Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Congrats on getting out and finding the yellow stuff Lanny! I bet it was alot of fun just to be out and finding gold is the icing on the cake. The area looks very much like where I'm at here just south of Glacier Park in Montana. Snow capped mtns, little rain and the way that all the leaves are getting ready to pop out. Good luck to you on your future trips.

Thanks for dropping in. If you're living in the region of Montana you've described, it's drop dead gorgeous! You're living the dream.

The leaves are just starting to peek out, and the snow has definitely not left the high elevations yet.

It was fun to get out and finally swing a coil after the blahs of winter, and finding some gold really was a pleasant bonus.

All the best,

Lanny

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Kinda like finding a coin spill only with nuggets! WTG Lanny!

Nature's coin spill. That's a great metaphor for what happened, and with all of the signals going off, that's a good analogy to boot.

How are things? Have you got a new honey hole yet?

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Niiiice!

Thanks for stopping by.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[dashriprock]

Yes sir I live on the shore of Flathead Lake. I see the Swan range just about everyday and see Glacier when I run into Kalispell. It is beautiful but there just isn't much gold close by like there was in the Black Hills of South Dakota where I'm from. I moved here in the fall of 2013...was on my way to Alaska. Got sidetracked. Hate having to drive 2 to 3 hours one way for decent gold to enjoy my hobby. If I could spend more than a day I could justify it. Now I'm thinking on moving again but haven't decided where. Sold my home and property and everything cept for my truck, bike, clothes, hunting and fishing gear and my prospecting gear. No wife or girlfriend and at 56 I have an itch to see what's on the other side of the hill. Wish you all the best also.

 

[Jeff95531]

Nature's coin spill. That's a great metaphor for what happened, and with all of the signals going off, that's a good analogy to boot.

How are things? Have you got a new honey hole yet?

All the best,

Lanny

Thanks for asking Lanny. I have been looking around the high country here and brought a couple samples home. The first one I called "clear cut view" as timber was being harvested it exposed a fantastic panoramic view. What was even more interesting, over burden had been scraped down to bedrock. Problem was it was 100% clay and no amount of washing and rinsing exposed any gold. The second I called "Panther Flat". I found a boulder about the size of a VW that was shaped like a drop riffle sluice with a hole depression at the back and a flat upright back. One flake. I think the "hole" was too shallow and the fast water cleans it out and as the river drops, it deposits just tennis ball size rocks.

A little off topic but my life has been much like a country song of late. Shortly after my annual physical my Doc called to tell me 1/2 my blood is missing. A colonoscopy is required soon (been there, done that before and it saved my life...cancer found/removed). Then he says to stop drinking alcohol. A daily thing for me but no DT's happy to say.

Then my best friend and constant companion in the whole wide world (Cocoa-almost 13 yo Chocolate Lab) stopped eating and drinking, throwing up...you know the signs. Had to put him down Thursday of the same week. He was always dredging while I was panning and digging and he idolized me like a 6 year old would a super hero.

It's times like these that I need a visit from one of my hero's to keep my chin up.

 

[Cariboo5]

Congrats on your find Lanny....At this time I can only wish to get out as there is still to much snow at the claims..

 

[Lanny in AB]

Congrats on your find Lanny....At this time I can only wish to get out as there is still to much snow at the claims..

Sorry, but I've been mostly out of contact for the last couple of weeks.

We have been a bit lucky here in the west in that spring came early, and it's been warm enough quite early to get out to chase a little gold.

I believe if I remember correctly that your claims are in a quite isolated region, and that winter hangs on far too long in the region you have your claims in.

Keep me updated on your gold adventures, and I wish you all the best,

Lanny

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

What beeps isn't always . . .

Up at 5:00 in the morning. I rounded up two detectors for the trip, the Minelab X-Terra 705, a dual purpose detector that's a solid shooter for coins and is also a deadly little nugget getter; as well, I packed the Falcon MD20, a highly specialized 300 khz probe-like unit that loves to find tiny gold, but will also find bigger pieces of gold, as long as they're close to the surface.

