I got my GPZ 7000 Today and I am stoked

Good luck!

The POWER of the ZED!!!!!!!!!!!!

1.2metres down and I had to walk away from the target due to running out of time. Excited is an understatement. Even at nearly 1 meter the SDC couldn't even pick it up. Only started to down another 20cm. Even then still just a faint threshold drop.

WHAT COULD IT BE????????????

The amount of layers of clay (hard packed and soft) was crazy, and breaking heaps of nice quarts. I am thinking maybe might be onto a reef. I could be so lucky.

Have filmed and taken photos so far of it all. Will be heading back Thursday (Wish tomorrow) to recover the target. Still have another good 30cm before we are in close proximity (not overloading yet)

I will report back on Thursday night with the outcome. Hopefully I will be able to sleep.

I do hate walking away from a target, but location is safe. So whatever it is can rest in its place for a couple more nights.

To be continued................

Very exciting!! Don't post pics until recovered, and if it's gold take pics away from the site before posting. You probably already know about the digital pics gps location thingy but better to be safe than sorry.

Sounds like a crow bar might be useful. I hope it is a reef for you - that would be awesome :Y: :Y:

Are you sure it's a target. Could it be ground noise?
I only say this because I've fallen for this myself and know of a very experienced detectorist fall for it too.
Don't want to put a dampener on it.
Hope it's not but just throwing it out there.
Good luck.

Dig'n-it said:

Are you sure it's a target. Could it be ground noise?
I only say this because I've fallen for this myself and know of a very experienced detectorist fall for it too.
Don't want to put a dampener on it.
Hope it's not but just throwing it out there.
Good luck.

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Yep, been caught with the new update settings running in normal. But hope it's not for you.
Can't wait for the follow up.

Cheers Prooz.

Dig'n-it said:

Are you sure it's a target. Could it be ground noise?
I only say this because I've fallen for this myself and know of a very experienced detectorist fall for it too.
Don't want to put a dampener on it.
Hope it's not but just throwing it out there.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

After one day of sleeping on it. I finally got to go back. This time with a fresh head and with more interrogation. Hole was widened and after taking one more foot from the bottom, the signal did not get any better at all. In fact, after checking some similar section and using a different technique I decided it was ground noise as you said. It was a lesson I had to learn myself for future references. No harm done really except the 4 hours to learn.

After I refilled hole, spent a little time digging some real targets but just the usual bullets, lead shot and rust.

Thanks for your advice, it made me be a lot more critical and investigate it a lot better, otherwise a person could be digging till the cows come home. lol

I will be heading to a fresh spot in next few days so at least there is always something to look forward to.

The AU will come again, its not a matter of IF, but more a matter of WHEN.

Prooz said:

Dig'n-it said:

Are you sure it's a target. Could it be ground noise?
I only say this because I've fallen for this myself and know of a very experienced detectorist fall for it too.
Don't want to put a dampener on it.
Hope it's not but just throwing it out there.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

Yep, been caught with the new update settings running in normal. But hope it's not for you.
Can't wait for the follow up.

Cheers Prooz.

Click to expand...

Yes, NORMAL definitely amplifies it.
Figured it out in the end by checking nearby ground with similar features, as I was at a contact section between two different ground conditions.
And also switching between modes, but High Yield and Difficult don't really lie.

Thanks again.

Sorry to let you guys down. I will keep quiet next time till its sorted.

Getting a sweep is critical in identifying ground noise targets I found. That's why a deep hole is hard to determine because you tend to lower coil in not sweep it.
And room is limited.

Lessons learned

HayYouIn Au, I watched Dig'n-it dig the massive hole (in FNQ) that he was potentially comparing yours with. 31C, full sun and down to quartz.
That didn't stop him; he just widened the red-dirt hole, then kept going with my pit-bar into the solid Quartz, only to finally become convinced that it was ground noise.
Damn exciting for a while though and had me convinced.
I helped him fill in the hole - he was that buggered!
Taught me a lesson too - if you're going to dig a hole that big, then get a mate to do it

BigWave said:

HayYouIn Au, I watched Dig'n-it dig the massive hole (in FNQ) that he was potentially comparing yours with. 31C, full sun and down to quartz.
That didn't stop him; he just widened the red-dirt hole, then kept going with my pit-bar into the solid Quartz, only to finally become convinced that it was ground noise.
Damn exciting for a while though and had me convinced.
I helped him fill in the hole - he was that buggered!
Taught me a lesson too - if you're going to dig a hole that big, then get a mate to do it

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Too true. I also had a mate to help too. But felt bad and kept telling him this was the first target that I was unsure about. Oh well.
Good exercise too.

hAyyoUinAU what settings are you using mate?

