Just some dinks, but gold

[Nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Well thought I would post a few dinks from the last couple of outings. Nothing to get all excited about, but they all came from new locations. However, I seem to find more "one nugget" patches than "hundred" nugget patches.

All found with a Minelab 3500, Coiltek Wallaby DD Pro and new Coiltek "Pocket Rocket" Li-Ion battery system.

Take care,

Rob Allison
www.nuggethunting.com

 

[DOC]

n/t

 

[joeforthegold]

Nice job Rob,
No such thing as bad gold, and the big ones are still waiting for you to dig them up out there.
-Joe

 

[darin]

Hi Rob,
I have the GP3000 With the Wallaby DD and I have never been able to find dinks like that. My settings on the detector are sensitive,DD,fixed,deep,threshold 2 o'clock, signal 2 O'Clock, volume 1/2 with detect booster. i should be finding small dinks like yours but I have not.What do you suggest.

Thank you
DARIN WAGNER eye4gold

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Darin,

Sounds like all your adjustments are very similar. The smallest pieces on the bottom of the dime are 3-4 grains. Now keep in mind they are not screaming signals, but very mellow soft hits. The combination I used was the GP3500 and Wallaby DD Pro Searchcoil. My settings for small nuggets are -

Sensitive
Normal (not deep for shallow hunting conditions)
DD mode (Mono setting w/DD Pro will give you a bit better response though)
Signal (3-4 o'Clock, trying cranking yours up just a tad)
Volume (full blast on the detector, I'm not using a signal enchancer/amp)
Fixed Ground Balance

Question: What headphones are you using? Sometimes just headphones alone can make or break a small nugget. Getting the right headphones and amp combination is also a trick. I'm using no amp, just the GP3500 and DetectorPro Black Widow Headphones. These babies make those faint whispers really sound good.

Personal Hearing: Not certain how good your hearing is. Some people have very bad hearing and need all the help they can get. If your hearing is weak or shot, your chances of finding the small stuff really drops off. People thing just by using a signal enhancer or amp will make up for it, but that is not the case. Hearing is very important, and since I'm still fairly young my hearing is great. This could give someone an edge on faint whispers or very small gold near the surface.

Training the ear: Keep in mind also I spent 10 years running over old patches. All the easy gold was gone, so I trained my ears to listen for just suddle changes in the threshold, which could turn out to be gold nugget at depth. I believe this also helps me find the very small stuff. Training the ear is very important, even though it might sound silly.

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob Allison
Rob's Detector Sales
www.nuggethunting.com

 

[darin]

Thanks Rob, The headphones that I use are the Maxi phone 2. I might need a change to the Black widows. I all most bought them from Doc but got the Maxi 2.

DARIN WAGNER eye4gold

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Darwin,

You might consider the Black Widow's. I swear by these phones regardless of what you hear on other forums. I elliminated the need for a signal enhancer when I switched from the Koss to the Black Widow's. Now keep in mind, headphones help out a lot, but might not be the cure-all to your situation.

Wishing you the best of success out there. If you have questions, feel free to post them here and I will try to help out as best as I can.

Take care,

Rob Allison

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Joe,

I agree with you, there is no bad gold. If you're finding something, you doing better than the majority of the hunters. In my honest opinion, there is only a small percentage of guys finding the bulk of the nuggets. Whether that small percentage is a hundred or a thousand hunters, it's still small compared to the total of hunters out there.

I hope your nugget streak continues. I have been on some long streaks, and know they have to eventually end, so ride them out and have as much fun as you can while it lasts.

Your doing an awesome job finding them!

Take care,

Rob Allison

 

[VT Dave]

n/t

 

[bris dave]

G'day Darin.
The bigger DD coils such as the Wallaby are not really ideal for tiny bits like those.

To date this year I have found several hundred pieces in the 0.1 to 0.4 gram (not sure of the grain equivalent as we never use that measure in Australia) using an SD2000mod with a 14" Nuggetfinder eliptical mono.
If you are a Coiltek fan the 10" eliptical mono is great but a little shallower.

A mate was using a GP3000 last year with a 10" Coiltek eliptical DD and we cleaned up a patch of tiny stuff and I was very impressed with its performance.

I dont know what the mineralisation is like in your part of the world, but if you can get away with using a mono you are more likely to get the smaller stuff.
Similarly if you can keep your coil scraping the ground and go very slow the results will come.

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Bris Dave,

You are correct, the Wallaby DD Pro isn't the best coil for small nuggets, but it's nice to know you can find them while prospecting. The Coiltek Wallaby DD Pro is my favorite searchcoil for outright prospecting and knowing I can find the dinks just makes this coil that much better.

