how deep was your gold?

[nuggethunter]

Just wondering for those who have found gold.
how deep was it from the surface?

 

[Twapster]

Good topic i'm also interested.

 

[20x]

deepest is down through 4m's of top soil to first wash layer and nother 2m's to bedrock

 

[downhalo]

About 2 feet, but that was the dirt i moved before i even started detecting...

 

[TimAu]

0 to about 7 inches ranging in size from 0 to .75 grams

 

[goldtruck59]

everything we have found has been in the top 200 mm. Have dug plenty of holes deeper from targets but not gold. A lot of little stuff up to 100mm deep.
Had some ripper deep signals but sadly after a lot of effort its been junk.

 

[nuggetino]

All my gold has been detected at 300mm and shallower with nuggets ranging from 0.2g to 2grams

 

[Lbg dreamer]

Surface sunbakers to
4 ft clunkers

 

[loamer]

Its all to do with coil type, size, type of detector, soil type and depth etc. Here is Jack Lang's advice on coil types. Some of the references are date (the 2200 for example), but Jack's advice holds true. As an aside - the deepest I have dug was over 2ft with an 18" DD that I waved over a creek bed (dumb dumb dumb) - it was an old miners pan.

Four Basic Rules
Before I launch out about the pros and cons of the different SD coils, I want to talk about coils generally. There are four basic rules involved in understanding the different types and sizes of coils available.

The bigger the coil, the deeper it will detect the bigger nuggets, but the shallower it will detect tiny nuggets. The Smaller the coil, the shallower it will detect big nuggets but the more sensitive it will be on tiny nuggets. Double D wound coils are far more stable and create minimal ground noise but they are not as sensitive. This gives them a disadvantage in quiet (low mineralisation) soils but an advantage in noisy (high mineralisation) soils. Monoloop wound coils are more sensitive, but they create far more ground noise and are less stable. This gives them an advantage in quiet soils and a disadvantage in noisy soils.

All SD coils have two basic winding designs: either the double D or monoloop. The monoloop design coil has a single winding of special wire on the outside edge of the coil. The double D design has two loops of wiring which overlap in the central area of the coil.

Double D Coils

Advantages

Produce far less ground noise and require much less tuning with the SD2100 or SD2000
Give considerably less false signals on mineralised patches or "hot rocks."
In Highly mineralised soils, nuggets can be detected at greater depth.
In very highly mineralised ground, they can be used when monoloop coils become too noisy to use.
They have a full width search pattern at depth.
They are less sensitive to electrical interference coming from nearby detectors, power lines and thunderstorm activity
When used with the SD2200D, they can discriminate ferrous junk.

Disadvantages

They don't penetrate quite as deep in quiet ground (low mineralisation) as monoloop coils do.
They will not detect nuggets quite as small as the monoloop coil in quiet ground
They are slightly heavier to equivalent size mono coil, due to more wiring.
The audio signal produced is not quite as sharp or loud as a mono coil.

Monoloop Coils

Advantages

They have an edge in sensitivity over double D coils. They penetrate a bit deeper than the equivalent size DD coil in light to moderately mineralized soils.
They are slightly lighter than the same size DD coil
They are capable of detecting slightly smaller nuggets than the same sized DD coils

Disadvantages

In heavily mineralised soils, they create quite a bit of noise and will not detect nuggets as deeply as the equivalent DD coil.
In extreme mineralisation conditions they cannot be successfully used.
With manual ground balancing SD2000 and SD 21000 detectors they need to be tuned far more frequently.
They will create many more false signals in heavily mineralised soils, and be more sensitive to hot rocks.
The search pattern is much narrower at depth, so the ground cannot be scanned as quickly.

As can be seen from the above, one cannot say that either coil configuration is better than the other. It depends on the particular goldfield, the soil types, and even the size of the nuggets. It also depends on whether one is prospecting old detected ground or new ground.

 

[crazybull]

Haven't found a thing NO GOLD with my bullet detector as i think that's all it's good for finding bullets. I see post by members on Prospecting Australia and other gold groups that i'm in of there finds and it's DISHEARTENING not finding any gold with my detector but 1 day I hope I wish and I pray that I can join the gold club. I only wish I could of had a chat to the late Kevin Hillier to get some advice on how to get the best out of my detector as I have the same detector a Garrett ads vlf/tr. peaple have said that if i'm finding bullets I'll find gold but until I have a find I can only take there word, every target I get my heart starts to pound like crazy only to be DISHEARTENED by another bullet is there anyone in Prospecting Australia that could give me some advise

 

[deepblue]

Hey crazybull,
it took me 3 years to find my first bit of gold just stick at it, it will happen then they just seem to follow on. There is some great areas around Ararat just take it slow and keep the coil low.
cheers db

 

[Syndyne]

Hi all,
Of only two trips so far using the 5000 and Mono 6x8 NF Sadie, the three small nuggets found were all within surface to six inches range. The few coins found during the same trips were around the surface down to the twelve inch mark.

Surface sunbakers to
4 ft clunkers

I'm certain Lbg, that most of those nuggets came up to find your coil instead of your coil looking for them. Haha!