I find that sometimes if I am in HY and I have dug down 4 inches or so I will check it with General to see if I can hear it still and also don't be scared to turn the sensitivity down a bit too, my last nugget I found was with the 19" coil at .22 grams 8 inches down and my sensitivity was only on 6 as the ground was wet and i was getting a fair few false targets earlier on running with sensitivity on 11.

AuinAu
BigWave got it right. It was 'the' hole I was referring to. I could here my heart pounding away in my headphones. Was very weary of having breaks and drinking plenty of water. After the hole was to deep for my mid sized pick I borrowed BW's shovel then when the going got even tougher I borrowed his pit bar. Each time a walk back to his 4wd to get them. Of course the hole was in direct sun. I ended up having to call BW over to give me a hand. Thought I was going to have a stroke due to exhaustion. When we hit the quartz cap down about knee deep we got real excited. We were even using a pin pointer which was going off. Eventually we called it. Agreed, big lesson learned.
I told the story to the tour operator who's a very experienced detectorist and he told me of a similar story of him digging an even deeper hole the week before.
The trick he said was to sweep the detector at original ground level as you dig and if the signal doesn't get louder then it is most likely ground noise. However, he had fallen for the same trap. So it is a trap that you have to watch out for.
Cheers

Shaenae1 said:

hAyyoUinAU what settings are you using mate?

I find that sometimes if I am in HY and I have dug down 4 inches or so I will check it with General to see if I can hear it still and also don't be scared to turn the sensitivity down a bit too, my last nugget I found was with the 19" coil at .22 grams 8 inches down and my sensitivity was only on 6 as the ground was wet and i was getting a fair few false targets earlier on running with sensitivity on 11.

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I switched between High Yield/General and Normal/Difficult. I like to lower my sensitivity so have it on 8.

I put it down to my wrong interpretation of what ZED was telling me. It was basically just responding correctly to its surrounding. And lowering the coil into the hole just exacerbated the noise. I did notice that after the clays had dried out in the hole over a couple days that signal was a lot weaker... easier to tell it was ground noise.

One good thing about finding these is at least I know another detector hasn't swung over that area.

Certain sections were going off like crazy so I had to just pick spots and do what I could.

Back out again tomorrow, spent more time looking than swinging today. Enjoying the scenery.

Also found my biggest slug yet.

I could smell the AU out there... lol

ZED ran great. No problems at all. :Y: :Y: :Y: (Except the no gold bit)

Found some nice rocks today to add to my rock collection.

Haven't seen that black centre before. Looks cool

This place is quartz heaven. O

Hi hAyyoUinAU,

Have you found gold with the GPZ yet?

I also own an SDC and love it. I never NOT come home with gold with the SDC (even though its tiny)

Cheers

RS

Retirement Stone said:

Hi hAyyoUinAU,

Have you found gold with the GPZ yet?

I also own an SDC and love it. I never NOT come home with gold with the SDC (even though its tiny)

Cheers

RS

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Hey, no not with ZED yet. I haven't been able to hit any gold fields since I got it. Only just small little areas and one I cleaned out with the SDC. (Surface gold)
Looking forward to breaking ZEDs virginity. Will be cool. I can not fault the SDC one bit. If I didn't have the 7000 I would be swinging the SDC no problem.

But the ZED will scream at what the SDC will just hear.

Like always, it is just a matter of walking over the right spot at the right time.

I have speccies of that black Quartz, and have seen an open cut mine in the Dunolly area following the black veins. What mineral is staining the Quartz? I understand the reds/browns (Iron), blues and greens (Copper). Maybe a Manganese?

Yellows (Sulphates) ????

We need a geologist here!!! or half of one at least.

With you on the Iron and Copper, my thoughts exactly. Manganese not sure??? Sounds good though.

Or is it Sulfides??? lol