As the weather is still cranky this time of year, I grabbed my winter issue army, two-bag, down-filled sleeping gear. (There's nothing worse than being chilled to the bone in the mountains when you're trying to sleep.) I loaded up the usual gear: grub, picks, various shovels, backpack with sniping gear, gold bottles, pans, five-gallon plastic bucket, hiking boots, wading boots, and the necessary changes of clothing to use for layering in the mountains. You see, up here in the spring, we can get all four seasons in one day!

I hit the road in Little Blue, my smaller gasoline powered 4X4, and was soon climbing through the foothills on my way into the first mountain pass. On my way through, I noticed that none of the leaves were out yet, but the golden willows were sending the sap up to the top limbs, so the leaves will soon follow. All of the peaks are still covered in snow, but the areas of lower elevation between the peaks were starting to show some green in the meadows.

After winding my way through three separate passes, I hit the down slope that signaled I was within an hour of the claims.

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It was raining. Not a good sign.

When I hit camp, I unpacked in a light rain, set up all of my gear, then checked in with the locals to see what immediate conditions were like and to check to see if there was anything out of the ordinary (cranky bears, cougars on the prowl, etc.). After a good chunk of time chatting, and finding that things were pretty calm, I threw the gear I'd need into Little Blue and started my slow climb up the canyon. (The rain was an intermittent mist by now, and the sun was peeking over my shoulder as I headed west.)

The road up the canyon dates from the mid 1800's, and it literally hugs the cliff tops that crest the canyon walls. It's not for the faint of heart, and there are no series of guard rails to protect the careless. Moreover, there are very few places to negotiate passage around another vehicle, and sometimes it takes some fancy wall-crawling with two tires or some serious backing up to allow another vehicle to pass.

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I finally topped the first long rise, took a side road, and descended down a rough track that took me close to the river, but kept me above it and parallel to it on an ancient bench. On that bench was an excavation that I had permission to detect.

There was also a spot where pay dirt had been piled, but in checking that spot, all I did was turn my super-magnet (on the end of my pick) into a metal-spiked porcupine!

No nuggets.

I left that ground and headed to a section where I knew some bedrock had been uncovered. Some other prospectors had found gold in a pay layer above the bedrock, but they said they weren't getting gold out of the bedrock itself. Now, I've seen this before on other hunts, and it's not uncommon in areas of glaciation, yet I always check bedrock that's exposed after untold millennia of burial under a deep, earthy blanket of rock and clay.

I hit some friable bedrock with the 705 and after only three swings (I know, it doesn't sound possible), I had a nice, mellow tone. But, I have to back up a bit. I'd decided to do a little experiment: I'd switched over to the discrimination side because I was sick to death of all metal mode and the buhzillion pieces of track and blade I'd dug earlier. So, after the third swing, I had a nice repeatable signal that read conductive. (I'd swung across I don't know how many "blanking" signals of trash on my path to that third swing.) I switched back to all metal, and the target was nice and crisp. After not much work, I had the nugget in my hand. It was flat and round, kind of like when you hammer out a lead BB. But, it was gold, and it was first catch of the day.

Knowing that gold likes to travel the same lazy path, I kept at that spot and soon had another, yet smaller nugget. I stayed in all metal mode and forced myself to dig every target, and I added yet more slivers of steel and iron to the super-magnet's weird hairdo.

I noticed a spot where the bedrock rose up to meet the boulder clay, and someone had done a lot of work in that area. There were several piles of old high-banker tailings. The bedrock was running out from under the clay in little rough troughs. I swung the Minelab over the troughs and got multiple signals. Well, as it was obvious the original miners had scraped it hard with a toothed bucket, passing the magnet across the bedrock netted a whole new crop of splinters of steel. I swept the area again, and there were still lots of signals, but I couldn't get any more magnetics on the end of the pick.

