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]

Lanny, your resilience is admirable. Trash is so demoralizing! Thanks for setting the good example of a dedicated miner.
Great story! It's a dream of mine to take on the great north where you place your stories.
Dan

Dan,

Thanks for dropping in, and thanks for your generous compliments. I appreciate your time and effort.

It's interesting how those dreams work out, for one of mine is still to swing my detector in California one day. Who can be immune to the lure of the lore of the '49'ers? Not me, that's for sure. But, I'll get there one day.

The "true north strong and free" is a fantastic place to chase the gold. There's so many places where I get back in the middle of nowhere and never see another person the entire day. I love that, and I love that there's still so many places left to explore that I know I'll never get to see a tiny fraction of them in my lifetime. It's not like I'll ever run out of locations that are new to me.

California has a fantastic mining history, rich in memories, one that's being hammered out of the current population and often demonized in the process. That makes me sad as historically, in context, the gold rush in California is the reason the area was opened and settled on a large scale. The trip to get there for those early Argonauts was incredibly difficult, and many perished just making the attempt. It's easy for today's world to forget why so many people took the golden chance to gamble with everything they had just to make it to California.

All the best,

Lanny

 

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[Lanny in AB]

I remember Eagle telling the story of Miner Pete building fires under boulders to big to move, after they were good and hot, pour cold creek water on them to split them into manageable pieces. He was drift mining old channel material along the Merced river. Perhaps they were using scrap wood to trying to do the same.

That's a great idea, and one I hadn't thought of! You're probably on to something there.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

(This is in reference to my last story: Hot-rock Insanity, IV) I can't remember if I mentioned this or not in conjunction with the hot-rock insane environment I was working in: my buddy and his friends with their VLF's were constantly having to adjust for hot-rocks, constantly!

With my pulse machine, I would get only some of the hot-rocks. I know that Pulse makers like or even want you to believe that you won't ever be bothered by hot-rocks again, but that's a bunch of nonsense, and they know it's nonsense. So, I'm not quite sure why they don't go more out of their way to advertise that fact when pushing their product.

However, you will be bothered by far fewer hot-rocks while using a gold-prospecting-dedicated pulse machine; that much is true. The unique problem with the boulder field in my story is that there's one hot-rock that's full of iron, so full of iron that they (the tiny rocks) all jump right to the super-magnet! Therefore, I imagine the machine sees them as pieces of iron, but it sees them much like the tips of old square nails, and that means they also have the sweet sounds of gold!

Regardless, they are a problem that must be silenced in order to hear the gold that accompanies them.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Tree!]

Lanny,
I totally agree with you on the purpose of our residence to this part of the world we live in now, given that amazing historical background we have behind it. It is a shame, this battle we're in.
Dan

 

[Lanny in AB]

Lanny,
I totally agree with you on the purpose of our residence to this part of the world we live in now, given that amazing historical background we have behind it. It is a shame, this battle we're in.
Dan

Dan,

It is a shame how people have had such an unimaginable disconnect with what actually brought about the Great State of California. It's amazing how people forget that if they forget their past, they lose their connection to the present and often ruin their opportunities for a productive future.

You have my sympathies for the current battle of historical disconnect you're struggling with, and at some point, I hope reason will rule and that people in California will embrace their past and find a way to be proud of it again.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

(This is in reference to my last story: Hot-rock Insanity, IV) I can't remember if I mentioned this or not in conjunction with the hot-rock insane environment I was working in: my buddy and his friends with their VLF's were constantly having to adjust for hot-rocks, constantly!

With my pulse machine, I would get only some of the hot-rocks. I know that Pulse makers like or even want you to believe that you won't ever be bothered by hot-rocks again, but that's a bunch of nonsense, and they know it's nonsense. So, I'm not quite sure why they don't go more out of their way to advertise that fact when pushing their product.

However, you will be bothered by far fewer hot-rocks while using a gold-prospecting-dedicated pulse machine; that much is true. The unique problem with the boulder field in my story is that there's one hot-rock that's full of iron, so full of iron that they (the tiny rocks) all jump right to the super-magnet! Therefore, I imagine the machine sees them as pieces of iron, but it sees them much like the tips of old square nails, and that means they also have the sweet sounds of gold!

