day was 11 bits for 14.05 grams.
The next 3 days I went somewhere else & hit a small creek that had quite a bit of exsposed bed rock. I put on the 6" mono & just targeted the bed rock both in the water & above it. Over the 3 days I got 27 bits, all sub grammers for a total of 5.92 grams.
The next day I went back to the little patch I had found & used the nuggetfinder 12" X 7" & decided to dig up all the loud in your face signals incase they were masking a faint good signal. My first signal was a .22 shell, which I thought it was going to be. The 2nd was also going to be a .22 shell as it was a loud sharp in your face signal......or was it?????? Two scrapes with the pick & it was gone. .22 shell for sure. Scooped up the pile & waved my hand over the coil & WHAM!!!! Then the signal had gone. It fell out of my hand & on to the coil. BLOODY HELL.....a gold nugget that ended up being 8.5 grams. Just goes to show.... dig all signals. No matter what. I also got a .57 gram bit as well.
On my last day I put on the 12" X 15" & used it as my patch finder. Only managed 2 sub grammers. I then whacked on the 10" X 5" joey coil & went in amongst some old shallow workings & managed to squeak out 3 sub grammers. I never used the DD or the 18" mono. I used a hip stick on the 12" x 15" & the 24" X 12" UFO & could swing them all day effortlessly. I love the hip stick. Was detecting in deep/sensitive/fixed/all metal settings mostly with the occasional flick into normal.
All up I got 41 grams in 65 pieces. Mono's rule. Photos to follow. Camera is miss behaving at the moment.

Happy hunting

JW

Hi guys, Here are some pics of the gold from my 7 days detecting down in Central Otago from my post above.

Total gold found. The gold to the left is from up on a mountain side & no where near water or a water course. It is all pretty rough & hokey pokey except for a couple of bits. All has some quartz still attached. The gold to the right is the water worn gold from the creek bedrock. The old button was a very faint signal & it was down slightly more than the length of my pick handle which is 600mm. I was using the 15" X 12" commander mono. I was absolutly sure it was going to be gold after getting down to that depth & having found some nice gold very close by on a previous trip . What a bummer to unearth the button after all the time sweet & tears of digging that hole affraid

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 SLCadronagold

Close up of the button. Looks to have "Victoria Moleskin" on it. Can you Aussies verify this??

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Moleskinbutton

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Moleskinbutton

Close up of the 8.5 gram piece with a few bits of quartz still attached.

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 SL85gram

Happy hunting

JW Smile

kon61 Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:44 pm

G'day Gents.

Nice looking nuggets there kiwijw,appreciate your post.Those brass buttons can be found at some remarkable depths at times.

Cheers kon61.

kiwijw Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:20 am

Ho Kon61, Thanks for the comment. Can you shed any light on the "Victoria Moleskin" button?? I cant see "skin" written on it but just guessing. Cheers

JW Smile

kon61 Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:10 pm

G'day Kiwijw.

The button name was used to depict one type of material worn by laborers at the time(1800s).It consisted of a thick strong woven cotton fabric which was made into shirts or pants where the button most likely was lost from. True moleskin,was the skin of a furry mole critter, which was used in the manufacture of fur garments and other type of clothing. You can bet that the word "skin" lettering is there also(in line with the word mole)but has badly worn away.

Cheers kon61.

Guest Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:40 pm

Nice going there JW,you realy work your coils well over the same ground for the various size gold...and it shows Very Happy

Cheers Eureka Dreams

Guest Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:16 pm

small or large, any nugget would do for my first one

kiwijw Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:29 pm

Hi guys, Thanks Kon61 & Eureka Dreams. Diggerjack, keep at it mate & your day will come.

