Monte - Big VLF Coil Advice

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I'm headed for Ganes Creek, Alaska in August to look for a large gold nugget. I've had good luck there in the past with the Gold Bug 2 with 14" coil and MXT with 950 coil.
I am looking for a fist-sized gold nugget. No kidding... an 88 ounce and 23 ounce nuggets were found there this week, and a 20 oz and 35 oz pieces earlier this summer. Nuggets 1 oz to 8 oz are common. But so is very large iron junk at depth.
The Gold Bug 2 has great iron id, but poor depth on large nuggets. The MXT has great depth on large nuggets, but tends to call large iron can deep down a good item. We chased one pint-sized paint can down to two feet, reading gold (45 VDI) all the way.
I have a GP 3000 but it really has problems with deep junk. I'm taking it but may or may not use it.
So any ideas on a deep-seeking VLF with good iron rejection? The minimum I want to do is get a larger coil for the MXT that will ignore small junk and hit large items deeper. What do you think about the 14"-18" coils?
I'm strongly considering a lower freq machine like the White's 5900 with 15" coil. Better iron id at depth? Or some other VLF that has a large coil option and good iron disc?
In other words, best solution for fist-sized nugget two feet down versus rusty steel can of similar size and depth? I appreciate any comments or help here, as it is a major issue at Ganes Creek, and a big factor in helping find that big nugget.
Steve Herschbach

 

[Anonymous]

Have any of the guys ever tried running a Nautilus up in that area ? Those things get some awsome depth, and their discrimination is nothing to sneeze at. You also have dual mode operation (all-metal in one ear and disc in the other) and comparing signals makes it relatively easy to tell ferrous from non-ferrous even with the disc side set low. You basically use the AM "signal width" combined with the disc beep to compare ferrous and non-ferrous. All in all, the Nautilus disc circuits are right up there with Tesoro in the iron, and the dual-mode operation gives you that much more audio information on the AM side. The IIb and IIba also operate at 14kHz, so sensitivity to even smaller gold is very good, and they have coils available in 6, 8, 10, and 15 inch sizes for some pretty impressive versatility. Range of operator adjustment is awsome as well, with vernier tuners on the discrimination and ground balance, with manual loop balance available on the IIb that can be tweaked to some advantage in areas where the ground gets a little hot.
I think the Nautilus being dubbed a "relic machine only" is doing a great injustice to a great design with super performance. Been using one for coin and jewelry hunting, and it will match or exceed anything out there. No TID, VDI, or other ID capabilities other than pure linear discrimination, more of a "seat of the pants" fully manual machine. For raw depth in a VLF discrimination machine, it would be hard to beat, and holds its own against most PI units on mild to moderate dry ground. Also has a separate TR mode than can be switched to to help ID larger iron by "nulling" over the center of ferrous targets while giving a good positive over non-ferrous. Might be worth considering on some of those "big 'uns"... <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
Ralph

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Ralph,
That is the kind of "outside the box" thinking I'm looking for. At Ganes creek the nuggets are so large that gold sensitivity in the traditional sense is not an issue. Nor is the ground very mineralized. What you have is large nuggets mixed with liberal amounts of large iron and steel trash... at all depths.
So the trick is to pull in the big nuggets without being worn out digging big steel at depth. Usually if you are down to two feet and no target found, you can assume junk and walk away. But at Ganes the largest nugget found ran 122 ounces, and the 88 oz nugget found this week proves there are still large ones lurking. Little gold is not the goal here, and I'm willing to pass on anything under 1 ounce.
The Nautilus had my interest anyway, but I did not know about the large coil option. Unless a better option presents itself it may be the way to go. The TR mode would be a big plus. Thanks!
Steve Herschbach

 

[Anonymous]

I've used that TR mode many times to identify "iffy" signals that I thought were iron, but wasn't completely sure. Not much room for doubt when you hear that tell-tale null in the signal.
The IIb is like the old "lunchbox" detectors mounted forward on a double-S rod, but the weight isn't as bad as many claim.... no heavier than a CZ5 or 3D with like-sized coils, and it really is a BOX FULL of detector with just about everything you can imagine in the way of manual tuning (except maybe variable SAT - but that would be a quick fix).
If you decide to go that route, let me know how it does for you. Might get a new trend started...... <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
Ralph