Regardless, they are a problem that must be silenced in order to hear the gold that accompanies them.

All the best,

Lanny

Good to see you pointing out these distinctions Lanny, and dispelling myths. How are you dealing with those little redhot hotrocks that sound-off like sassy small nuggets? For example in a patch are you GBing to them with your GPX5K, a different technique perhaps, or is it a case of having to check 'em out individually with your pick magnet...

Jim.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Good to see you pointing out these distinctions Lanny, and dispelling myths. How are you dealing with those little redhot hotrocks that sound-off like sassy small nuggets? For example in a patch are you GBing to them with your GPX5K, a different technique perhaps, or is it a case of having to check 'em out individually with your pick magnet...

Jim.

The magnet made short work of them in a hurry Jim.

I don't know what would have happened if I'd have ground-balanced to them as they are so conductive. Interesting point you've raised.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Red Devil Bedrock

I remember the time I first opened an ancient crevice.

I was working on a claim that had been placered by large equipment.

It had been reclaimed, and I had permission from the owner to detect it for nuggets. I had my Tesoro Sand Shark with me. If you don't know, the Shark is a pulse machine that's completely waterproof, headphones and all, and I wanted to give it a land trial as the claim had some red-devil bedrock that was insanely hot and nasty stuff indeed. That rock was so stinkin' hot that the three VLF's we tried all died. (Well, they didn't actually die, but they were completely overloaded and would not produce coherent signals. So, it was like those little stinks just gave up and died. Point of information: this was not the same bedrock that I have written about in other posts that was the black graphite schist which is red-hot, the rotten stuff where the other VLF detectors wouldn't run. This was a completely different area, with different bedrock yet again, and it was equally far too hot for VLF's.) As I'd found out about the temperature of that bedrock the season before, I decided I had nothing to lose by hauling my Sand Shark along to give it a try, as it's a pulse machine.

However, I was soon to rediscover that the Sand Shark was equipped with a hardwired coil, and it's not sensitive to small gold at all. Nope. Forget about it. Moreover, as the coil is hard-wired to the machine (to make it completely waterproof), there was no way to change coils to get one that was in a little package so as to be more sensitive to smaller gold. I even contacted the company directly about the issue during the off season, but they weren't concerned about my concerns, and they informed me that the configuration I had was the only one they supported or cared to support! (That whole conversation was revealing and informative, in a disturbing kind of way, as I rather wished they'd at least have listened to my concerns so as to try to modify their product or at least to try to accommodate me as a client.)

As I tested the machine, I found out that the gold had to be over a gram for the machine to "see" it. Regardless, I knew the VLF's were useless, so I made up my mind that I'd just have to be satisfied with nuggets that were a gram and up. Which, I guess, isn't that bad of a thing, as I knew all of the gold I found would be bigger than a gram, but that's not all that good either. On the other hand, I had no chance at all of getting any gold with the other detectors, so any chance was better than no chance, but it was far from a perfect solution, and I was far from satisfied.

Regardless, I set out to detect that awful bedrock. However, as I moved along, I was stunned. That Shark ran dead quiet over the bedrock. I mean quiet like Grants Tomb quiet! Now, it's not a machine with all of the fancy tuning and ground-balancing that the Minelab PI's have, as it's a pretty basic unit, but because it was a pulse machine, it did not care about that bedrock, or its temperature, or about any of its obnoxious qualities. It ignored them all flat out.

Well, I took that as a great sign. I kept running it over the bedrock hoping to get a target, and finally I got three targets, all pieces of square nails, but they were all metallic, of course, so I knew the machine was working at a level where it could still see the metal in spite of the hot mineralization of the mother rock. I was working in what looked like an old trench where the Old-Timers had cut down along a small stream and mined whatever material they could find on the bedrock. However, their square nails from the 1800's were still there, and I took that as another good sign because it meant the area hadn't been cleared by nugget shooters yet.

