Newbie and son

[Torkman]

OK folks, I have a 16 year old son that is a real handful and it seems that we are doing less and less together. Up at a cabin this past summer in Northern Idaho, near a town called Warren, he became very interested in mining for gold. The kid spent hours knelled over a creek with a pan and found nothing. The place is hundreds of miles of gold mine country that dates back to the early 1800s. So, for Xmas I have bought him a beginners detector, the Prizm II. I have read that it will not work for gold nuggets, but am hoping he will really enjoy the coin search. After reading so many articles about Gold detectors, I am thinking I might try and pick up a used GMT for the trips up to the mountains. Couple of questions:

1. What should I pay for a near new (used) GMT?
2. Should I look for other used models that would work as well?
3. In the area up around Warren, there are miles of huge mounds of bare rock where an old dredge went through the whole place 100 years ago. What kind of ground noise do you get when you are going over mounds of 5 to 6 inch rocks and no soil whatsoever? Should we just avoid the rock mounds altogether?


We spend several weeks in the area every summer and would really like to focus on finding nuggets.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance. BTW, we have never used a detector before!

 

[Groundshaker]

When you say "Rock Mounds" do you mean the tailing piles left by the dredge? If so,I myself would work them. You will be looking for gold in those rocks that have filled the cracks and fissures of those rocks.
Most people (prospectors) today,search for the easy stuff. You will have to move some of those rocks around. This will be Lode Gold. All the placer (free gold) has washed down to the bottom of that pile.It is possible that some one has hit this pile with something like a fire hose and tried to wash all the placer out of the pile and channeled it through a sluice. Jimmy sierra worked a tailing pile somewhat similar and found a muddy rock that weighed 20 lbs. After washing it off,,,,it contained lots of gold. You want gold? Roll up your sleeves and move some rocks. Let your son sweep the coil over them as you move them...HTH

Also,,,,You might want to detect the area just "Down Stream" of that pile. Imagine if someone had dumped alot of water on that pile? Which direction did that water go? Thats where you should find placer gold if any is still there........

If you are looking for "rice grain" size and larger nuggets.A new/used MXT with a 6X10 or 3X6 DD coil will work.Plus,,,,you can hunt other places for coins,jewelry and relics.Where a GMT is designed to find "Pin Head" size gold and larger.

 

[Torkman]

Groundshaker, Thanks! After the snow melts, we will hit the rock piles. I do not know if you have ever seen the area I am talking about, but just imagine a valley 5 to 7 miles long and 2 miles wide. standing at one end of the valley all you see are miles of rock mounds 40 to 50 feet high. They a dimpled across the ground separated only by large 50x50 water ponds that we call the "dredge ponds." They stock the ponds with fish. Running through the entire valley is a 10 foot wide creek. At the far end is the old Dredge and buckets...this thing is the size of a three story house and the bucket track stretches the length of half a football field. Miles of huge mounds of rock.

After I posted, I discovered the MXT that you mention. It seems that it would be a better choice in that I could use it for coins, etc when not looking for gold. I could buy a 6x5 for it when we go prospecting. So....looking for a good MXT!

 

[poorman]

Newby; I to have spent some time around Warren. I lived in McCall, Idaho for seven years. Worked for Payett Nat. Forest. Those rock piles, as I am sure you know are Dredge Mining Tailing Piles. Yes, there has been nuggets found in Tailing Piles, but for every Nugget there is probibly 10,000 pieces of Iron. All the way from nuts and bolts to huge pieces of broken and scrap cable. I would recomend a machine that will help you discriminate out some of the Iron, otherwise you will get frustrated real quick. Maybe a MXT would be better. The GMT would certinally pick up the smaller nuggets better than the MXT would. Be prepared to move a little rock also. It sometimes helps if you can dig down a bit. If you are only looking for quality time with your son I recomend coin and jewelry hunting and maybe some Relic hunting. Way more action to keep up the spirits and interest. Once your son is hooked good, maybe then a trip to the tailing piles would be fun. Anouther thing. It is never any fun to try and figure out a totally new and strange machine while pulling out chunk after chunk of Iron. Believe me, I tried it. Learn your machine before you hit the tailing piles. Hope this helps and good luck with your new hobby.

 

[Torkman]

Poorman...that helps a lot. YES...the main issue here is to try and connect with my son. He will get bored if things are not happening so your council on the coins and relics is good. Since you have been up in the McCall area, what do you know about the ground in the Sesach Meadows. We have a cabin in the meadows right on the river. I was thinking that rather than the huge mounds of rock, what about just out in the forest, dried creek beds, etc. Would the GMT be good for that area? I have someone who may offrer to sale me his nearly new GMT for around 450. At that price I think I cannot pass it up. I was thinking that if my son likes the coin/relic hunt, then I could upgrade him to an MXT. We would then have a very good nugget finder (GMT) and a good multi-purpose finder (MXT).

Last question, do you know anything about the Whites Prizm II? I sure hope he can find some coins with it.

 

[Groundshaker]

I have a Prizm IV. The main thing that i have noticed is that todays kid's get "Bored" I never did when i was young.But we didnt have the things kids have today to keep them entertained.

I would actually use the prizm first and hit school playgrounds first. If he gets bored doing that,,,,,don't invest in the higher dollar machines for his entertainment. Get them for You. The Prizm is a fine detector and in time you can do real good with it. Investing time into it is the main thing to do.
He has to understand that,if gold was that easy to find,,,,,its value wouldn't be so high.

 

[Torkman]

Thanks. We will hit the playgrounds hours after he opens it up on Christmas Day. I plan on just going to the hardware store and buying a spade to get started. I will try to find something for sand as well. If this works out and he shows interest, I will buy better tools. Any suggestions for initial hardware tools from ACE just to get us started?