I recently had a very good 3 days of detecting with my Minelab GPX 5000 Metal Detector. Starting very early one Saturday morning I headed off on the 2.5 hour drive to our ‘patch’. Upon arrival and after a quick coffee I decided to pay some more attention to the gully behind our main area of finds. I had already picked up one nugget in the bank of this gully a few weeks earlier so I wasn’t expecting to find much. To my surprise within a few minutes I had a target! Gold it was, followed by 2 more! How on earth had I missed these last time???? After clearing that area I headed up to another spot where I had picked up 6 small bits. To my amazement only a meter or so from the mini patch I had a variance in my threshold. I kicked the leaf litter away and was rewarded with a faint but definite sound. A nice deep 1 grammer! That was it for the weekend sadly……..

On Thursday that same week I had a day off and decided to head out again. My plan this time was to shift logs and sticks around. I cleared an area about 10m by 10m, turned the detector on, ground balanced and bang- a target. A 1.3gram nugget! After clearing some more with no luck I decided just to wonder, looking for sticks that had not been moved. I found a small pile of debris that had been overlooked, shifted it to one side and got a strange and confused signal. I began digging knowing it was gold….. it was a good deep target and after 10″ the sound became inverted and I got excited! Another few inches and she was out, what a ripper- 8.5 grams coated in a great red ironstone clay!

After I recovered from that dig I began walking only a few meters from the last one and got a very faint drop tone right in the open! I took a few inches off and it got a little louder. A few more inches and no more change! I was getting very excited….. after about 10″ I still could not pin point it with the tip of my 14” x 9″ Nugget Finder Coil so I began thinking of multi ounce deep dream nuggets. At 15″ I still could not pin point it so out came the Minelab PRO-FIND 25 pin pointer and found it almost right away. Another inch and it was out. I saw it lying on the pile and for a split second all I could think of was “is that it?” then I realised it was still my biggest piece ever so the happy dance begun. It weighed in at a great 16.2 grams!

So the total for the week for me was a healthy 30.8 grams- not bad for 7 nuggets.

I recently took my partner and dear daughter (almost 6) for a day detecting – something they have both been wanting to do for some time now. Me armed with my Minelab GPX 5000 and my daughter Lily a Minelab X-TERRA 705.

We stuck together for most of the morning just using my GPX 5000 and turning up nothing but rubbish we headed back to the cars for lunch. Lily asked to get the X-TERRA 705 out for a go so I set it up and she began awkwardly swinging close to the cars. We were all talking amongst ourselves when I hear “daddy I have a target!”

I went over to Lily who was sure enough waving the coil over something that made a mellow noise. I scratched the ground with my pick and the sound was gone. A few moments later one of my detecting buddies asked what was on my pick magnet. I had a look and here was this curious lump of what looked like dozer chip. After a quick clean I could see a very distinct fusion crust and several regmaglypts or ‘thumb prints’- it seemed to be a meteorite!

While it hasn’t been formally classified we are all thrilled to have found one and Lily in particular is very proud of her ‘space rock’!

Recently, myself and my detecting mates decided to think outside the square and do some raw prospecting. Let’s just say we were very successful – but that’s another story, so keep watching the blog for more details, photos and videos.

So after nearly 2 years of serious detecting my father finally asked to join me on a trip. We used to go gold panning and gem fossicking together some 20 years ago, so it was great we could share this past time together again.

We made the 2.5 hr drive to the goldfields and were greeted at the patch by my detecting buddies. After coffee and a chat we sussed out a plan for the day. Dad and I decided to work down slope from the main area of the patch, me detecting and he following and watching intently to learn some basics. We had the usual run of shotgun pellets and big deep sharps rifle projectiles but no gold. After smoko we strapped Dad into my mates spare detector, a Minelab sd2200 d, and I gave him some basic instruction. after 10 minutes he was away – recognising ground noise and hot rocks and even un-earthing several lead shots. Most impressive for someone who has never detected.

Lunch time arrived and one of my mates had pinged a 1.4 gram piece, but we were still looking. So we decided to do some raking and shifting of logs (we ALWAYS shift everything back after mind you!). Dad went a little away with the 2200d, and I worked my rakings with the 14″ x 9″ Nugget Finder coil. Neither of us had any luck until my coil touched a clump of grass and made the faintest sound. I thought it was just a false signal from bumping the grass but it was repeatable! So I removed the clump and then was left with a quiet but distinct inverted tone.

