Do you know your mind is a far more important part of a successful electronic prospecting equation than even the technology in your detector? Well it’s true, and for a very good reason! Without positive thought there is very little reason to get out of bed in the morning, becoming confident in what your detector can do by learning what it has to offer is a very big part of the equation which then leads you to becoming more confident in succeeding.
A lesson I learned very early on in my career was to always look at the glass as being half full rather than half empty, so in the field I will always leave something in reserve as a positive motivator. A good example of this is when I’m out detecting I’ll select an area that looks prospective, rather than go to the most obvious best looking spot straight away I’ll slowly circle outside the zone keeping the best to last, this way I always have the thought of a positivity in reserve as a reward to carry me through the less productive areas.
Recently I found a virgin patch of gold with a GPX 5000 initially totalling 7 ounces, there was however one area where the gold seemed to have come from but subsequent trips to the location could not produce anything due to heavy Spinifex and the gully being in-filled (soils and debris from the surrounding hills fill the gully (due to less fall) preventing full detection depth). Now I could have easily walked away happy with my initial successes but instead I decided to have one last go rather than let it beat me, I’m sure glad I did because in the heart of the worst looking section of the creek in amongst all the heaviest grass I got a faint signal that produced an 11 gram nugget which then lead me onto a combined extra 80 grams of gold that had shed off a quartz reef nearby, lifting my total for the location to 10 ounces.
This gold was found on a 40+ Deg Celsius day when a cool drink and some shade would have been a nicer option.
There will be times you are disillusioned or doubt if you have got it right, but even in those low times there are positives to be had if you are prepared to look, the very act of negativity can be easily turned into a positive just by training yourself to be positive. In the case of that patch the knowledge of maintaining a stance of stubbornness in the light of difficulty lead me to more gold, having faith in my detector and subsequent setting changes such as using Fine Gold and raising the Gain slightly helped produce even more on subsequent visits.
I love to be challenged and metal detecting does that for me in so many ways, every time I turn on my metal detector I am keen to discover something new to add to all the previous positive experiences.
Jonathan Porter
Comments
Learning how to make a negative a positive is probably one of the most personally enriching things I have learnt from metal detecting for gold, when I'm finally rewarded with a little nugget it makes it so much more enjoyable because I had to work for it. Its a little like mowing the lawn, I hate mowing but the rewards of seeing a well kept lawn makes the effort well and truly worth it. :-)