GPX 4500 with Goldseeker 6" mono @ reef workings

[loamer]

The type of area and the type of gold running the 4500 with an 8" coil - see pic (no, I did not and will not enter this reef mine). Lot of work to cover not much ground but the test proved to me the 6" mono Coiltek goldseeker round creates another level of detecting, especially for small stuff the bigger NF coils can miss.

The plus - works well on very small gold, gets into places the bigger coils cannot, great amongst the quartz debris and amongst the vegetation and leaf litter - no raking needed. As a back-up had an Xterra 70 to do sense checks on any suspect species/quartz lumps. Responses were clear and precise. I might add I used the Xterra in DD iron reject to get rid of a bit of annoying rubbish.

Negatives - the coil being so small creates a counter balance problem, especially if detecting at say a 45 degree angle. Typical mono - no discrimination but the screamers were as usual surface junk that can be kicked aside.

Verdict - great coil and surprised with the depth.

 

[subgram]

Some nice gold... Good to hear, I must grab myself that little coil...

 

[Roscoe]

You lost me a little bit there loamer, was you using a 8" or 6" coil? They are very small pieces your picking up, what was the total weight of all that? I need to buy a small coil for my 5K for the same purpose you are using it for now.

 

[loamer]

sorry mate - the 6". 4500 Settings as follows. For very faint or iffy signals, I ran the Xterra over the target and verified it was a goer. I use plastic coloured tile spacers to mark spots for checking - works well and saves the pain of switching between detectors too much.

What I did notice is that because I was running a small coil very slowly over a known throw-out area, faint signals that I probably would have discounted as minor ground noise, did in fact pull me up. The key is that using the assumption I was on an old area with a defined search area, the 6" was good. If I had of used it for general searching on new ground I would have missed targets - i never use that small a coil on new ground anyway, but it is a new tool for cleaning out patches. Another point to note - I switched between HPs and an external speaker - the HPs won hands down. Please note, I tweeked the Rx and Stabilizer during the days testing but these settings were pretty much ball park. Weight? Probably 1 - 2 grams. i will dolly the whole lot up later. I went very slowly, not my usual sprint across the fields with a big coil. Got some warbling that I got rid of using the Manual tune but aircraft continue to be a pain in the ass- I can 'hear' them coming.

Search mode General
Soil Timings Enhance (I generally never use anything else)
Ground Balance Fixed
Coil/Rx Mono
Back light Off
Battery test Test
Vol Limit HP 12
GB Type General
Special nil - using enhanced on F E/C
Manu Tune 80 - 110
Motion Slow
Rx Gain adjust up 11
Audio Normal Boost
Audio Tone 63 63
Stabilizer 8
Signal 19
Target Volume 8 HP
Response Normal
Tracking Front fixed
Iron reject Off Off

Xterra settings for quartz species.

Gold setting (te pick symbol)
Sens - 30
All metal ( except for rubbish hunting)
Tracking - on.

In other words, I ran it flat out, which makes it useless on mineralised ground.

 

[Willo]

Lovely work loamer, keen to hear further reports.

Ian

 

[Roscoe]

Very interesting method loamer. I understand exactly what you mean now, thanks. That's a very interesting method using both PI & VLF together. So if you have even the slightest threshold change with the pI its worth marking and coming back to it with the VLF. I have a area in mind for your method, it is a reef working area. There is shafts and tailings scattered all over the hills, the old boys got a lot of gold out of them shafts too. I gave myself a day off on friday and road my motorbike into the hills to check out some old workings. I didn't take my detector i was just exploring. Found some interesting old workings, shafts and alluvial workings. I think your method will work well in that area, i will give it ago, and thanks for the settings to.

 

[loamer]

Roscoe - one other thing. Halving using a 6" coil is an absolute pain in the rear. Solution - grab a small kids flat bottomed plastic sand spade - ensure it has a flat bottom. Using a bigger scoop is next to useless. They are about .50c - $1. Alidi, KMart etc have them. You may have to buy a bucket and rake set to get the shovel, but very cheap. I bought several. Put your target soil as close to the front spade of the as possible and wave that across the coil - halve from there. make sure you have a magnifying glass as well. With the Xterra, I just flip the coil over and halve from there - too easy. Be aware of the XTerra/VLF false signals from your hand movement.

Another bit of Xterra fun is to set yourself up on a quartz dump, flip the machine with the coil bottom to the top and bring the quartz to the coil. You can get through heaps (pun intended) that way. It is an old trick I read about in an early GG&T and it works. Some of the quartz dumps have many secrets left in them and if you are just after some nice small but consistent pieces of gold - they can be rewarding. you will never get rich, but I have pulled some throw outs that once crushed were in the grams weight area.

My only other bit of advice, research the reefs and try and hit on ones which had high tonnage crushed to/ounce ratios. You will also be amazed at the coins you will find as well. I look at the reef sites and look for old shade trees and think where would I sit for smoko, lunch and arvos. have pinged tokens, coins, broken watch parts, buttons, metal tops of old clay pipes, buckles etc etc. But never ever a Chinese coin around a reef working - many on the diggings but not on a reef.

 

[Roscoe]

Thanks loamer, I was just studying gold n ghost about tonnage/oz ratio of the mines in the area. The area had a total of 10577oz of gold to 4898 tonnes of ore. So i will go in and check a few out and bring along the VLF also. There is many little gullies leading off from the reefs, these were racked by the old boy's. I will poke around the gullies and mullock heaps nice and slow and see what happens.