Geomap Website and Other Questions and Answers

Table Of Contents

Where Have We Been Lately?

Geomap Training Website

Questions Commonly Asked

Questions On Which Metal Detector is Best for WA

Can You Make a Living Out of Prospecting

Where Have we Been Lately?

It’s amazing how easy it is to get overcommitted and suddenly lack time to do things that you want to do like write these newsletters to you.

Recently I have been heavily involved in Amalgamated Prospectors and Leaseholders Association (APLA) with the AGM and where the APLA management group are rebuilding the APLA website and Membership systems. This is essential so that APLA can better serve its members and protect all prospectors interests and access to prospecting ground.

I also spent a few weeks overseas with family to celebrate my daughters 40th birthday and while there designed and produced some metal detector protective bags for the new Minelab 2300 that will double up as a Hiking backpack if you want to wander off into the bush with the machine.

We even had to limit our training seminars in 2014 due to other commitments but will still be running the training program in 2015, the January Newsletter will advertise the 2015 seminars so keep a lookout for that.

Geomap Training Website

In the last newsletter we explained how to download the Geomap Software which generated some interest. Here is a refresher to that link.

Geomap Version 1.9.10 How to Download and Add to Your Computer.

Geomap Can Take You from Amateur to Semi Professional Prospector!

In general terms, very few people understand the power of Geomap software and how it can take them from an amateur operator to a semi-professional gold prospector, so we are pulling together a training site that will show you exactly;

• How Geomap can take you from an amateur to very well educated gold hunter,
• so you can target gold locations quickly,
• so you know where you are allowed to go metal detecting in WA,
• and know exactly where you are on the ground at all times when you are prospecting.

Well, we are going to show you how in the new membership website which will be called www.geomap-training-wa.com (dont try to get in now it is not ready yet!!)

The site will include training in a simple format, with each lesson;

• In Video format, like you are looking over our shoulder, so you can see what to do,
• In Printed form with graphics and screenshots so you can follow along while you are creating your own projects.
• With Simple checksheets so you understand what you are learning.
• With clickable links where you can expand your information and knowledge.
• Best of all it will be written in simple Non-Geek language so you can easily master Geomap.

Next Newsletter we will start sending the lessons to you.

Commonly Asked Questions and Answers

We try to answer questions that you ask us via our contact form as quickly as we can but we do get hundreds of emails.

Some of the questions are similar in nature so we will start to answer commonly asked questions via the newsletter.

Some of the questions and variations we have had over the years are requesting information like;

• What is the best Metal detector? or similar questions like that, e.g. is the Garrett ATX better than the Minelab 5000, is (such and such) detector any good?
• Where can I find gold?, or variations like,
• I will be going to (locality) where is the best places to find gold nuggets there?
• What are the best settings for a Minelab 4500 or 5000? (Or best coils, best settings for a large coils, best setting for salt lake gold, and so on)
• Where am I allowed to go metal detecting at (location, public parks, what land, etc)?
• What geology or rocks or structures should I look for to help me find gold?
• Is it safe to go detecting in WA?
• Can I make a living gold prospecting or variations of that question?
• What is the best GPS unit?
• Questions about how to use and understand Tengraph Online?

We will include some Questions and Answers for you over the next few newsletters just so you can see what our unbiased view is about various subjects.

Questions On Which Metal Detector is Best for WA

Here is an example of a question relating to the best metal detector for WA Conditions.

"Your web site is fantastic. I was in WA in May-July this year doing the Canning Stock (a long way from my home in Brisbane).

I was not involved in gold prospecting or fossicking at that time but my urge to re-start my fossicking activities has been re-kindled since meeting a guy with a 7 kilogram piece on my way home in July.

I am due to retire in a few years and gold prospecting and gem fossicking will go hand in hand with my planned camping trips.

I did a lot of panning in NSW many years ago but nothing too serious. I have just started investigating gold detectors and it seems that if a person intends becoming serious about detecting for gold, you have to spend some serious cash. All of the pointers are suggesting the Minelab GPX 5000. I note that you mention it and coil selection on your web site.

I would appreciate any advice on equipment and proper set up."

