Metal Detecting at Blouberg Beach (27 April 2012)

When: 27 April 2012


Today I went metal detecting at Blouberg. The weather was perfect for this.

Metal Detecting


Below is an example of me swinging my ACE 250:

Here is an example of me finding something using the pinpoint function on my ACE 250. You can see the signal strength gives an indication of where the item is (this is synonymous with an audio signal which plays back to me via my headphones) :

The video below illustrates me finding a coin using the standard coin search function on the ACE 250. The coin sizes might change as you swing the coil over it.

The ACE 250 indicates that a coin was found possibly 8+ inches deep.

Where


I started off at the top of this google map and swept my way down just past the KFC. I probably only searched about 2% of this portion.



View Larger Map


What


This was my best search yet. My total for the 3 hours is R35.52. I found many R2 coins in addition to a very old 1962 old republic coin.

My finds:

An old 1 cent coin

An old R0.01 coin

A lovely discoloured R5 coin :)

Curse you bottle caps!

Look at the state of the corrosion on this R1 coin

The rear of the R1 coin

This is a very cheap metal alloy pendant that can be hung from a chain. Probably found in a lucky packet lol

The elements enjoyed this coin.

I was receiving really crazy coin signals which were spaced about 30cm apart. This didn't make sense to me. So I dug and dug and the signals remained steady. Weird I thought. "I'm not giving up" So dig I did. Eventually I struck something hard which was extremely rusty. As it turns out it is a piece of wreck. I assume it is part of the wreck you see just a few hundred meters away in the photos below.

I will post a photo of my total findings after they have dried off :-). Here are the promised photos!

Here are some shots of the old 1962 coin I found

Dere be gold in dem hills!

I highly recommend that if you are interested in treasure hunting that you watch season 2 of Discovery's Gold Rush Alaska: 
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/gold-rush-alaska/


All photo rights belong to Discovery Channel.

The Hoffman Crew

 I also suggest you watch Discovery Channel's Bering Sea Gold which gives you a more realistic idea of what these people go through just to find a bit of gold. 


http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/bering-sea-gold/


Photo rights belong to Discovery Channel.

The Christine Rose just offshore of Nome, Alaska

After a day's haul this sediment is then filtered for the speckles of gold. You can see the gold here :)

Here is a realistic take on the flood of people who headed to Nome after watching these shows: 
http://fsplifestyle.co.za/content/only-way-buy-gold-today


This is basically all that South Africa has to offer regarding gold prospecting :-/
http://www.sagoldpanning.co.za/


Here is extra reading for those interested:
http://www.akmining.com/mine/minclass.htm


For the curious about how to go dredging in Nome and the regulations that are in place. There are also hints and reality checks that the council raise:
http://www.visitnomealaska.com/nome-gold-dredging.html


This is what the Department of Natural Resources have to say:
http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/mining/nome/

Metal Detecting at Clifton (21 April 2012)

When: 21 April 2012


On Saturday I planned to go metal detecting with the company of my younger sister at Clifton. The original plan was to go to Muizenberg but we decided otherwise.


The weather was really in our favour. It was foggy and chilly so there was almost no-one on the beach - perfect metal detecting conditions.


We started detecting at about 10:30am and finished up at 12:30. So we got in about an hour and a half of detecting in.


Where


I started off at the smaller beach at the top of the google image and finished off at the larger lower beach. I must say that I expected to find a bit more. I found nothing at the smaller beach.



View Larger Map 


What


I found most of my coins near ice-cream sticks that were scattered about on the sand. Considering that this beach is very active there was alot of junk I had to ignore. Initially I wanted to dig up every signal that I found.

As you can see, there is a bit of junk. I was going to leave them but thought I would keep them for show (I will throw all my junk in the recycle bin after a dozen more metal detecting sessions).
The earring stud at the top left gave me a coin signal so I was surprised when I found it. The foils came up as unlocatable signals which I then found by using the pinpoint function of the 250 which proved to work very well. Pull-tabs also come up as junk but I was too hopeful in thinking "maybe, just maybe its a coin lol".
Ofcourse both bottle tops gave coin signals. The "sealed for your protection" seal also came up as junk but I decided to dig anyways.
Surprisingly it was very easy finding the actual coins. They gave very strong coin signals and I usually found them within the first or second spade scoop. My sister was the designated digger. I would tell her I found something and she would know to dig at the center of my coil.


I expected to find 10x the amount since Clifton is so popular...but hey, can't always get what we wish for heheh :-)

Metal Detecting at Melkbos (14 April 2012)

When: 14 April 2012

I went sandboarding for the first time by the Koeberg Sand Dunes.

Afterwards I went to Melkbos for lunch and began metal detecting at about 13:00. I detected for about 2 hours.

Where

I detected along a short stretch but I maybe searched around a 6m x 300m band along Melkbos beach, see below:

View Larger Map


What


My detecting was also a bit strange. I was hearing some very odd bleeps that disappeared when I searched for them again or they just seemed to be unlocatable.


There was less junk this time. I chose to search along the paths where it many foot prints and bicycle tracks were present. I found R13.10 in total.

My findings, as usual...sinkers and a pull-tab lol