Moreover, the spaces among the bedrock in those little troughs were pretty small, so I broke out the Falcon to get the probe down into the little nooks and crannies. It was just the right size. I had a small sniping spoon in my backpack and when I'd get a positive signal (there were lots of hot-rocks throwing off negative signals), I'd scoop out the clay, sticky sand, and small stones and put them in a gold pan. I sniffed out a bunch of signals in this manner, then took the pan to the water that was resting in a low spot in the bedrock.

My eyes about popped out when I fanned back the material in the crease. Nuggets!

Well, it didn't take me long to get more material in another pan, and once again, more nuggets. Now these aren't big nuggets, but small ones; nevertheless, lots of them, and it was getting dark. So, I got my flashlights out and worked with the Falcon until that proved too difficult, then I broke out the Minelab yet again and captured four more small nuggets. I called it a day (or, a night, really).

The take for several hours was ten nuggets and eleven pickers, plus a nice catch of flake gold in the bottle.

Obviously the people that high-banked that exposed bedrock didn't have a detector, or didn't know how to use it, or if the had a detector, they dug a pile of magnetic slivers and thought all of the remaining signals were trash as well.

I'll never know for sure, but what I learned is that when you get a lengthy series of beeps, it isn't always trash; it might just be sassy little nuggets instead.

All the best,

Lanny

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This was probably the most enjoyable read I've experienced on any forum, it was akin to tagging along on the back of 'Little Blue'. I highlighted the one paragraph above because I could see what was happening as things unfolded. Electronic prospecting surely has a tendency to reflect the fickle whims of Lady Luck. Statistically we have probability theory to predict it, because it is a very real phenomenon. So your first quickly recovered nugget comes as no surprise... although it's a lot of fun when it happens.

I like your frank description of using some discrimination in a high trash area. We use the appropriate tool for the job, especially when checking out a new area littered with small iron trash. In fact not too long ago Steve and I were discussing this very subject with respect to using tone ID. While tones are fine, I prefer conventional iron discrimination, but then that could result from many years of familiarity breeding trust rather than contempt if it is used correctly.

Congratulations Lanny on a very successful first hunt of the season… it's fantastic that you have experienced an early spring. After a solid, cold winter, spring has arrived early here too. We loved that beautiful rugged stream photo… that's one I would enlarge and hang in my den.

Jim.

 

[Lanny in AB]

A few thoughts on detecting bedrock for the rookies:

The last time I hit the bedrock (a few weeks ago), I was reminded of a few things.

Of course, one of the big issues while detecting bedrock is mineralization. As well, with mineralization that's embedded in the bedrock, as well as the soil that clings to it, there are the mineralized hot rocks, the hot ones and the cold ones--trouble rocks. Either type of hot or cold rock can cause false readings and knowing a little about how to read, interpret, or ignore them can make an otherwise miserable and confusing experience turn into something interesting and enjoyable. Furthermore, knowing how to "read" the highly mineralized soil that's stuck in the cracks or that's left in small pockets on the bedrock will demystify the process as well.

So, while out on my last excursion, I was reminded of a few things I've learned over the years while swinging gold coils over the bedrock.

One thing that causes confusion is when a signal pops up that sounds pretty good, but there's no defined center to the signal. By defined center I mean that the signal sounds good all the way across the sweep or significant tone area, but there's no point in the signal process where it peaks, gets louder, or is separated by any volume increase moving from right to left from edge to edge across the target response area. When I get a signal like this, of course I investigate it, but I'm already processing that it's likely ground noise. So, I'll scrape off some of the soil and detect the spot again, keeping the coil at the same height as I had it during the initial find. If the signal is slightly weaker, I'm leaning more toward ground noise. So, I'll remove some more soil and swing the coil again at the same height. If the signal is weaker, still the same, and still has no defined center, it's pretty certain it's not a metal target as by now it should be louder, and if I dip the coil and it's still the same broad response (same strength all the way across), it's a pocket of hot mineralized soil. I don't know how many of these types of signals I've investigated over the years, but it's a whole lot, and eventually if I dig deep enough and remove all of the soil, all I end up with is a hole and a pile of barren dirt.

