Gold Stories

27^th July 2010

I purchased my first detector, a GP 3500, and started my search for nuggets in February 2008. As a newbie trying to learn the ropes I confined my activities to pounded patches for the first six months. Garnering the occasional dink that others had missed by careful gridding or grooming brush in an area to be detected. To begin with all my finds were under a gram. I remember my first bigger nugget at 1.8 grams, it put me on a natural high. After I gained confidence and had a few nuggets in my poke that were a little larger, I became disenchanted with always hunting pounded ground. I embarked on a research project centered on the gold fields of Northern California, determined to find my own patches and hopefully bigger gold.  

5^th June 2010

It was my second day of searching using GPX-4500. I only searched some few moments after some of my guys had given up for the day, and hey I got a signal. Believe me, what I found, one big nugget 14.5 ounce.

I’m grateful of this modern technology.

M. Raisi - Zimbabwe

24^th May 2010

I took my new Minelab GPX-4500 out to find a new patch or two. I left for a month to hunt the desert. I hunted for 20 days with nothing to show but a lot of miles on my feet and blisters. I was driving down a road and looking for a place that looked good to prospect and decided to hit this hill that looked good. I hiked in and before too long I got a signal. I started to go around and around finding nuggets after nuggets. I was tired of digging and started heading back to the truck and went over a ridge when I hit another patch. I worked these patches for eight days and ended up with over 9.5 ounces. I was flying high after those eight days and I love my new Minelab GPX-4500. 

Rick Herron – Nevada, USA

29^th March 2010

Just before my birthday a good friend took me out to one of his well pounded but still producing patches in Northern California. This patch had already produced many pounds of beautiful nuggets but most were less than 3/4 oz. Still a bunch of trash in the area and that was just about all I was digging, trash. I had the stock 11" Double-D coil as it was the only coil I owned. About three hours into the hunt I got a faint target in an area that had many previous dig holes (covered). Once I cleared the top couple of inches away it was a sweet gold target. At 14 inches down sitting on the clay layer was the find of a lifetime. My 6.14 oz solid gold beauty. Thanks Minelab for making such great machines!

Steve (El Dorado) Wandt  - CA, USA

15^th February 2010

I have been nugget hunting for some time now. I have started from the SD 2200d and worked my way up to a GPX-4000 paying for each upgrade with the gold I found. I have never been able to break that 1/2oz mark with countless 1/2oz nuggets under my belt. Today that all changed! I went over a very worked patch using my Minelab GPX-4000 matched with a Minelab Commander 15x12 Mono coil. I scored the biggest nugget of my life. A beautiful 39.1gram nugget. I'm a member of the one-ounce club now...Thanks Minelab!

Nuggetslayer – California, USA

You could say that I have been detecting seriously for five years. Each trip I head for the goldfields of Western Australia for approximately four to five months. Last year was a successful trip to Hall’s Creek. This year June and I headed up through the Alice to Arnhem Land and across the top to Queensland, detecting when we could. Our last place for detecting before heading for the sapphire fields of Rubyvale etc. was the Clermont Caravan Park.

This photo was sent in by Kazza from Western Australia. He was detecting with his mate Grumpy, and they weren’t having any luck so shifted to another spot. On arrival, there were two guys armed with GP 3000’s that were packing up as they weren’t having any luck either – only finding nine nuggets totalling 4.5 grams in two days.

Armed with GPX-4500’s, Kazza and his mate Grumpy were still quite keen to give the area a once over. They literally hit the Jackpot! Within the first hour they had found two ounces worth, and by the end of three days the tally was up to 80 ounces of the good stuff! The patch has produced a total of 7.75 kilos of gold, and is still going strong. The photo shows 4.5 kilos.

Kazza in WA

8^th December 2009

This nugget was found in what can only be described as thrashed out ground in public ground at Dunolly, Victoria. In other words it should have been found a long time ago. Smooth timings allowed it to be heard over ground noise that made it invisible to other detectors.

Ray Pegram – Victoria, Australia

29^th August 2009

Here is a lovely 317 Gram Nugget found at a location that cannot be named for obvious reasons, but was found at over 2ft with a 18" Minelab Mono in red hot ground.

P. Woodland - Victoria, Australia

7^th August 2009

This 1 118 gram gold nugget was found 30cms deep in red iron stone rubble. The nugget is impregnated with very small quartz fragments as can be seen in the photo. The edges of the nugget are rounded off and smooth. It was nestling next to a large granite boulder in relatively flat ground with no hills in the close vicinity. The area has produced one other large nugget and many smaller ones ranging from 450g down to 3g.

