Minelab Eureka gold tips, settings, questions

[bob]

Thanks Roscoe now I'm on your wavelength. I have been doing that with any bigger rocks that I pull up especially if they have that vein running through them. I then cast them aside and do not include them in the rake back. It saves me digging them the next week. I have been hopeful that I may get a big one with gold in it but there have been none so far. The real factor that is slowing me down is that I feel the need to repair what I do in a day and then when I come back I have to dig that dirt and rock out and work from where I left off. Also I can't resist spending a bit of time checking the dirt that I rake back each time because even though I have already detected it the week before I have still been finding the odd small piece. I think it would be better to just camp on the spot, do a day's work and then go on from there the next day or just leave the pile in a mess from one week to the next and fix it when I am done. Thanks Roscoe for your feedback and interest.

Cheers Bob.

 

[bob]

It is definitely not detecting weather outside at the moment so here is another post.
Journal entry Friday 25th August.
Today I arrived at 'Mystery' Reef with all the necessary equipment. Also I carried with me fairly low expectations of finding any gold considering the work that I have done here already. Before any digging or raking I detected over last week's repair work. No targets this time. Raking back to get to new ground I could not resist detecting some of this material for targets. (definitely OCD tendencies at work here. A bit like detecting a patch from six different directions). After a couple of hours I had not detected a single target. I thought that today I would go home with no gold to show. At this stage I employed the shovel and using my marker rocks from last week I took the benching down to new ground. Straight away I got a target. A good strong signal. No gold though just another lump of rust. It's the fourth or fifth piece that I have found. They look rough like rocks and could be specimens but when I squash them they flake back with shiny steel showing. I got some positive faint signals that I was sure were gold but after scraping I could find nothing in the dig pile. Getting down to new ground did the trick though and I did manage to find and recover some very small specimens. Some I had to switch to fixed ground balance and boost to recover from the dig piles. The results are shown below.

The bigger specimen is interesting in that it isn't typical of the others that I have found. It is very similar to my very first find last year in a different location. On that occasion there was no gold showing and I had to crack it open to reveal the gold. Towards the end of the day I decided to rake and repair the heap earlier than usual to allow time to recheck and be sure that I left nothing on the surface. My final scan of the heap revealed no targets. I think that I have written the last chapter on 'Mystery' Reef. Detecting is out for the next fortnight and when I resume I think that it will be in a new location. Maybe the crush up will change my mind!! I have made the statement many times that this mullock heap is done but always I am drawn back to it and I am still finding some small bits so who knows?? If the weather isn't good enough for detecting then it is definitely not gardening weather so I may spend this afternoon crushing the specimens and I will post a photo sometime in the future.

Cheers Bob.

 

[roy cobb]

Hi Bob just love reading your post it gives me some hope I may find something with my Eureka gold one day with out giving too much away what area / state are you detecting in
Roy

 

[bob]

Hi Roy
I am pleased you enjoy reading the posts. I'm in Victoria but it's not the Golden Triangle. I already have competition from other operators so that's all I can say. I am fortunate that I can go out often. I have stuck with a known gold area rather than travel here, there and everywhere. When I first started I would go to a different location each time. Since November (last year) I have worked along continuous lines of diggings slowly eliminating one at a time. Using GPS co-ordinates to track my progress from one session to the next. That's how I found the reef. There are three long lines of diggings that each extend for a kilometre or more and they all lead to this reef. None of the leads of mullock heaps and diggings were very productive. On one of the leads we found three pieces using an SDC 2300. It belonged to a friend Jim. He found two bits and I found one. One particular line of diggings that I called the three ounce diggings produced no gold and very few targets. But persistence has been rewarded with a lucky find. Stick at it Roy because the Eureka can find gold. Good luck.

Cheers Bob.

 

[roy cobb]

Thanks bob did not want you to give too much away :lol: but you not close to me as I would have loved to catch up at some atage
Roy

 

[Roscoe]

Not often people are on my wavelength Bob, but now you are on it hang on your in for one hell of a ride.