The little stream cut through some willows and aspens. The aspens were what we call Quaky Aspens. If you know what I'm talking about, they're the trees where it only takes the ghost of a breath of wind to get those little leaves stirring. That's the aspens I'm referring to. In addition, a couple of loud Ravens stalked me for a bit, croaking out their raven tunes, but they soon tired of their game of tag along, and of a sudden beat their huge wings and took themselves off to some unknown place that must have been more interesting to them. Furthermore, there was a lot of tall grass along the margins of the creek, with some little yellow buttercups dotted here and there. However, as I continued my detecting, I soon hit a transition zone where there were a few big, older poplars. And not long after encountering them, the pines and firs started taking over as the ground rose. Of course, the creek, ruled by gravity, stayed on its lower course and its clear waters were soon left behind as I found myself scratching and clawing my way up a big hump of that red bedrock.

On the other side of the hump, there was a leveled area of reclaimed placer ground, and off to the sides, there were the typical remains of any placer operation: bits of steel and rubber pipe, screen, wire, aluminum scrap, etc.; you get the picture. However, right on the corner of that reclaimed ground, there was a little outcrop of that red bedrock again. It was like a signpost or something to me. So, I walked right over and started detecting again.

All was quiet in the headphones. Well, that just would't do, so my buddy and I scooted back to our mule (the Honda), grabbed some shovels and a pick, and we got busy digging down to uncover some more of that bedrock. The digging wasn't too bad, as they couldn't pack the material tightly in there because it was too close to that bedrock outcrop.

What I saw as I dug down looked promising. There were all kinds of dips and folds and pockets in that bedrock. Moreover, I could see places where there was concreted material, very rust-stained, all stuck tightly in place in those little folds and pockets. So, after we'd dug down several feet, I broke out the detector and had at it again.

Almost immediately as I swung the coil over a pocket of that rusted, concreted material, I got a good solid tone. That made me pay attention. I approached the signal at a 90 degrees to my former swing. The signal was still crisp and clear. I opened my prospecting pack which I always wear when I'm engaged in such activities, and I pulled out a compact sledge hammer, and a rock chisel. I dug into the pocket in the mother rock, and the concreted material popped out, intact, in a big chunk. I detected the chunk. Dead silent. I checked it from several angles. Silence reigned supreme in the headphones.

So, at that moment, a bit of panic set in. Had I also popped the signal out and launched it off to some new, mysterious resting place? I poked the coil down into the pocket and was rewarded with a nice mellow tone. So, that told me the detector had been seeing right through the concreted, rust-stained garbage, and kept looking as it saw down into a crevice beneath! I got busy with the chisel. The bedrock was iron hard, but there was definitely a crevice sandwiched in there for little stones were popping out. I kept at it and finally a chunk of the bedrock cracked off to reveal that the crevice was widening.

I mean, the material coming out of this crevice was old, as in ancient old, as in the dinosaurs were probably walking around when this crevice was being filled. There were pieces of magnetite coming out that were stained a bright reddish orange. There were lots of little river rocks, flat ones, round ones, rough ones, smooth ones and every one of them was stained the same color. This material was not only ancient, it had remained undisturbed ever since it had been sealed up those untold eons ago. I was the only being to disturb its rest.

This was my first experience with an ancient crevice, and it's an experience I'll never forget, nor will any of you once you experience it, as everything looks so dramatically different from any other crevice material experienced to that point. I'd cleaned crevices out before, but the material was a black or gray color, or it was stained with a bit of purple, but this crevice material was obviously running with a lot of black sand that had been in there for so stinkin' long that any part that wanted to oxidize had taken advantage of the unhindered time to rust itself to the full extent allowed by Mother Nature or the time police.

I scanned the small pile of material I'd removed, and there was zip, nada, no sound at all. I scanned the crevice again and the signal was stronger this time. Well, to make a long story short, by the time I was done, I had two nuggets that were multi-gram nuggets: the one came in at just over four grams, and the other was just a shade under three. I didn't stop there though, I slowed down and carefully covered every inch of that red-devil bedrock.

I got a soft sound, broke out the chisel again, for the sound was coming from where two pieces of bedrock folded into each other. The sun was going down, and that was about 11:00 at night! I kept at it, and by the time it was really getting dark, I'd opened another crevice and had the material in a small pile in my plastic gold pan, the one that always travels in my pack as well. The signal was in that pile of rusted river run. The signal revealed itself to be a sassy nugget, one that only rang in at a bit over two grams, but it had lots of character, and all three nuggets were round and chunky. No flat gold rested in that deposit. Those nuggets had dropped in when they were fresh, so they'd kept their character.

