⭐ Gold Detecting Show'n Tell

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I took myself out yesterday for the first time on my own, and only the second time with my own detector. I did a little research for locations on GeoVic, but nothing really prepares you for finding your way when you are actually out there. I might have got myself a little lost :lol: , but that was okay - I broke out the detector anyway, only to find mostly rubbish. I felt a bit like an imposter out there with my detector pretending I knew what I was doing.

How do people decide which sounds are worth investigating? I got a lot of really sharp and strong signals, and after locating ring pulls and bits of scrap metal many times, I decided that those sounds are not worth investigating. Did I do the right thing?
 
Geovic & Australian Geology etc sites will put you in generally well known old diggings ...... information that people have been using for years ..... like most things 1st in best dressed and most of the "easy"gold will have been found.

Success will come by looking for the areas on any of those diggings that others may have deemed too difficult to be bothered with, move logs/sticks, get in close to/under bushes and scrub, move aside deeper leaf piles etc. anything to get that SDC into areas others may have missed. With the SDC a general rule would be to stick close to old timers diggings, search on and around these areas, especially if access appears difficult. Gold will also be found off/between diggings but he ground there will usually be to deep for the SDC.

Until you really get the hang of the SDC it's better NOT to run it flat out, stick to around setting 3 and 4 or so lights on sens.
The secret is to listen for sounds that make you think "was that really a signal??", go slow, move an inch or so of dirt and check again, hopefully it will increase in volume, if it doesn't it may have been ground mineralisation or a small hot rock .....

Sharp/loud signals shouldn't be ignored, check and clear and rust/pellets/etc/etc and check again, while they will usually be shotgun pellets the next one just may be gold (that someone else didn't check thinking it was junk).

Unfortunately we're now faced with many watching gold shows/youtube thinking it's easy ..... sadly it isn't and those extra numbers are all out there competing for the same scarce resource, you just need to be more confident than the last person to walk the area (and expect around 25 junk targets to each piece of gold).

I've switched from an SDC to the 6000 but managed to find gold with it on close to 100% of the time, they are a great detector.

Enjoy your time out there, enjoy the occasional wildlife encounter and stay confident.

Cheers T.

Oh, if you hadn't considered it think about joining a detecting/PMAV club in your area, you'll learn a lot.
 
GoldnJules said:
I took myself out yesterday for the first time on my own, and only the second time with my own detector. I did a little research for locations on GeoVic, but nothing really prepares you for finding your way when you are actually out there. I might have got myself a little lost :lol: , but that was okay - I broke out the detector anyway, only to find mostly rubbish. I felt a bit like an imposter out there with my detector pretending I knew what I was doing.

How do people decide which sounds are worth investigating? I got a lot of really sharp and strong signals, and after locating ring pulls and bits of scrap metal many times, I decided that those sounds are not worth investigating. Did I do the right thing?

No...any alloy plus gold sound the same on a PI machine.
Lots of people don't trust the discriminator (blanking) with a DD coil but it saves a lot of time if you're in a trashy area. :cool:
 
GoldnJules said:
I took myself out yesterday for the first time on my own, and only the second time with my own detector. I did a little research for locations on GeoVic, but nothing really prepares you for finding your way when you are actually out there. I might have got myself a little lost :lol: , but that was okay - I broke out the detector anyway, only to find mostly rubbish. I felt a bit like an imposter out there with my detector pretending I knew what I was doing.

How do people decide which sounds are worth investigating? I got a lot of really sharp and strong signals, and after locating ring pulls and bits of scrap metal many times, I decided that those sounds are not worth investigating. Did I do the right thing?

A couple of years back I went for a run on the quad about 6km north of town to a pending lease. I wanted to check out a cable I'd repaired on the GPX4500 and I was lucky enough to snag a few small ones while I was there. From where I was working I could see another couple of guys taking turns on an SDC2300 so when I was leaving a popped over to say g'day. The guy sitting under the awning said "did you hear about the 220g bit found here last year?" I said no so he took me over to a little dent in the ground and said it was right there amongst the rubbish 100mm below the surface with the SDC2300. They came back again to check out all the rubbish they'd ignored the previous year. You can imagine how 220g screamed on the 2300, anybody would just take it for another beer can.

Did you do the right thing? Yes of course, it's nice to leave the big bits behind for somebody less fortunate :lol:
 
If you can find lead shot , that will be the closest sound to gold, more of a rounded sound than a zinger... the only way to really find gold is DIG EVERY TARGET,
all detectors should be sold with the instructions of dig every target and the fact most detectorists average 100 trash targets per 1 gold nugget.
 
I was told by my old mate from the Mt. Magnet area that nobody can tell if a signal is gold or rubbish and he's found plenty of good sized pieces of gold that he thought were probably rubbish. He told me dig up everything and don't walk away until you find what made the signal. :goldnugget:
 
That is true , after lunch I will never get a big nugget as my will power can't take any more disappointment, when time is limited my sdc will play a sweet tune on sub gram nuggets and lead shot. When exhausted I listen for these so I atleast go home with a nuggy or a pocket full of shotgun pellets.
From what I've seen multi gram nuggets have the same tone and overload as big nails wire and pick tips.
It is foolish to let your brain sort signals to dig or not, but it is a mind game.
 
