All last week I tried to find someone to go mining with me. I knew I had a lot of work to do and I was going to need help. Doc didn’t want to go out because it was football weekend and he is just getting worn out easy. The last time out I noticed he wasn’t doing good so I went over to visit with him and he told me he is just worn out and tired of digging.

I understand that feeling way to well. I look at the hole we got dug for us and its overwhelming at times. I’ve taken it and sectioned it off in 6 foot by 6 foot widths and will clean all the rock and overburden out of the way. I than go back to the area that I’m working in. Well after clearing my little area I moved over to the zone I’m working in.

This part of the job I have been putting off for 2 weeks. I knew it would take a full size demolation hammer and I wasn’t sure that I could handle one anymore. Well as I found out Sunday, by myself, my back has gotten to the point that the full size hammer was to much for it. As a matter of fact it was to much for all of me. Monday morning every muscle and joint in my body hated me and was letting me know it.

  As you can see from these 2 pictures I managed to get about 4 inches of calaechi hammered out along with a few rocks.

Out of all the pain came this small amount of gold. What makes the whole thing bareable is knowing I’m probably 2 maybe 3 feet from bedrock.

Until next time…….. Always check you pan.

The 29 Prospector

Well, I just got back from a great Sunday hunt with my partners Rod and Laszlo. This is a fairly steady ritual for us, the Sunday hunt. I liken it (speaking for myself) to going to church each Sunday.

Which is why I said no when my 2nd job asked me to attend a meeting this morning. Hope that one doesn’t come to bite me in the booty!

Speaking of booty…

We checked out a new area this morning for just a couple of hours.
Laszlo found a small copper nug. I found two small copper nugs and “The Bully”. And Rod found nothing (In this location) but he did come up with the name for “The Bully”.

After failing to locate our intended quarry, i.e. gold nuggets, we moved on to an area we had spied on the way in. After an hour or so of hunting, Rod was able to score two really nice gold nuggets while Laszlo and I were treated with a serving a humble pie and a big phat skunk! So, coolio…

A new patch, perhaps.

I’ll let you decide which one is “The Bully”

<<<

We be quite pleased with the booty!

Which reminds me! I made the cover of GoldSlut Magazine this week!

GoldSlut Magazine < Check out the 1st Edition with Grubstake and Shep!

Check out this week's centerfold! Click Here!>!>!>!>>>

I can’t wait to get out next week!

I just read recently on a dealer forum that “for the same basic cost” a new GPX-4000 could be purchased by the time an SD2100 was modified with all the bells and whistles that most serious 21 users have their machines outfitted with.

Hmmm. (that wasn’t my exact thought or reaction but, use your imagination. I’m trying to be nice here).

A brand new Minelab GPX-4000 has a street price of $3995.00. Normally this comes with a host of accessories with the package deals that are often offered with purchase. In the If you go to a local dealer (which I always suggest) rather than a discount dealer, you will get after purchase support for life and usually some free field instruction as well and the savings from a discount dealer doesn’t usually add up to much anyhow.

So $3995 vs. ?? What exactly….?

Well, it’s like this:

New SD2100 with factory warranty: $1695

Ismael Mod Box: $275(estimate)

2 12v Batteries from Batteries plus $50

OR

Coiltek LI Pocket Rocket $275

Black Widow Headphones $135

Coiltek amp $100
Total Cost: $2205

or

$2255 if you go with the Ismael mods ( which most people don’t).
That’s it folks. I suppose you could just go nuts and purchase your batteries at jacked up dealer prices and go ahead and get an extra protective cover at $39.95 (normally free in the package deal), but why would you do that? Even still, it would even come close to a new GPX4000.

Here is what my setup cost me:
Used 2100 with 3 stock coils: $1000.

Used 12v batteries with Coiltek amp and regulator $90.

Used Coiltek 14″ mono $ A 3.5 gram nugget I found with the stock coil.

A brand new set of Black Widow headphones $120 or something.