Well, the Sand Shark had done its job, even if that wasn't what its original design was; it had done a fantastic job of outsmarting that red-devil bedrock to reveal its ancient secrets.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Lanny I expect the Sand Shark runs at a sufficiently high pulse delay to handle that bedrock quietly, but obviously retains sufficient sensitivity to hit the nugget sizes you recovered. That was an instructive, fun read, many thanks.

Back to the subject of hotrocks for a moment...

The magnet made short work of them in a hurry Jim.

I don't know what would have happened if I'd have ground-balanced to them as they are so conductive. Interesting point you've raised.

All the best,

Lanny

Being so magnetic and producing a positive signal… it sounds like an iron oxide such as maghemite or some other type of ironstone that reacts similarly. The high magnetism coupled with maghemite’s typical mid-range GB compensation point on a VLF unit… a more conductive GB range than the more elevated (non-conductive) GB range typically required to operate a detector in mining country… is what makes these rocks issue strong positive signals.

If you should encounter a similar positive hotrock patch this season Lanny, could you maybe grab a few small samples for me please? I'd very much like a chance to do some testing on such samples. A silver for hotrock exchange definitely works for me... et vous monsieur?

Jim.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Lanny I expect the Sand Shark runs at a sufficiently high pulse delay to handle that bedrock quietly, but obviously retains sufficient sensitivity to hit the nugget sizes you recovered. That was an instructive, fun read, many thanks.

Back to the subject of hotrocks for a moment...



Being so magnetic and producing a positive signal… it sounds like an iron oxide such as maghemite or some other type of ironstone that reacts similarly. The high magnetism coupled with maghemite’s typical mid-range GB compensation point on a VLF unit… a more conductive GB range than the more elevated (non-conductive) GB range typically required to operate a detector in mining country… is what makes these rocks issue strong positive signals.

If you should encounter a similar positive hotrock patch this season Lanny, could you maybe grab a few small samples for me please? I'd very much like a chance to do some testing on such samples. A silver for hotrock exchange definitely works for me... et vous monsieur?

Jim.

That offer is way to generous Jim! But, thanks regardless.

If I ever get any of those little hot-rocks again, I'll see if I can't find a way to get some to you.

I'm glad you enjoyed the read, and I hope you continue to find more of that incredible silver you're so good at finding with your detector.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Terry Soloman]

Nice to see someone else has had some nugget finds with the Sand Shark!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Nice to see someone else has had some nugget finds with the Sand Shark!

Well, now we both know it's limitations and its strengths when it comes to finding nuggets.

It's definitely not a finely tuned specialist, but within its limited window of operational potential, it will find specific sizes of nuggets in ground that VLF's can't handle.

I respect it for what it can do. I don't dislike it for what it can't do.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

 

[EagleDown]

That offer is way to generous Jim! But, thanks regardless.

If I ever get any of those little hot-rocks again, I'll see if I can't find a way to get some to you.

I'm glad you enjoyed the read, and I hope you continue to find more of that incredible silver you're so good at finding with your detector.

All the best,

Lanny

No problem there Brother. You send the 'hot rocks' and I'll take the silver. (lol)

In re: the hot rocks, there are hot rocks and there are hot rocks. I've been out with mgb with him using his ML5000 in places where the hot rocks were making it difficult for him to metal detect. During those outings, I found that I could keep my Whites TDI set for "low conductivity" and the TDI totally ignored the hot rocks he was digging. We placed my little nugget, (1.5grams) under two of the hot rocks and the TDI 'read' them as if no hot rocks were present. Of course, I have no idea if this would be the case with your highly magnetic hot rocks, since I didn't think to check them out with a magnet. So, when you get back out and find some of those worrisome hot rocks, I would also like to have a couple of them to experiment with. (lol)

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this last recap of your metal detecting adventures. Very well written, with an abundance of helpful advice. I just hope I never run across any "devil's bed rock" like that around here. (lol)

Hokay, now I'm ready for another of your great stories. (lol)

Love and Respect,

Eagle

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Well, now we both know it's limitations and its strengths when it comes to finding nuggets.

It's definitely not a finely tuned specialist, but within its limited window of operational potential, it will find specific sizes of nuggets in ground that VLF's can't handle.