 

[bob]

The specimen crushing from 25th August was quite surprising. The largest specimen had the least amount of gold, just the small bit that was showing in the photo. The other specimens yielded some bigger bits. The best bits were 0.106g, 0.102g and 0.088g. All up the crushing produced approx. 0.537 grams.

The weight is just an approximation because there is still quite a bit of stone attached to some of the bits. Not a lot of gold but still it is better than nothing. I think it may be time to look for new ground, not sure though.

Cheers Bob.

 

[bob]

Journal Entry, Wednesday 6th September
There were first on many fronts today. The first day out with the new SDC 2300. First time out in a while and no gold!!! I tried raking back more of the heap and using the SDC to detect the ground. The idea was to test both detectors side by side to compare them but rain was threatening most of the afternoon so the Eureka stayed in the car. The threshold on the SDC was not really steady, maybe EMI. I tried all the noise cancel stuff and varying the sensitivity but the threshold still sounded like a buzzing mosquito and sensitivity 4 and 5 sounded more like an Irish jig. I moved to a reef area that I call 'Three Spikes' that has some hotter heaps down in a gully aptly named Scorpion Gully because I have unearthed quite a few scorpions there using the Eureka. The SDC was still warbling with the EMI but it seemed unaffected by the mineralisation and I uncovered several pieces of shot from heaps that I had done with the Eureka and seemingly deeper digs. I know this is a Eureka thread but I'll get to that later. Now that I have an SDC, I am thinking, is there still a place in the kit for the Eureka? I will take it as a spare for a start. You never know what can happen on any given day and it has proven to be very capable of finding gold recently.

Cheers Bob.

 

[PhaseTech]

Hi Bob,

That SDC "not really steady" threshold is just how they are. But don't worry, target signals still bust through.

I would say hang on to your Eureka. You know it finds gold, and you never know when it may come in handy. It certainly has Iron Reject which the SDC doesn't.

 

[bob]

Thanks PhaseTech that's good to know. My experience with the machine is limited.
Wednesday 13th September
I worked around 'Three Spikes' and down into Scorpion Gully. A very windy day with frequent showers. The SDC was the same as the other day. I poked around different heaps. I was happy enough as I was still picking up shot in areas that I had already done back in November/December with the Eureka. I was impressed with the fact that the SDC was unaffected by the hotter heaps. Half way through the day this generated an idea. During a rain delay I would go back to Mystery Reef and do the heap next to the one that had produced all the specimens. It has similar rock types on it but it is a bit hotter than the one that has produced all the results so far. There are more hot rocks and spots of pink clay here and there. The Eureka struggled a little on this heap due to the varying mineralisation I think. Right near the base of the heap I got a variation in the threshold. I thought it was just from moving off the slope onto the flat area of natural ground. Coming back from the flat to the slope of the heap the variation of threshold was still there. I scraped and scanned just the slope part of the heap. Yes a definite target. I'm sure I had covered this heap well with the Eureka but it had only produced a few bits of shot. Any way as I dug down the target got louder and louder to the point of almost an overload or blanking of the signal. It has to be trash being that loud. Down to dust and I could see a clear show of gold. A nice clean piece. My biggest bit yet at 0.302 grams.

So only my second time out with the SDC and a personal best from a heap done with the Eureka. Going over more of the heap produced some quite deep bits of shot. Time to retire the Eureka some would say. But today was not suitable for a head to head test as rain threatened all day and once again the Eureka stayed in the car. I was impressed at the depth and wondered if the Eureka would have found this piece or had I already put the Eureka over this spot and dismissed the signal as ground noise. Lots of unanswered questions but any day finding gold is a good day. What about the Eureka. Well that story is coming.

