Don, the first Minelab distributor in Brazil, finds gold nugget cache

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

About 9 days ago, Don who was the first person in Brazil to own a Minelab detector, posted this gold nugget cache he found at the Nugget Shooter Forum.

https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/forum/8-nugget-shooter-forums/

Found around 3 old stumps at an abandoned ranch.

He though at first the jar was something a child had buried,

Don looked inside the jar, saw what was in there and had to sit down. That's enough gold to make any person pass out, can't blame him for taking a sit.

 

[Booney]

Is Don, is good .
Somebody had to do it!
Great find .
Cheers Booney

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

It's good because in Brazil, so many locals all have Minelab gold detectors now and Don just made through a period of no gold. They used to find large nuggets shallow, but now the gold is small and much deeper. :lol:

 

[goldtrapper]

Good luck to Don. Someone will be upset when go back to their cache.

 

[Chiron52]

Would love to know the story about that cache.

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

Good luck to Don. Someone will be upset when go back to their cache.

G'Day Mates! Concerning whether anyone will return for the cache, here are some of my observations on the gold. When viewing the photos with my laptop hooked up to a 29" flat screen TV, I see what looks like tiny bits of gold beside the nuggets which seem to be smaller than what a Minelab gold detector can dtect. In recent years, the locals all have gold detectors, usually Minelab but a few have included a Gold Bug-2 machine by Fisher, to get the smaller bits of gold.

In years past, before miners having gold detectors, the mining operations were dredging on streams and in the reservoir. In times past tons of golds came from one lake.

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

Would love to know the story about that cache.

Close to 7 ounces, looks really good to anyone, especially Don who has been through periods of "no gold" the last couple of years. Don was earlier this season detecting the slopes of the lake, where the "tons of gold" had been dredged up in years past. The water levels over the last few years, been going down to the point of new nugget hunting potential on the slopes of dried up lake bottom. Others have detected around the lake, until gold is now small and deep. Recently Don was hunting there, finding 2 small but nice nuggets. Then the local prospectors set the brush on fire to clear the land for easy swinging their gold detectors. Don almost got trapped with fire burning close to the sides of the access road. Because the military police were called out, Don stayed close to home for a while, finding his cache on a ranch with 3 tree stumps. Think most of the ranch buildings Don said had fallen down, why I was thinking it might be abandoned. There was an old stove top near the cache, after moving it Don still got a beep, so he dug it telling himself the signal must be a horse shoe.

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

In recent times the locals running around carrying gold detectors, like to start fires every year, as the brush grows quickly and makes metal detecting nearly impossible. Ranchers are required to leave a certain percent of the land in a natural state. Burning is illegal and the military police always will be called out. They stop vehicles on the road, tell the person "get out" any metal detectors found will be confiscated during these times of burning. The ranchers blame the prospectors who in turn pass the blame on to ranchers. Don explained how they do it. A heap of dirt is made first, dry grass coiled around the heap, a candle placed on top. By the time a fire really gets going, the gold hunters will be sitting in a coffee shop a 2-3 hour drive away. If asked later, these guys will tell you they were out of town when the fires started. If they don't already know this, some Greenpeace people are going to be mighty upset with gold detecting prospectors in Brazil.

 

[Nightjar]

Best of luck for the finder, although the cache hasn't been buried from very early days?
Plastic bottle and lid, probably no earlier than mid 1950's?
Still a great find, no wonder he had to sit down in disbelief.

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

It's possible the cache could have been recent, but not very likely. Don crosses a stream close to his home, it once had a dredging operation. The cache might have been found on another ranch next to it. Don talked to the ranch owner, who said the dredge operators gave him about 10 grams of gold a week. Usually, ranch owners get 10% of gold you find on their land. If they let you use their excavating equipment to dig trenches for detecting, then the cut is 50%. Problem is most locals now won't get permission because they don't want to give ranch owners their share of gold, Don always talks to ranch owners first and gives them their fair percent, if he finds any gold at all. Gold is getting hard to find, so too many of them sneak on to ranches at night.

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

Best of luck for the finder, although the cache hasn't been buried from very early days?
Plastic bottle and lid, probably no earlier than mid 1950's?
Still a great find, no wonder he had to sit down in disbelief.

Oh I didn't mean that old, just back before all the locals owned gold detectors. Don probably was there for at least 20 years, having been the very first Minelab detector owned in Brazil.