Teemore said:
Geovic & Australian Geology etc sites will put you in generally well known old diggings ...... information that people have been using for years ..... like most things 1st in best dressed and most of the "easy"gold will have been found.

Success will come by looking for the areas on any of those diggings that others may have deemed too difficult to be bothered with, move logs/sticks, get in close to/under bushes and scrub, move aside deeper leaf piles etc. anything to get that SDC into areas others may have missed. With the SDC a general rule would be to stick close to old timers diggings, search on and around these areas, especially if access appears difficult. Gold will also be found off/between diggings but he ground there will usually be to deep for the SDC.

Until you really get the hang of the SDC it's better NOT to run it flat out, stick to around setting 3 and 4 or so lights on sens.
The secret is to listen for sounds that make you think "was that really a signal??", go slow, move an inch or so of dirt and check again, hopefully it will increase in volume, if it doesn't it may have been ground mineralisation or a small hot rock .....

Sharp/loud signals shouldn't be ignored, check and clear and rust/pellets/etc/etc and check again, while they will usually be shotgun pellets the next one just may be gold (that someone else didn't check thinking it was junk).

Unfortunately we're now faced with many watching gold shows/youtube thinking it's easy ..... sadly it isn't and those extra numbers are all out there competing for the same scarce resource, you just need to be more confident than the last person to walk the area (and expect around 25 junk targets to each piece of gold).

I've switched from an SDC to the 6000 but managed to find gold with it on close to 100% of the time, they are a great detector.

Enjoy your time out there, enjoy the occasional wildlife encounter and stay confident.

Cheers T.

Oh, if you hadn't considered it think about joining a detecting/PMAV club in your area, you'll learn a lot.

Hey T - thanks so much for the advice. I really appreciate that you have taken the time to write it all up. I like your thinking about GeoVic - the thought has crossed my mind that everyone can see the same things and that many many people have been going to the same sites for years, so whats the chance of finding something in the easy to get to places.

I did begin to realise that sharp/loud signals are not what I should spend time on, and I did get a few of those signals where I asked myself was that really a signal, and it was, just not gold. I know I will find something one day, but I know its not easy. To begin with Im happy to be learning new stuff, and gradually building up my confidence and knowledge. On the face of it, it seems like it should be easy - just pick up your detector, switch it on and off you go - but I have been warned, and I do know its not that easy, and I never expected it would be. Its as much about being out in nature as it is about finding something precious - argh, who am I kidding, its probably more about the prospect of finding gold ;) :lol:

Cheers
Jules
 
GoldnJules said:
I took myself out yesterday for the first time on my own, and only the second time with my own detector. I did a little research for locations on GeoVic, but nothing really prepares you for finding your way when you are actually out there. I might have got myself a little lost :lol: , but that was okay - I broke out the detector anyway, only to find mostly rubbish. I felt a bit like an imposter out there with my detector pretending I knew what I was doing.

How do people decide which sounds are worth investigating? I got a lot of really sharp and strong signals, and after locating ring pulls and bits of scrap metal many times, I decided that those sounds are not worth investigating. Did I do the right thing?

GoldnJules, take a look at this video. The film quality is quite poor but I've done my best to show you what a nugget sounds like.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/G6lu3QfMhcE[/video]

It runs for 13.5 minutes so sit back and enjoy :)
 
Moneybox said:
GoldnJules, take a look at this video. The film quality is quite poor but I've done my best to show you what a nugget sounds like.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/G6lu3QfMhcE[/video]

It runs for 13.5 minutes so sit back and enjoy :)

Moneybox - this is great! Love the video, it really demonstrates that you cant tell whats there simply by sound alone. Some amazing pieces there!

Thank you.
 
Went out again today, this time with a friend who has vastly more experience at detecting and where best to go than I do - and I found my first two pieces of gold. I was so excited when I got down to those last few bits of gravel expecting to see another piece of lead shot and could almost not believe my eyes when I saw a tiny piece of gold. It weighed in at 0.13 grams. The second piece I found quite a few hours later and it weighs 0.11 grams. Not huge pieces but Im happy with that.

Thank you everyone who told me to dig every target - I did that today, found a lot of rubbish and got a few blisters, but I also found my gold.
1646822876_d8879399-fe53-4576-992a-8b58ee44815a.jpg
 
GoldnJules said:
Went out again today, this time with a friend who has vastly more experience at detecting and where best to go than I do - and I found my first two pieces of gold. I was so excited when I got down to those last few bits of gravel expecting to see another piece of lead shot and could almost not believe my eyes when I saw a tiny piece of gold. It weighed in at 0.13 grams. The second piece I found quite a few hours later and it weighs 0.11 grams. Not huge pieces but Im happy with that.

Thank you everyone who told me to dig every target - I did that today, found a lot of rubbish and got a few blisters, but I also found my gold.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...2876_d8879399-fe53-4576-992a-8b58ee44815a.jpg

Well done, they get a bit (just a very small bit) easier once you've got your first.
 

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