The Nugget Only Thread, Past finds and New

[Lanny in AB 390]

On 3/28/2018 at 12:05 PM, dusty_nolan said:

Sorry for the bad photo my camera on my phone is a little cracked but heres a couple bits of Wyoming gold hoping to add some more nuggets to the collection this year but we will see. The biggest is 1.67oz....

That's incredible gold! The big one sure is beautiful too.

Nicely done, and all the best,

Lanny

 

[dusty_nolan 26]

8 hours ago, Lanny in AB said:

 

Thanks Lanny! I love it too hopefully I can find it a brother or a little sister this year. Who knows maybe its got some bigger parents right up the hill haha. Wish ya luck too hopefully everybody can have a great year this year!

[Oregal1976 268]

On 4/5/2018 at 7:18 AM, Cowbell79 said:

My dad was using his new Gold Monster on the same patch and has been skunked several times now...any advice on getting the GM tuned up? He was very successful with his Tesoro, but we can’t seem to dial in the monster yet.

The GM does take a bit of getting used to if you're used to using another VLF. When I bought mine I was alread pretty proficient at finding gold with my GB Pro. It took me at least 6 months to find nuggets with the GM. Maybe I wasn't hunting in areas that had nuggets, or maybe it was because I hadn't gotten familiar enough with the differences between those two machines. But I searched in a new area and dug out 8 nuggets in a day with the GM. Mike's settings and ground balancing recommendations are spot on. Don't sweep too fast; it only confuses the CPU! 

Lisa

[bc5391 98]

made it back out again this weekend, some more pieces the Equinox found, the small one is .04g, thought I would never find it as it keep moving in my dirt pile. (almost gave up)

 

[LukeJ 1,955]

Here's one I found recently.  TomH took a nice picture of it.  It's three quarters of a gram to give you an idea of it's size.

[Old Tom 1,020]

Nice looking species Luke.  Looks like it is getting rounded around that quartz from traveling a bit.  Great find Bro.  

   Old Tom

[GeoJack 769]

Staycation last week in celebration of wife's birthday.

Spent the week working around the house some but mainly working on the gold claim and prospecting. While I eliminated my skunk by panning some dirt, the wife cleaned my clock by finding three nuggets in the space of an hour. She melded with her Gold Bug 2 and sniffed these small nuggets from the hillside.

We both have many hours / days working this claim and for her to hit these three so quickly stopped me dead in my tracks. I was asking here to come hear signals I was getting on my GB 2 after that. Some times you just have everything working for you, she did that day.

[Nugget Shooter 4,553]

Nice nuggets for sure.....

[AzNuggetBob 1,548]

Here is a little eye candy. I've been talking about this nugget but haven't put up a photo. anyway here it is. The cross nugget.
There is a story behind it as well.
I found it up at jimmy Malone's claims in Nv. at the time I was working with him on his claims operating a loader feeding the wash plant. one day we were done for the day so I stroll over to where Jimmy was sitting in his lounge chair, drink in one hand just watching us shut down the plant. The ground he was sitting on is ground that we had already worked. we scraped it down to decomposed schisty looking bedrock. took about 12' off the top with a dozer. so just for grins I picked up his metal detector a Minelab, cranked it up and started swingin. Jimmy yells your not got to find anything in here we scraped it off pretty good. a few swings later I get this real light signal. Im thinking probably just hot ground at first. so I check the detector settings, re-swing, its there. I grab Jimmy's little cheesy pick and I'm pounding out this hard clay like ground. I get down 10-12" and the signal is getting better and I'm pretty sure its not hot ground. but Im also thinking I may be going deep on this sucker.
So I tell jimmy I'm going up to get a real pick. I put down the detector and I head about a hundred yards up to his cabin to get my pick. The crater maker. So I walk back down the hill and I'm looking at Jimmy and another guy that worked with us and they are sitting there giggling? so I pick up the detector and check the hole to get an idea of where the nugget is and I start pulling loose stuff out of the hole and I take a few more swipes with my pick, I pull out more of the loose stuff, check it and its in the pile now. I kneel down to sort it out and I look over at them grinning and the look on their face changed real quick when I held up this nugget.
They jumped up and said your kidding me! no I said, here it is and I handed it to Jimmy. Jimmy reached into his shirt pocket and showed me another nugget about the same size and laughing said we dug this out of the hole while you went to get your pick!
Never a dull moment mining with Jim. RIP Jimmy.
Another twofer hole. always check your holes.
I got to keep this one Jimmy kept the other one.
The nugget weighs a little over 1/2 oz. and if you look close you can see its also dendritic.
Take care out there, AzNuggetBob

 

[Saul R W 741]

That's an amusing tale, and a unique chunk of gold.  If I squint just right, it looks a bit like a pirouetting froggie ballerina.  Yes, I'm almost certain that's a pair of frog eyes at the top.  Really a nice piece.

