Desertpilot

Nice to see your crew getting some gold in that spicy ground. That’s some nice gold. The ground gets even spicier to the south.

Congrats on buying a pile of coils. Hopefully they fit your mission set and ground you will be working.

Easy then, I’d go with the gold monster. I have both the equinox and gold monster and like them both but prefer the gold monster when it comes to detecting nuggets. Plus the learning curve is really short especially if you watch Bills YouTube videos.

What’s your mission set? Prospecting, relic hunting, coin shooting at a park?

I start in normal and factory presets to get a baseline on what the conditions are. If I cannot get a stable threshold then I refer to minelabs recommended procedure to stabilize the threshold. Select an appropriate Search Mode Select the desired Audio Type Adjust Rx Gain until the threshold starts to break up Adjust Stabilizer to smooth out the threshold. I don’t use a set gain since it will always change with your soil/environmental conditions. Now if I find gold I note my settings so when I return I’m ready to go with the exception of maybe a slight tweak to gain for any environmental changes. I try to remain fluid with my settings since the ground can be highly variable in most of Arizona’s goldfields.

For me I personally stick to minelab or nuggetfinder coils based on build quality. For some reason the Coilteks I’ve owned became bump sensitive over time but maybe I’m too rough on them, so your mileage may vary. Like I said before I’d still wait until you learn your machine before purchasing extra coils. I’d also wait until you find some producing ground before making a purchase as well. For example what if your first patch is deep and on open ground? Then the 15in has you covered. If it’s shallow to medium depth and brushy then the 11in will do fine. I’d also wait on the small double d unless your battling crazy EMI on a shallow patch your working. If you really feel like you need a coil I’d buy the commander 8in mono to work the bedrock and maybe a 11in mono if your in a heavy mineralized area (fine gold/enhance timings). Remember that any timing outside of normal is a trade off on performance and if you use a timing that is for higher mineralized ground than you are working then you will lose depth. Too often I’ve seen people just run fine gold in mild ground when they should be running normal or sensitive extra. When I’m patch hunting a new area I start in normal with a double d and jump to sensitive extra if the ground is very mild. Now on the other hand one of my claims is covered in large chunks of magnetite and is highly variable in soil mineralization so I have to run a mono with fine gold or enhance to get a steady threshold. Only reason I’m telling you this is to avoid buying a bunch of coils then find a patch and realize you have to buy another coil because what you have isn’t optimized for the ground your working. Also be sure to fully understand your timings and other features before heading out on your own. Detecting is a mental game and you need to be confident that your settings are optimal for the ground your working.

I’d learn the minelab 11in and 8in before buying a bunch of coils. The 8in does awesome on bed rock and the 11in is good in shallow ground. Once you get the hang of it and in a area that produces then get a coil to fit your needs. I’ve learned over the years you find more gold with solid research than aftermarket coils.

Now the challenge will be to get the coil over some gold. You'll enjoy the 5K, I would never part with mine. Be sure to get some training and I also recommend the Johnathon Porter GPX videos. Once you wrap your head around the settings you can get the machine to run pretty smooth.

Gold monster

Thanks, Thats the answer Im looking for. I understand the rules for placer claims over 20ac just couldn't find a answer to the small miner waiver question I had with my online BLM research. DP

Im looking to locate a few more claims and was curious to know if I filed a 40ac placer claim if it would count as one or two claims towards my 10 claim small miner waiver? Not sure if the limit is based on acreage or actual number of claims? Example 40ac counting as two 20ac placer claims? Just trying to do this smartly and get the most acreage possible with my 10 claim limit. Thanks DP

I used to spend a ton of time in the Panamints and would stop in Trona for gas and lunch. It’s a bummer seeing all the damage. I suppose allot of the places I used to go underground around there are probably collapsed as well. I wonder if the smelter stack at Panamint City survived? The desert around Trona is really cool.

I carry a drywasher on a backpack frame and I also carry a gas powered vacuum. I suppose if I had a mule he would carry as well. Hope this answers your question?

How about also checking BLM LR2000 and county recorder? Land matters is updated regularly so I’d start with that page to get an idea if there are claims in a particular area. There are hyperlinks on the maps to link LR2000 and Country Recorders. You should probably join a club and learn the basics before blazing out on your own. You can work club claims and not worry about land status while your learning.