Last trip for 2014 Machine -SDC2300 Time- 03:00 A.M. Date -19/12/2014
Destination -36 Km North of Southern Cross W.A. When I bought my Minelab SDC2300 metal detector from Reeds in Perth I couldn’t wait to get out into the field to try it out, a couple of workmates from work have a farm on the fringe of a gold bearing area, so I figured that it would be worth a go and see what the SDC 2300 was capable of doing, so far we have managed to pick up ½ a dozen very small bits, be it they are all sub grammars but gold is gold doesn’t matter how small. This machine has amazed me as to how it can pick up such small pieces. Arrangements were then made with Ray and his wife to go out to an area that I had been to before and had a little bit of success with in the past with the GPX 5000. My mate and his wife work in the same mine in the middle of the Pilbara as I do, they drive the big dump trucks and I am with the Emergency Services and the only difference being their swing is a day later finishing, so we agreed to meet at the area I wanted to go to, and try the SDC 2300 in some old mine shafts and the salt lake. I left Perth at 03:00 hrs and headed Southern Cross to top up with fuel and then onto the camping spot.
Unfortunately when I got there after 4 hours travel I got a phone call from Ray to say that they had an emergency at home with a family member and couldn’t come, already being at camp I decided that I’d still give the shafts a going over. One shaft in particular was just on 65 feet down the face of the old pit and the pit was ½ full of water. This was the only way that I could get to it as the shaft was running horizontal, after setting up my roping system, safety line etc I was ready to go. Roping down was a breeze, ½ way down I in counted 4 large hornet nests which I managed to avoid and not disturb. The face of the wall on the pit had an over- hang this didn’t allow me to get to the edge of the entrance by about 6 feet, so it was swing till I could get a foot hold and climb in. Once in I noticed that the roof (The old time miners used to call the roof the backs as they sometimes had to bend over in there and they would hit their backs on it) had been supported by 3 huge beams and timber running from beam to beam, but the centre beam had dropped down and appeared to be just hanging down and didn’t look safe enough to stay. A speedy and safe exit was what happened next and then the climb back to the top, very disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to run the detector in there. The other 2 shafts not far from the first was were not a challenge they were easy and also running horizontal. Once in the 2nd shaft I turned the SDC2300 on expecting to get some interference but to my surprise there wasn’t much of a hum. While working my way from the entrance to the end of the shaft around 70 feet on the right side nothing. Around 10 feet from the end of the shaft on the left side I hit a target, quite but a good solid sounding one. It didn’t take much to get it out, under a gram, but as they say gold is gold. The 3rd shaft also horizontal didn’t produce any-thing. That was obvious that the old timers had taken all the gold that was in there. It was pack up the ropes and head back to camp with the quad and trailer and have some lunch.
The next thing I had to do was figure out where I was going to go after lunch, armed with my map and a bit of knowledge from the previous trip there I headed out with the SDC2300 and the GPX5000. At around 40 degrees and a strong southerly wind plus the reflection off the salt lake it wasn’t the best of conditions so I made the decision to head over to the far side of the lake that would give me some shelter from the wind. There was a small area that protruded from the land into the lake that ran out about 20 feet before disappearing into the salt. This looked different to what I had seen before so I thought that it would be worth a try. Getting the SDC2300 out setting up and I was only about 5 feet from the quad when I got the first very light signal. Digging in the salt lake is nice and easy so it didn’t take long before I had the little bit in my hand. As always swing over the hole to double check, nothing that was the only one. I was only a few feet away and bingo another little one.
I started getting signals one after the other and ended up with a total of 15 from an area about the size of 2 average kitchen tables. After working the area with the SDC 2300 I fired up the GPX 5000 just to see if the SDC 2300 had missed anything, nothing and was pretty sure that the area was well worked. Back to camp quite happy with my-self, a refreshing cuppa tea was called for to celebrate my finds, On a previous trip I bought a book that was written about the old mine and area so I started to read it. The old photos showed where the buildings for the mine were set up so I figured out where the gold room should have been. When I finally worked out what was what I ran the SDC 2300 over the concrete walls and floor and ended up with 7 more small bits that were lodged in the concrete, I assumed that these bits must have been splashed out during the casting process. The grand total for the trip so far is now 23 bits for a total weight of 27 grams. Not too bad for a couple hours work. I decided it was time to return back to camp for more fluids and some- thing to eat. After the evening meal I was planning what was to happen in the early morning before it got too hot but the wind picked up and was blowing a gale and the salt was getting blown off the lake straight into camp which made it pretty uncomfortable, so it was time to pack up and think about heading home. By the time I had packed up camp it was 2200hrs so I moved away from the area found a sheltered spot and got some rest. There will be another day that I will return to that area and use the SDC 2300.
Many thanks to the Minelab team for yet another fantastic metal detector. Cheers
01 Grumpy – Western Australia, Australia