The Coiltek Joey Mono and DD Pro are both great for small nuggets. I have personally found them under 1.5 grains with the Joey Mono. Years ago I found a 0.8 grainer with a Minelab 8-inch round, so I'm sure under the right conditions the Joey would do the same.

Personally the best coils are the Coiltek Joey (small gold), Coiltek 14-inch mono round or Wallaby DD Pro or Mono (prospecting) and the Coiltek 18-inch round or Bigred 24x12 DD Pro (deep areas, possible big gold).

Take care,

Rob Allison
www.nuggethunting.com

 

[bris dave]

G,day Rob.
Discussions re coils is always an interesting topic.
There is such a wide variety of options now for SD/GP users to make us spoilt for choice.

The good thing is there arent any real "dogs" amongst the lot of them.

From that list of prefered coils I suspect you are a Coiltek dealer. Good on you. All those you quote are excellent choices and a potential buyer couldnt go wrong.

However, for small gold and general prospecting in my area of Australia I cant go past the Nuggetfinder 14" eliptical mono.
For overall sensitivity and depth and quiet running it is way superior to the 10" Coiltek eliptical mono which I used all last year for good results.
If you are after a small gold coil this is the best available in my experience by a LONG way and offers better general prospecting options as well. I regularly get "no weighers" under 0.1grams with it.

The Nuggetfinder 16" round mono has been incredible in this region since it was brought out.
The pros here have reworked old ground done over and over with the Minelab 11" mono and Coiltek 14" mono and it has killed them to the extent they are looking at the field as if it is all new ground.
They flirted with the 20" round mono Nuggetfinder thinking it would go deeper still, but fairly quickly went back to the 16".

The nuggetfinders are very light compared to the Minelabs and Coilteks, but the fibreglass construction is correspondingly weak. Breakages are common and everyone has fibreglass repair kits to fix the problems and in fact will strengthen a new coil straight out of the box knowing where they are likely to break.

I cant comment on the DD range as noone uses them to any extent here and I have not seen one of the new Minelab range at work either.

I hope this opens up some discusion.

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Bris Dave,

Yes, the coil debates will never end on the forums. It's more about prefference than performance. There are very few sizes alike, so it's like comparing apples to oranges. You mentioned the NF 16-inch mono was killing gold where the 14-inch Coiltek mono has been. I don't find that hard to believe, but find it to be an exagerated statement. The difference in depth between the two is very minimal, and I mean minimal. Where probably honestly talking an inch or less on average sized nuggets.

I personally own a NF 16inch SL mono and it's a great coil, but it's not that much better than a Coiltek 14-inch mono. Both of these coils are great prospecting coils and both get good depth.

I agree with you about the NF20-inch round. I obtained one in a trade for a Wallaby and have yet found a nugget with it. It's big and noisy. It might be the cat's meow in open country, but not so much for here.

For weight the NF are great. For reliablitiy I find that Coiltek has them beat ten fold. I would personally rather have a coil last a year or so, rather than having to repair them constantly like you mentioned.

I have to give both manufactures credit as they have given us more tools to find more gold with the Minelab SD/GP detectors. When it comes down to it, they all work better or worse than the other in certain areas.

Would enjoy to discuss this more,

Rob Allison

 

[bris dave]

G'day again Rob.
I realise the statements I made about the NF16" sound exaggerated.
It may in fact be the case as I have never actually used the coil. I have been speaking with the guys who are using them and the comments I made are those made by them.

These guys are good operators. It is all they do and they know the ground here better than anyone alive.

They were never entirely happy with the Coiltek 14" mono, they used the 11" Minelab mono in preference and it is their belief that there is no comparison between the 2, at least in this neck of the woods.

The fact is they are happy to have to replace the NF coils every year because they are getting vastly more gold with them and it is to their economic advantage to do so.

I use the 14" NF eliptical mono exclusively these days.
I used a Minelab 11" round and Coiltek 10" eliptical and have raved about their performance over the years. However the 14" NF beats them both hands down.

On a different field with differing soil conditions all the above might be blown out the window, but it is the truth here.

Cheers.

 

[Nuggethunting]

Hello Bris Dave,

Sorry it took a bit to get back with you on this discussion. I was typing a reply back last night and the phone rang so I lost my thought.

The debate between the NF 16-inch and Coiltek 14-inch round mono's is a good discussion. I would agree the 16-inch round would get a bit more depth, but it's not enough to say the coil is "better." I think we would have to compare like sizes before that determination could be justified. I personally own both coil, but have been far more successful with the Coiltek 14-inch round. I have probably found over 500 nuggets and all my biggest gold with this coil. Naturally when someone has been very successful with something they tend to go back to it. My 14-inch Coiltek is wore completely out, so I'm considering a new one. For the time being the Wallaby DD Pro and Mono have done a very good job.