The area of the find had been extensively searched over by at least 6 other metal detectorists. The nugget was found using a GPX-4500 fitted with a mono commander 12” x 15” elliptical coil.

2^nd August 2009

GPX-4500 is the best of all. This gorgeous piece of gold, 263 grams was found at 80cm deep with 18" Mono Commander coil. I was the only one with GPX-4500 among many other prospectors with various detectors. 6 prospectors claimed that they passed on the exact same spot where I found this nugget but none of them heard that faint signal. Previously the area produced dozens of nuggets and many where of similar size but not at this depth. Minelab, I'd like to thank you very very much for this wonderful detector. Now I'm more convinced that there are many nuggets lying deep beneath awaiting to be found.

Batbayar - Mongolia

The ground was north of Kalgoorlie and about 100 meters from the main road. The 4500’s ability to detect very small nuggets in highly mineralized ground lead to the 6.5oz nugget.

We found a total of 157 nuggets in an area of no more than 200 by 150 meters. The area had been gone over before but the 4500’s ability to be super quiet and punch deep for small targets in difficult ground was amazing. If I had missed those first tiny nuggets (less than a gram at 8cm), I would have missed walking across the 6.5oz nugget.

The GPX-4500 is the best yet! Here is a photo of 60 pieces of gold off ground that I and everyone else has been detecting for 25 years. One particular lot of diggings that I do on a regular basis, I have not had a signal on in the last three years - the first day with the 4500 produced seven pieces of gold.

Don

This detector is the perfect machine for the casual person who wants a detector to use wherever they are. Great for the beach and sensational on the goldfields, I even found coins in the caravan park. This detector is so easy to use even the kids get fun from using it. 

It may not be as powerful as the big gold detectors but I still did well, finding a few small nuggets that together weighed almost half an ounce. 

Well done Minelab! 

Frederic H. - AUSTRALIA

What a beauty - 55oz of glorious Western Australian gold. Also found in the same area, these two weigh a further 58 ounces.Unfortunately the finder wants to remain anonymous but has allowed us to show off these great finds. Total weight found from the patch was a little over 180 ounces.

Minelab User - Western Australia

Two friends from Ballarat, Victoria have credited the Minelab GPX-4500 detector as the real reason they are now the owners of over 400 ounces of gold, valued at many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Steve Glasson and Russell Sanderson have been weekend detectorists for over 20 years and while they have always done well from their hobby, this is the best result they have ever achieved.

Steve and Russell have an area near Ballarat that has always produced nuggets for them over the years but the last few times they went there, they returned empty handed. All the gold had gone! That is until they bought the new GPX-4500. With the added depth and more stable operation, the 4500 found a reef of gold that all previous detectors had missed.

Steve and Russell are now more than happy to tell their friends how wonderful the new Minelab GPX-4500 is...But they still keep the location of their special spot a secret.

Minelab User

The photo shows the results of a small patch found by a prospector in WA.
The largest nugget weighed in at 83 grams, and the total weight came in just shy of 9oz’s! The prospector, who wishes to remain anonymous stated that there is more ground to cover, and can’t wait to go back and get some more.

IT’S STILL OUT THERE!!

Minelab User

I'm writing in regards to your Minelab SD2200v2 metal detector, what a great product! 

After about 3 hours and half ton of cans, nails and bullets, I decided I'd had enough and headed back towards the car, waving my Minelab detector around half heartedly when it went off. I was only 20m from my vehicle, and I had walked about 5 kilometres. I dug up this little beauty.

Minelab user

For me, it's the X-TERRA 705! Its super quick and lightweight and has the ability to check tiny signals in Prospecting Mode. It comes with a choice of Pinpoint Modes and a fantastic GB Offset option to make minute ground balance adjustments on the bad grounds I typically search! Even the new backlight means I can now get to sites early in the morning and stay on later when the light gets low. 

T.Gray

A trip to Flat Creek Station had been organized with my detecting mate Henry and my wife Delys, and a friend from Brisbane Stan. I had just brought the GPX-4500 from George at the Miners Den in Cairns, and up to this point I had not even turned it on, so the learning curve was going to be hopefully less than a J curve.

Sunday morning was a ripper of a day with a cloudless sky and 10 degrees greeting us for breakfast. We had worked out the day before where we were going to detect that day, so it was all aboard and away we went to a little area where we had found a few 2 and 3 gramers in the past. After about 2 hours of not getting any targets I started to doubt if this 4500 was working and whether it could find gold, when all of a sudden it sounded like I had found a horse shoe. I scraped the area clean but the target was still in the ground.

Digging down a further 4 to 5 inches and out popped 7 grams of solid gold with a little iron stone staining; to say that I was excited would be an understatement.