I removed 2″ of topsoil and had a loud but mellow drop tone now- it was sure to be gold.  One of my mates was returning to the car by this stage and heard the noise. Everyone gathered for the ‘unearthing’- and another 12″ later a beautiful solid 4.6 grammer came to light, Bringing my total from the patch to just over 16 grams.

After the excitement died down I strapped Dad into my GPX 5000 and off he went with renewed enthusiasm. I have not seen anyone pick up a GPX 5000 and operate it so naturally in such a short time. He was digging tiny shards of rubbish and recognising ground noise. He then pointed the coil underneath a fallen tree and there was a very, very slight signal. We removed the debris from the hole and the target was gone. He suggested it was rubbish but I insisted we pin-point it. Once in my hand Dad said ‘it will just be lead’. I opened my hand and proudly presently my father with a beautiful gold and haematite nugget of exactly 0.5 grams!

Every trip out I am amazed at what this machine can do even in the hands of a beginner- Now I can proudly say I have shared part of the incredible hobby with my old man!

Keep watching this space for the story of how we came to find this patch, with videos and photos to come too!

Perfect weather, soft ground after the rain and a new Minelab GPX 5000 metal detector. What more could you ask for?

I began my 2nd outing with the Minelab GPX 5000 in an area that has been flogged like a dead horse for 20yrs or so. Coupled with an 8″ Minelab coil and Rooster Booster, I was amazed how smooth and quiet the machine was running. I picked up many minute fragments of old tin cans and bits of wire all of which had been left behind by other operators.

After a few hours of no luck I switched to a 14″ x 9″ Nugget Finder and went looking for some new ground. Again the machine performed wonderfully and the shotgun pellets were coming thick and fast, but alas the yellow still evaded me.

The day was getting on so my detecting partner and I decided to try one last spot on the way home. It was getting late and still no gold. We decided to call it quits and we were walking back to the car, me swinging casually, and I got a good drop tone signal.

I began to dig and dig and dig – the target now screaming I began to get excited. Still more digging and a white clay began to emerge, then the target was out. the light was now fading as I knelt down to isolate the target, my mate watching on eagerly. Then I saw it……

I picked it up – it was heavy, a good 6 grams. I wiped the dirt off – it was gold!!! We both began to laugh and enjoy the moment.

I then made the mistake of looking closer at the nugget. Something was odd about it, so I scratched it…….

Some dirty bugger had painted a nugget of lead with gold paint!

I have heard many prospectors joke about that, or even the ‘dick head’ tokens in Victoria, but I never thought I would be unlucky enough to find one of these detecting jokes!

I decided one weekend to become acquainted with the new Minelab CTX 3030 and coming from  a GPX background thought it might be a bit of a challenge.

I spent some time in the front yard and pulled a number of decimal coins that other detectors had missed.

I found with a few small tweaks I was able to use the machine quite effectively.

Later that day a good friend who has a home handy man service, called me to say a friend of his had lost a very sentimental (and expensive) gold and garnet crucifix and asked if I could run my detector over the area to try and find it. I explained I had the latest Minelab machine to try and he was quite excited.

We arrived at the house and after some small talk I was escorted around the back to the remains of an old fire pile, 20 years worth in fact…..

It was littered with melted metal scraps and blobs and general debris. From my brief experience with the Minelab CTX 3030 I had worked out the gold cross would likely give me a low tone, so off I began. There were targets left, right and center and I feared I would not find the one I was after.

4 minutes in and I came across a different and distinctly low tone. I scraped some debris away, and there it was gleaming at us.

The owners looked on in amazement as I produced the crucifix- probably looking as stunned as I!

That was a great feeling to reunite such an exquisite piece of jewellery with its owners and is testament to the capabilities of the Minelab CTX 3030  even in the hands of a new user!

The lost crucifix which was found with the Minelab CTX 3030

3.7 Gold Specimen found by Cory from BrisbaneGold

Our Newest Miners Den Australia Team Member Cory from the BrisbaneGold store struck it lucky 2 weeks ago when out on a gold prospecting trip in Queensland near Brisbane.

Using a Minelab GPX 4500 metal detecting with a 14” x 9” Nugget Finder Coil he heard a signal, dug down approximately 16 inches and found a beautiful gold specimen.

The specimen weighs about 3.7 grams containing about 3 grams of gold.
Not a bad weekend’s work.

Stay tuned as we are sure Cory will have more great gold finds that he will share with us all.

Beautiful 3.7g gold specimen found with a Minelab GPX 4500