I think the 14 & 16-inch round are great choices.

I agree with you, that some coils work much better over certain ground conditions than others. I found the Wallaby DD Pro to be the best coil (here in Arizona) for out right prospecting. It can find smaller gold than the conventional Minelab, Coiltek and NF DD searchcoils due to the stronger electro-magnetic field (more power applied to the searchcoil).

As far as replacing wore out coils, I understand the logic behind it. I used to use the Coiltek coils (especially the 14-inch round) without a coil cover. I think you get a bit more added sensitivity, but some seem to disagree. Regardless, this is what I did in the past and would eventually wear the bottoms completely off the coils. However, usually I would have a handful of nuggets to justify destroying the searchcoil. I'm sure the same logic is applied to the guys wearing out the fiberglass searchcoils.

I would agree the NF 14-inch would overall beat both of the coils you mentioned. Reason being, the Coiltek 10x5 Joey is much smaller vs. the 14-inch elliptical. You should get a bit more depth and more coverage with such a coil. As for the Minelab 11-inch round (mono), I'm not convinced the NF14-inch elliptical would find them smaller, as I have found them almost under a grain with the 11-inch, and under a grain (0.8 grains) with the Minelab 8-inch round mono at or near the surface with the GP series detectors. When it comes to depth, I'm still real skeptical about the NF getting more depth. Mathmatically, they should have about the same depth capabilities.

Dave, you are right, is some places all your reports might be dead on, but others spots it might be just the opposite. This includes my findings also. I have never detected Australia, so my findings here in the US could be much different on those coil conditions.

Regardless, this thread has been very interesting and would love to hear more about your reports. It never hurts to have a few coils from each manufacture to increase your chances overall in the various goldfields.

P.S. Would love for you to join my forums and contribute any information. Being a Minelab and Coiltek dealers, I still enjoy to hear about other products on the market. There never is just one best combination!

Hope to hear back from you,

Rob Allison
Rob's Detector Sales
www.nuggethunting.com

 

[bris dave]

G'day Rob,
I cant argue with anything you say.
Having a good selection of coils available is simply a good situation for the detector operator.
I like the fact that NF have put out a range which offers different size and configuration to Coiltek. It opens up more options.

As far as the 14" eliptical NF and 11" Minelab round monos are concerned they are quite similar in performance.
I think the eliptical has the edge because the narrow point can get into more nooks and crannies yet still covers the same ground.
In fact yesterday I was detecting a very steep hillside following downslope from a small leader I found earlier in the year and was able to snaffle a 4gram specimen in just such a position. I am not sure I could have got the round into that spot.
It was a case of trying to detect properly and not lose my footing. That would have entailed going arse over tit down an almost cliff like hill for 40 or 50 feet! Not a good career move!

I also got a series of specimens with tiny pieces of gold in quartz off the ore dump of a old hardrock mine. Either coil would have got these.

As far as very small stuff goes I think they are very similar. I have got quite a lot of pieces which will not register on my scales (thank you for those Doc, they are beauties!) and frankly I dont fancy digging thenm any smaller.
I believe the NF goes a little deeper on this stuff as I have found a number of pieces on ground I have done to death with the Minelab 11".
It could just be I detected the area better or simply put the coil over the gold this time.

Provided you can keep the NF from breaking I feel it has a weight and shape advantage over the ML and Coiltek equivalents.
The real problem with the NF coils has been with the open "spider" shaped larger versions. They lack inherent strength. The solid 14" eliptical isnt so bad.
You simply CANNOT use a NF coil without a coilcover. The fibreglass will wear in half a days use and if water gets into the wiring then you have a REAL problem. It happened to me earlier in the year and was a pain in the arse.

You probably know this trick with the plastic coils but I will mention it anyway just in case.

Get an old coil cover of the same plastic as the coil, break it up into small, say 1" x 1" bits and soak them in acetone. Use it in a gluggy consistency and apply the stuff to any areas suffering wear.
The acetone will chemically weld the solution to the coil plastic and you can mend holes or build up areas to prevent wear. It works really well and will extend the life of your coil if you dont use a cover.
I have to do it every 3 or 4 days with the NF coil covers which are a little too soft for my liking.

Rob. Can you do me and other Aussies a favour when talking weights. We never use grains, only ounces and grams. I find it difficult to convert sometimes, so if you know the gram measure can you use that? If not, I think I will still live.

Cheers.

 

[Grubstake]

Don't forget the Platypus coil, waterproof and dynomite, it a heck of a coil. Grubstake