Entering the fray..........

[Guest]

Hi all,

Brief introduction. I ve been on the sidelines for a while now soaking up the combined knowledge!

My interests in the past has been chasing gemstones. Mostly from Glen Innes Barrington Tops, Sapphire in QLD and the odd trip to Inverell.

I have had a vibratory tumbler for years and have only just produced some tumbled stones that we have found and picked up over the years and wow they have turned out great!

Although I have never chased gold, I recently purchased an Xterra 705 to dabble into metal detecting. I must say i am enjoying it, the mental challenge of researching a location, going to that location and finding something worth keeping is very rewarding. Mostly scanning local parks and finding plenty to keep the interest. Yet to wield it in anger at gold nuggets but will do when location and time off work cross paths.

Recently went to Hargraves and panned my first specs of gold. Even with 38 degrees and leaches trying to get a free feed I could not believe how "gold colour" it is on the background of the green garrett super sluice pan and how it just stuck to the top of the pan in the final wash tailing. Walked away with about 50 tiny specs. I was would have been happy to find one spec that day. Needless to say there is a 20% built Wal Banker in production. Thank you Wal, you are my current sensei in all things Gold.

Gold fever? Yes it has struck!

I hope to be able to share and contribute to this valuable resource.

Kind Regards

Craig

 

[slowflow]

Welcome to the forum Craig. You have chosen well grasshopper!! seems to be a good sluice, built mine before this forum so no direct experience.
Have a read of the pump stuff and shop around for your hoses & fittings as there are some bargains & rippoffs. Consider getting an extra metre of suction hose as it stops kinks at the HB end. HeadsUp posted a source of good hose, the cheap stuff is very stiff. will edit when found.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3332 post 3

 

[Syndyne]

Welcome aboard Craig! Great to have you here.

Looking forward to hearing about your prospecting adventures. Sounds like you've been bitten by the bug

Glad to hear you got a few bits up at Hargraves. A wonderful part of the country out there! Last time I was up there in April 2010. We copped a large cold front that dropped temps down to a top of 11C and parts of Louisa Creek were partly frozen over! We had to wait until it thawed to start panning.

All the best with the detecting. Plenty of great members here to offer any info you may need.

Kindest regards and take care out there,
Shauno.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Gents for the welcome and the advice on the hose and fittings.

Learn by others mistakes and fast track to sucessful methods, I like it!

 

[Horse]

Welcome Craig,
Hargraves is a great place and congratz on finding your first yellow.
I hope there is much more heading your way.

Please post how you are getting along with the X-terra 705....I am thinking of buying one for the missus.

Cheers
Horse

 

[Guest]

Hi Horse,

This is my first detector so I am no expert but here goes.

After numerous reads of the manual, YouTube, reading this forum and almost daily outings I am getting to understand the 705.

My first outings I used all metal mode, was digging everything and that's what some of the experts were saying to do, there is a lot of aluminium in the world!!!!

I have since figured out how to setup and discriminate iron and those pesky ring pulls! I know I miss some targets but Novacastrians have a fetish for snapping off their ring pulls and discarding them! My wedding ring gives the exact same sound and numbers as a ring pull so I would use all metal mode at the beach. Only been to beach twice so far.

I have been exploring local parks and always find coins and items that keep me interested. I have learnt that coins produce a solid audio tone and very stable numbers in the display. e.g. 20c will produce a solid audio tone from all angles and very stable 20 -22 in the display. I found a 1935 Penny today and it produced a stable 36. Having said that so do a lot of wine bottle lids! When you get erratic readings there is often several targets all together. e.g 5c, nail and a ring pull, confuses the hell out of the 705.

705 has pinpoint mode. I can pinpoint exactly where the target is. I only need to dig about a 100mm round hole to retrieve. Chrome hand garden spade is all I use.

I have bought a pro pointer as well, that is a must (for me anyway) saves needless digging and you know when the target is out of or still in the hole. I always minimise the hole size and restore it to almost as it was. I don't want to leave any evidence should someone come and have a go at me for digging.

I cant fault it so far. I bought the pack with two coils from Bendigo Gold. I give a blast in prospecting mode at Gulgong a few weeks when we went to Hargraves Stopped just out of town but the area was full of Gulgong residents rubbish and it had been dug over before. I was also not sure what I should be listening for. I took advice from somewhere/internet to buy a small nugget to train my ears to the sound of a gold target.

4 AA batteries last for ever, manual state 20 hours. I am on my second set now.

Found close to $100 so far, pennies/1935 earliest, 1943 slouch hat penny, florin, three pence and today a cheap chunky mans silver bracelet. My best find is an 1881 British half penny. I read a lot of methods how to clean coins. Some said "DO NO CLEAN OLD COINS" I cleaned it with Lemon and salt and ruined it, hard to make out what it is now, just corroded the hell out of it! LESSON LEARNT!

I think mine was $950 with both coils, torch, minelab headphones and environmental cover. So at that price point is a good serious entry level detector. As I said at the start I am no expert and others may point you in a different direction. I hope this helps?

Regards

Craig

 

[WalnLiz]

Welcome to the forum Craig. That gold bug sure is relentless, especially if you have just removed some flakes from the creek with your pan. "Banking" will certainly boost the production rate and this will in turn boost the level of gold in that jar.

Look forward to chatting and should you require any advice just ask the members. Many experienced Banker users within the forum.

Best of luck and hope the gold in your sluice gets the adrenalin pumping at fever pitch.

Cheers Wal.

 

[Guest]

Welcome to the forum Craig. That gold bug sure is relentless, especially if you have just removed some flakes from the creek with your pan. "Banking" will certainly boost the production rate and this will in turn boost the level of gold in that jar.

Look forward to chatting and should you require any advice just ask the members. Many experienced Banker users within the forum.

Best of luck and hope the gold in your sluice gets the adrenalin pumping at fever pitch.

Cheers Wal.

Hi Wal,

Thanks for the warm Welcome. Please check your inbox. Nugget has sorted my PM issue.

Craig