Summer metal detector finds

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Reno Chris

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2011
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274
Here are some of my detector finds from this past summer. Cold weather is upon me here in Nevada and time to think about next year, maybe process some scrap and a few other tasks. Still it was a good year prospecting and this is only a part of my finds......
The three largest nuggets at the top are (from left to right) 0.52 ounces, 1.1 ounces and 0.41 ounces.
 

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I definitely live in the wrong country... :shock:

My largest find while panning is still well under a mm.

Thanks for sharing!

Göran
 
Now that is something. I should say what Goran said, I do live in a wrong country too. My minelab was not used much but and so far I managed to get just some gold earring and couple of silver rings, not to mention a bucket full of euros and old irish coins. I do plan trip on coast where spanish armada wrecked long time ago, folks regularly find gold there mainly after storms. Maybe I should buy waterproof MD and some wet suit and go deeper but that is just a dream due to health and no time at all.
 
Which detectors are you using now, Chris? Also, can you narrow down your areas to regions of Nevada and California? I have found nuggets in the Majubas, west of Rye Patch Resevoir, near Gold Point, southwest of Lida, and east of 29 Palms, California, near the old Supply Mine. Nothing since the stroke a few year ago.
 
Did Steve pair up with you on these trips? Great finds! Are the largest 3 from different locations? Keep Hunting them beauties.
 
Which detectors are you using now, Chris?
All the gold I found this summer both in Nevada and California were taken with either the Minelab SDC2300 or Minelab's GPZ 7000

Also, can you narrow down your areas to regions of Nevada and California?
All the gold in the photo came from either Sierra or Plumas Counties in the northern part of the Sierra Nevada gold country.
I did find some nice gold in Northern Nevada this year, but none of that is in the photo. All the gold I got this year in Nevada came from Pershing and Humboldt counties.


I am sure you were one "happy camper" on those hunting trips Chris!
I did have some very good days, but plenty of days where I only got a small amount of gold. Still, it was fun and you never knew what would be found.

Did Steve pair up with you on these trips?
Many of them but not all. Steve made a number of nice finds himself this summer.

Great finds! Are the largest 3 from different locations?
The 1.1, 0.41 and the two next largest pieces which weigh about a quarter ounce each were all found within about 50 feet of each other. The 0.52 ounce piece was found about 100 yards from the other large nuggets. So no, the 5 largest were all found at the same general location. Smaller pieces were found at a number of different locations.


 
You always have the best nugget's.
Do you use your prospecting to lead any more advanced enterprises?
If I had found ground with value such as you have found I would be trying to open up a cut or two.
Such sample's must fetch a nice premium to collector's,or do you keep all your find's for your own collection?
I find it hard enough to let recovered Au go,I am not sure I would ever trade such nice specimen's if i was lucky enough to find them.
 
Do you use your prospecting to lead any more advanced enterprises?
I have some property leased to a mining company. I make a lot more from that than I do from finding gold.
This gold comes from public lands which are national forests. Getting permits to use heavy equipment on national forest lands in California is extremely difficult. I did do some hand digging at the place the big nuggets came from, and found that the gold was shallow and that bedrock was not that far down, so loads of deep digging would not have been productive.
I know folks who do scrapes in Nevada where permits are much easier to obtain. If I found the right place in Nevada, I would do the same.


Such sample's must fetch a nice premium to collector's,or do you keep all your find's for your own collection?
I don't sell the gold unless I need the money badly and the price is low and I am not in a money pinch that I would need to sell. So it all goes into a safe deposit box at the bank.
 
Reno Chris said:
Do you use your prospecting to lead any more advanced enterprises?
I have some property leased to a mining company. I make a lot more from that than I do from finding gold.
This gold comes from public lands which are national forests. Getting permits to use heavy equipment on national forest lands in California is extremely difficult. I did do some hand digging at the place the big nuggets came from, and found that the gold was shallow and that bedrock was not that far down, so loads of deep digging would not have been productive.
I know folks who do scrapes in Nevada where permits are much easier to obtain. If I found the right place in Nevada, I would do the same.


if there are such nice examples coming form the ground I would be interested in what was to small for the detector to find.
What is the covering material?As butcher asked was it rolled stone's and gravel or organic detritus build up.
We only get little bit's of color over here.less than 0.3g in almost ten years.
 

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I don't want to delve too deeply into the geology of where it came from, as it will be like a sign post marking out the location to those who are familiar with the area. I have stated the two counties and really that's as close as I want to specify. I want to keep it secret as much as possible.
 
Reno Chris said:
I don't want to delve too deeply into the geology of where it came from, as it will be like a sign post marking out the location to those who are familiar with the area. I have stated the two counties and really that's as close as I want to specify. I want to keep it secret as much as possible.
Thank you Chris.
We would not want you indicating a good fishing spot you could not claim.
Just fascinated to hear the deposition story of a nice find like that.
I only do a little panning from old mine run offs on Dartmoor, north Molton and Exmoor when I am out walking.
Enough to prove a presence but not enough to ever get excited about,my largest find's are 1mm little flake's
Pity your ground sound's fascinating and possible a relatively young deposit it having so little over burden .
Great specimen's please let us know if you ever get to investigate further.
Regards
J
 
Reno Chris said:
I don't want to delve too deeply into the geology of where it came from, as it will be like a sign post marking out the location to those who are familiar with the area. I have stated the two counties and really that's as close as I want to specify. I want to keep it secret as much as possible.
And rightly so. If I ever make a decent find, I will be happy to share with you all from which state it came.
I was obviously kidding about the GPS coordinates, but now that I think about it, logging finds would be a great personal use of one of those "where did I park my car" smartphone apps.
 
I will say that the site of the big nuggets was a site worked by old time miners back in the day. The spots where gold was found represent places where the early day miners did not properly clean out the deposit and left decent gold behind. This is actually true of a number of the places where I found gold displayed in the photo. So the bulk of the place has had the gold removed, but here and there the old time miners failed and did not get all the gold. All of the places that yielded gold would be considered placer mines - known for their production of loose flakes, nuggets and dust.
 
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