Tony’s Great Finds with his New Minelab CTX 3030

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Cory

A few months ago I joined a web site “Dirt Fishing Australia” on this site there are really great people that post information, pictures of their finds & general chat as well as organize trips.

I was fortunate to join in on a trip organized by a Robo (all round great guy to meet & know) to do a bit of Gold hunting & Camping. On the day we arrived we all met up (my first camp & meeting with these guys). Between 6 – 7am we setup camp & then started having a bit of a detect around the campsite.

At first swinging around all I was finding was 10c pieces & the usual aluminium rubbish then Logan suggested I talk to John (as he’s had his Minelab CTX 3030 for about 3 years) & see what settings he ran. Off I went & John was only to happy to help he set me up with the settings he uses.

Well BAAMMMOO within 10 meters a beautiful sounding target so I started to dig, got down about 4inches & not what I wanted to see just a piece of rusted metal but I swung the CTX over the hole again n yup still there so dug a bit more & over to the side of the hole out came a fabulous 1846 Queen Victoria Four Pence. Wow I called out, then the others congratulated me & we all went back to hunting.

Must have been about half an hour or more went past, John & Logan were up under a tree having a break n drink & BAAMMOO again I dug down about 5 inches & here it was BIG & Beautiful a 1888 QV Half Penny. Oh I was over the moon & had to go & have a break.

To get not 1 but 2 awesome 1800’s find’s in one hunt I was so so excited & happy, the others were finding really great finds too. We all got together & showed each other our finds then went bush for some nugget hunting, although we weren’t successful & didn’t find any Gold.

Since this camp I’ve gone back to the camp site with the CTX 3030 had another couple of hours hunt & what do you know WOOHOO I came home with another 2 great items from history.

A really nice BRISBANE ROCKHAMPTON CRITERION – ONE PENNY coin/traders token & a nice what was identified as a SNAKE BUCKLE.

Great machine supplied to me by my favorite Detector shop & Minelab Dealer
BRISBANEGOLD – Miners Den, this is my second detector supplied to me by them & they offer awesome information, backup service & friendly staff.

BIG THANKYOU to MINERS DEN for all the help on purchasing the right equipment first time for the right job & finds that I am interested in finding.

Cheers thankyou for reading my little adventure story so get out & get in the dirt.
Tony Dendle

New Bendigo PMAV Branch

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Admin

New Bendigo PMAV Branch Report

What a fantastic day we had! The unveiling of our new PMAV Bendigo Branch on Saturday 24^th May, at the Notley camping ground, Whipstick, Bendigo.

This has been a very long time coming and I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who turned up for this great event.

A few PMAV members and members from my True Blue prospecting group camped out under the stars from the Friday night and some of us even hit the goldfields for a night detect. Terry Lucas managed to find 1.55 grams of gold. We then gathered back at the camp site around the fire, for a communal chat and drinks, talking about our branch and gold of course!

On the Saturday, BendigoGold (Miners Den) had a fantastic display of demo machines and other prospecting gear, on show for the public and they also provided a free BBQ too.

Dean from Double D Leather, also had a stand, displaying his control box covers and pick holders.

At midday, the BBQ was fired up and we all had a chat to future PMAV members and current members about what the Bendigo Branch could do for prospectors in the surrounding areas.

Rita Bentley, our PMAV President and Wallace Young, our Secretary, also had a talk about how important this was to Bendigo, as Bendigo was built on gold! They spoke how wonderful friendships can be built and how we have now been introduced to new prospecting areas (currently under Legislation), which would not have happened if it were not for the PMAV.

Parks Victoria also had a talk about new maps that are available of where you can and can’t prospect and there is a new App that is free to download to your smart phone, iPad etc..Very useful when out prospecting – No further internet connection is needed to access the maps, once it is downloaded. So thanks Parks Victoria for coming along to the event.

I would love to sincerely thank Rita Bentley, for getting behind me on this. Without your help, none of this would have happened. I would also like to thank Wallace Young, for all his support and all the emails and phone calls back and forwards, to get this branch off the ground.

I would also like to thank Dave Watters, Rachel Hunter from BendigoGold (Miners Den) for your wonderful displays and supplying us with a fantastic BBQ. I would like to thank Dean from Double D Leather for your display of equipment.

A big Thank You to the President Paul Scott and his wife Lynda, who represented Bendigo Gem Club and to Parks Victoria for the map information.

I would also like to thank Greckie from Golden Triangle Tours, Rohan from Nugget Finder Coils and Robert Thacker and Greg for their donations to the Bendigo Branch – We will hold some raffles soon, so stay tuned guys!

A very special Thank You to my True Blue Prospecting group – You all know who you are! If it was not for you guys, believing in me, then our Bendigo Branch would never have become possible.

Stay tuned for future prospecting outings and our next PMAV Bendigo Branch meet up will be Queens Birthday long weekend 6th^th – 9^th June at Paddys Ranges State Park, Maryborough – Follow the Old Avoca Road, then turn into Karri Track and you be at the camping ground. Two toilets, fresh water and plenty of sites for vans and tents. See you there.

Cheers

Lynnie Hindle

To find out more about the PMAV visit http://www.pmav.org.au/

Customers Amazing Gold Find!

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Cory

Recently my work mate, David Turner, informed me a customer had bought in some great but unusual gold found with his Minelab GPX 5000, including a very large and heavy rock with some colour showing through. Well today was my lucky day as our customer came back in to show me the pieces!

