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Best metal detector for hunting gold nuggets?
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I was looking into the Fisher Gold Bug 2.
I know nothing about detecting but I have started prospecting and mining gold in the desert (three weekend trips now), have purchased a high banker sluice box which I ran as a recirculating sluice box with with some success, but it was slow. So I went out and bought a mid to high end dry wash plant and used it last weekend with excellent results.
I really have two questions ... Any of you use a detector specifically for gold nuggets and did you find nuggets or just a bunch of junk? Some guys say they work ok, other say they find garbage.
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Which is the best detector for finding nuggets? I was recommended the Fisher Gold Bug 2
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Many times the soil will determine the best detector. Some are highly mineralized and some not. My advice would be to try to find a metal detector club in the area that you want to hunt. See what those guys use and go with their years of trials and tribulations.
good luck,
bob:)
From what I have seen and what they tell me is, they put their metal detectors away, and just concentrated on dry washing.
Perhaps the soil where they hunt is highly mineralized... that would justify putting the MD's away. I have found two gold nuggets with an MD.... in Arizona.... Out in the desert, or high desert, there is not a lot of junk if you get away from traveled areas.... real raw country. I have never used the Fisher Gold Bug... all my MD's are White's....Cheers, RickO
It seems the main reason the detectors went away is that this well known area has already been hit hard by detectors.
I think the first question would be is what is your budget range ?
I mean you can get a detector that will find nuggets probably anywhere from $350-$5000 new .
If you travel much and may use it in other environments then I would consider a multi use machine .Ive never used one, but many love their Garrett ATX machines. From a customer service standpoint and you buy new then Whites is probably #1.
I personally use a Minelab, but I strictly hunt the beach and salt water environment. It's not cheap, but it's built for that environment. It can also be used in dirt and highly mineralized areas, but it doesn't have any meters or screens, so it discriminates, but you will dig your share of trash .
They all make them and again it depends on your budget . Whites, Garrett, Fisher and more make reasonable multi use machines under a $1000.
As a first machine I wouldn't go expensive. If you find that you enjoy it then you can always upgrade later .
There also are tons of second hand machines available very cheap as many buy new and give up quickly for a multitude of reasons .
I bought my friend a used Garret for $150 for him and his daughter to fool around with on the beach . They paid for it the first month of the summer and he got hooked and bought a more expensive machine for himself .
Some get discouraged quickly, but once you find that first really cool thing then likely you'll be hooked .
Good luck and I'll check in to the thread again if I can offer anymore advice.
Happy Hunting !!
Altho I live extremely close to the beach, I do not plan on detecting there. My only interest is in gold nuggets and the best ($1000ish) model to find them. Perhaps a model that may find the nuggets deeper than a lesser machine that had already scanned the area.
The other option is NOT buy a detector and just mine where I know that I WILL find gold.
Some nuggets from last weekends dig ......
I do not know what magnification that is.... but certainly those are way better than flakes.... that is a good area you have..at that rate, I would stick with digging....Yes, I would also keep a good gold MD for scanning areas - good way to determine potentially productive digging.... Cheers, RickO
Dry wash or recirculating wet?
Cool finds.
bob:)
So here is my quick story on my 2 months of research plus 3 weekend trips.
Over the years a good friend of mine has told me about the gold he has found 30 plus years ago in the desert, using a hand crank dry wash machine. I few months ago, he showed me his stash which was quite impressive.
Concurrently my family was planning a trip to a camp at an active gold mine in California's mother lode country. So I bought a high banker slice box for that trip.
Two months ago, My friend is planning a trip to a lake and asks if I want to go out there. I was doing my research at the time and asked about the place he was 30 years earlier and how close it was to the lake. He's like ya its not that far, let's go check it out. Well this made me intensify my research on the area. I love google earth.
So I go to the area and the meet my friends at the lake. In my truck is a couple buckets of dirt from the area. I set up the wet recirculating sluice box and started to process the dirt. All my friends were making fun of me, that is, until I found some gold, lol.
This inspired me to plan a trip a couple weeks later and set up a recirculating sluice box in the desert. It works for about 16 buckets with filtration but I finally shut down due to much silt in the water. Found more gold which amazed me.
All the old timers where using dry wash plants so I did some research. I went to the prospecting store, a few times. I thought about it too much and my OCD made me buy a $1000 Gas powered dry wash plant for "my" mine on "my" claim, which by the way seems really weird to say.
The first two outings were mainly for prospecting. I found gold in each prospect which still blows my mind. The third (last) outing was to open up a mine on the best of the 12 prospect holes I dug. Well the new dry wash plant is the way to go. Way faster than I can do alone, but it works fine that way. A friend showed up and the plant works great for two people.
