Prospecting & Detecting
Prospecting Australia—Part III Anatomy of a Nugget Patch in Western Australia
December 2011 by Chris Ralph
One of the most memorable nuggets I found in Australia was detected on the very last day that I was out prospecting. I was going along swinging my coil and I came across a blaring loud signal that almost blew my ears off.How to Beat the Heat--and The Bedrock
The pit was a classic one—exposed shale bedrock with all the material being washed out one end of the pit. Within a few minutes I had a nice mellow signal that was in open ground.
Take a Kid Detecting
I thought things started off okay until I realized I had forgotten some of my gear and had to return to the house. My troubled start was not helped when my boy came up to me a few minutes after my return to show me his first nugget of the day.
Metal Detector Testing Methods
It will not be any easier than on your table at home, and so testing a very small test target like the ballpoint pen can tell you immediately if a detector is suitable for looking for tiny gold nuggets.Making Adjustments to Catch Fine Gold
This fine gold that is so common is probably the most notorious for eluding our riffles and mattings.
Research and Fieldwork Yield Some Promising Gold
A week later, a small team of us hit it again, and this time the gold really showed up.
Mutiny on The Mason
We decided to check some spots that were pretty good to us on previous trips. The detector was deceptively simple with few buttons and auto-ground balance.
Tips for Cleaning Gold Nuggets
I pulled out the nuggets I had worked on previously and looked at the size of the wire basket that the items to be cleaned are placed into. It looks much like a miniature french fry deep fryer.
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