Testing at Ganes Creek

[Silicon John]

I ran a test while at Ganes Creek. I marked out an area and detected on it with the MXT. Found 13 targets, some iron and some hot rocks. Until I used the MXT I did not know that there was hot rocks at Ganes Creek. Then I took the Minelab 3000 and went over the area. Of the 13 MXT Targets, 5 were skipped as hot rocks but the other 5 would have to be dug. The Minelab discriminated on 3 targets as iron. I found an additional 6 targets that the MXT missed.

Not sure how well I conducted this test as I was sure the Minelab would go deeper. May have biased the test by going slower and lower when using the Minelab.

Even if you miss a few targets with the MXT, by not taking the time to dig all the trash you can move onto probably 4 times the surface area and get a look at lots more potential non iron targets. The Discrimination ability of the MXT saved my life. I am pushing 72 years old. The big muscles are OK. I could walk the 9 hrs a day but had to keep shifting the detector from the right arm to the left arm. Digging a target was kind of a break from walking and swinging but the back was saying "why."

Conclusion is that in the desert where there is little trash, just gold and bullets, I will use the Minelab. Where there is trash, the MXT is the machine.

 

[DOC]

I've been to Gaines once. The trash was ungodly. If I ever went again I would like to try something based on some assumptions.

If you go to Gaines, you are going for big gold, no one cares about 1 gram pieces. I can get plenty of those at Gold Basin. You want plenty of coverage and plenty of depth, to go deeper than all of those MXT's that have already been there. However you have to have a detector that will discriminate to save you time. Also a meter of some type to give you a clue what you are digging.

The first time out with a GP3500 at Gaines, I spent 45 minutes on two targets. One was 20 inches in hard packed ground, it was a large bolt. The other was what seemed like 5 feet down, and it was a piece of rebar.

OK, what would I like to try? A Minelab Sovereign with a meter, equipped with a 15 inch COILTEK WOT coil.

The WOT will find a quarter at 20 inches. The discrimination is SPOT ON, the meter will show gold in the lower number ranges and give a low tone. However, a Sovereign won't detect gold until it is 1/4 ounce or larger.

But I really think this could be the ultimate combination. You have plenty of coverage, plenty of depth, and the ability to discriminate out iron trash. All iron shows as a negative number on the meter.

Also the control box of the detector can be carried on your belt.

BCOT!

DOC

 

[lemons]

What about the X-Terra 70 doc, have you had a chance to test it for gold?
It's the lightest little thing I've ever used as a detector.

lemons

 

[Joe Kononchik]

It is spost to give Iron id at depth. It is also close to depth to the high end minelab. It would be light if hipmounted for either as a main or iron check machine.Just a thought,Joe

 

[bakergeol]

your intent is simply to dig large gold. Putting a qualifier such as Doc has done on the SOV( above 1/4 ounce) completely changes the ball game. Eric's GS5 differs from the Minelab GP3500 in that it can reliably ID large nuggets as non ferrous.

If you put the GB/Disc at 10 on the GS5 and dig only low tones you will never dig any iron. Gold from 1/3 ounce and up will produce a low tone(also silver,copper, large brass, and large lead). All iron regardless of size and shape will produce a high tone in this position(small gold, small brass and small lead also). You can distinguish an Al pop can from an iron can with ease.

This is not the standard GB/Disc position for the GS5 as it was really designed for small gold but concentrating on the low tones only one would have a better crack at a large nugget. The downside is that you would not be digging gold below 1/3 ounce. The upside is that you could use monster Minelab GP coils for greater depth that you could obtain with a VLF.You would also not be dealing with hot rocks and the unreliabity of VLF iron determination at great depths.

George

 

[cannonball]

Howdy.
I saw two ML sovierns in use at Ganes creek with stock coils. Neither of the men made a find. I did some testing with the men on a nugget I found and they discovered that one of the settings was in detent and when adjusted, sensitivity was improved. The units had meters. Perhaps a larger coil would be an improvement, but the coil has to be over a target. Depth was poor with the target on the ground. There was a man that had a GMT and he consistently made finds. We went to the area were the many small nuggets were found on a previous week and he recovered a nice flat fishing-lure 'spoon' nugget(1dwt). His finds were not spectacular in size, but he did find a .4+ oz'er. Here then is what the mfgrs. know about finding small nuggets with a VLF: you need a high Frequency to resolve small targets. My Infinium would target equally small gold with the 3x7 coil, but in the garbage and trash it (I) could not discriminate out the iron with the accuracy/info of my MXT. Get a clue from Earl, the foreman at Ganes Creek: he uses a GB2 to survey the shale! I also saw a ML Explorer2 in use and it is a good gold machine despite all the 'good' advise to the contrary. In fact, it accurately can and does distinguish a good target from trash far better than a MXT or GMT, and small pickers with the stock coil. Only foil and a few other trash items have to be dug. I found rusty iron giving a 'good' signal from 36" and continued to do so(1400 coil). On some targets the MXT was not showing it as iron at all at any SENS./ distance. I employed a hotfoot coil to use as a smart pinpointer and would sub out the 1400 on the fly while holding the hotfoot as a probe-it worked awesome in relic and prospect modes. I had the same idea to look for the pickers with another machine-so much ground, so little time! There is more gold there under footprints that the fast moving weed-whackers realize.
Considering the finds and depths, the GMT with a large coil would work well. I saw a MXT with a jumbo aftermarket Sunray coil, but the user preferred his 1400, unfortunatly the coil had failed at the cord entry point. The MXT and the smallest coil offered could not find the smaller gold- the GMT did and he was seldom bothered by cross-talk!