[AzNuggetBob 1,548]

Thanks guys.

Saul. ya I agree, I didnt see the eye holes until I cleaned it for these photo's. to me looks almost like a Kachina doll or Aztec gold god.
AzNuggetBob

[Morlock 1,501]

I saw this on Facebook that was posted by Bill. Most unusual nugget from Australia.

[theace115 298]

First nugget I ever found was about 7 grams.  The 2 small ones were in the same vicinity as the large one.  The one on the penny was exactly 1 year later +/- 5 days.  

Awe, good memories! 

[Pyledriver 55]

Here are a few from a trip last year. I call the top one ‘the mask’. Can’t wait to get back! Soon...

 

[Mike Furness 1,500]

Pyledriver ... I would put that 'mask' on a chain and wear it! Nice handful of gold!

[Ray in CA 39]

Took a while for me to find this picture. My wife took it with a film camera the day I found it in 2002 and apparently she did not get the focus right. Anyhoo, the nugget is 26 grams of Mojave desert tertiary river gold. The old timers dug a vertical shaft down to bedrock and this one got missed when they processed their material. A modern dry washer came along and let it roll off his grizzly and then he failed to detect his tailings before leaving. It was only a couple inches deep and believe it or not I found it with a $99 Radio Shack detector. 

[oneguy 95]

Found these near Helena.  Big one (my biggest so far) weighed in at 25g and smaller one is 4.5g.....total was just over 1 ozt.  Wished all my hunts were similar to this!...lol   Oh yeah....I lost a little dink but after the big one I could have cared less...

Edited September 12, 2019 by oneguy

[mariposagoldbag 92]

Here’s how I did on Friday.  Some of you might recognize the area.

[LowPoint 1,219]

3 hours ago, mariposagoldbag said:

Here’s how I did on Friday.  Some of you might recognize the area.

Nice looking gold mariposa,........you must have found a war zone considering all the shells, lead and buckshot;  nice clean bedrock too.  Gary

[Relichunter2016 698]

Lots of non ferrous..did you use disc? Good shooting...lots of shrapnel.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Relichunter2016

[mariposagoldbag 92]

49 minutes ago, Relichunter2016 said:

Lots of non ferrous..did you use disc? Good shooting...lots of shrapnel.

No, you never want to use the discrimination unless in a super trashy area.  When you switch the machine to disc mode you loose depth.  However, the disc meter will still be visible when not in disc so you can still get an idea of whats in the ground. I've been learning the Gold Monster more and the discrimination can be some what accurate on bigger louder signals but I've also had it say iron/trash on really small pieces of gold.  You know how it goes Relic, dig everything!

[Relichunter2016 698]

44 minutes ago, mariposagoldbag said:

No, you never want to use the discrimination unless in a super trashy area.  When you switch the machine to disc mode you loose depth.  However, the disc meter will still be visible when not in disc so you can still get an idea of whats in the ground. I've been learning the Gold Monster more and the discrimination can be some what accurate on bigger louder signals but I've also had it say iron/trash on really small pieces of gold.  You know how it goes Relic, dig everything!

Totally agree....I  was under the impression you were using your 5000 P.I. Looks like you are starting to master the Monster...I have lots of ground with trash overload..its rediculous! 

[Relichunter2016 698]

 Mike a few oldies but goodies  from one of our old spots...

[mariposagoldbag 92]

19 hours ago, Relichunter2016 said:

 Mike a few oldies but goodies  from one of our old spots...

Was that from the other side near that trailer they took out?  i found a piece over there that looks alot like these with the pyrite cube in it...  I havent really used the gold monster in a major trashy area but at this point I would say you need one eitherway.  That old spot will probably have piece after piece sitting there that our PI's didnt see.  I've found over 70 tiny pieces of gold with the gold monster...if only they were all just a bit bigger!  Think I've found about 4 grams of small stuff out here...  missing Mariposa for sure!  I'm still learning the area though, the bigger pieces are getting closer.

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by mariposagoldbag

[mariposagoldbag 92]

I'm telling you, dig through all the trash where that trailer was and there will be nuggets...  I've been keeping that to myself in hopes of getting back out there but go get it!

Edited November 9, 2019 by mariposagoldbag