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.
My first port of call was the Clermont Detector shop where I met the very friendly proprietors – Barry and Olga Dunn. My big question was where could I go detecting legally. They were more than obliging and gave me instructions on where to go, plus a bundle of detecting maps on the Clermont area, which is extremely large. They could not have been more helpful and friendly. I also ran into old detecting friends, Vic and Sandra Galvin who we had the pleasure of detecting with in WA on previous tours. Vic showed me many fine big nuggets he had recently detected in the Clermont area. The next morning, Vic and I were up early and heading out to the Belyando Crossing Road – 30 kms to McMasters which is a designated fossicking area with written authority. The first day out I detected five nuggets from 1-5 grams and by the end of the week I had managed almost 40 grams. I thought this was good going! But, there was more to come! On the Saturday, I drove through the State Forest and noticed a very nice gentle slope with good gravels. The next day Vic and I parked the ute 40 metres off the track right along side a small gutter which I had noticed the day before. Vic, operating his GPX-4500, headed down the small wash and I with my trusty 4000, headed up a slight slope. I had moved about 80 metres from the ute in a very shallow wash, about 18” wide when I heard a very faint sound from my detector. I stopped and waved my coil across the suspected target area. The interference to the coil was still there! I knew I was in heavily mineralised ground and having this in mind, maybe this was ground noise? I ground balanced my detector and kicked a few stones away and waved my coil over the suspected target area again, but I could barely recognize a signal. I repeated the ground balance again and again, testing the ground for a better signal. Should I dig or not was the question??? I had so much faith and trust in my GPX-4000 that I knew if the detector gave any sort of signal, there would definitely be a target below. With this in mind, I decided to take off an inch of gravel. The ground was like iron! I moved the coil over the area again and the noise was the same, so I took off another inch and this time the signal marginally improved. The ground was the hardest I had ever encountered. I dug industriously for an hour and had managed to go down about one foot. I then saw Vic heading my way and between two of us working we managed to dig another foot down, all the time the signal becoming louder and sharper. It was two hours after I started digging and Vic was amazed at the shower of sparks as I drove the pick into the hole. Finally we could use the pick no more, so I headed back to the ute for my long handled shovel and a big crowbar which I had made from a miners drill. Finally I said to Vic, put your detector over the mound of gravel we had dug, and WOW!! What a signal! But I couldn’t see any GOLD? I picked up a handful of gravel and waved it over the coil – it SCREAMED!! I had it in my hand. On closer inspection I saw about three smooth noses of gold and said “it’s a big specimen”. Vic had the final inspection and said “No way, it’s all solid gold and covered in red-brown iron oxide.” IT SURE WAS A BEAUTIFUL FEELING!! I put it on the scales and sure enough 189.9 grams. It was indeed a beautiful SIX Oz’er! I asked Vic “What do we do now?” He said, “We’re going home.” We were totally exhausted and I had worn an inch off the back of my pick. Here I must comment on the GPX-4000 and GPX-4500, Minelab have achieved two remarkable detectors that eliminate mineralised ground (no more hot rocks), provide great target signals, and are just a pleasure to own. Lyle Jones - Australia