Gold Spear

[blazen70]

O.K., this forum has sat long enough. Has anyone ever used a Gold Spear to locate placer deposits? I just read an article from the early 90's on drywashing and the author was using a Gold Spear to help him find ideal places to start drywashing. I've seen the ads for one in treasure and prospecting magizines. The guy standing next to a river with a long probe sticking in the water. Just curious about them. -Robert-

 

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[Fred]

LOL Robert,in the mid 80's a fellow tried to demonstrate a Goldspear at our camp on the Fraser River here in BC. Everywhere he poked that thing in the ground around the camp,the lights lit up. Just when he was getting quite frustrated and thinking the unit must be defective I let him off the hook. I pointed out that the soil and sand of the camp was dumped there by a bucketline dredge that made holes for the bridge foundations that we were camped beside. SO,do they work,it sure seemed so,at least his did. Only problem was,it was detecting the fine flour gold that was darned near impossible to recover. Hence the LOL. Fred

 

[Hoser John]

Don't waste your hard earned money,They tell ya gold is everywhere,and it is microscopically.They can't penetrate in over 2/3 of the places ya try'm and then the rod bends and open your wallet again.Buy a good detector and you'll be much happier,wealthier and wiser.Tons a au 2 u all-John

 

[blazen70]

Thats a good story Fred. I guess it worked a little too well. lol. I figured as much, John. I was just curious to see if anyone here took them seriously. -Robert-

 

[timemachine]

Here's what a search on the Goldspear returns: "The sensor head measures the electrochemical potential (ECP), and the conductivity of the particles." Not sure if this helps, but doesn't a MD do just the same thing, except for magnetically...

 

[tamrock]

I used one in the mid 1980s on the upper Arkansas river in Colorado. It did exactly what Fred describes. It would crackle in the black sand, which was a lot, and bleep, as it struck the microscopic gold particles. IMO it could detect higher concentrations that stuff. When it did locate the pockets of high concentrations you'd find equally higher concentrations of black sand associated with all that microscopic gold, which was all too hard to recover. I think about that thing from time to time. I finally traded it for a shotgun with a fella and pretty much gave up the idea of working on finding alluvial gold in Colorado...

 

[meMiner]

I had one for a while. It was not great at finding placer deposits, simply because the gold needs to touch it. In most places, it was too difficult to stick it into the ground (rocks in the way, etc). Mostly, I had to pound an iron bar into the ground and then poke it into the hole afterwards. Where the Goldspear was effective, was telling me when there was nothing in softer ground. ie. not a great detector for finding gold, only telling me the spot was a skunk for fine gold (it is not a great nugget detector, unless you happen to rub it against an illusive (sassy) nugget.

Bottom line, I the right application, it is a tool that works. For most prospectors, it is not worthwhile.

 

[NeoTokyo]

lol, I was 21 years old when this thread was started.
I think this wins the official "Blast from the Past" category.

I remember researching this a long while back too and I ran across this thread and a few things that John had to say about it.

I could see this possibly being a good tool on black sand beaches that have gold on them, beaches like where the Gold Cube was designed for use.
This and a Gold Cube COULD be a great combo on one of those beaches.

It may do horrible in salt water though, so only Lake Michigan and a few others if that is the case.

Oh and desert wash's too.

 

[Duckwalk]

Here's what a search on the Goldspear returns: "The sensor head measures the electrochemical potential (ECP), and the conductivity of the particles." Not sure if this helps, but doesn't a MD do just the same thing, except for magnetically...

Funny his name is timemachine and he opens a 12 year old post.