Equipment Pictures

Hi All,

If anyone has instagram they might have seen people post pictures of all their gear. For example i follow a lot of hiking and camping people and they would lay out all their equipment and take a picture from above.

I really like these photos, it's good to see what other people use and something about having it all layed out is pretty cool.

I'm waiting for a delivery if a mini sluice and sieves but once they arrive i'll post a picture of my limited amount of equipment.

If anyone else wants to do the same feel free to add. I've only been doing this for 5 months but i already have plenty of equipment, with plans to get more (obviously).

Obviously some people will have expensive gear they don't want to show and thats fine. I'm mainly talking about the pans, classifiers, bags, crevicing tools, sluices, etc. All the little bits that have been accumlated over time and of course the homemade items.

Anyway, just an idea. I'll try to upload a picture taken a few months ago and then a new one once my new equipment arrives.

Thanks.

Nice kit AM :Y:

nucopia said:

Nice kit AM :Y:

Click to expand...

Thanks mate. Wait until you see the next one in a few days. No wonder my missus keeps having a go at me for spending money on 'stupid prospecting sh*t'. She's always been funny.

.

My Back Yard is not big enough. :8 :8 ]
That is if you include every thing. O

This is the kit now. In the next pic i'll show how it all fits to be carried whilst hiking.

Heres a list of the equipment i have:

Minelab Pro-Gold Kit which includes two pans, a classifier and the small snuffer bottle. I use the minelab bag it came in to store my crevicing tools.

Sieve set from ebay.

Two pans from Aussie Disposals.

Mini Backpack Sluice with Dream Mat made by Gold Rat Highbankers.

Various Crevicing Tools and small trowels mainly made by Fiskars.

Homemade snuffer bottle large. Works well but ive never seen enough gold in my pan for it to be justified.

Wilson Yabbie Pump.

The North Face Recon backpack. Been with me all around the world. Brilliant backpack.

Fiskars lightweight shovel. Bit pricey for a shovel but highly recommend.

Karrimor walking boots (had them for years).

Bunnings gum boots.

20Ltr Pail Bucket (i have 2 more in the car).

Gaiters that were generously donated to me by another member, Simmo. Thank you very much mate!

Life straw water bottle (filters water through the straw).

Jetboil hiking stove with spare gas and a lock box of tea and coffee (highly recommended).

Sea to summit bowl and cutlery set.

Back country cooked breakfast ready meal, various oat bars.

First Aid Kit with Snake Bite Kit inside.

First Aid Book, Miners Right, Various Maps.

Ray ban folding sunglasses (highly recommended).

Leatherman Wave Multitool (highly recommended).

GoPro Hero 5 and floating handle.

Kathmandu Survival kit.

Compass.

Black Diamond Storm Headtorch (highly recommended).

Rope.

Tropical Strength Insect Repellant.

Sunscreen.

Gaffer Tape.

Spare socks (i always get water in my gum boots so these are a necessity).

Alot of the above is collected from camping trips and hiking trips so i already had some of the stuff above. Alot of it gets used for multiple things and i wont always take everything with me unless i want to or need to.

This is it all packed up. Backpack on my back, bucket in one hand, shovel in my other hand, wellies or boots on my feet. If im wearing boots the gaiters go on. I might need to get a bigger backpack to fit the sieve set in.

And this is what i have found since February. Not amazing i know but i'm loving every minute.

Nice bit of kit, that Fiskar stuff is pretty good considering if it was stamped Minelab or Garrett you would have to add a zero to the price. I have those Bushtracks sieves as well but find them a pain that they dont sit into any of my buckets, the Minelab is great for that, plus the bonus handles.
The good thing about that yellow stuff mate is that it adds up, and everytime you chase it you should get better at it. No reason you wont have 5x the amount in that vial before the end of the year, next year you might fill one. Look how far Chris Vogus progressed (Youtube)

AussieChris said:

Nice bit of kit, that Fiskar stuff is pretty good considering if it was stamped Minelab or Garrett you would have to add a zero to the price. I have those Bushtracks sieves as well but find them a pain that they dont sit into any of my buckets, the Minelab is great for that, plus the bonus handles.
The good thing about that yellow stuff mate is that it adds up, and everytime you chase it you should get better at it. No reason you wont have 5x the amount in that vial before the end of the year, next year you might fill one. Look how far Chris Vogus progressed (Youtube)

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Yeah i like the fiskar stuff too. Cheap price for the quality of it.