Not to be out done, my mate Henry unearthed 4 beauties not far from my one and I commented that this could be a patch, and he had to go and prove me right pulling another 3 little guys out. It was funny how mine seemed to be the floater.

The wife was rather happy but asked “Is that it, you told me this new one was going to find the big one?” We had been working ground that had been flogged by every man and his dog yet with this new technology we were getting the bits everyone had missed.

Here in Australia, most of us are used to jumping into our 4WD or car to get out to the goldfields. A few of us may use a motorbike to get off the beaten track, but ever thought of having a trusty donkey? 

Our friends in Brazil will use any method at hand to get up into the mountains, not that I blame them with nuggets like these to be found.

Minelab User - Brazil

Dear Minelab,

Just thought I’d drop you a note to tell you how I’ve been going with the new detector. You will see from the attached photos, 249 pieces of gold weighing a total of 3 oz’s that have mainly come from places that I’ve previously detected with every other Minelab model. I’ve been finding gold on all of my old patches and on noisy ground, where earlier I have been unable to find a target. Anyone considering buying the new detector should try one and try the new Enhance timing on noisy ground…they will be sold! Mono loop coils can be used on this machine almost exclusively. Ground noise, hot rocks and false signals are almost a thing of the past. Out of the last forty or so trips, I’ve only come home without gold once!

Archie - Victorian Goldfields

Dear Minelab, 

Since using the Minelab Eureka Gold, I have been amazed at the amount of gold I’ve picked up at popular detecting spots. It has surprising depth capabilities which I was pleased to find, and with a reliable discriminator I can cover much more ground to dig those golden holes. 

The 60 kHz frequency is deadly on those smaller nuggets the bigger machines leave behind.
Lucky for me I’m not fussy, I’ll take the big and the small, and if the bigger nuggets are there, the Eureka will more than accommodate for them too. This is a very easy machine to operate, even for a “Mug” like me. 

Automatic ground balance and triple frequency modes at your fingertips make it a breeze.
Thank you Minelab! 

M. Keirle - Australia

This was the first in a new series of super detectors that has changed detecting forever. All of a sudden gold finding was made easier and I found gold on all of my old spots. 

My friend and I arrived at our spot and set out detecting in different directions. Not far from the 4WD I got my first signal, digging 6 inches I unearthed a 3 gram nugget. A rush of excitement had me digging the hole deeper and wider, and there it was, the biggest piece of gold I had ever found.
The excitement was tremendous and this is the reason we both like to detect because when you’re digging you just never know what it will be. 

Thanks to Minelab and their super detectors we found our dream and look forward to their future developments and many more years prospecting throughout Australia. 

Robert A. - Australia

A long-time detector operator in Australia has found a massive nugget weighing over 110oz (3.5kg) in Victoria's famous Golden Triangle! 

He was detecting in a well-known area that was thought to have been "worked-out", as it had produced many nuggets with previous detectors. However, he was keen to see how his new GPX-4000 would handle the mineralised ground, and soon stopped on a faint signal that was begging to be dug up.

Our team in Ghana has been working hard and travelling extensively as part of their awareness and education strategy to inform small-scale miners of the benefits to be gained through Minelab technology. Its important that we acknowledge the support of the Small-Scale Miners Association who have been great facilitators in our trips and we are very proud to show Kwesi Baiden, with a sample of his finds during a product demonstration in Takoradi. We also thank Peace Mining for their hospitality and for the opportunity to show what Minelab products can do!!

Minelab User - Ghana

I have used Minelab detector GP-3500 in Mongolia province Gobi Altai (Chandmani) and have found some gold nuggets deep 10-20 cm usually small nuggets 0.2 - 3.2 grams. Altogether I've found about 50gram. 

Tsog - Mongolia

This year we had our first trip to Western Australia. We had in mind to find a patch with some large nuggets. Both my husband Michael and I own GP3000's and have been pleased with their performance after owning the SD2000's and SD2100's. We started off in the flogged places and around diggings and could not believe our success. The trouble was we never got to go walking much because we could not walk away from gold even though the pieces were small. We met so many people who were disappointed this year after having success other years and they were really surprised when we told them we had found 1541 pieces giving us a total of thirty two ounces. 

Yours faithfully, 

Julie H. - Australia

The GP3000 strikes again! My buddy Frank found this nugget while hunting in a ground sluice area. Someone had dug the piece out of the ground and it rolled down the hill about 2 1/2 feet below the hole. This is the biggest nugget from the area that I know of. 

Hey guys get with the program,check those holes. 

