Godd morning everyone. Well the 29 Prospector went and did it again. No I didn’t find any big nuggets but I’ve taken another big leap for this old fart. SDF from Rob’s forum had found a pretty good little patch and had asked me if I could help him maybe locate where the nuggets were coming from. Well I jumped at the offer,since fever cabin was sitting in big time, and we met up yesterday at my place and off we went. Well I met another very fine person that loves being out in the desert and isn’t bunged up. Well we got to the area and I knew right away that it was part of a massive placer flow in the Dale District. Those that know the area know what I mean by masive. Well we got out all our gear and started to get ready, this is where the fun starts.

Now those that know me know that MDing is not my first love. I come from years of hardrock mining and after my back and knees got crushed in an accident was was forced to something easier so I moved to dryplacer. Now as for MDing I had my Dad’s Whites 4900D Pro Prospector. Well that was a treat learning. I figured it was time to move into the 21st century and got a Gold Bug 2. Now I’ve done pretty well with my GB2 but drywashing is still my main form of mining.

I’ve watched all you Minelab people get ready to MDing, and I think to myself, these guys are getting ready to go into a war zone strapping on this and that. Well I figured that by the time I got ready if I had all that gear to put on that it would exceed my weight carrying ability. Well Steve brought his GP Extreme with him as well as his new GPX4000. He offered the Extreme to me to use and I said well why not, at least I can find out right now if I can handle it.

I’ve said all this just to say this.
1. Steve thank you. I know we got skunked, but I enjoyed hunting with you
2. All you Minelab people I understand why you needed all the equipment.
3. Can this old fart handle a Minelab for 3-4 hour hunts, Well the answer is YES.

It took me about 15 minutes to get use to the basic use of the machine and yes I liked the way it handled the ground. I had only one major problem with it that I don’t have with the GB2 and no its not small gold. You see I sit down to dig a target because the constant being over just kills my back. Well I got a nice sounding target, good and solid, so I sit down and proceed to start digging. Well after about a foot I’m thinking this has got to be a big target, then it dawns on me, I wonder if the control box is sentitive also because I had it sitting next to me knee. Now I have to artficial knees and as soon as I moved the the control box away from my knee the hole went dead. Now the dirt pile was hot. Well I found my target, a small thumb nail size piece of galena.

So Steve thank you for allowing me to another step closer to modern detecting. My take on the GP Extreme, nice machine as a matterof fact, sweet. To bad I cannot afford one or a GP3500 or a GPX4000.

O’29er in 29