Haven't found a thing NO GOLD with my bullet detector as i think that's all it's good for finding bullets. I see post by members on Prospecting Australia and other gold groups that i'm in of there finds and it's DISHEARTENING not finding any gold with my detector but 1 day I hope I wish and I pray that I can join the gold club. I only wish I could of had a chat to the late Kevin Hillier to get some advice on how to get the best out of my detector as I have the same detector a Garrett ads vlf/tr. peaple have said that if i'm finding bullets I'll find gold but until I have a find I can only take there word, every target I get my heart starts to pound like crazy only to be DISHEARTENED by another bullet is there anyone in Prospecting Australia that could give me some advise

G'day crazybull,
I (as we all) know exactly how you feel. You're definitely not alone there. However the moment one of those bullets is a nice piece of gold you'll just about do a backflip
There's nothing quite like it. I spent three pretty decent 2 and 3 week trips cleaning up nothing but junk and the odd small denomination coin with the Garrett Infinium for no gold. It was lack of research/knowledge on my end at that stage, -coming into detecting pretty green at that point in 2005. Having help from, and meeting some of the great people you'll find on these forums helped tremendously too!

You'll turn your luck around soon.
All the best out there,
Shauno.

 

[crazybull]

G'day crazybull,
I (as we all) know exactly how you feel. You're definitely not alone there. However the moment one of those bullets is a nice piece of gold you'll just about do a backflip
There's nothing quite like it. I spent three pretty decent 2 and 3 week trips cleaning up nothing but junk and the odd small denomination coin with the Garrett Infinium for no gold. It was lack of research/knowledge on my end at that stage, -coming into detecting pretty green at that point in 2005. Having help from, and meeting some of the great people you'll find on these forums helped tremendously too!

You'll turn your luck around soon.
All the best out there,
Shauno.

I do all the research looking at google maps and GeoVic and I've been going out 8 hours every day now for the past 8 weeks and I'll tell you it's costing more in battery's for the detector as it takes 6-9v battery's at 1 time and fuel just getting to the location on were i'm detecting is killing me, it would just be good to get a find just to say yes i'm in the gold club and to help to start paying for these battery's as 9v duracell are not cheap it's just got me stumped, am I doing it wrong am I looking in the wrong places is the gold to deep and to small for my detector to pick up it's just frustrating

 

[nuggetino]

If you're looking in the right areas known for producing coarse gold in shallow detectable ground then it's just a matter of time until you find some. That's a lot of hours over 2 months work detecting mind you and it would seem you're on an unlucky streak for the moment.
Buy yourself a small nugget on ebay to do some testing on that way you can be sure to have no doubts in the performance of your metal detector.

What you've been told about bullets is right and I always get excited when I start finding lots of bullets in gold bearing areas. They're a good indication the area has not been detected thoroughly as they sound similar enough to gold that any serious gold detectorist would have dug them up. Unsurprisingly the presence of bullets have lead me to gold more than once.

Your odds of finding gold improve with every day you head out provided you're not going over the same ground every time. Good luck

 

[nuggethunter]

Its all to do with coil type, size, type of detector, soil type and depth etc. Here is Jack Lang's advice on coil types. Some of the references are date (the 2200 for example), but Jack's advice holds true. As an aside - the deepest I have dug was over 2ft with an 18" DD that I waved over a creek bed (dumb dumb dumb) - it was an old miners pan.

Four Basic Rules
Before I launch out about the pros and cons of the different SD coils, I want to talk about coils generally. There are four basic rules involved in understanding the different types and sizes of coils available.

The bigger the coil, the deeper it will detect the bigger nuggets, but the shallower it will detect tiny nuggets. The Smaller the coil, the shallower it will detect big nuggets but the more sensitive it will be on tiny nuggets. Double D wound coils are far more stable and create minimal ground noise but they are not as sensitive. This gives them a disadvantage in quiet (low mineralisation) soils but an advantage in noisy (high mineralisation) soils. Monoloop wound coils are more sensitive, but they create far more ground noise and are less stable. This gives them an advantage in quiet soils and a disadvantage in noisy soils.

All SD coils have two basic winding designs: either the double D or monoloop. The monoloop design coil has a single winding of special wire on the outside edge of the coil. The double D design has two loops of wiring which overlap in the central area of the coil.

Double D Coils

Advantages

Produce far less ground noise and require much less tuning with the SD2100 or SD2000
Give considerably less false signals on mineralised patches or "hot rocks."
In Highly mineralised soils, nuggets can be detected at greater depth.
In very highly mineralised ground, they can be used when monoloop coils become too noisy to use.
They have a full width search pattern at depth.
They are less sensitive to electrical interference coming from nearby detectors, power lines and thunderstorm activity
When used with the SD2200D, they can discriminate ferrous junk.

Disadvantages

They don't penetrate quite as deep in quiet ground (low mineralisation) as monoloop coils do.
They will not detect nuggets quite as small as the monoloop coil in quiet ground
They are slightly heavier to equivalent size mono coil, due to more wiring.
The audio signal produced is not quite as sharp or loud as a mono coil.

Monoloop Coils

Advantages

They have an edge in sensitivity over double D coils. They penetrate a bit deeper than the equivalent size DD coil in light to moderately mineralized soils.
They are slightly lighter than the same size DD coil
They are capable of detecting slightly smaller nuggets than the same sized DD coils

Disadvantages

In heavily mineralised soils, they create quite a bit of noise and will not detect nuggets as deeply as the equivalent DD coil.
In extreme mineralisation conditions they cannot be successfully used.
With manual ground balancing SD2000 and SD 21000 detectors they need to be tuned far more frequently.
They will create many more false signals in heavily mineralised soils, and be more sensitive to hot rocks.
The search pattern is much narrower at depth, so the ground cannot be scanned as quickly.

As can be seen from the above, one cannot say that either coil configuration is better than the other. It depends on the particular goldfield, the soil types, and even the size of the nuggets. It also depends on whether one is prospecting old detected ground or new ground.

some great info there thank you.

i should of said all detectors aside.
I was just wondering the depth people have found gold at to see if there is an average depth for gold.

feel free to add what your where using to find it. as others and myself will find that useful but mainly what depth was it at.