And that is it. All equipment has paid for itself in gold! Can you say the same thing? For less than $1300 I’ve got all those brutally costly mods and all the rigamarole. Oh man, what a fool I am.

I should have bought a GPX 4000 for the same basic cost.

I challenge anyone to sell me a GPX for $1300. I’ll pay you off in gold!

Whatever. I’ve spent exactly $0 on coils so far from my $2800 budget, instead opting to trade a nugget.

How does $2800 equate to “Same basic cost”?

IT DOESN’T!

Remember, comments are always open here but $2800 bucks is a lot of money. I’ve supported a family of 5 on less for a month on many occasions believe it or not.

The thing that ticks me off is, if I was to believe all this crap, I’d still be out of a hobby and I suspect many take one look at all the advertised cost and hype and just go off looking for a less expensive hobby. Not everybody is wealthy to the point where they can afford the best of the best in this hobby. The GPX may be the best, I don’t know.Time will tell if it will actually surpass the performance of the GPExtreme (the real GPX). I’ll bet it’s pretty darn good or close. I’ve recommended people buy them (because they stated cost was no object) and I’d buy one myself if I could afford it (which I can’t).
I’m not against dealers or new detectors or Minelab or anything like that. The truth is, I want them to succeed because Minelab makes the best gold detectors around. Someday, I may either make enough to actually afford one or I’ll buy another used one. Probably from a dealer! (Ebay can be risky). Like another wise one said on one of the forums - Minelab needs to develop a hype filter for their next machine.

Then again maybe not. Like I said, I want them to succeed and do so large. If you believe all the hype about these machines, you deserve to buy every new machine that comes onto the market, every 18 months to two years. I hope you have a good time paying for the machines in gold.

Want a truely honest dealer opinion?

Steve Herschbach

I’ve posted it before but go see what the honorable Mr. Herschbach has to say about the various models of Minelab. It’s the same thing I’ve been saying for awhile now. Bravo Steve! Honesty rocks the house!

Good luck. End of rant…

Well, I finally got a chance to get out for an early morning hunt this week. Lately, between heavy work loads and broken ribs, I haven’t really had the chance.

Well, it was just wonderful to finally take advantage of a cool morning. I tried a couple of spots that I know of, both fairly close to one another.

The first spot is a super hot son of a buck. It’s just absolutely loaded with black sand and heavies and my first attempt to work this trash filled wash was very difficult, having chosen the Coiltek 14″ mono. This is one of those places where the it’s not impossible but difficult to run a big mono in both channels. Since it’s fairly shallow and holds a lot of trash, I figured I’d clean as much as I could the easy way so this time I started out with the smooth running stock Minelab 11″ DD. I love this coil because it’s not only quiet but it’s sensitive as well. I’ve found nuggets so small they wouldn’t weigh on the scale and that’s WITHOUT mods of any kind. It ran like a champ and I was able to clear a number of trash targets out of the wash. I’m convinced there is gold there but I just haven’t confirmed it yet and after an hour and a half, I was ready to move on.

The 2nd location is a nice inside bench where I had found a nugget previously. Even though it’s close the ground is not hot at all and can be easily handled by a mono coil. I decided to stick with the DD though and see how many targets I could get. The first time I came across this bench I skimmed it to see how trashy it was. There were a lot of really loud targets and I chose to dig 3 of them and one was a nice little .5 gram nugget with my 14″ mono. I returned a couple of more times and hunted the wash and the bench some, recovering a lot of trash. This time I stuck with the bench exclusively and did a grid which I went over twice. Once in search mode with both channels active and once in channel 2 only. I recovered several bullets as well as quite a few iron pieces before it was time to go. I’m really surprised it didn’t give up another gold nugget.

Perhaps I’ll pick one up there next time when I do a final clean up with my Minelab 8″ mono and scour the deeper upper bench with the 14″.

All in all it was a great hunt. Even though I didn’t score any gold I’ll be back there again. The area will inevitably give up more gold.