Choosing Where To Detect.

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Hi - first post here. As a newbie I would appreciate any comments regarding choice of where to detect. My question is not about how to use my detector (GPX4500) but rather where. I have just been up to Hanging Rock near Nundle NSW, with the idea of detecting downhill from an old gold-bearing reef mining site (Dead Bird/Shamrock). After wandering around collecting the customary boot/horseshoe nails & bullets, I started thinking of the origin of the ground I was walking over - the quartz gold-bearing reefs & veins there were often quite narrow, so presumably they would have taken it all away for crushing, only leaving mullock heaps of barren rock for me to wander over. So my question is - is there any point in detecting over such ground, or should I seek areas where there is/was different types of mining eg surfacing? Any suggestions would be gratefully received, cheers!
 
Bijoutier said:
Hi - first post here. As a newbie I would appreciate any comments regarding choice of where to detect. My question is not about how to use my detector (GPX4500) but rather where. I have just been up to Hanging Rock near Nundle NSW, with the idea of detecting downhill from an old gold-bearing reef mining site (Dead Bird/Shamrock). After wandering around collecting the customary boot/horseshoe nails & bullets, I started thinking of the origin of the ground I was walking over - the quartz gold-bearing reefs & veins there were often quite narrow, so presumably they would have taken it all away for crushing, only leaving mullock heaps of barren rock for me to wander over. So my question is - is there any point in detecting over such ground, or should I seek areas where there is/was different types of mining eg surfacing? Any suggestions would be gratefully received, cheers!

Gday

There is always the chance of finding some gold in areas such as you describe, detecting the down slopes from mines is what everyone does so it is probably well picked over anyway, but maybe you need to think outside the box and start considering ranging further away from the mine as well, as specimens and nuggets can travel some ways from the source, if it were a reef that was on the surface it would very likely have shed stone carrying gold that has moved downhill and away on to the flats so its always worthwhile to go further away and see whats about, if there are other mines following the same trend why not spend some time working the areas in between, as there could be other reefs along the trend that might not have broken the surface and lay just under the ground ready to be found, areas to look out for would be those that have a sparse covering of vegetation and fewer shrubs and small trees, as the ground is shallow in these spots because the bedrock or reef is closer to the surface and there is less soil to allow bigger plants to grow in.

Also you have to remember that the old timers only had their eyes to work with and the rock you see laying in the mullock heaps could also contain some good specimen nuggets, if they did not see visible gold in the stone then it was discarded and only what was considered payable stone was sent to be crushed, in these areas if you persist you might do ok, also work these areas with several sized coils, start with your smallest coil, I prefer the minelab 8" round mono for picking through the mulloch heaps as it will go pretty deep and will see the fine gold in a lot of specimens, also remember that the ground under the mullock heaps could contain deeper specimens or nuggets that were there before the overburden was dumped there so try larger coils as well, maybe 11" or 12", and then an 18' or 20", I have found some very good specimens in ground beneath mullock heaps that were were still in the virgin ground, because I have spent the time to carefully detect the area with bigger coils and many of these were in areas that could be considered flogged as well as they would have been visited by dozens of people over the years.

cheers

stayyerAU
 
I dont bother with reefs they always look to deep and confusing. Im also starting to not bother with mullock heaps either. My logic is for nearly 40 years others have been doing exactly the same with detectors on the same spots so theres likely not much left at these areas.
 
Hi Bijoutier, and Welcome to A.P.

Great questions, and I think most of us have asked ourselves the same and similar too at some point in time. I guess the answers too would vary for each of us depending on what we each want/ get out of detecting. I've some times thought of metal detecting as much the same as motorcycles. If it were a book it would be called a variation of the great book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Except it would be called "Zen and the Art of Metal Detecting Pleasure" or something like that.

What I mean is, say with motorcycles we all agreed we were all on a Motorcycle forum because we all loved "Motorcycles and Motorcycling". One member would say "yeah, nothing beats flying down the road at break-neck speed on my Superbike (GPZ 7000 detector) and getting the most out of every corner and straight. Another member would say, "They're crap, nothing beats a good 'ol SD 2000 (Vincent HRD) that's stood the test of time and can still hammer it around the bends". Someone else would say "That's just boring. Trials riding is where it's at". Then the Harley dudes would look at all of them and say "That's not Motorcycling!", and someone else could say "Well, I just like general everyday motorcycling on my Honda road bike (GPX 4500/ 5000).

