r/Prospecting

So to preface, I am very new to prospecting, sluice boxing and panning. I made my own sluice box to hold the mats because let’s face it, the boxes themselves are seriously way overpriced. So, I made my own from old aircraft ply I had laying around as you will see in the picture, sanded, waterproof glued, stained and treated.
I tried something for getting the right angle that may not work 100% for everyone. I simply added a small bubble level to the side for the angle I want the box to be at. So in this case it would be ~7 degrees at “level”, slightly higher in the window is 8, slightly lower is 6. Anyone already doing this? I figured since it is important I would make it easier to tell for myself. I dont get to use streams a whole lot so this works for my needs. I travel a lot and it’s light, works (thanks to the dream mat for making quick work) and was really cheap, IE I had the materials.

I found a ton of quartz on my land that resides in dark red / light red clay/ dirt - it almost sparkles when you look at it.

In the picture, I took a chunk of the dirt and panned it around on a dinner plate and was left with this. I looked up my area and found that it was a place gold could be found due to the mineral richness, etc.

Any thoughts?

I bought a panning set and some neodymium magnets to explore more tomorrow. I probably have about 50 pounds of quartz and there is a ton more.

I know PA doesn't have much for gold for prospecting, but i found this in a local creek near me. Just starting out with this hobby.

Still new to looking at rocks. Is this what I think it is?

I just don’t understand how there is sooo much black sands at the beach and no gold. I got maybe a cup of sand and there was at least a 1/4 cup of black sands. Playa Del Rey. Where does all the black sands come from? Why isn’t there gold in it?

In search of Gold 2026

in Alaska 😃

I’ve seen a lot of people asking about the Gold Monster 1000. As a relative newcomer who had the same questions, I figure my take might help someone. I’m in my second season of detecting.

To those considering the GM1000, I’d offer this as some proof of quality, particularly for an “affordable” machine (with the understanding that affordability is relative to personal circumstance). The piece of a gold in picture one was found with the 5” coil in heavily mineralized soil — the machine sensitivity wasn’t even all the way up, I think I had it in auto one.

Particularly for those detecting in heavily worked areas who cannot afford PI machines to get to the deeper stuff, the GM1000 is a great tool. Again, as a relative newcomer to metal detecting, the GM1000 has been both pretty easy to use and came at an approachable price point.

I found the auto features very helpful, although I’m starting to primarily use manual mode as it allows for slightly better performance with practice. Anyway, the auto modes are still great: In heavily mineralized soil, ground balancing can be a real hangup for beginners like me. My problem was wasn’t recognizing when I needed to re-balance, but trusting that I really covered the ground with a balanced machine, or that I wasn’t trading necessary sensitivity by reducing chatter via manual settings. I don’t know if that makes sense, but other beginners will probably understand what I’m getting at. The auto-balance feature (available while using both auto and manual sensitivity modes) alleviated both concerns and really helped me focus on the signals I was able to hear. I wasn’t totally comfortable with an auto ground balance/auto mode until I found this “nugget,” but afterwards, I went ahead fairly confident that the risk of balancing out smaller targets is negligible.

I’ll mention three other things that may help some folks out. These are more general tips, but all link back to the GM1000/beginner usage.

First, don’t rely exclusively on the ferrous v. non-ferrous indicator. You’ll see discriminations change as you get close to a target. What is initially indicated to be iron can prove to be gold — several of the pieces in picture two read iron at first.

Second, and to the above point, learn which signals sound “right.” The GM 1000 auto modes helped a lot with this by knocking out chatter I may have paid more attention to. Although the signal from the piece in the first picture was obviously pretty subtle, it came through well enough after the auto mode quieted down the chatter. This target sounded more like a hiccup than a whine, which is true of most “real” gold signals on the GM1000. Your ears are the best discriminator. It’s not an easy skill to learn quickly — I used to work as an audio engineer and musician, and even my ears had trouble picking up the subtleties at first — but once you have the “AHA!” moment, signals become pretty discernible. I banged my head against the wall working this out in the field, but I’d imagine some dedicated practice with different metals would make the learning curve much steeper.

Lastly, your machine cannot make gold appear where it isn’t. Metal detectors are great, but your best tools are historical records, conversations with local geologists, and mapping software. There are plenty of free LIDAR and topo resources. Make sure you’re in an area where there is gold to be found (and that you have permission to be there if it’s not public land open to metal detecting/your claim). Local prospecting clubs are great resources — you might not find what you’re looking for on a club claim, but a club claim is a great place to build some field experience and internalize the cues that signal the possibility of gold in new areas. These can be as subtle as the geology or specific characteristics of old mining activity.

Anyway, just my two cents. Not an ad, not affiliated with minelab in any way, just thought I’d offer the answer I was looking for when I got into the hobby. To sum up my feelings on the GM1000, I’d recommend this machine to other newcomers based upon my experience. Hope this helps someone!

(Second pic is other gold found this season with the GM 1000)

Edit: spelling