What could possibly be more exhilarating than finding a shiny 1-gram nugget at 4 inches with your metal detector? How about finding a 10-ouncer at 4 foot! For many, the thought of unearthing such a wondrous and valuable creation of Mother Nature is a sensation to remarkable to describe in words. For a prospector, the lure of striking a huge nugget is a powerful force indeed. It drove many of the old-timers to leave the comforts of home and the security of a stable job behind for a future of back breaking hard work and uncertainty. A majority of them traveled hundreds of miles over hostile terrain, lacked adequate food, water, and mining experience; not to mention they had no clue what was waiting for them at the end of the trail. They risked their lives and endured these grueling hardships all for the chance of finding a little gold. A few made their fortunes; most did not. But even the unlucky ones never lost sight of their golden dreams.

     Although the chase for big gold is still alive and well, many electronic prospectors never seem to find it. Could this be because all the big nuggets have already been found? Not a chance! There are plenty of big nuggets still waiting to be found, it’s just a matter of knowing where to look for them. In this short article I will share with you a few helpful hints and secrets I’ve learned over the years to help improve your chances of finding a big one.

     Strange as it may sound, there are different techniques and methods associated with hunting big nuggets. The sought-after big ones seem to have a mind of their own. They appear in the oddest locations and will not always mingle with their much smaller counterparts. This unusual behavior has rightfully earned them the title as “the most elusive gold of all”. Perhaps their unpredictability is a product of their increased surface area, sheer density, or a combination of the two. Whatever the case, one thing is known for sure; big nuggets turn up in the strangest places. They are often found on the slopes above or below nugget patches; nestled on ridge tops, sometimes they are embedded deep within gravel bars and banks, stranded on lonely hillsides, other times they are found all by themselves. Detectorists that specialize in hunting big gold are aware of these differences and have modified their hunting style accordingly. In order for you to be successful you must be prepared to do the same.

     This brings us to our first question, “Where should I look for big gold?” Probably the best place to begin your quest is in those areas where the precious metal has been mined before. Go where the old-timers found gold, but more importantly go where detectable gold has been found before. This could be a historical goldfield with documented placer production or a “secret spot” where you have been lucky enough to find nuggets in the past. Both are excellent places to practice and develop your skill as a big gold hunter.

     One of the things I discovered that was preventing me from finding big gold in the past was my reluctance to change. Each time I reworked an old nugget patch I found myself detecting the same ground over and over. Although I realized what was happening I could do little to stop it. Humans are creatures of habit. Once we find a method that works we tend to stick to it. We will instinctively develop patterns for any task we set out to do, whether it is washing the car, doing laundry, driving to work, or even metal detecting. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, as it has allowed our species to survive and proliferate on this planet. However, it may be this same primordial favoritism towards repetitious behavior, which keeps many from making big discoveries with their metal detector.

     Whenever we visit our old “stomping grounds” we are intuitively drawn to the same spots simply because we have preconceived ideas of where the gold should be. This can be a nugget hunter’s worst enemy. Avoid being pulled into your “usual” routine by making a conscious effort to walk a new path. For example, if you normally start off hunting in the headwaters of a creek mix things up a bit by starting from the bottom. Or if you normally hunt a hill from the bottom up, try working it from the top down. Don’t waste your time hunting those exposed stretches of bedrock that you’ve already covered a thousand times. Look for the places you have never checked and ask yourself, “Why did I neglect to hunt these areas? Is it because there really is no gold there, or is it because I thought there was no gold there?” Try to look at the bigger picture. There are a million and one places for big nugget to hide. If you were that nugget where would you be? I think you will be surprised to discover how many potentially gold-bearing areas you have walked past because you felt it was to deep or just didn’t have the right look.

     Another thing about big gold is that it doesn’t always follow the rules. The first miners at Rich Hill, Arizona discovered this in a hurry. Gold doesn’t care what the ground looks like or how much overburden there is; it goes wherever Mother Nature tells it to. So when exploring new areas, keep it simple. Don’t overanalyze the situation, just turn on the detector and go to work. Always begin your search in the most likely areas first (i.e., gullies, creeks and washes) if there is gold there it won’t take long for you to get a sniff. Once you find a few small ones you can have a look around and devise a new strategy for seeking out the bigger pieces. Prospecting new ground can be a frustrating experience, no two ways about it. Hang in there and give it some time, after all this is how discoveries are made. Tell yourself, “Win or lose this is where I’m going to detect.” If you search an area and don’t turn up a nugget you can always head back to familiar ground to scrounge a few small bits.

     Another favorite hideout for big gold is in deep ground (i.e., those areas with at least several feet of overburden). Although most of the surface and shallowly buried “fist-sized” nuggets were snatched up by the old-timers in the 1800’s and by the BFO, TR, and VLF detector operators in the late twentieth century, there is probably just as much, if not more, deep gold still waiting to be found. This is good news for today’s nugget hunters, as improved detector technology has made it possible to “see” further into the ground than ever before. Those really large nuggets lurking several feet beneath the surface are now, for the first time in history, within the grasp of electronic prospectors.

     Deep ground is not hard to find; the trick is in recognizing which places are likely to contain gold. The inside bends of creeks and washes usually load up with sand and gravel deposits and are excellent places to search for deep nuggets. The banks and benches associated with these modern day waterways are usually several feet or more in depth and may harbor large gold. Even the creeks and washes themselves are guaranteed to have numerous stretches of deep gravel worthy of investigation. Look for any noticeable changes in bedrock gradient where sediment has built up, as gold may have accumulated here as well. And as always, keep your eyes open for signs of old-timer workings.