I respect it for what it can do. I don't dislike it for what it can't do.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

What a sensible viewpoint Lanny, I'm glad that you made the point highlighted with "bold" above. Terry has been saying something similar for a long time, and taken unfair criticism for it. Silver for hotrocks of your type is a good deal for me BTW.

Eagle... very much enjoy your posts. The option to use the low conductive switch is a real blessing. My TDI Pro is not as sensitive to small stuff as I'd prefer, but it certainly has its place in the tool box. Due to the manual ground balance / conductivity options it has greater utility than the Sand Shark... but it is good to see Lanny post unequivocal observations about the Sand Shark in his application.

Jim.

 

[Cariboo5]

From Jim: "Being so magnetic and producing a positive signal… it sounds like an iron oxide such as maghemite or some other type of ironstone that reacts similarly. The high magnetism coupled with maghemite’s typical mid-range GB compensation point on a VLF unit… a more conductive GB range than the more elevated (non-conductive) GB range typically required to operate a detector in mining country… is what makes these rocks issue strong positive signals.

If you should encounter a similar positive hotrock patch this season Lanny, could you maybe grab a few small samples for me please? I'd very much like a chance to do some testing on such samples. A silver for hotrock exchange definitely works for me... et vous monsieur?

Jim.".....


Jim I happen to have a small rock which is magnetic (picture attached). It has a good strong magnetic pull on one end & about medium on the other. If you are interested I can just send it to you for your testing..Just PM me your address ( I see you are in Canada which makes it easier for shipping)........

I've done some testing here in the back yard with both the Tesoro Vaquero & Lobo Super Traq with these magnetic rocks, a gold nugget ( I've had this nugget for some time now ) a coin and a small knife. I realize that when I go the claims and the mineralized ground the results may be some what different..But here is what I have learned......

The Vaquero had a strong consistent same sound to all of the items..

The Lobo Super Traq had to me had different sounds to the different items. The coin & knife was a sharp, crisp screaming Zing, the magnetic rock was a lower tone Zing around 4 inches and after about 40 seconds the Lobo would not pick up any tones from the magnetic rock even at 2 inch distance.... The gold nugget had not only great depth (about 10 inches) but had a distinct more mellow drawn out Ziinnnnng tone......

 

[Lanny in AB]

What a sensible viewpoint Lanny, I'm glad that you made the point highlighted with "bold" above. Terry has been saying something similar for a long time, and taken unfair criticism for it. Silver for hotrocks of your type is a good deal for me BTW.

Eagle... very much enjoy your posts. The option to use the low conductive switch is a real blessing. My TDI Pro is not as sensitive to small stuff as I'd prefer, but it certainly has its place in the tool box. Due to the manual ground balance / conductivity options it has greater utility than the Sand Shark... but it is good to see Lanny post unequivocal observations about the Sand Shark in his application.

Jim.

Jim,

Thanks for your response, and thanks for your valuable, knowledgable input.

You certainly have dedicated yourself to becoming a master at understanding how the detecting process works, and the specimens you recover only further prove it!

All the best as you continue in your research while you're in the field, and for your continuing work over all of those winters while the weather had sidelined you from your passion,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

From Jim: "Being so magnetic and producing a positive signal… it sounds like an iron oxide such as maghemite or some other type of ironstone that reacts similarly. The high magnetism coupled with maghemite’s typical mid-range GB compensation point on a VLF unit… a more conductive GB range than the more elevated (non-conductive) GB range typically required to operate a detector in mining country… is what makes these rocks issue strong positive signals.

If you should encounter a similar positive hotrock patch this season Lanny, could you maybe grab a few small samples for me please? I'd very much like a chance to do some testing on such samples. A silver for hotrock exchange definitely works for me... et vous monsieur?

Jim.".....


Jim I happen to have a small rock which is magnetic (picture attached). It has a good strong magnetic pull on one end & about medium on the other. If you are interested I can just send it to you for your testing..Just PM me your address ( I see you are in Canada which makes it easier for shipping)........

I've done some testing here in the back yard with both the Tesoro Vaquero & Lobo Super Traq with these magnetic rocks, a gold nugget ( I've had this nugget for some time now ) a coin and a small knife. I realize that when I go the claims and the mineralized ground the results may be some what different..But here is what I have learned......

