LowPoint Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I was out on another one of Arizona's (of-late) gloomy-overcast days down in the lower desert today. It wasn't bad, I'm just used to our Arizona sunshine out there. Anyway, I have never claimed to be, nor do I even desire to be a hard rock miner having to do all that heavy pick'n and hammering etc., etc.,etc., but lately have been forced into it. These three nuggets that I got today forced me to dig deep into my arsenal of angled-screwdrivers, prying devices; and then finally I resort to using my heavy duty pick and spade to get the final nugget out from it's deeply-embedded hiding spot within the bedrock itself. All three nuggets came from different spots; the first two were deep (down 5" or-so) down in riffle cracks and encased within a grey colored clay. And if I hadn't had my long-slender angled screwdriver I'd of never gotten down to either one of them. The initial signals were very week to almost nothing at all, but the signal was there, and repeatable. I really had to work and pry away the sides of the bedrock crack just to get them out. The round nugget has a very small-natural hole right thru it. Now the last nugget of the day (the very bottom one) freaked-me-out with it's very-week, and confusing signal . And, on top of that I come to find out that it was lodged way down and within the fractured bedrock itself,...it hadn't traveled there and then become lodged,....it was part of the bedrock!! When I swung my coil over the spot I got an-"O-so-faint" signal, just barley there. It was confusing in that I only got the signal from one direction(?) of my coil swing. I almost wrote it off as being a mineralized spot;... but there was just something there that was trying to tell me otherwise. So I commenced to use all of my angled and pry(and poke) screwdrivers to remove as much of the bedrock as possible. The bedrock was of a semi-fractured schist-type of rock, but it was "Hard-as_a-Rock-"Solid."" I scraped and pry'd and loosened as much as I could, segregating the loose material, and then swung my coil over the two areas. But the almost-nothing-signal was still at the hardest part of the bedrock???? I went thru this process over and over again for "what felt like an hour!" And, even as much splintered bedrock that I had removed from the spot, the signal had "not-gotten" louder (which would indicate that I was getting closer to it),....What-is-going-on-here???? So, at that point I decided to take out my heavy duty pick with the spade on one end (the big gun) and beat it to a pulp . I was finally able to penetrate the "Hard-as-a-Rock" bedrock, fracturing it down to about 8", scraped all the piece aside and cleared the area as best as I could, and then swung my coil over both spots. Finally,..there was no signal at-all where it had been all this time,........the signal was in the pile of splintered bedrock,......."YaHooooooooooo". The nugget ain't big, but there was a signal (of-sorts) there. Looks like I got to start "Pack'n" a CHISEL!!! Gary 12 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Way to go Gary !! When you're experienced, you don't walk away from signals like that. Nice nugs. Luke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatup Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 good detecting and some hard work on your part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailertrash Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Nice job! What machine are you running, Gary? Regards, Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowPoint Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 2 hours ago, Trailertrash said: Nice job! What machine are you running, Gary? Regards, Kyle Minelab GP-3000,.............but don't tell anybody 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowPoint Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 14 hours ago, LukeJ said: Way to go Gary !! When you're experienced, you don't walk away from signals like that. Nice nugs. Luke Well Hello Luke,... I think you're SD-2300 would have done well in this area,....I think it's a bit more sensitive to small nuggets than my 3000. Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailertrash Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 3 hours ago, LowPoint said: Minelab GP-3000,.............but don't tell anybody No worries, I'll keep the secret in my trunk, right next to the spare tires and bodies.... Regards, Kyle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomH Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Nice gold Gary! Ive done my share of shipping/cussing bedrock with my pick. Usually where I find them deep in the bedrock it is fractured. I think as the fractures open and close with the weather/water over the years they drop farther down. The ones I find are usually pretty flat from that. Yours are nice and rounded though. What the heck............you got em! Congrats. P.S. if you pack a chisel you need a hammer! Tom H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowPoint Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 Yea, I sorta overlooked mentioning that a hammer would also come in handy,...........well, I now have two hammers and two chisels ready to go ,.....I have two different backpacks that I use, depending if I also carry a shovel or not. Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mxt Sniper Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 I keep the 18" gad bar chisel and a small sledge in my truck in case I need to start hard rock mining for a nugget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronBazor Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Nice finds Gary 👍 Always good to have the tools handy for digging down in the hard stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I've been there, too, on the one way signal. Usually they are hot rocks or hot ground but, like you, I have found some are gold. Same with those darn low high signals (in HY setting). You'd think they are garbage but end up being gold. Love the gold. I am glad I don't have to chip away bedrock too often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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