Well, that's how I see detecting. For me, I'd like to find a big mofo nugget to name after my beautiful wife. That means big coils on deep ground, hence the name Deepseeker.

But the SDC guys get their jollies picking up all the little pieces that I have no hope of finding and have probably walked over and missed dozens of times already.
Now some would use the well-worn refrain "But it all adds up!". Yep, so does my time digging up boot tacks, lead shot and other crap. If I wanted to make serious money on a Saturday I'd open my shop on weekends and work instead. Whereas, the guys who do detect full time for a living would most probably use a mid-size coil or all sizes depending on terrain, and think of what is the bread and butter gold in the areas they detect, rather than try to see what the smallest particle is that they can find, or try to earn a living by looking for the next hand of faith and starving to death first.

But then, there are also people who simply pan for gold, and get a lot of pleasure out of of few grains floating around in a little bottle, while others go out to specifically ping coins and artifacts in mining areas. Then, there are the people on the forum who like to be contrarians or enjoy arguing, and they'd say "Oh Yeah? well take a look at this big sucker I found with my SDC in the stream! How much gold have you found so far!?"And some Crevicer who couldn't give a fig about metal detectors or panning would then come on with a pic of a big jar of collected finds and would say "There's far more in the cracks and crevices in that stream than you will ever find with a detector".....

And then, to varying degrees there are those of us who get our jollies seeing wild flowers, wildlife and Geological marvels while out in the field and couldn't really care less if the truth be told, whether we find gold or not. :)

Finally, to my point (and thanks for bearing with me thus far, if indeed you are still reading this), it depends on whether you only detect locally or are prepared to travel some distance to find a particular type of gold. If, like a lot of detectorists you only want to "find some color" then maybe go back to the reef and stick on a very small coil? If you are looking for biggies, then you need to research the type/s of areas where they are known to lurk (such as the GT here in Vic) and be prepared to travel there. And, importantly, be prepared to have much longer times between digs (for much deeper junk when you do dig), and accept that you are going to see a lot of gold, but it will be other peoples pics of it on here :) That's the lot of the Deepseeker by the way, but I'm ok with that. My point is you need to work out what's most important to YOU to get out of this hobby to stick with it and get the most out of your detector investment and/or your detecting pleasure, and then do the research for the particular area/s type of gold you are after. Only then grasshopper, can you grasp the nugget and leave the temple :goldnugget:
 
Thanks mate. And it's what makes this such a great hobby, in that there are so many variations of it to keep you interested for the rest of your life. I'm 56, and I figure when I'm too old and stuffed to walk all day swinging a big coil and digging monster holes looking for big nuggets, I'll strap on a small coil and look fur sub-grammers. When I'm too old for that I'll make the grandkids wheel me down to the stream so I can sit there and pan all day. :)
 
Deepseeker said:
Hi Bijoutier, and Welcome to A.P.

Great questions, and I think most of us have asked ourselves the same and similar too at some point in time. I guess the answers too would vary for each of us depending on what we each want/ get out of detecting. I've some times thought of metal detecting as much the same as motorcycles. If it were a book it would be called a variation of the great book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". Except it would be called "Zen and the Art of Metal Detecting Pleasure" or something like that.

What I mean is, say with motorcycles we all agreed we were all on a Motorcycle forum because we all loved "Motorcycles and Motorcycling". One member would say "yeah, nothing beats flying down the road at break-neck speed on my Superbike (GPZ 7000 detector) and getting the most out of every corner and straight. Another member would say, "They're crap, nothing beats a good 'ol SD 2000 (Vincent HRD) that's stood the test of time and can still hammer it around the bends". Someone else would say "That's just boring. Trials riding is where it's at". Then the Harley dudes would look at all of them and say "That's not Motorcycling!", and someone else could say "Well, I just like general everyday motorcycling on my Honda road bike (GPX 4500/ 5000).

