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New Minelab gold machine coming?
- Thread starter D&P-OR
- Start date
steve herschbach
New member
There are lots of rumors floating of a detector being advertised in the January 2014 issue of Lost Treasure magazine. The ad copy states:
THE FIRST, REAL COMPACT MID-RANGE GOLD DETECTOR IS COMING...
Waterproof
Compact
Rugged
No assembly
Easy to use (switch on & go)
Finds small gold
Proven MPS technology
Most of the speculation is centered around a consumer version of the Minelab F3 Compact demining detector http://www.minelab.com/usa/products/countermine/mine-detectors/f3-compact. The ad has a partial photo that resembles the F3 but blue instead of green.
THE FIRST, REAL COMPACT MID-RANGE GOLD DETECTOR IS COMING...
Waterproof
Compact
Rugged
No assembly
Easy to use (switch on & go)
Finds small gold
Proven MPS technology
Most of the speculation is centered around a consumer version of the Minelab F3 Compact demining detector http://www.minelab.com/usa/products/countermine/mine-detectors/f3-compact. The ad has a partial photo that resembles the F3 but blue instead of green.
bearkat4160
New member
""THE FIRST, REAL COMPACT MID-RANGE GOLD DETECTOR IS COMING..."" = Uh.....not. Maybe the second.
steve herschbach
New member
Wrong F3. The F3 Compact is a different model, weighs in at 5.5 lbs http://www.minelab.com/usa/products/countermine/mine-detectors/f3-compact?view=faq
The market for gold nugget detectors in the US and Australia is probably cooling off due to the "relaxed" price of gold and the spreading realization - in the US at least - that what is left in the ground is either small, on somebody's claim or both. The real growth markets are in Africa, parts of Asia and South America.
The GPX 5000 is no doubt the best gold detector in the world at the moment and for sheer depth, power and adaptability, nothing rivals it.
Selling more GPX detectors (and perhaps X-Terra's) was harder for ML in 2013 than 2012. If you read and compare Codan's annual reports for the two years (Minelab is a division of Codan, an Austrailian electronics conglomerate), you will see that their Minelab division's sales in Africa dropped in the latter part of FiscalYear 2013. It was West Africa where their sales boom in 2012 occurred and there that the drop occurred. They basically state that they are not sure exactly why this happened.
I certainly don't pretend to know, Minelab cites the lower gold price and political unrest. They do not cite competition as a factor, but that cannot be discounted. I did notice that Whites brought out one or more machines which only appear on their international distributors' websites. I also understand that First Texas machines are widely sold into this key market.
The customers - referred to as artisanal miners - are poorly educated, poor people living in remote areas. Sophisticated detectors with multiple external connections and expensive and potentially fragile rechargeable battery packs might be at a disadvantage due to reliability and robustness factors. Recharging a battery pack requires power from electrical service (unlikely), a generator, a vehicle or solar cells. All of this is more complicated and expensive to provide than cheap Chinese alkaline batteries.
Garrett and Minelab have robust, simple to operate (minimum user settings) and capable deming detectors. Garrett has beaten Minelab to market with a PI gold detector in this format. Minelab is pre announcing their answer now and it will probably not reach the market before spring or summer 2014.
Our markets in North America and Australia are not likely to prove a major source of revenue growth for Minelab because every one of their new compact mid-range detectors will compete not only against the ATX and TDI, but the GPX 5000.
Here are some of Minelab's most important customers.
The GPX 5000 is no doubt the best gold detector in the world at the moment and for sheer depth, power and adaptability, nothing rivals it.
Selling more GPX detectors (and perhaps X-Terra's) was harder for ML in 2013 than 2012. If you read and compare Codan's annual reports for the two years (Minelab is a division of Codan, an Austrailian electronics conglomerate), you will see that their Minelab division's sales in Africa dropped in the latter part of FiscalYear 2013. It was West Africa where their sales boom in 2012 occurred and there that the drop occurred. They basically state that they are not sure exactly why this happened.
I certainly don't pretend to know, Minelab cites the lower gold price and political unrest. They do not cite competition as a factor, but that cannot be discounted. I did notice that Whites brought out one or more machines which only appear on their international distributors' websites. I also understand that First Texas machines are widely sold into this key market.
The customers - referred to as artisanal miners - are poorly educated, poor people living in remote areas. Sophisticated detectors with multiple external connections and expensive and potentially fragile rechargeable battery packs might be at a disadvantage due to reliability and robustness factors. Recharging a battery pack requires power from electrical service (unlikely), a generator, a vehicle or solar cells. All of this is more complicated and expensive to provide than cheap Chinese alkaline batteries.
Garrett and Minelab have robust, simple to operate (minimum user settings) and capable deming detectors. Garrett has beaten Minelab to market with a PI gold detector in this format. Minelab is pre announcing their answer now and it will probably not reach the market before spring or summer 2014.
Our markets in North America and Australia are not likely to prove a major source of revenue growth for Minelab because every one of their new compact mid-range detectors will compete not only against the ATX and TDI, but the GPX 5000.
Here are some of Minelab's most important customers.