We can only reply based on what our experience has shown us; here is the reply I provided to that question;

"If you are looking at the WA Goldfields, the best machine that we have found is the Minelab 4500 and 5000. I can’t comment on the new Minelab 2300 machine because we have not used it yet.  

Unfortunately we cannot purchase every detector and test it, it is not financially or physically possible.  

We purchased and are testing the Garrett ATX (which is a PI - Pulse Induction - Detector) at present and it does pick up metal at surface and reasonable depth, the thing that we have not yet been able to prove is the machine is better for small gold and that is the bread and butter of the modern day detectorist.

We will do some more testing of the Garrett ATX and hope it is our lack of experience with the machine rather than lack of the machine to find small gold that is the issue – we can only report on what we experience.  

Small gold builds up in volume and weight and it helps pay for the travel and diesel expenses that you incur. Good operators find small gold regularly (if not every day), when they go to a place where gold can be found or has been found before with older detectors.

The key is to have a detector that finds that small gold – the Minelab 5000 does that comprehensively!

  Also small gold is the key to finding a patch or trying to determine where the primary gold source is, if you don’t find that first small nugget you miss that opportunity.  

You need to decide what your detector is primarily for, relics, beach work, Underwater work or the WA Goldfields and make your decision on that – this page is one we wrote which includes some decision making software that might help 

Decision making software to help choose a metal detector.

it does discuss some older detectors that were around when the page was written but the concept of making a decision based on your own parameters still applies.  

Udo and I always use the Minelab 5000 we reckon it is the best detector for WA Goldfields and that is what we hire to people doing our seminars, we would not use anything else on the goldfields of WA because nothing else has proven to be as effective.

We also have a Garrett ATX which we use at our training seminars so people can compare the two machines in the field and make their own decisions based on that.

  You could always hire first and try before your buy but our experience is that the Minelab 5000 when it is coupled up with a small nuggetfinder coil like the 12x7 mono coil is a deadly combination for small gold.

Can I Make Living Prospecting for Gold in WA?

"I am interested in travelling to WA to do some prospecting and have a few questions.

I have resigned from my job and am looking at something I can do that might provide me with a bit of freedom and some income. Prospecting is something I thought might give me both. I have travelled to WA on many occasions and its great.

I would also like to know in your opinion is it realistic to think that I could make a reasonable amount of money from prospecting if I am committed to it? This is a big consideration for obvious reasons. I love camping and being in the bush and have a four wheel drive."

We answer this question in many ways depending on the context for example, some people ask about pegging leases, others are focussed on metal detecting and yet other people would like a forecast of specific ounces of gold that can be found per month.

How we replied to this question is as follows;

"Here is a story, a few years ago we went to a an old detecting area that we knew about to see if we could find gold and test the new Minelab 5000 - we ended up finding a patch with around 3 ozs of gold in one area and half an ounce nearby.

Now, one of the guys with us has been up here detecting 5 times straight for no gold and then the sixth time finds a patch with 3 ounces in it.

In recent years we have found patches with 6 or so ounces of gold in them, but basically we rely on the fun of camping and then picking up the small gold that has been left behind and there is plenty of that.

So, can you supplement your income or make an income? Maybe, - the important thing is to have a good detector and metal detecting technique, learn to find the small pieces and concentrate on them for your bread and butter with the occasional big one found to boost the kitty. AND Learn your geology

Udo and I pretty much do it for fun and pick up our bits and pieces here and there - I would hate to rely on finding gold for a living though. In fact I would not even attempt it because you would need to go deep into the bush where people do not often go and even then you need to know your geology to locate the gold.

Years ago, yes it was possible, but gold tourism in WA is huge now with many people picking over the goldfields with the new detectors.

In saying that there are professionals who metal detect all the time for a living and do well out of it. We do it for recreation to supplement our income in in Udo’s case he has a mining lease which he pushes with a machine then detects the ground."

There are some fantastic websites and products coming on the market before Christmas, make sure you read our next newsletter to get the full information.

Shortly there may be a

Special Edition

Unfortunately I am sworn to secrecy about the product right now, but believe me, it is revolutionary and will simplify your search for gold nuggets immensely.

...may you find plenty of gold nuggets in 2014- soon to be 2015!

Regards

Udo and Bill

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