Gold prospecting using a metal detector

[Ben Framed]

Nice piece Les..

[Salvo]

Hi Folks, Les,

Here in the States we have a *big box store*, Costco, selling one-ounce bars for pretty much a spot price of about $2,400 USD today. They won't, however, give refunds.

Also: Here is a good diversionary read:

https://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/

Sal

[Lesgold]

Lately we have been sharing what we find as we often help each other with the recovery of the nuggets (especially in water) When we go out prospecting, we often come home with similar amounts of gold anyway. It seems to balance out over time. Today, I only found two pieces and my mate Joe ended up with six. Weight wise, I ended up with over 4 grams and Joe had just over one gram. The trip before, I had seven nuggets and he had three. The last few trips have been lucky for me as I have been able to uncover some good pieces. Joe is very good at finding gold and often comes home with larger chunks. We value the experience more than anything else. Having time together in the bush and sharing the moment when a piece of gold is uncovered for the first time is priceless.

Thanks for posting that information Salvo. Hallmarking of gold is an interesting topic. The gold that we find is not pure and contains some contamination usually in the form of silver and copper. In saying that, I have been told that our local gold is some of the purest in the country and averages above 98% in its gold content.

[Terri Yaki]

Hi Folks, Les,

Here in the States we have a *big box store*, Costco, selling one-ounce bars for pretty much a spot price of about $2,400 USD today. They won't, however, give refunds.

Also: Here is a good diversionary read:

https://www.assayofficelondon.co.uk/

Sal

So far I only have one, one ounce gold coin and I can't complain except that I should have bought two that day. Before I bought, I rooted around and came to the conclusion that US troy ounce coins are best for me. Gold bars can be faked, shaved and otherwise spindled and mutilated whereas coins are more difficult to counterfeit and mutilate. Additionally one friend told me that bars constitute an investment, subject to capital gains tax but coins are not. I did not verify that claim but overall, coins just made more sense.

[Salvo]

Hi Folks,

When I was very young, in grammar school, I was told that the lines around the coin were "evidence of a whole, untampered with coin". Filing around the coin would grind off the lines. Don't take it.

Also, in movies you see old codgers biting the gold coin. That would put their teeth marks on it in case it was stolen, OR, like truckers thump their tires to test pressure, The softness of the gold is indicative of its purity.

Nuns were pretty smart.

Sal

[Michael Bush]

US Gold coins are considered legal tender so they are protected from counterfeiting by the Secret Service (the Treasury Department).  Gold bars are not.  You could charge someone selling fake gold bars with fraud.  You can charge someone selling fake gold US coins with counterfeiting and fraud.

[Lesgold]

Another good day out in the bush with my detecting mate. We wore waders and made the effort to check areas that were difficult to detect using our standard attire. The two bigger pieces were found in large pools of water. The size and number of nuggets is dropping away. This is to be expected and won?t change unless we have a large flood come through. We are still extremely happy with the gold that we are finding. Days like this will soon become a rarity.

[Lesgold]

Took my daughter out to a new spot yesterday. We ended up with four pieces with this one being the largest. Just under 3 grams all up. It was a faint signal in a rock bar. The crack was only about 6mm wide. We had to break the rock to get the nugget out. We were pleasantly surprised at the size of it. The only down side was that I dropped my phone somewhere. Will have to make another quick trip back tomorrow to pick it up. Hopefully it was not lost in water.

[Salvo]

Hi Les,

Take a metal detector.

Sal

[Terri Yaki]

Losing a phone is a big deal today but I remember when we didn't even have them, except for the one on the leash on the kitchen wall. However, party lines were before my phone using days.

[Lesgold]

I didn?t own a mobile phone until I retired. People at work used to give me a hard time about it and that was a bit like a red rag to a bull. I didn?t get one just to annoy them. I used to say that none of them were worth talking to anyway, so why purchase one.

The sad part about dropping the phone is that I had to go back and look for it. Thought it would be where we took off our waders and detecting gear so I picked up my detecting buddy and headed back to where the ute was parked. Joe got out of the car and saw it straight away. What a relief. It would have taken quite a bit of gold to cover the replacement cost. We decided while we were there to put in a few hours detecting. Joe found a beautiful nugget and between us we ended up with a dozen pieces and just over 3 grams for our effort. We decided that the phone should be dropped on a regular basis.

[max2]

Nice bit of Gold!
Maybe the mobile phone attracted it?

I'm 76 this year and still don't own a mobile phone!

I can remember party lines - you knew everybody in the village , and their business.

I also remember the time when I would carry around a heavy  6 x 6 camera and develop my own photos.

I remember milking by hand, extracting honey by hand...

Slower times but good times.

[The15thMember]

I don't have a personal phone either.  I do have an iPod touch though, so it can technically do everything a smartphone can do except make a call, it's just so old that not a lot is compatible with my iOS anymore.  We did finally get a smartphone for the whole household to use though because we got a great deal on one from our mobile carrier, and I have to say, it has made our lives a lot easier. 

I remember milking by hand, extracting honey by hand...

   
I still do both of these things though! 

[animal]

LOL at not worth talking to
I've always hated phones, then pagers, now smartphones. I "lose" the smartphone a lot when I'm doing something I enjoy. Usually in the truck or at home. At work I destroy them. On my second this year, about time to get rid of it because now I have to rotate the screen to be able to clear the calculator(irritating) and the pictures are now a gray blur no matter what I take them of . Cracks in the glass are usually fine, but the powdered areas just don't work for some reason ... but have 2 more "in stock" 
... cheap androids synced to a laptop are my thing.

[Terri Yaki]

For our home phone, I have a MagicJack and I have to say, I love it. I don't use it but the Mrs. does but there is a MagicJack app that allows it to work anywhere I have an internet connection. I don't know how many devices you can use at once but I do know that you can use two. I have it connected on my iPhone and my primary iPad. Cost is about $30/year all inclusive. It does also work when I have cell service w/o internet connection.

[Ben Framed]

Terri was does a magic jack do?

[Terri Yaki]

Holy cow, now it's up to $50/year. It's a phone that works through your internet connection. I think they call it voice over internet protocol. It's about the size of a small USB charger and plugs into a USB charger on one end and has two ports in the other end. One connects to your WIFI router and the other to your phone. I have a cordless phone connected to it and it operates just like a phone. I have used it to fax stuff as well. And with the app on the smart phone or tablet, it's just like a smart phone interface.

https://www.magicjack.com/account/mjLandingpages.do?page=index

[The15thMember]

I forgot about MagicJack. We used to have one of those.

[animal]

got one too. but don't use the actual "jack". converted a 40 year old number that used to be Bell systems to a magic jack number.. anyone calls it and I get a message in my email .. use the number for whenever a phone # is required for something so telemarketers call it and get nowhere. Any old friends that might want to get in touch, the number's still good for them to leave message/contact info.
I was thinking it was 20 or so a year. I paid several years in advance to start it and kinda forgot about it.. I guess I need to check the bill to see if it's worth it.

[Lesgold]

The results of the past two days out haven?t been as good recently. Thankfully Joe has had a turn of luck and has found a couple of nice pieces to improve the tally weight. Can?t complain though. We enjoy each others company and always have fun in the bush. The new spots that we have been trying tend to get hit hard by other prospectors. That gives us a challenge and we have to walk further and work harder for a few pieces of yellow.