I'm I doing something wrong?

[summit1966]

Hi all,

I got a new detector about 2 months ago Makro gold Racer 56KHZ and since I have put about 30 hours detecting the Whroo area in Rushworth. I have been detecting the mullock heaps and found plenty of metal bullets,shotgun lead balls, nails and very small pieces of aluminium but can get any yellow. What could I be doing wrong? Is the Whroo area pretty dry in terms of gold?

Cheers

 

[silver]

8) Move the log and do underneath, the rest is generally just over the next hill, decide where to go, and only then when your plan is cemented turn and head in the opposite direction, take a step to the left and two steps backwards and then start again, put yourself on a slightly different tac to the one you were on.
Only advice, not to be taken unless in dispair summit !

Try not to take the well trodden track of the 800 that went that way before you.

It's just a hunters ramble, be it coinage or be it gold let your own path unfold !

 

[Davent]

Mate, I did about 10 trips where people all around me got gold, they still do in that area, I still have found nothing there but junk, soooo I moved on.
I now get colour every trip I go , different location, and nothing spectacular. I work much slower than I did. When I find a few bits, then suddenly stop finding them, I sit down, have a smoke and a drink for 10 minutes or so, and nearly always pick up a sub grammer within a foot or so of one of the last ones I found.
Check out some place that requires a good walk away from your car, a couple of kms.

 

[old hand]

summit from what you have told us I do not think you are doing much wrong if you are detecting shot gun pellets just work slow keep the coil close to the ground run the detector as quiet as you can and check all noises regards john

 

[Pirate pete]

Summit i went nearly two years before I found my first piece and that was with my wife's detector not mine lol she never lets me forget that lol so I bought a minelab 4500 same as hers and have never looked back, the point is your finding shotgun pellets so you will find gold you just have to put the coil over it ,you'll get there keep swinging low and slow .

 

[nuggetino]

If you can find someone to detect with it makes it more enjoyable even when not finding gold. 30 hours isn't too bad. I've gone 200 or so without any gold and pulled at least several hundred lead shot. Some days I have a piece within an hour or less. I remember searching a creek bed in WA and my very first signal was a 9 grammer. The next 2 days detecting the creek gave nothing nore than truck load of junk. Go figure.

 

[greencheeks77]

I will tell you this I had brand new Minelab 2200 for 4 years when they first came onto the market and I never hooked up with anyone that was in the know and never found 1 piece so I sold it then when the TDI Oz pro's came on the market a friend and I both bought 1 each and we searched and searched and still I still have never found a piece of gold and in fact nor did he even after 2 years searching but he had more cash than me so he went out and bought a Minelab 4500 from another friend of his and that was about 2 years ago and now he has over 60 grams of nuggets and I am still yet to find my first piece :lol: so I guess the proof is in the pudding so to speak another words don't be fooled by marketing gimmick's like myself and invest in a good Minelab that would be my advise other than that find someone that will take their time to show and teach you how to use the machine.. you know like go low and slow.. anyway good luck and don't become disheartened as you will find some but it does take a lot of patience

 

[Reef Rover]

Hi summit, if your picking up those targets. Means you and your machine are capable and other operators haven't dug them. But you did! Anyone of them could have been the good stuff!
What Davent said was very good advice. Try another spot then another and it is good to get away from the obvious and easy spots.

I think it was Nenads that said once take the path of most resistance! And like silver said Move branches & rocks and get under bushes most of that would be virgin ground! Stay positive and persistent and you'll score soon! Regards Richard

 

[Brian_au]

This can be a localised issue. That area is pretty hot ground, hit since the day the detectors were released.
Try the local prospecting club, they have days out and dig a bit of history on the place, and have a few laughs.
There is gold but I've always been in that area for coins and alluvial. Detectable gold you will need help to put you in the right area. Despite all the diggings and gold that came out of that area a fair chunk was reworked in the 30s when times were tough so shallow mullock might not be the best area to begin in.

 

[ProspectorPete]

Hi Summit, I've also recently bought a Makro Gold Race and only have done 1 trip with it so far to Talbot area, if you're keen to hook up for a day then let me know and see if we can work out a day, I'm happy to travel anywhere around Vic and try new spots if that suits.

Pete.

 

[PhaseTech]

I went about 8 months here in the Adelaide Hills before I found my first piece. After that first one, it got a bit easier. Persistence, luck, the path of most resistance (yep that was my blog post ) all play a part, but the one thing that can fast track your success is to use your tools where it is likely to bring you the most success. With a high freq VLF, your biggest advantage over other machines in my opinion is on reef gold. Where gold is very finely disseminated through quartz (and possibly other host rocks). So do some research, find some historical rich reef areas, start at the reef and work the slopes below the reef, and the less ironstone there is, the better the performance you can achieve. Some years ago, BT did a field test on the Eureka Gold, and later on the Whites GMT where he found heaps of specimens, some that visually had very little colour, but when crushed produced several grams.

http://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/the-path-of-maximum-resistance

 

[Brian_au]

Just to add Nenad without sounding like I'm taking away from your comment Whroo has very high concentration of ironstone, probably the most in any Victorian locality I have ever visited. Picks with magnets will get overwhelmed in a number of different areas in around there.
To quickly pick up on the reefs try a Tully or Stone map or both. I thought the Tully was the better of the two but equally good in different ways.
There are a few reefs missing from both, but a lot of the locals can point you in the right direction. A guy I met out there one day turned out to live a few streets from me with his own maps that included more than a dozen that were on neither.

 

[summit1966]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Much appreciated.