Was making my way down the side of a mountain after an unsuccessful hunt today. Thorn-scratched, mosquito-bitten and clothes soaked with sweat. Stopped on a patch of rock that had been exposed by a landslip for a gulp of water and leaned the machine against my thigh while I drank. Heard a faint signal in headphones as I put it down. I dismissed it as an anomaly and reached for my water bottle.
After drinking, I picked up the machine and another faint signal was heard. Went to another patch of exposed rock and ground balanced, then returned to the first spot. Flipped gain to 100 and went into discrim @40. Very faint repeatable "dit" as I waved over the spot again and again. I was (gently) scraping the coil on rock. TID wavered between 71 and 77. Turned headphone gain to max and yes...there it was. Marked that spot and went over more rock...heard more "dits". TID ranged from 45 to 79, if I recall correctly. Went back to the truck, grabbed eye protection, sacks and my trusty sledgehammer..went up and proceeded to bash away at the rock. One of the pieces is in the attached photo, with tiny yellow bits circled in red. The stuff is peppered with those bits.
Am I happy? Yes and no. Yes for obvious reasons, but no because it's gonna take a lot of work to crush rock and get those yellow bits out...it may not be feasible for the hobbyist prospector as I have no idea on how to gauge/estimate the gold content in such a matrix. Maybe this is best left to industrial mining methods where they enjoy the economies of scale? One thing's for sure...if I do pursue this mountainside, a Gold Bug 2 would probably be a more suitable machine.
After drinking, I picked up the machine and another faint signal was heard. Went to another patch of exposed rock and ground balanced, then returned to the first spot. Flipped gain to 100 and went into discrim @40. Very faint repeatable "dit" as I waved over the spot again and again. I was (gently) scraping the coil on rock. TID wavered between 71 and 77. Turned headphone gain to max and yes...there it was. Marked that spot and went over more rock...heard more "dits". TID ranged from 45 to 79, if I recall correctly. Went back to the truck, grabbed eye protection, sacks and my trusty sledgehammer..went up and proceeded to bash away at the rock. One of the pieces is in the attached photo, with tiny yellow bits circled in red. The stuff is peppered with those bits.
Am I happy? Yes and no. Yes for obvious reasons, but no because it's gonna take a lot of work to crush rock and get those yellow bits out...it may not be feasible for the hobbyist prospector as I have no idea on how to gauge/estimate the gold content in such a matrix. Maybe this is best left to industrial mining methods where they enjoy the economies of scale? One thing's for sure...if I do pursue this mountainside, a Gold Bug 2 would probably be a more suitable machine.
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