Within the first hour came the small clean 1 grm nugget, the customers’ first ever piece!

Followed shortly after by a clear but faint ‘high-low’ target. After about 2 feet of digging a large rock of about 2kg was unearthed and found to be giving a very strong signal. The rock was discarded as it was thought to just be a hot rock, however after a short while curiosity took over and the rock was picked up and examined closer- sure enough there was a tiny glint of gold. After cleaning it was seen to have gold showing through all the cracks and interfaces of the rock- all up between 3 – 4 oz of gold in it!

The next day not far away from the rock specimen, the 2 flat pieces were located- screaming junk signals- both in one hole! One was about 11 grams and the other about 4 grams, both coated with a very chalky brown ironstone like material.

A very exciting and unique first find for our customer and hopefully the first of many!

Stunning Gold Finds with the Minelab GPX 5000 & GPX 4000

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Treasure Tim

A BendigoGold customer recently showed us a collection of stunning gold nuggets he and his wife had found over the past 3 years with a Minelab GPX 4000 and GPX 5000. Most of the nuggets were found using a Nugget Finder 12” x 7” Mono coils.

Gorgeous Gold Pieces Found with Minelab GPX 5000

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Treasure Tim

We were recently shown some great finds by a BendigoGold customer-

I was out detecting with the Minelab GPX 5000 metal detector with the 11” Commander Mono Coil in a spot near a quartz reef. We found a small piece of gold on the Saturday, it was the only piece we found but decided to return on Sunday for a more thorough look, as we thought the spot had more potential.

Returning on Sunday I began detecting and heard a faint signal and began digging. After about a foot down, and underneath a very large quartz rock, I unearthed this quartz specimen with gold showing all through it. A specific gravity test on the rock suggests approx. 26 grams of gold within it. We also found several other nice specimens and nuggets in the same area.

Lovely 222.6 gram Nugget Found

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Treasure Tim

A BendigoGold customer recently showed us some of his great finds.

One was a 222.6 gram gold nugget.

The nugget was found using a Minelab GPX 5000 metal detector with a Nugget Finder 14″ x 7″ Elliptical mono coil.

It was found at a depth of around 12″. The ground was very hard & dry, it was virgin ground.

The nugget was very dirty when pulled out after cleaning in hydrochloric acid it weighed 10 grams less.

What a great find!! Not a bad day’s prospecting!

Success with the Minelab Eureka Gold Metal Detector

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Treasure Tim

A BendigoGold customer recently had great success with the Minelab Eureka Gold Metal Detector. Congratulations to the prospector..

I went for a drive out the bush in some new areas looking for quartz outcrops to try out my new rock hammer .

I came across a nice quartz area and the area looked gold bearing so I also ran my Minelab Eureka Gold Detector with the Coiltek 6” Goldseeker Coil over the area to see if there were any signals around it.

I found many rubbish targets straight away and after about 40 minutes I heard a rather large signal and began digging.

It was about 6-8 inches deep until I got the target out and there was this beautiful quartz specimen full of gold. Within a foot of that one I got another good signal and similar depth, out popped another beautiful nugget ,again with some host rock still attached.

A couple of beautiful gold specimens thanks to the Minelab Eureka Gold, paired with the Coiltek 6” Goldseeker coil.

Beaut 138.8 gram Gold Nugget

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Treasure Tim

A customer from BendigoGold recently showed us a beaut 138.8 gram gold nugget. It was discovered in South Gippsland Victoria at the start of February.

Found in an old workings area the prospector shovelled dirt into a gold pan first and then detected it with a Minelab GPX metal detector.

What a fantastic Find!

Beautiful 22.3 gram Gold Specimen Found

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Treasure Tim

A BendigoGold Customer found a beautiful 22.3 gram specimen with quartz still attached.

It was found using a Minelab GPX 5000 Metal Detector using a 12″ x 7″ Nugget Finder Mono Coil.

The ground was highly mineralised and the specimen was found at a depth of about 10”.

Due to the high mineral level of the ground there was only a faint signal but the prospector was well rewarded with this beautiful piece.

Minelab CTX 3030 discovers a Beaut Cricket Buckle

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Treasure Tim

I was studying an old map which showed considerable alluvial gold workings in an isolated area near Bendigo and decided to take a drive there to see if it had seen many detectorists.

The diggings were extensive and probably had a large population in the 1860’s. It appeared as though nobody had been detecting there so I switched on the Minelab CTX 3030 and detected around the diggings and it was surprising how much junk was around, and shallow.

After a couple of hours digging pocketfulls of the usual buckles and buttons, but nothing of great interest, and that it was nearing 40 degrees, I was ready to call it a day and head back towards my car when I heard a broad, high-pitched signal on the edge of a digging.

I could tell it was a large non-ferrous object and that it was down several inches. I began digging the rock-hard dry ground, using my Minelab PRO-FIND 25 as I went to keep me from hitting the object with the pick.

After approx 6-7 inches deep, the PRO-FIND told me I was almost right on it, so I proceeded to use my hands. I finally seen the edge of a large flat brass belt buckle. Carefully prying it out with a stick, I was excited to think it would be another Victorian era cricket themed buckle, but also wondering if it would come out broken or damaged, as many of them are. It sure looked intact when it was just out of the ground so I walked it back to my car and brushed off the dirt with an old toothbrush to reveal its detail. I sure was lucky with this one. Beautiful condition and it still has the clasps on the back. Another excellent goldfields buckle for the collection.