So, when I investigate a signal like I've mentioned, and if I don't get an increase in signal strength, or if I don't get a defined center to the signal as I remove some overburden, I'm ready to move on.

Now hot and cold rocks are another story as some of them sound very, very good. Having used both PI's and VLF's, I'll tell you that you'll hear far fewer annoying rocks with PI's, they really make life simpler, but you will still hear them. This bit of information is important as PI manufacturers like to make it sound like PI's ignore highly mineralized rocks, and they do ignore many, but they do not ignore all of them. So, don't put out the big bucks thinking you'll never hear a trouble rock again, because you will, and the ones that still sound off with PI's can be very annoying.

There is hope however as the general rule of thumb is that troublesome rocks are mostly near the surface, but I've found enough exceptions to this old rule to also know it's not always true, and there's a particular honey hole where I've gathered sassy nuggets that has hot rocks that defy that logic, and I've dug those specific trouble causing rocks many times, and at depth to boot! In all fairness, they have a high iron content, but they're definitely not nuggets, and they definitely waste a lot of my time. So, for those types of hot rocks, I just have to dig to tell until someone develops a far better discriminator for PI's, and no, the new GPZ does not ignore all hot rocks either.

But, the old rule of surface rocks causing most of the trouble will help you ID many other problem rocks as most of them do hang out close to the surface, and as others have written, you'll get so you can visually ID many of them and simply kick them out of the way. Moreover, using other coil varieties, like DD's with a PI (and with VLF's) will help eliminate hot rocks that mono's will sound off on, but once again, you'll still be left with some to deal with. If you remember that trouble rocks will rapidly produce a weaker signal as you increase coil height, or that sometimes as you approach from a 90 degree angle the signal disappears or breaks up, that will also give you information that you might be onto a trouble rock instead of a good target.

Good targets produce a nice, sharp, clear signal if you're close to them, and they'll keep producing a clear signal with a center as you move the coil up slightly away from them whereas bad rocks will lose that sharp response and any center quickly. That is, most bad rocks will, as I clarified earlier.

Now, if you're using a VLF, your life will be more complicated, much more so. VLF's really hit hard on hot rocks; they love to sound off on them. In some areas I've detected, you can't move the coil with any small amount of movement in any direction without hitting other ones. Other nugget shooters have written about strategies on dealing with them, like tuning to problem rocks or waiting for the "boing" as you move away from them, and those are good tips, but they won't get you away from hearing all trouble rocks. So, the ones that aren't easily ruled out will require closer investigation and sometimes you'll be digging a bit, but my experience is you won't be digging as deep as you will for those exceptional problem rocks that set PI's off. So, that's one bit of effort a VLF may save you from.

So, while I'm at this tip list, I'll mention something I've brought up before. Too many rookies swing far too fast, and they raise their coil sweeps at the end of their sweeps, plus they don't overlap their swings. It seems that speed and coverage become everything, and trust me, I've been there, far too often. True, sometimes you want speed, but when you hit nuggets in a patch, of even find that first nugget, forget about speed altogether and slow down, way down, with multiple seconds elapsing on your sweeps as you cover the find area. Moreover, you'll have to get a whole new set of ears because when you hit a patch for rarely are you getting a series of sharp signals (my last outing was a huge exception to this, with crisp signals throughout my sweeps!), and you'll have to retrain your ears to hear tiny breaks in the threshold which will be very hard to hear with an external speaker. The variations of sound are so small, it's hard to believe they could ever signal a good target, but they most certainly do. Because of this, great headphones pay off as they'll let you hear those tiny disruptions that you'll virtually always miss with an external speaker, and please don't go cheap on the headphones either; you want to be able to distinguish the tiniest disruption in that threshold, especially with VLF's as they excel at finding tiny gold.