Here's is the difference in recirculating wet sluice box vs dry wash plant ......
That is sooooo cool and dry washing it seems is THE way!
nice finds.
bob:)
I have a Whites but found most Gold dredging when it was legal
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I have never used a 'professional' dry wash rig....looks interesting. I no longer live in 'gold country'... sure do miss it though. @metalmeister ....I did not know dredging was illegal...do you mean commercial, major dredging or just the float tube, individual dredging?? I knew a fellow years ago that did the float dredging in California... he had an amazing hoard of gold...Cheers, RickO
Recreational river dredging in CA is banned. Disturbs the fish habitat. Of course they forget to mention that the fish are raised in a hatchery and planted into the rivers. Not many CA rivers have naturally spawning trout. They never did allow river dredging during spawning season anyway....so what's the problem??? I'd back CA leaving the fold.
The reason the dry was plant works so fantastic, is the fact that it can process pay dirt very quickly, it really moves dirt. The plant is actually off the vast majority of the time because producing and piling the pay takes the most time and hard labor.
I just took apart and cleaned the inside where the counter weighted fan is and found another 30 pieces of small flake that went thru or around the screen.
Yes I am in Kalifornia where Arnold banned river dredging. A lot of locals were devastated. Some folks were even using quite electric motors wired from the stream to their cabin. Banned!
bummer, Most had to turn to growing cash crops.
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Sorry to hear that.... It was a lot of work, but my friend did extremely well dredging the streams up around Oroville.... Plenty of small nuggets and some impressive large ones.... Cheers, RickO
My high school friend moved up to the Placerville CA area back in the 1980's. One summer him and his buddies helicoptered in a 4" dredge in a remote stream in the Sierras and pulled out over 100 ozs. over a month. He said he was actually helping the environment by pulling out the Mercury at the bottom of the rivers left by the old time miners.
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Finding 100 ounces of gold is significant... not sure it would pay for a helicopter ride (at the price of gold then)...but a great idea.... Cheers, RickO
I am getting ready to pull the trigger on the Fisher Gold Bug 2 unless I get any better suggestions .... Come on eBay 10% in eBucks coupon .....
The Fisher Gold Bug 2 just arrived. I just got back from 4 days of dry washing in the desert, wish I had the detector for that trip. Got to plan another trip.
So Bob, where's the good nugget hunting in southwest AZ????
Totals from my new couple month old hobby of gold mining / dry washing in the desert.
I just bought a gold metal detector and plan to hit the area hard sometime in the next few weeks.
Nice results.... Now for a couple of BIG ones....
Best of luck...Cheers, RickO
Go for a Whites!
BHNC #203
I've never hunted AZ....sorry, no help there.
bob:)
PS: can't wait to see if your detector will work on your claim!
White's Goldmaster
https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/gmt/
BHNC #203
did you buy a claim? picture of the setup?
I've heard stories of ancestrial ancient rivers running thru AZ and CA. Old "Big Blue" was one of them. Put down Gold in the middle of the desert ( todays deserts)
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I joined a gold prospecting club ($45) that has many claims around the southwest.
So it is a group claim, but you can stake out your own area ( leave a bucket) and ethics say others should not mine there.
That is cool... did not know of anything like that when I lived in AZ, or anywhere out west. Best of luck. Cheers, RickO
ricko, there are local gold clubs all over the west and every one has gold claims.
A great way to prospect on land that has produced gold and your have the right to be there.
Just got back from a week at an active gold mine.
Found one small nugget metal detecting. Too many hot rocks, and trash to really deal with so running a sluice was more efficient where I found my biggest nugget so far.
I brought home ten concentrates to pan out when I got home, working on them now.....
Interesting.... I do recall a lot of hot rocks when MD'ing out there... Best of luck with your concentrates...Cheers, RickO
Please share your concentrates results.
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Was not too impressed at first, some chunks and fines.
Then I found my second largest nugget ever and then my third largest nugget ever, so It worked out ok.
Wow.... some nice nuggets.... Great.... I used to love panning when I lived out west... Also panned in the Shotover River in New Zealand.... That was the area of the biggest gold rush after California... Cheers, RickO
I might try some desert prospecting concentrates this winter.
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So cool, my gold club had an outing at one of our claims yesterday to mine for gold.
First run of the dry wash plant (1/2 hour) we found 20 fines and one small chunky.
The super cool thing about this claim is it is only 30 minutes from my house and not in the desert.
There were a few claims very close to Phoenix...just to the north... easy access. I used to go around them with an MD.... That was where I found my two nuggets... 6 and 5 gram....Cheers, RickO