Cheers Bob.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Thanks PhaseTech that's good to know. My experience with the machine is limited.
Wednesday 13th September
I worked around 'Three Spikes' and down into Scorpion Gully. A very windy day with frequent showers. The SDC was the same as the other day. I poked around different heaps. I was happy enough as I was still picking up shot in areas that I had already done back in November/December with the Eureka. I was impressed with the fact that the SDC was unaffected by the hotter heaps. Half way through the day this generated an idea. During a rain delay I would go back to Mystery Reef and do the heap next to the one that had produced all the specimens. It has similar rock types on it but it is a bit hotter than the one that has produced all the results so far. There are more hot rocks and spots of pink clay here and there. The Eureka struggled a little on this heap due to the varying mineralisation I think. Right near the base of the heap I got a variation in the threshold. I thought it was just from moving off the slope onto the flat area of natural ground. Coming back from the flat to the slope of the heap the variation of threshold was still there. I scraped and scanned just the slope part of the heap. Yes a definite target. I'm sure I had covered this heap well with the Eureka but it had only produced a few bits of shot. Any way as I dug down the target got louder and louder to the point of almost an overload or blanking of the signal. It has to be trash being that loud. Down to dust and I could see a clear show of gold. A nice clean piece. My biggest bit yet at 0.302 grams.https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/628/1505721566_sdc_0.302g..jpg
So only my second time out with the SDC and a personal best from a heap done with the Eureka. Going over more of the heap produced some quite deep bits of shot. Time to retire the Eureka some would say. But today was not suitable for a head to head test as rain threatened all day and once again the Eureka stayed in the car. I was impressed at the depth and wondered if the Eureka would have found this piece or had I already put the Eureka over this spot and dismissed the signal as ground noise. Lots of unanswered questions but any day finding gold is a good day. What about the Eureka. Well that story is coming.

Cheers Bob.

It is impossible to say whether you went over the exact spot because getting the coil overlaps spot on every time is all but impossible so don't let it cloud your thoughts about the Eureka even using big coils we miss spots,

John.

 

[bob]

Friday 15th September.
I chose to go to Mystery Reef and give the SDC a good go over some more of the hotter neighbouring heaps near where I found the bit on Wednesday. I was still getting used to the wavering buzz of the threshold. I held the detector up at arms length so that the coil was vertical and slowly turned around. The threshold was normal??? until I was pointing South, South West. Well the detector really started to play an Irish jig. Maybe the source of some EMI. Sensitivity 4 and 5 were not really usable. I spent my time locating and digging some small targets. Around 3 o'clock the weather really cleared and after a cup of tea at the car, I brought the Eureka back to where I had left the SDC, at the mullock heap that had produced all the specimens. The head to head comparison had begun. The SDC got the first look over the heap. Nothing that I could hear amongst the mosquito buzzing. Time for the Eureka. Switching the Eureka on there was a distinct difference in the threshold, it was a rock steady buzz. I guess I have worked the heap for a while now and the Eureka is tuned in and not as susceptible to EMI. All I had to do was turn it on. Working from the top I caused a bit of a deep foot print in an area that maybe I did not compact too well last week. I flattened it out with the pick and scanned the spot with the Eureka. A soft target signal. I carefully scraped the area and confirmed a target. I carefully used the pick and pulled the target to the top of the heap. I switched on the SDC and tested the target, no signal. Maybe a hot rock??. Switching back to the Eureka I recovered a very small specimen. Scraping back dirt with the pick and detecting I recovered four more very small specimens that the SDC could not detect even when sitting on the surface like sun bakers. I raked and detected this area with the SDC last week!

The two small bits on the left were in a specimen that just crumbled in the dish at home when I rubbed it between my fingers. The four small bits on the right came from a dark bit of rock that I squashed with a hammer. It appeared to be a really dark glassy bit of quartz. All up 0.088grams. I haven't crushed the other three yet but they all have a small spec of gold showing. Well done to the Eureka. So it was an interesting comparison. The last two times out have shown the value of both detectors. I will need to be mindful that the Eureka still has a spot on my detecting team and use it often and keep the batteries charged and operational. Hopefully more finds to come on both fronts.

Cheers Bob.

 

[AU Fever]

Great work Bob

 

[E.T.]

Match used in above images.....

 

[bob]

Very funny E.T. I wish it was!!!!!