I hope some of this helps, and another time I may get a chance to write some more about this subject.

All the best, and I hope you get your coil over some sassy gold that you otherwise would have missed,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

This was probably the most enjoyable read I've experienced on any forum, it was akin to tagging along on the back of 'Little Blue'. I highlighted the one paragraph above because I could see what was happening as things unfolded. Electronic prospecting surely has a tendency to reflect the fickle whims of Lady Luck. Statistically we have probability theory to predict it, because it is a very real phenomenon. So your first quickly recovered nugget comes as no surprise... although it's a lot of fun when it happens.

I like your frank description of using some discrimination in a high trash area. We use the appropriate tool for the job, especially when checking out a new area littered with small iron trash. In fact not too long ago Steve and I were discussing this very subject with respect to using tone ID. While tones are fine, I prefer conventional iron discrimination, but then that could result from many years of familiarity breeding trust rather than contempt if it is used correctly.

Congratulations Lanny on a very successful first hunt of the season… it's fantastic that you have experienced an early spring. After a solid, cold winter, spring has arrived early here too. We loved that beautiful rugged stream photo… that's one I would enlarge and hang in my den.

Jim.

Jim, as always it's a treat when you drop in for a visit.

Thanks for taking the time to read the story, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it as you tagged along. Moreover, thanks for your sincere compliment; I appreciate it.

I trust that you'll have another successful season chasing the silver on your portion of Canada's mineral belt.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Featherdfishead]

Great write up Lanny! I've learnt many of the same techniques over the yrs. Most Hot rocks on my new SDC sound with a slight warble it seems. Not always but many, something i have just been learning but like.
AjR

 

[Lanny in AB]

Great write up Lanny! I've learnt many of the same techniques over the yrs. Most Hot rocks on my new SDC sound with a slight warble it seems. Not always but many, something i have just been learning but like.
AjR

Thanks for dropping in, and I understand that the SDC is a killer on small gold, and I also hear that it has a very smooth threshold. What's your opinion on those two points?

If the SDC gives a little warble on most of the hot rocks, and the good targets only give a nice, clear tone, that's a plus too.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Good questions Lanny and I would also appreciate any comments from AjR if he feels he has sufficient experience to comfortably discuss the SDC 2300. I’m sure we've all read comments elsewhere, but frankly I’d feel better learning what AjR might say on the subject.

Jim.

 

[Cariboo5]

Nice to see you again Jim......Question for all.....Any one ever have any successful detecting gold hunts near mountain tops. There are several small tributaries running in early spring and dry later. Area has a decent history with surface gold and some nuggets have been found on lower benches. Info on your experiences are appreciated....

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nice to see you again Jim......Question for all.....Any one ever have any successful detecting gold hunts near mountain tops. There are several small tributaries running in early spring and dry later. Area has a decent history with surface gold and some nuggets have been found on lower benches. Info on your experiences are appreciated....

Cariboo,

Low mountains, yes, some nice nuggets for me.

I know a guy from Montana that found a nice deposit of nuggety gold near the top of a mountain. It was all done through detector work.

The gold didn't choose where it was deposited. But Mother Nature sure did.

Rich Hill in Arizona, I visited that spot. They named the top of that mountain "The Potato Patch" for the size of the gold lying around up there.

It does happen . . .

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Maxlfty]

Lanny,
Along those lines. I have located two old hard rock mines. And according to the old reports. One was gold associated with sulfur. A few drifts and a short shaft.
The other not very far from it said, free milling gold near the surface and more sulfur gold deeper.
It's going to take some brush busting, lots of hustle as these are in steep country.
How would you prospect those areas?
Where should I start?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[calisdad]

Wouldn't we all like to find our own 'potato patch'?