The Vaquero had a strong consistent same sound to all of the items..

The Lobo Super Traq had to me had different sounds to the different items. The coin & knife was a sharp, crisp screaming Zing, the magnetic rock was a lower tone Zing around 4 inches and after about 40 seconds the Lobo would not pick up any tones from the magnetic rock even at 2 inch distance.... The gold nugget had not only great depth (about 10 inches) but had a distinct more mellow drawn out Ziinnnnng tone......

Great, informative reply! Great pictures and descriptions as well.

That 40 gram nugget has some good lookin' character.

Thanks for dropping in.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

From Jim: "Being so magnetic and producing a positive signal… it sounds like an iron oxide such as maghemite or some other type of ironstone that reacts similarly. The high magnetism coupled with maghemite’s typical mid-range GB compensation point on a VLF unit… a more conductive GB range than the more elevated (non-conductive) GB range typically required to operate a detector in mining country… is what makes these rocks issue strong positive signals.

If you should encounter a similar positive hotrock patch this season Lanny, could you maybe grab a few small samples for me please? I'd very much like a chance to do some testing on such samples. A silver for hotrock exchange definitely works for me... et vous monsieur?

Jim.".....


Jim I happen to have a small rock which is magnetic (picture attached). It has a good strong magnetic pull on one end & about medium on the other. If you are interested I can just send it to you for your testing..Just PM me your address ( I see you are in Canada which makes it easier for shipping)........

I've done some testing here in the back yard with both the Tesoro Vaquero & Lobo Super Traq with these magnetic rocks, a gold nugget ( I've had this nugget for some time now ) a coin and a small knife. I realize that when I go the claims and the mineralized ground the results may be some what different..But here is what I have learned......

The Vaquero had a strong consistent same sound to all of the items..

The Lobo Super Traq had to me had different sounds to the different items. The coin & knife was a sharp, crisp screaming Zing, the magnetic rock was a lower tone Zing around 4 inches and after about 40 seconds the Lobo would not pick up any tones from the magnetic rock even at 2 inch distance.... The gold nugget had not only great depth (about 10 inches) but had a distinct more mellow drawn out Ziinnnnng tone......

Great, informative reply! Great pictures and descriptions as well.

Thanks for dropping in and thanks for your experience and insight as it relates to hot-rocks!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Jim,

Thanks for your response, and thanks for your valuable, knowledgeable input.

You certainly have dedicated yourself to becoming a master at understanding how the detecting process works, and the specimens you recover only further prove it!

All the best as you continue in your research while you're in the field, and for your continuing work over all of those winters while the weather had sidelined you from your passion,

Lanny

Thankyou Lance. I try to keep a much lower profile since the AMDS forum years... particularly as time moves along... but do value the recognition from you.

Jim.

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Jim I happen to have a small rock which is magnetic (picture attached). It has a good strong magnetic pull on one end & about medium on the other. If you are interested I can just send it to you for your testing..Just PM me your address ( I see you are in Canada which makes it easier for shipping)........

I've done some testing here in the back yard with both the Tesoro Vaquero & Lobo Super Traq with these magnetic rocks, a gold nugget ( I've had this nugget for some time now ) a coin and a small knife. I realize that when I go the claims and the mineralized ground the results may be some what different..But here is what I have learned......

The Vaquero had a strong consistent same sound to all of the items..

The Lobo Super Traq had to me had different sounds to the different items. The coin & knife was a sharp, crisp screaming Zing, the magnetic rock was a lower tone Zing around 4 inches and after about 40 seconds the Lobo would not pick up any tones from the magnetic rock even at 2 inch distance.... The gold nugget had not only great depth (about 10 inches) but had a distinct more mellow drawn out Ziinnnnng tone......


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Thanks very much Cariboo5 for generously offering to ship the hotrock. I’ll accept and be grateful if you’ll permit me to ship you a small chunk of quality native silver-in-calcite in return. I understand it isn’t necessary and that you don’t expect such… but this would be my preference.

I valued having those really good sample photos to view while reading about your tests… and appreciate that you took the time to put it together for my benefit. Thanks Dave, I’ll contact you by PM shortly with my mailing address.

Jim.