     In order to track down this big, deep gold you will need to use a metal detector capable of finding it. One of the more popular brands available today for chasing deep gold is the Minelab SD and GP pulse induction detectors. There are several manufactures that produce excellent gold machines, however when it comes to handling severe ground mineralization and depth penetration, Minelab is a tough act to beat. Whichever metal detector you decide to use you will want to outfit it with the biggest coil you can swing. Small coils (i.e., those 11” and less in diameter) are great for seeking out small bits in shallow ground, however they have difficulty finding targets at depth. Large coils (i.e., those 14” and more in diameter) are not as sensitive towards smaller nuggets, but excel in deep ground where larger nuggets are likely to occur. Some of my Australian friends who specialize in deep gold have gone as far as devising sled-like contraptions for dragging monstrous 36” coils behind them! I doubt you will need to go to such extremes, however you should try to use as big a coil as possible. You are also going to need a larger pick to unearth those deep targets. I recommend one with a long handle, a wide spade at one end, and a sharp point at the other. The long handle will provide you with added leverage, the spade will make it easier to scoop dirt out of a hole, and the pointed end is useful for breaking into hard compacted soils. Of course, a strong rare earth magnet fitted at one end for removing ferrous trash is always an added bonus.

     Many electronic prospectors have a tendency to dig small, narrow holes when going after a target. This works fine if a target is only 4 inches deep, but what about one 40 inches deep? Obviously it is impossible to reach this depth with a narrow hole. Don’t be shy when it comes to digging a deep hole, get in there and open it up. You don’t have to dig a pit, but the opening should be wide enough to provide you with ample room to work. When digging deep targets I will stress that you recheck the hole periodically for two important reasons. One, if you neglect to check your hole and the target is moved into the pile you will continue digging. Checking your hole often will save you from this unnecessary work. And two, it lets you know how close you are getting to the target, thereby reducing the chances of damaging a potential nugget. I saw one gentleman from New Zealand chop a 10-gram nugget clean in half because he didn’t take the time to recheck his hole!

     Now that you have your metal detector and have selected an area to prospect we are ready to address question number two, “What do deep gold nuggets sound like?” Rest assured you will have no trouble identifying a big nugget on the surface. They will set your detector off in a manner similar to that of a rusted tin can, which is why you should always investigate those ear-bursting surface targets. Most will turn out to be junk, however when dealing with large gold expect the unexpected. Okay, big surface nuggets are easy enough, but what about the deep stuff? Unlike large surface gold, multiple ounce nuggets that are buried at least 2 foot or more will not always produce a clearly audible response. Instead they may only cause a slight variation in the threshold, sounding more like a patch of hot ground than an actual target.

     The typical characteristics of a deep nugget are as follows: the signal is usually very faint, it may be broken or distorted, it is difficult to pinpoint on the surface, and it may cover a substantial area of ground. Because the signals generated by big, deep gold are not clearly defined they are often missed by new detectorists who have not yet learned to discern the troublesome background noise generated by ground mineralization from actual metallic targets at depth. Learning to recognize the signals of deep gold is not all that hard, but it does take practice. Once your ear is trained to pick up these mellow sounds you will have no trouble locating those deep nuggets that everyone else has walked over.

     This brings us to our third and final question, “Which signals are just changes in ground mineralization and which ones are truly deep targets?” This is a difficult question to answer, as there is no sure-fire way of differentiating between the two. Even the most seasoned operators have difficulty telling them apart. The only way to know beyond a shadow of a doubt is to have a scratch at them all. This can be a fair amount of work, but if you’re going to chase big gold you have to get in the habit of digging holes – lots of them!

     Once you hit upon a promising sounding target with your detector, scrap away several inches of soil with the side of your boot and recheck the hole. If the signal gets louder or remains constant you will need to dig a little deeper. If the signal has vanished completely it was probably just ground noise. A true metallic target (like a gold nugget) will always get louder the closer you get to it, whereas ground mineralization will not. Hot ground may remain constant in both pitch and volume, but very rarely does it ever increase in volume with depth. Therefore, if after 6-12 inches of digging you still do not notice an increase in signal intensity it is safe to assume the signal is just a pocket of noisy ground and not an actual target.

     To give you an idea of how easy it is to confuse a deep target for ground noise I will tell you a story about a prospector I met this past year in Western Australia. George and his wife Margaret had been poking around the goldfields with their detectors when they apparently discovered a new patch not far from the town of Marble Bar. This particular area had yielded a substantial amount of gold, so the couple was taking special care to grid it properly. It seems that George, while wandering around the fringes of the patch, encountered an unusually hot bit of ground. The disturbance covered an area of several feet and could not be pinpointed, so he dismissed it as ground noise. Several hours later George accidentally ran his coil over that same batch of “noisy” ground. Although he believed it was a waste of time he proceeded to dig away several inches of soil. The signal was still faint, but it did become a little easier to pinpoint. George continued his excavation until the target was so loud he thought his headphones would burst. That troublesome bit of hot ground had turned out to be a solid 214-ounce gold nugget! George said, “I get shivers when I think of how close I came to walking away. I don’t risk it like I used to in the past, now I dig everything.” By the way, if you’re interested in owning this lovely, little paperweight it can be purchased for a mere one million dollars!

     Never leave a deep target unchecked, especially if you are in a gold-bearing area known to have produced large gold. If you start digging a hole don’t stop until you find out what is at the bottom. Many big nuggets have been lost this way, simply because the operator decided the target was not worth digging. They assumed it was just ground noise or a piece of rubbish and walked away, leaving a half dug treasure behind for someone else. Don’t make the same mistake. See your holes all the way through. With patience, determination and a willingness to look in places that others have not, you may very well discover your own million-dollar nugget!