⭐ Gold Detecting Show'n Tell

[tryhard1968]

Nice piece Wally, dont you just love that SDC

 

[Wally69]

Thanks guys, reef gold has a great shape about it and always puts a big smile on my dial.

 

[Keano]

Looks like I'm buying Walshie!

 

[walshie1000]

Haha I dunno mate, you and that new coil are a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention that SDC of yours

 

[SCROUNGER]

Come on Keano, don't give up that easily, you got two machines working for ya :lol:

 

[Keano]

Reverse psychology.... From what I've seen so far Scrounger, he doesn't handle pressure to well!!

 

[SCROUNGER]

That's the spirit mate. Lure him into a false sense of security and then hit him with a 10 grammer :lol: You two get going and you'll both be outthere after dark. :lol: Good luck fellas.

 

[walshie1000]

I live for that pressure haha. Hopefully we both find multi ouncers at the exact same time!

 

[TheinkinJapan]

Hi guys,

Was lucky enough to do a bit of detecting in the last few months.

First, I was in Melbourne and got up to Whipstick area. The SDC2300 never lets me down and I would definitely recommend it for beginners. I am getting used to finding gold- it is a joy every time, but I am starting to get less excited finding those 0.04 gram pieces! On my best day I found 18 pieces- all hammered ground. I know some of you are quite happy not to bother with the tiny bits, but as a beginner all I wanted was to find some gold and the SDC2300 is a fantastic machine for that- maybe the best? I found many pieces that were only 0.04-0.05 grams, a few slightly bigger, and a couple that were smaller. In total, about 50 pieces.

Then a few weeks ago I got to WA which was fantastic. Found 10-15 small pieces - mainly around 0.2-0.3 grams, but what I found really exciting was finding my first specimens- 4 in total, all in the same area- 3 on top and one just below the surface. The photo is of the largest of them.

I am optimistic that this thing has a few grams of gold in it which will make it my largest piece by far. It spends a lot of time in my pocket lol. It definitely feels more like a fishing sinker and less like a rock. I am hoping that it will not be too crystaline, if it is at all, because I would hate to have to put it in a display case and not touch it.

Any ideas on how to get the rock off? I have been doing some research and hydrofloric acid or whatever that nasty stuff is sounds like more trouble than I want. Oxalic acid sounds good for cleaning, but I am wondering if it is too weak for so much rock? Do you think hydrochloric acid wold do better, and if so, what solution would you recommend? My first time cleaning species so advice appreciated. Not so keen on the crushing method for this one. lol.

 

[Guest]

That's better. Good looking pieces. The sdc is really proving itself, might have to invest in one myself.

cheers,
Paul

 

[Guest]

Great collection there TJ, well done. Alibrite has a very small amount of HF in it and as for any acids caution is a must, No sane person on the planet who knows anything about HF wouldn't take all the necessary precautions when handling HF. Splashes and the gas released are what concern me when using HF. I was talking to a mate a week ago about how I use Alibrite to clean my gold and explained the precaution I take when using it. He than preceded to tell me he has had it all over himself because he saw some bloke on a car forum using it to clean his engine blocks and my mate was doing the same. Knowledge is a must. Each to their own.

NG

 

[Wally69]

Great SDC gold

Hydroclauric acid is where I would start on your specimen. I would work it progressively, removing it from the acid regularly and cleaning with a toothbrush and removing any loose rock with a pin.

Depending what look you want, you can go all the way and leave a gold crystal matrix, but you won't be able to keep it in your pocket. Sounds like a bit of a acid clean might be your frist step and when you get bored of showing it off at BBQs remove the rest of the rock and mount it in a display box.

If you are concerned about the connectivity, you can test that with a multimeter or rig up a torch light to a battery and test for a circuit.

 

[nucopia]

Awesome well done,but please leave some for the rest of us to find

Love to see it when its had its acid bath and cleaned up.

 

[TheinkinJapan]

Awesome well done,but please leave some for the rest of us to find

Love to see it when its had its acid bath and cleaned up.

Thanks! Will definitely post some more pics to show you what it looks like when done .

 

[nucopia]

Thanks theinkinJapan. Great user name by the way.
Must be a very interesting story behind your choice.
8)

 

[G0lddigg@]

Bloody awesome piece there id be over tye moon with a piece like that congratulations

 

[Keen Ken]

In cleaning up the specimen you could try what I did, I purchased a rubbish looking nugget with plenty of quartz attached, dark and dirty looking.
I heated the piece till the gold was red hot and dropped it in a solution of water and "dry pool acid".
I did that a couple of times and most of the quartz is gone( the shock crazes and cracks the quartz), the nugget looks ten times better.

 

[LoneWalker]

Hi Keen,

Actually you need to be very careful when you are using thermal shock method to get rid of the quartz.I tried that few weeks ago and noticed that most of the broken quartz pieces bearing tiny specks of gold.

under 60X magnification

By the way this is my 36gr specimen(contains 7 gr gold according to gravity test) which I found couple of weeks ago in golden triangle with GPZ7000.

 

[TheinkinJapan]

By the way this is my 36gr specimen(contains 7 gr gold according to gravity test) which I found couple of weeks ago in golden triangle with GPZ7000.

That is an awesome piece. Do you need bodyguards up there? Human and drug trafficking city isn't it?

I didn't know about the specific gravity test - I just tried it. 11.32 dry, 9.04 suspended in water. The tricky part is the specific gravity of the rock- some of it is light, but there is some dark ironstone in there too. Using a specific gravity of 3 for the rock, looks like 5+ grams of gold. If I am way off it could be half that though.

 

[deepblue]

Mate don't destroy a beautiful specimen leave it as it is. Each specimen is a one off and worth much more. I have never broken up or destroyed a specimen by trying to recover the gold.
cheers db