How the GOLD MONSTER 1000 complements your go-to Premium Gold Detector

It dawned on me very early on in my gold detecting days that relying on one detector was not going to give me the best chance to recover the majority of gold on offer from all the goldfields that I frequent.  Using one detector was just not going to get the job done.  I would say that most of us who are more serious in our quest to find gold will know this and will very likely have multiple detectors for multiple uses.

The more serious of us gold prospectors will rely on at least one of the premium Minelab Pulse Induction detectors, such as the SDC 2300, GPX-4500 or the GPX 5000, while a number of us will have the Minelab flagship GPZ 7000.  However, I strongly suggest you also consider a single high frequency VLF to maximise your gold recovery as relying on just one of the ‘big boys’ alone may mean you are missing out on plenty of gold.  Let me explain…..

I carry the GOLD MONSTER 1000 (GM 1000) with me all the time as my single high frequency VLF, either in my car or strapped to my backpack if hiking to remote spots.  Its weight is not an issue, so there are no problems with transporting it along with my GPZ 7000 (GPZ).

When I get a signal with the GPZ that has me digging down around 500mm (just over 19 inches) or more, I find it gets very difficult to accurately pinpoint exactly where in the hole the target is with the GPZ’s 14” coil.  To save a lot of unnecessary digging or widening of the hole, I will turn on the GM 1000 with the 5” coil attached, set it to Deep All-Metal mode and then use this to get into the hole and accurately pinpoint the target.  As well as pinpointing the target, I can also see if it is ferrous (iron) or non-ferrous just by looking at the Gold Chance Indicator.  I find switching between the GPZ and the GM 1000 easy as I like to use the external audio on each model so no need to fiddle around with headphones and cords, plus just turning on the GM 1000 and having it ready to go only takes a matter of seconds once I find a target with the GPZ.

My tools of the trade – Minelab’s GPZ 7000 and GOLD MONSTER 1000!

I usually use the GM 1000 in Deep All-Metal mode with the Sensitivity set to Manual 10 as this provides excellent depth and strong sensitivity in our very mild ground conditions here in New Zealand.  Sometimes though, if I am in an iron trash rich area I will switch to Gold mode.  In this mode, the detector still visually indicates when I have found iron on the Gold Chance Indicator but there will be no audio sound.  I know that I will sacrifice some sensitivity and depth in this mode when compared to Deep All-Metal mode; however my ears won’t be getting a bashing from the constant iron audio signals.  I will still get an audio indication on the non-ferrous items that I’m hoping to locate.

Recently I was out prospecting and received a signal with the GPZ that ended up being quite deep. I was having trouble pin pointing the target, so I fired up the GM 1000 with the 5” coil to help.  As you can see from the photo below, I was in Gold mode with Sensitivity set to Manual 10.  The Gold Chance Indicator is indicating that I have found an iron target, but because I’m in Gold mode I’m not getting any audio. 

Here is the GM 1000 set up with the 5” coil and ‘pinpointing’ in Gold mode with Sensitivity set to Manual 10.  Note the Gold Chance Indicator strongly indicating an iron (ferrous) target.

I had a choice here after confirming the iron signal with the GM 1000.  I could have chosen to either simply ignore the target and back-fill the hole, or I could have kept going to retrieve the target.  Personally I still always like to dig the target out - you never know, it could be masking a good gold target signal which has happened many times to me as well.

Target retrieved.  No wonder the Gold Chance Indicator was strongly indicating iron!

If I do happen to pull out a gold target at depth that was initially found with the GPZ, then in most cases I usually end up pinpointing the target with the GM 1000.  In fact not long after I found the rusty nail, I hit a good deep signal with the GPZ.  I then switched to the GM 1000 and not only pinpointed the target precisely, but I also knew I was onto something non-ferrous thanks to the Gold Chance Indicator.  After a few moments digging, I recovered 4 gold nuggets out of the hole!

The GPZ finds the gold, the GM 1000 pinpoints the gold!

The spoils of victory!

I then spread out the dirt which I dug from the hole and scanned it thoroughly with the GM 1000 to see if there were any more signals.

Checking the dirt with the GM 1000 just to make sure I haven’t missed anything……

Guess what?  I found another 11 gold nuggets in the dirt!.  If I only had the GPZ with me then not only would I have struggled to pinpoint and recover the initial 4 nuggets, but I may have missed the other 11 nuggets as well!

15 gold nuggets, thanks to the GPZ and the GM 1000!

Finally, with all the ground covered over the years and the gold finds we have made, there is still going to be those exposed bedrock areas where small gold lives but our top end machines just did not see.  It’s in these bedrock locations where a small sensitive coil hooked up to a single high frequency VLF will be more suitable.  By investing in the GM 1000 I am now able to see this gold and sniff it out.  In fact, there have been many times in the last few weeks where I have gone back to some exposed bedrock areas with just the GM 1000 and have had great success in sniffing out this small gold knowing that my GPZ just would not be as suitable.  Here’s a photo of a few pieces I found recently in just a couple of fun hours!

Very best of luck out there.

kiwijw (John Wilson)