Well, that's how I see detecting. For me, I'd like to find a big mofo nugget to name after my beautiful wife. That means big coils on deep ground, hence the name Deepseeker.

But the SDC guys get their jollies picking up all the little pieces that I have no hope of finding and have probably walked over and missed dozens of times already.
Now some would use the well-worn refrain "But it all adds up!". Yep, so does my time digging up boot tacks, lead shot and other crap. If I wanted to make serious money on a Saturday I'd open my shop on weekends and work instead. Whereas, the guys who do detect full time for a living would most probably use a mid-size coil or all sizes depending on terrain, and think of what is the bread and butter gold in the areas they detect, rather than try to see what the smallest particle is that they can find, or try to earn a living by looking for the next hand of faith and starving to death first.

But then, there are also people who simply pan for gold, and get a lot of pleasure out of of few grains floating around in a little bottle, while others go out to specifically ping coins and artifacts in mining areas. Then, there are the people on the forum who like to be contrarians or enjoy arguing, and they'd say "Oh Yeah? well take a look at this big sucker I found with my SDC in the stream! How much gold have you found so far!?"And some Crevicer who couldn't give a fig about metal detectors or panning would then come on with a pic of a big jar of collected finds and would say "There's far more in the cracks and crevices in that stream than you will ever find with a detector".....

And then, to varying degrees there are those of us who get our jollies seeing wild flowers, wildlife and Geological marvels while out in the field and couldn't really care less if the truth be told, whether we find gold or not. :)

Finally, to my point (and thanks for bearing with me thus far, if indeed you are still reading this), it depends on whether you only detect locally or are prepared to travel some distance to find a particular type of gold. If, like a lot of detectorists you only want to "find some color" then maybe go back to the reef and stick on a very small coil? If you are looking for biggies, then you need to research the type/s of areas where they are known to lurk (such as the GT here in Vic) and be prepared to travel there. And, importantly, be prepared to have much longer times between digs (for much deeper junk when you do dig), and accept that you are going to see a lot of gold, but it will be other peoples pics of it on here :) That's the lot of the Deepseeker by the way, but I'm ok with that. My point is you need to work out what's most important to YOU to get out of this hobby to stick with it and get the most out of your detector investment and/or your detecting pleasure, and then do the research for the particular area/s type of gold you are after. Only then grasshopper, can you grasp the nugget and leave the temple :goldnugget:

Love this. I am happy swinging, panning and crevacing. Thing is you are spot on in that each is a very different part of the hobby, and each has its own rewards...other than the golden type. I guess I am like one of those guys with different types of motorcycles in the garage :playful:
 
Yep, and there's nothing wrong with that either TheFossil. If it wasn't for the fact that Mrs Deepseeker nearly killed me when I bought the GPX 5000 without telling her last year, I'd also buy an SDC 2300, a Sluice, some crevicing gear and the list goes on. My survival strategy though when she went ballistic at my purchase, was to say "But I only want to find a big nugget as beautiful as you dear and name it after you" :) She's on board now and my life has been spared, so I can't deviate from the plan now by coming home with small stuff as she will smell a rat :awful:

At least this way if I don't find a biggie, I can say "Well darling, it looks like there are none as beautiful as you" :cool:
 
that's a real good narrative Deepseeker.
I too dont get a lot of time on the goldfields, so until I get to retirement age with all the time I want, I'd rather spend the day wandering around like a lost dog sniffing the ground, enjoying the countryside, dodging snakes, & hoping for a big bone ( :goldnugget: ), & not spending hours n hours in the heat digging flakes. I'm happy to leave whatever I miss for someone else who has the inclination to dig flyshyt. Until I retire, then I might get more serious.
good luck to all, on whatever tickles your fancy :pickshovel: :goldpan: :goldnugget: :Y:
 
Many thanks to all who posted such helpful information!! I have just purchased the Nugget Finder 15" Evo coil, and am waiting for my bonus 8x6 Sadie coil to arrive. After reading the advice from you guys I will try the Sadie on the dumps and see what it finds burrowing where the bigger coils can't go.
Thank you all again for your great advice! :) :Y:
 

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