Chip, ROUST- A - Bout Detector Sales

My mate and I have been detecting ten years plus and we take it fairly seriously, getting away every chance we get. I don't show off the nuggets I get, but a few good friends get to see them. I've been reasonably successful over the years and have had my share of 3 and 5 ounce pieces but just recently one of my friends teased me that I'd never jagged a kilo. 

Now my mate and I have owned a good few Minelab detectors but we recently bought the new GP 3000, now let me tell you, that's a bonza machine. Runs really quiet and you can hear those faint little whispers. 

We decided to detect a spot that I recon every detector in Queensland has been over, and ours included, but I had a new big coil and I thought that the big coil and the GP together might be just what was needed.

It does everything my trusty GP-Extreme does and more. Smoother threshold... Cleaner signal response... Better head-saver when going over large targets.. Even though I did not dig any deep targets on this trip, I could tell that this machine does have the same capabilities.

Is it worth it to upgrade to the 3000? For me, as a nugget hunter, I want every advantage I can get. And if I am going to be out there doing this, then I want the best machine for the situation at hand. In my opinion that is the new GP3000 for the size of gold I am after and the areas I detect.

Gerry M - Idaho, USA

I have owned my GP EXTREME for approximately eighteen months and admittedly it hasn't been used to the extent that it should have been. I was having little success, when a friend came up with the idea of going to the Golden Triangle in Victoria. 

A number of days went past and Norm was finding 1, 2 and 3 gram pieces every day and I had not found one piece, damn discouraging, but I kept at it. 

We were then given a 'tip' of a likely spot to try. I set up the machine and headed off into what I think must have been the biggest, widest and longest rubbish dump in the district. After digging up half a ton of rubbish, I was ready to head back to the car. "I will head towards that tree over there and then knock off" I said to myself. A few minutes later another signal, "more rubbish" I'm thinking. I start to dig the hole and a clump of clay came away from my pick. It was weighty, so I broke it in half and I was looking at what was my first significant find with a detector. My maiden nugget. When it was washed under the tap, back at the caravan park, 40.3 grams of pure gold my first nugget. 

I still sit and look in wonder at my nugget, asking how many people detected the nugget and continued to walk on thinking that it was more rubbish, leaving the 40 grammer for me. I have to say, dig every signal, because if you don't I will, and I might find a mate for my 40 grammer.

Minelab User

The GP Extreme is the "King of Performance". It's the only machine I use... especially after unearthing a 9.1 ounce gold nugget at 28" deep in an area where conventional detectors have searched many times before.

Minelab User

I purchased my first metal detector in 2002 and it was XT18000 from Minelab. I saw my friends at Kiwanja village who were doing very fine financially due to their use of Minelab detectors. This attracted me to buy my own machine. All in all my trust is currently with Minelab detectors and I have five GP3000, ten SD 2200V2, one SD2200D and one XT18000.

The largest piece of gold that I recovered weighed 1800 grams and I recovered it in 2002 in Sangambi area in Chunya district. I am one of the richest people in Chunya district. I have benefited a lot from Minelab detectors and I am one of the luckiest people as far as gold hunting is concerned. GP3000 is the best! 

Hamis M. - Chunya

I thought I'd that the time to tell Minelab about the great success I've had in a short time I've owned and old GP Extreme. 

I'd like to start my story by telling you I've been prospecting for nearly 30 years. You name the method to find gold and I've done it. I grew up in Arizona and retired in California after more than 20 years in the US Air Force. I used Whites Metal detectors with limited success in both states and stuck with dredging gold in the summer months in the California Mother load. The winter months, you'd find me panning and sluicing the lower foothills. I finally ran into some Minelab owners and personally seen their success'. Three months back I saved enough money to buy a used GP Extreme and haven't looked back since. It's a great machine and maybe one day, I'll own a newer model.
This week I found my biggest nugget; it hit the scale at 47.4-penny weight. I believe in your machines and will spread the word among my fellow dredgers. 

Thanks again,

Eric Lundquest - California, USA

On my first trial with the GP-3000, I went to a nearby area that has received a fair bit of attention over the years and which I had previously gridded with the GP extreme. The GP-3000 threshold was noticeably smoother and more stable despite the somewhat variable ground. After a couple of hours I heard a sound, so using the 'ground balance and switch to fixed' technique, I re-checked the sound and was still uncertain. Eventually I decided to dig and on trenching out about 8 to 9 inches, I put the coil in sideways and the audio screamed. At 15 inches I unearthed a solid nugget that weighed in at exactly 62gm or 2 oz…a bloody good start to the GP-3000! Congratulations Minelab on yet another excellent prospecting machine.

Minelab User