Cheers Bob.

 

[bob]

Wednesday 20th September.
I started at the 'Magic' mullock heap. It is just like the Magic Pudding. Cut into it and it produces some tiny surprises. Today I recovered 8 tiny specimens. I had to use fixed and boost on some because they would not register on top of the coil using normal audio. I also gave the SDC a two and a half hour stint and recovered four or five pieces of shot at good depth. After finding the nice bit last week I will continue to use the SDC to check other heaps and hopefully turn up some more. I have left the 'Magic' mullock heap open and I will continue to do some more work there. The specimens from the 15th September produced a total of 0.145grams. The 8 small specimens from today tallied 0.168 grams. Not a lot but it's better than nothing. No photos of this lot as most of the gold crushed up quite fine.

Cheers Bob.

 

[bob]

Wednesday 27th September
Today I spent three hours cutting into the heap; raking, shovelling and detecting for one hot rock and two pieces of rust. Last week I left the heap exposed so I thought that I would have found some bits fairly quickly. I was considering firing up the SDC and looking elsewhere. The first bit turned up around one-thirty. A tiny quite clean piece. Then very quickly I got a bigger flat piece and a small specimen. I had the much needed motivation to continue. I took a break for some lunch and on returning to work, raking and detecting the targets came at fairly regular intervals. I finished the day with seven 'miniscules'.

The crushing of the 'minuscules' was better than expected producing 0.666 grams. No comparison with the SDC today but I also gave it a go on some other heaps when fatigue from raking and detecting started to take its toll. The pudding can stand a bit more cutting, hopefully next week as some gold is better than no gold. I'll continue to use the Eureka on the heap as it is made for the job and explore the other hotter areas with the SDC. Please note a standard match was used in the above photo to give a size comparison.

Cheers Bob.

 

[Riley_greer]

I'm relatively new to detecting but I find it doesn't matter what I try my eureka gold always has a broken threshold signal. It's like I'm going over lots of really tiny targets even though I know I'm not. And ground balancing doesn't seem to work.

Anyone got any tips?
Thanks.

 

[grubstake]

What are the settings you're using on the control panel and which coil is fitted?

 

[bob]

I agree Grubstake as there are some settings, coil combinations and soil conditions that would make every sweep of the coil sound like there were targets there. Until Riley_greer gets back to you I'll sneak in another unrelated post.
Tuesday 3rd October
I gave the pudding another cut today. It took about half an hour to secure my first bit, a small specimen. The Eureka does not show susceptibility to EMI but there were two light planes buzzing over for a while and I think they were affecting the detector. The detector really started to chirp even when stationary especially when the planes were overhead or close enough to hear their engines clearly with the headphones on. Once the planes were gone the Eureka settled down and it was business as usual. Lots of raking and shovelling produced some hot rocks and three more specimens. I was chasing a milestone today; my one hundredth piece detecting. I needed five bits to achieve this goal. My fifth and final piece came about half an hour before pack up time. A tiny piece weighing 0.029 grams. Last week's 'miniscules' produced 0.666 grams which was one of my better days. All the signals were very faint so it was a surprise to get that much. There was a lot of finer gold in that lot. Today's signals were all faint ones as well but each of the specimens is showing gold in multiple spots. There are lots of big rocks with the vein running through it. I'm thinking that I should collect a sample and crush them. Even though they don't give a signal they may contain fine gold or small bits that are out of detector range due the large diameter of the rocks. I'll take a hammer to crack a few next time out. My next goal is to make it to 100 bits with the Eureka. My tally to date is 97 with the Eureka Gold and 3 with an SDC.

The five specimens for the day. My milestone bit is the tiny one in the middle. Technically a specimen as it has some small bits of stone attached. Even though some of the specimens look large the bits of gold are small and they are often linked by fine strands of gold. I have crushed the specimens in the photo for a return of 0.255 grams. Not so bad, but the targets are getting harder to find. Hopefully I will get out tomorrow to give the heap another go.

Cheers Bob.