Using an MD on Hanging Benches

[CT8620]

So after dragging up gallons of water and/or bringing down heavy buckets of material I'm beginning to think there must be a better way to process the material out of hanging benches/channels that are far away from a water source. Hiking up/down the steep canyons with extra weight has resulted in some near falls and the potential for injury is great. Getting hurt in the middle of nowhere is not high on my list of desired experiences. There really aren't any good flat areas for a drywasher, so my thought now is a metal detector. Has anyone had decent luck with knocking down material, scanning it, pushing it away and repeating? I know I'll be giving up the fine material, if there is any, but I'm assuming (I have no experience yet with MDs) that a decent machine should be able to pick up at least small "picker" size material under a couple inches of dirt, right? Any suggestions on a good bang for the buck MD that would suffice for this? Any info/thoughts are greatly appreciated…Thanks!

CT

 

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[jcazgoldchaser]

 

[CT8620]

jcaz-

That's an awesome idea that I will definitely keep in mind, unfortunately in this case the river is a lot farther away and probably 300 feet below the bench with a well-traveled road in between. Slamming a 50lb bucket of rocks flying down the rope at terminal velocity into the side of an unsuspecting Forest Service truck just passing by would be just my luck. ;-)

CT

 

[Lanny in AB]

So after dragging up gallons of water and/or bringing down heavy buckets of material I'm beginning to think there must be a better way to process the material out of hanging benches/channels that are far away from a water source. Hiking up/down the steep canyons with extra weight has resulted in some near falls and the potential for injury is great. Getting hurt in the middle of nowhere is not high on my list of desired experiences. There really aren't any good flat areas for a drywasher, so my thought now is a metal detector. Has anyone had decent luck with knocking down material, scanning it, pushing it away and repeating? I know I'll be giving up the fine material, if there is any, but I'm assuming (I have no experience yet with MDs) that a decent machine should be able to pick up at least small "picker" size material under a couple inches of dirt, right? Any suggestions on a good bang for the buck MD that would suffice for this? Any info/thoughts are greatly appreciated…Thanks!

CT

Yes--if you're just starting and cash is an issue, but an old used Gold Bug, or Gold Bug II, a Tesoro Lobo ST, a Minelab 2100/2200, Whites Goldmaster, etc. They will all find smaller gold with the right coil configurations.

Good luck, and all the best,

Lanny http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries-57.html

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi CT8620,
As Lanny indicated "YES", metal detectors WILL do just exactly what you want. I've used my Whites GMT for just that purpose, digging out a raw sample and before processing it further I've waved the coil over the pile to see if the machine detects any metal in the pile. If no indication from the detector then I go get another batch of sample. The detector should "see" into the dirt about 6". Some form of a small rake or hoe would be helpful for breaking up/moving the dirt/rocks on the benches. Also carry with you a plastic scoop or cup so that you can sort the metal object out from the rocks and dirt. Place sample of raw dirt/rocks in scoop/cup, wave the cup over the coil, if you get a signal then the target is in the cup if not, discard the contents and refill and repeat. Once the target is in the cup then start breaking the amount of material in the cup down holding onto the material removed before discarding, check the cup if the target is still in the cup then dump what you have in your hand or in a second cup and repeat. Some of those targets are simply impossible to see even when the material in the cup has been reduced to just a tiny pile. Test this process at home so you know ahead of time if there are any special things that need to be done for this method to work, like making sure the coil is on the ground or that the coil/machine will do an 'air test'. The GMT does not air test well so I either keep the coil on the ground or switch it to manual ground balance or both.


I also prospect in rough and rugged country and attempting to carry a FULL 5 gallon bucket of raw material or even a half bucket would be dangerous and simply asking for trouble. IF you Have to Carry a sample out then try the following: have a heavy duty sack (reinforced plastic or burlap) line it with another heavy plastic bag, add your raw dirt/rock sample to the inner bag, roll the top of the bag down and tie the bag so the sample will not fall out, put the sample bag onto a backpacking frame, tie it down well so it can not move on the pack, put the pack on, tighten the waist belt and shoulder straps and with a Solid Hiking Staff hike the sample out. Do not try this with a pack that does not have a waist belt or some sort of supportive frame, a freighter frame works very well for this. The hiking staff is also important as it is a third leg. One can safely carry a 45 pound load over rough country, I'm talking boulders, cliffs, steep mountain sides, jumbles of tree limbs and the like without a trail IF they are careful using this system. It is not fun but it can be done! Also if the hills you are going down are really steep then add a 100' length of 1/4" or 3/8" nylon Climbing Rope to this system. Loop the center of the length around a tree or some anchor point, premark this center point with tape, grab Both Halves of the rope and drop down the hill about 40' to the next anchor point.

Be Safe, enjoy the detector, practice at home using small lead fishing weights, split shot, as the detector will react to it as if it were gold........63bkpkr

Okay, last item - Whatever detector you get "I" would suggest you also acquire the smallest widescan DD coil you can get for the machine. I have the 4" x 6" DD Shooter coil for my Whites and it works so well Especiallly in tight spaces. IF your benches are wide open and flat without boulder lumps and no narrow spots then a 6" x 10" DD coil would work. But the smaller coil simply gets into smaller/tighter spots between boulders/rocks.

 

[CT8620]

Awesome info, thanks Lanny & 63.

CT