ask some basic questions

Hi, mates,

I am a non-experience person, totally non-experienced. I don't have any detector too. I have the interests to prospect gold just read a story about that a person invested in $10,000 for the detector machine and cost return in 10 days. I think it is not every can have a so good fortune, but at least it is possible to find gold in sand. I have read most of the topics in our forum but still have many questions to ask my friends. please give me some tips.

1. Is it danger without a GPS?
I read the government website about that somebody lost in north-west WA, so the government think it is necessary to take a GPS. I guess this equipment can send GPS signal to police in danger condition. If so, I must buy it from government. Otherwise, if I buy one from ebay, maybe the government cannot receive my signal since my GPS doesnot register to police. I guess so but I am not sure.

2. What should I wear?
I know outside is very hot, but I worry about the spider and the snake bite me. If there is nobody around me and the snake is poison, it will be very danger. Thus should we wear very thick clothes and shoes?

3. How about dig and detect in night?
I think the daytime is too hot, if there are somebody have the experience in night?

4. Should I prepare a 4-drive car?
I just have a camry now. I think the place for detecting should be bad condition for driving. I cannot sure if the small car can drive into.

5. How to decide the area?
I hear that we must apply the Permit Entry if a place is belong to someone or one company. but how can we know one place is belong to someone or not.

6. what detector is suitable for me? buy one or rent one?
I find many people use MineLab GPX5000. The most expensive one is GPZ7000 for this brand. I just want to know if the earth in WA is not suitable for 7000 or you just want to reduce cost. I dont have experience, at the first time, should I buy one or rent one? if rent, where to rent it?

7. I want to ask the average havest for most people.

8. I live in Perth, if I want to look for in other place, such as Kargoorlie, what can I do? rent a room in Kargoorlie or live in caravan park?

Gdday Lou, I will try to answer some of yor questions.. but if you look hard most of the answers are already here..

1. GPS... The most handy thing is finding your car again... Mark where you have stopped & the GPS will find your way home.. Always take spare batteries... An emergency Epirb could be an option in an extreme situation.... Always notify the pastoralist of your intentions & whereabouts... They are not the ogres some make out... respect their rights they will respect yours & maybe help you out of a jam mechanically or tyre wise. Also most stations have a UHF channel... for instance in the CUE area Glen Sation is 15... Mileura 25... and so on... find out their channel...

2. Although snakes put the fear of death into some, it is a rare occasion someone is bitten.. Common sense prevails here.. Good tough over ankle boots... loose cotton drill pants... long sleeve cotton shirt... Hat is a must... plenty of water... (beer for later on)... fly net or repellant.... little buggers are a plenty in the scrub.

3. Night time prospesting is challanging especially in thicker scrub areas.... some people even use night vision goggles... though thats the extreme... from the crack of dawn is ideal but if you do prospect at night a good headlamp with spare batteries & park your motor car very close to find it..

4. Motor car... 4 wheel drive is the ideal... High ground clearance & the weather could turn at any time... you want to know you'll get out... Washaways & creeks are against 2 wheel drive vehicles... too low..

5. Most of West Australias Goldfields are pegged with some kind of mining lease... Make sure you get a MINERS RIGHT from the mines dept & if you have a computer (obviously) get on to the mines dept tengraph maps which will tell you whats pegged, pending, or not.. E40 permits are discussed on the forums here..

6. For you... West Australia is a land of extremes.. nearly all of us have lived here all our lives... Its very unforgveing if you are not adequately prepared. Hire a detector from one of the prospecting shops in Perth.... your first experience of the bush may be your last... don't be frightened of the bush... be prepared for it. A detector for you would be an SDC 2300 on known patches.. Yes the 7000's are great but the modern Litz based coils enhance any machine from the SD, GP, & GPX ranges to close behind the 7000. I use a GP Extreme with a Coiltek Mono Elite Coil... love it... if I walk over gold I will find it...I have confidence in my machines ability. The new Evolution Coils are equally bringing machines up to another level. What I am saying is you don't have to go overboard on price... an older machine will serve you just as well.

7. At a guess... 45 - 50.. I am 62, but it matters little what age you are if you are keen..

8. Your guess is as good as mine... Buy a swag & camp out... thats most of the fun... finding Gold is just a bonus... As I said dont be scared of the scrub... it is a beautiful place to be for those that appreciate it... buy a bird book, also a west australian bush tucker book... its amazing whats out there & will open a whole new world for you + it whiles away the idle time... dont forget plenty of water.... & the beer after a hard day it takes away the pain!!

Good Luck

Thank you Viper. You are so patient to answer my questions. I want to ask you more for question 7. I don't ask the average age, just for average discovery for gold. I just want to judge if I should invest the big money on GPZ7000. I think if I can get the money back in 2-3 weeks, I prefer to buy a 7000.

Lets make one thing perfectly clear here Lou.....

If Gold were that easy to find in 2 weeks then you would not be able to move out here....

It took me 2 years to find my first bit of gold.... and even then someone helped me out by pointing me in the right direction...

Read answer 6 & 7 again..... if you find $10,000 worth of gold in 2 weeks I'll be a monkeys uncle...

be prepared to be disappointed....

having said that... if you don't walk the ground you will never find it... meaning.. you'll never know if you don't have a go...

Good Luck

6 & 8 I meant

My first bit took about two years two Viper-I think I need to buy a metal detector shop-Dragon

Hi Lou
The best advice I can recommend to you IS hire a 5000 or 7000 and try luck for a week or so.

regards red

Thank you Viper and Devil. I found I had a too high disire before. Maybe detecting gold can be just a fun, but not a work for living. I will take your advice and borrow a detector in shop at first.