They just about fit on top of the 20ltr bucket but i classify into the minelab pan, then pour the contents onto the sieve sitting on the bucket, then put the sieve on top of the minelab pan and classify. Takes a bit of time but once you get a rythm going its alright.

Yeah thats the reason i chose the minelab set over the Garrett set. Although i am still getting used to the pan, its a bit bigger than the black pan im used to.

Yeah i know, i watch all of his videos. He does really well. Looking at the alluvial show and tell thread here keeps me going too.

The only thing holding me back is time really. I generally only get out once or twice a month. I live in south east melbourne so it takes me over an hour to get anywhere with gold. Im not complaining though. Im still learning how to read a creek properly and where the gold settles. Im aiming to get out there this weekend, probably going to go to Sailors creek. I know there is enough water there for the sluice, although i havent found loads of gold. Still learning this creek..

two of the best

Hey ctxkid, have seen a couple of pics of your ctx laying down with the coil flat on the ground, eventually the coil cable will break doing that. I've had it happen to my 11 inch coil, Minelab replaced it under warranty. I got the dreaded "no coil detected warning" . When I called them to speak about it they said "never lay the coil flat as it will keep happening and when out of warranty we won't replace it, do the bolt up tightly and let it rest on the V in the coil".

Just thought I'd let you know m,ate, those 17" coils are very expensive.

Wish they'd make the cables a bit tougher.

Thanx Heatho :Y:
but i don't understand why ?
my coil lead is taped where it enters the shaft, several layers of tape so the not so blunt edge of the shaft doesn't eats in.
then taped inplace so as to never have a "tight" bend in the cable , also it goes "over" not under

It actually breaks where the cable goes into the coil.

Anyway mate, just letting you know what minelab said.

Heatho said:

It actually breaks where the cable goes into the coil.

Anyway mate, just letting you know what minelab said.

Click to expand...

cool thanx again mate :Y:
i hope my precautions will stop that from happening , as there is no stress on that point/area

ctxkid said:

two of the best

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/12410/1529316420_wp_20180606_004.jpg

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who makes that battery cover and where can i get one?

Sourdough Moe said:

ctxkid said:

two of the best

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/12410/1529316420_wp_20180606_004.jpg

Click to expand...

who makes that battery cover and where can i get one?

Click to expand...

It is a DD cover, google or ebay, aussie quality made
It is canvas

Thanks for the post with the pictures AM.
Very helpful for a total beginner - I am still doing reading and research only!
I have yet to make my first field trip.

But please, what is the snuffer bottle?

Jim0000 said:

Thanks for the post with the pictures AM.
Very helpful for a total beginner - I am still doing reading and research only!
I have yet to make my first field trip.

But please, what is the snuffer bottle?

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No problem mate, glad i could help. I've only been doing it for 6 months myself.

A snuffer bottle is a small soft plastic bottle with a straw at the tip. When you squeeze the bottle air comes out of the straw, when you stop squeezing air is sucked back into it. When you have gold in your pan, you use the snuffer bottle to suck up all the gold and some of the black sands you haven't managed to pan off. When you get home, you dump the contents of the snuffer bottle into a pan.

It's a genius way to store the gold when in the field, on the way home, etc.

The straw in the bottle doesn't touch the base of the inside of the bottle, so whatever you suck in shouldn't come back out.

There are plenty of videos on youtube where you can see one in action.

As a total beginner, i would recommend getting a Minelab Pro-Gold panning kit. You can get them at Anaconda for $79. If you aren't an anaconda member, sign up and you get $10 off that price i think. This comes with everything you need including a snuffer bottle which is brilliant. Perfect size, the straw comes out so you have a funnel to dump into your pan. Watch the youtube video for the minelab pro gold panning kit made by minelab and you'll see what i mean. I also like the pan with dual riffles and the classifier with handles. Makes life a bit easier.

Remember to season your pan well before using it to get rid of the oil used in manufacturing, otherwise you'll lose gold. I find using a wire wool scourer with washing up liquid in hot water works well.

Youtube is your friend here. I recommend watching Vo-Gus Prospecting videos and Adventure Gold videos. Just type either of those into the youtube search bar and you'll see plenty of videos to watch.

I hope that helps mate, if you have any more questions i'll be happy to try and answer them.