Happy hunting

JW Smile

TWO BOB Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:27 pm

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 30march2011009

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 006

JP, Thanks for your posting giving your most used settings for 4500 and 5000. In 2 four day trips to the Triangle, I had the following success using your settings on my 4500. That setting gave a smooth baseline that gives a clear target signal. Laughing

Trip One 1.6gr at 8"
9.5gr at 10"
1.2gr at 7 or 8"
.3gr at 1"
Trip two 7.7gr Spec. with approx 5gr gold
Penny at over 2 Ft { crowbar & shovel job. Just can't walk away from a signal }
Swivel on surface { fisherman must have wrong REEF setting in his GPS}
Top of pocket watch
Ruby set in silver tie pin { how long since these were used?}
.2gr at 1"
3gr at 4"

Also thanks to goldstalker for info to load photo's. Still I am not to good at it.
Cheers
"TWO BOB"

Guest Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:28 pm

Hi two bob , i remember looking at that 9.5 grammer in the flesh ... awesome bro !
cheers gully hunter

kiwijw Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:48 am

Hi guy's. "ARE WE FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON SMALL NUGGETS" My experiance has ahown me that if there is larger gold in an area then it is the gold that is usualy cleaned up first because of its louder, easier to pick up signal. Once the bigger bits have been taken out of the ground then all you are left with is the rats & mice where you really have to be on your game to pick up those smaller bits.
There is ALWAYS much more smaller stuff than bigger stuff but having said that, if you find a bigger piece then it is going to be worth a whole heap more than lots of little bits put together. Rolling Eyes

Just like there is a lot more sand & fines in a river or stream than pebbles. & there is always more smaller peebles that larger pebbles & rocks. & so on.....there are always less HUGE boulders than smaller boulders & so on down to the smaller rocks. But the sands & fines are always going to be more than anything bigger than them etc etc. So to with gold.
I would rather be finding & digging numerous smaller gold than walking around all day getting nothing,hoping for a big piece, but as I said before, one BIG bit will out weigh all those smaller bits....thats if you find one

.
Guess it comes down to your indurance out in the field, & you can handle walking for miles, hour after hour, in the hope of getting a big piece. Again, experiance has shown me that if you are concerntrating on the smaller bits, the odd bigger bit comes along anyway. So: ARE WE FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON THE SMALLER NUGGETS??
A lot of the time they are all we have left. But they still pay for the petrol & often pay their way.

Examples in case

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 SLCadronagold

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Moonlightgold1

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Gibbston20th-23rd9th

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 SLs25th9th

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 NuggetsX3-1

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 6hoursdetecting

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Poolburnau

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 OtagoGold4thSept

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Tobinstotal

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 Arrowsluicingsgold1

Piece on the right is 18.7 grams

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets? - Page 3 OphirGoldFinds

So.....Los of smaller bits but also the odd bigger bit as well. Our gold in New Zealand is not very large compared to what you guys can stumble across Evil or Very Mad

Happy hunting

JW Cool

kon61 Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:27 am

G'day Gents.

The collections looking better all the time Kiwijw.Good on ya and well done. I'd prefer to have that prolific small and numerous any day compared to that extremely rare and elusive whopper.

Cheers kon61.

AU_Tecta Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:09 pm

I personally dont focus at all on small nuggets.I choose what i think is best the right ground im workin. Depending on many variants...= history/oz's pulled+size/depth found/associated rock/maps/scrub thickness/powelines/junk in area/ etc etc.... the best focus i think is the ground that you have done your work on/research on ......a particular area that i had worked in the past yielded a 12+ grammy because the weather conditions altered penetration of the coil..... myself and many others had previously detected this individual spot... but it was a snifer coil that came to the rescue! Wink

marty Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:39 am

Hello ! can u tell me what a sniffer coil is please?

Guest Fri Apr 15, 2011 10:32 am

marty wrote:Hello ! can u tell me what a sniffer coil is please?

Hi Marty, just a generic term to describe a small coil to sniff out the crumbs

cheers!

marty Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:02 pm

Thanks Madtuna.

Are we focusing too much on small nuggets?