 

[Lanny in AB]

Lanny,
Along those lines. I have located two old hard rock mines. And according to the old reports. One was gold associated with sulfur. A few drifts and a short shaft.
The other not very far from it said, free milling gold near the surface and more sulfur gold deeper.
It's going to take some brush busting, lots of hustle as these are in steep country.
How would you prospect those areas?
Where should I start?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lanny,
Along those lines. I have located two old hard rock mines. And according to the old reports. One was gold associated with sulfur. A few drifts and a short shaft.
The other not very far from it said, free milling gold near the surface and more sulfur gold deeper.
It's going to take some brush busting, lots of hustle as these are in steep country.
How would you prospect those areas?
Where should I start?

If there's free milling gold near the surface, I'd take a detector for sure, check any throw-out piles/dumps, etc as hand sorting missed gold for sure.

You've already done your research which is a big part of the picture, and I imagine you've already looked at output/production figures as well to see how extensive the deposit was.

Take a light-weight detector if the terrain is sketchy, which it sounds like it may be, and if you're to heck and gone from anywhere, consider some type of emergency communication device in case you need rescue for any reason. Moreover, if there's the risk of dangerous animals, be sure you're carrying appropriate protection.

Take some sample bags if you're doing extensive testing and mark carefully where each sample comes from so you'll have an accurate mapping of your finds if you decide to develop things further.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Wouldn't we all like to find our own 'potato patch'?

I know I sure would!

A spot like that might just scratch the itch for a while.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Featherdfishead]

Hello gentlemen, just catching up on the thread. Been popping in and reading what i can but not keeping up. Grandma passed 2 weeks ago, been gettn prepared for a very busy season studying streams before they dry up altogether and or wildfire chase me and the critters out of the mountains. I did just recently find a used Yamaha Zuma 125 i'm lookn at and likely buying tomorrow. Guna be a fun little scoot but will not allow me to bring my dogs - already maken jokes about gettn a terrier that could ride with me but not any time soon(maybe when Zoe passes) - likely not legal here in Cal anyway. Enough BS now for detector talk.

I havent been out in the last few weeks and am excited to get my new scoot and hit a virgin area. My last time out was just over two weeks ago and i hiked into an area i had been afew times but hadnt found anything. The SDC and i met the skunk that day but i hed a great hike and did find an old Mica Axle Grease can at 1.5 ft that still had some mica grease in it and enough label for me to ID it.

Yes the SDC is great on small gold - Amazingly So. And i feel the threshold is very stable. It has a slight warble to its pitch but i dont feel that it interferes with the slight dips and waivers that we listen for to indicate a tiny or deep pitch. It hits amazingly hard on the tiniest pieces. The Hot Rock Warble it only something i've noticed the last few times out. The differences i'm hearing could honestly be cold rocks and hot rocks- i just dont have enough experience to say for sure yet. Very old white waxy looking lead pieces produce a very strong warble (also noticed by other SDC users) that is very distinct and different than the warble the hot rocks produce. Fresh lead doesn't warble it screams-too bad. I'll continue to dig the lead warbles but i already feel confident its waxy lead when i hear it. and of course theirs the mineral patches and hot rocks that sound like targets that must be investigated but these are few and probably something detectors will always be hindered by.

Maxlfty - As lanny said check out the dump piles and check out the native reef rock that the gold was coming from. Hike up and side hill to were you can get a good view of the slope that was worked and search for other ledges, dips or changes in the hillslope. Circle back around and detect these areas if you notice any. Many of these free gold or pocket gold areas are very rich in the pocket and devoid of gold any wheres else. If there is any head water streams below work them and look for signs that the old timers were trying to fallow the gold up slope - Usually evenly spaced digs spotted along the hill slope or sometimes a straight drift at intervals. Many times the brush makes these hard to see and even harder to detect but they can be productive and are indicators to the path the gold may have fallowed.

Good luck and be safe!
AjR