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A few photo's of last summer detecting
x-terra steve  
Posted : Saturday, 17 April 2010 4:27:01 AM(UTC)
x-terra steve

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A few shots of the Wakamarina,and gold,first time at posting pics so if it works I will put a few more up,
Cheers steve

Edited by user Saturday, 17 April 2010 4:42:19 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified
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gavin  
Posted : Saturday, 17 April 2010 4:49:02 AM(UTC)
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Those nuggets would make me smile too! :P
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WWW
kiwijw  
Posted : Monday, 19 April 2010 10:41:12 AM(UTC)
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Hi Steve, CHOICE. Is that all Waka gold found with your Xterra?

JW
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x-terra steve  
Posted : Monday, 19 April 2010 12:22:28 PM(UTC)
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Hi JW:

I think a thanks is in order to you too as Gavin said that you were involved in getting this site up and running,so thanks!!.Is good as the overseas sites are you can't beat the action in ya own back yard.

The large gold peice in my hand came from the Waka, but was not found with me x-terra.It was dredged up.

The rest of the gold was all found with me x-terra.I am not normaly one to carry me camera with me but with this site up and running i will.

The photo of the exposed bedrock i managed to get a little over 18 grams out of it overa few trips last christmas,which for me is pretty good.

Nice to see that you post some great pics,the old stone building looks choice.

The attached files is a photo of a nice 1 grammer from Dead Horse Creek about three weeks ago.

The other is a pic of a small electric sucker box that i made using a bildge pump inside the box that pumps out the water which in turn creates a vacume.Works a treat.I have since sold it to a guy down south, If there is any intrest on the box i will post a basic drawing and instructions ect.PS not a great pick of the sucker but it is only one that i can find.

Cheers
Steve



Edited by user Monday, 19 April 2010 12:36:11 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

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kiwijw  
Posted : Monday, 19 April 2010 12:50:35 PM(UTC)
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Hi Steve, Thanks for the pat on the back but it takes all of us to be involved & to contribute with posts like yours to make it work. I am sure it will steadily grow as more join up & reap the rewards of a local, in our own back yard, forum. It is great to have a local site & forum up & running.
You had that "box" up on trademe didnt you?? I remember seeing it.
That is some beautiful gold you have found up the Waka. Well done. What is the smallest piece you have found with your xterra? My mate found a .3 gram piece with his but I am sre they will find smaller.

Happy hunting

JW
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x-terra steve  
Posted : Monday, 19 April 2010 2:02:41 PM(UTC)
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Cheers JW,

The smallest peice that the trusty detector will detect is so dam small that I have trouble seeing it.

I met a bloke up the moonlight last year who had dug a rather large hole ( where he shouldent be) and was putting the patdirt through a box.

He had finished for the day so I said do you want me to run the detector over the hole (that was down to virgin bedrock) sure he said, with that i switched the terra on and bloody hell the detector was singing in five seperate areas of the hole!!,

It took about half an hour to clean out the hole as it was slowly filling up with water, at total of about seven grams, biggest 1.8 grams, the smallest was well and truly tinny, not much bigger than a pin head.

Youtube had a demo on the terra showing it detecting a very small peice of gold, I am pretty sure it was only about .02 of a gram.

One thing that that i have learnt when detecting is if you can pick up the tinny pieces quite often the bigger pieces are not to far away, thats when I make a real effort to check the catch zone.Which includes rakeing away overburden,cleaning out gutters ect to get the detector onto the bedrock.

I had a laptop with some nice pics it on but the died last year and the IT dude could't access much off it.

Hey you are right about the box it went on trade me last year.

Cheers
Steve
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kiwijw  
Posted : Tuesday, 20 April 2010 3:31:29 AM(UTC)
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Hi Steve, Thanks for that. Next question. How close to the coil are those small targets? I know the closer the better & hence getting right on to the bed rock. My mate got his .3 gram at abot 3" another chap came along the weekend after we were at this spot & got 5 .2 gram bits with his GPX 4500 & he reckond they were no more than 1" deep. I hit that same spot with my GP 3000 very slowly & the same coil that he used & I couldnt make out any whispers & I had a signal enhancer as well.
I know that some VLF machines are very good on tiny gold but they need to be very close to the gold. I have since got a Whites Goldmaster that runs at 50 khz & supposed to be deadly on tiny gold near the surface. It will be interesting to go back to this spot & try it out. Some people cant be bothered detecting for gold that small & that shallow. But hey.....why leave any gold behind. They reckon they spend more time trying to find the tiny target than detecting it. But like you touched on. Just dig the target until you have it in a scoope or something & then chuck the whole lot into a bucket for further processing in either a gold pan or run through a sluice box

Happy hunting

JW.
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x-terra steve  
Posted : Wednesday, 21 April 2010 3:05:26 PM(UTC)
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Hi JW,

That is a good question, and a little hard for me to accuratly answer.

The x-terra with a round 6 inch double D 18.5khz coil is in its element working on the bedrock sniffing out the goodies as generally the AU is lodged in rather shallow cracks,crevices ect.

I jagged a small (roundish) 1 grammer in some loose overburden a couple of weeks ago at about 100mm deep.

A air test on a pin head that i sniped off showed that the detector could pick it up at around 20mm,a household paper staple at 120mm and a paperclip at 180 to 200mm.

I would love catch up with other person who has a 3000,3500,4000 or 4500 and see how well they preform in a controlled test against a few of the VLF detectors.

On another note I think that you have hit the nail on the head when it comes to detecting in the so called may be off limit zones.

I will put my hand up as I am guilty of this hideous crime but why let our history rot becouse some shinny bums deem it so??.

Great pics JW,your post are well received here.

Cheers
Steve
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auldrider  
Posted : Friday, 30 April 2010 9:24:26 AM(UTC)
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Thank you for sharing visions of your spoils x-terra steve, I asked somewhere else here, how successful you had been with your x-terra on gold?

No need to reply, now that I have seen this thread! I will have to get going with my 705 and learn to use it properly and trust it too!

kiwijw, would the friend of which you speak, be s certain "scruffy" of Naseby?
I try to learn from the mistakes of other's, I haven't got enough time left to make them all myself!
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1864hatter  
Posted : Friday, 6 August 2010 6:38:15 AM(UTC)
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Congratulations on the finds!!

Im looking at buying a detector once i make some money in the holidays do you as your name suggests use an X-Terra model? Also any other pointers you may have on detectors would be helpfull.

Thank you
And now....On sandy beaches and muddy soil, rings and coins await my coil!
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