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LETTERS FROM THE OUTBACK by Peter Bawelski
Inhalt | Content
A find for the eye
in ..... Creek
News from the goldfields of
Australia 3
A FIND FOR THE EYE
in …- Creek
UPEX® ONE-2 6
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
Searching for gold nuggets with
the TREX® 204 8
Thoughts on differentiating
between metals 13
Having got up with the sun, breakfast in the camp
tasted really good and - after a brief look at the maps – I
decided on my search area for the day: .... Creek. , the
surroundings of which are known for occasional gold
nuggets.
The outback was so „beautifully green“ that I expected
my best detection chances with my TREX® 204 to lie
in the stream. So I packed my equipment including four
litres of drinking water into my rucksack, started my motorbike
and rode the some three kilometres to .... Creek.
This stream has furrowed rock steps with crevices, a
lot of stones, is on average four to six metres wide and
the water in it was some 30 cm deep. Along its upper
reaches there are a number of old gold-digger camps as
well as goldmines in which quartz veins containing gold
had been mined. Along the complete length of the stream
one can still win gold dust with a washing pan.
Unfortunately due to the activities some 80 – 130 years
ago a large amount of scrap iron is to be found in the bed
of the stream. Accordingly searching with powerful PI
detectors such as my UPEX® ONE-2 is very time-consuming
with little chance of success by reason of all these
ferrous metal objects. This is why I prefer my TREX® 204
whenever hunting nuggets under such conditions.
Opportunities for finding
gold in Australia 15
Recommendations for using
a GPP 17
What women look for and find
in the outback ... 18
Green views
1 | ebingernews
Well, as expected searching .... Creek showed up a lot
of ferrous metal objects as well as a number of old
copper rivets and one well-worn silver coin, a 1874
shilling. By midday it had become really hot -
around 38 °C with high relative humidity.
I continued searching the stream debris
along .... Creek for nuggets while a
number of kangaroos dozed away
almost hidden in the grass
undergrowth.

Then something glittered in front of my search head; I saw three points shining in a
clay gulley. However these did not excite any audio signal. The TREX® 204 indicates gold
grains on the surface of the ground of sizes in excess of some 0.1 gram.
Nevertheless what I had seen were indeed three minute gold grains and these I put
into my collecting tin with a little water. This tin motivated one to get it filled. Then as
one goes on searching, the water cleans the newly found gold nuggets and anyone whose
tin rattles in the evening can prattle on blithely in the camp in the evening about his
findings.
Since however my three grains truly did not rattle in the tin, I made the effort to continue
my searches upstream along .... Creek. The TREX® 204 was oblivious to the heat
– although I was not. It reliably delivered its audio signals to my earphones (unfortunately
not of the cordless type) whenever metal objects were detected in the stream. In the
end it helped me to locate two old buttons which had lain hidden in the slate crevices
like gold nuggets.
Hurrah! In a flash I was awake as my TREX® 204 gave
the hoped-for rising audio signal that confirmed for me
that there was indeed non-ferrous metal in the lump of
quartz beneath the search head of my detector.
The photos show what I had found and where I had
found it but they cannot show my feelings at the moment
of discovery, when this lump was shining so simply there
in the sun in .... Creek, when one holds the find in one‘s
hand, weighs it. These feelings are indescribable.
I am pleased when true treasure-hunting mates know
these feelings from their own finds because today
was again a holiday in the beautiful outback in North
Queensland!
Also because of the large spiders‘ webs, I was concentrating on the job as I saw in
front of me lying in the stream and shining in the sun a lump of quartz with lovely
yellow veins. Although my tired eyes had been sharpened by the discovery of the gold
grains three hours before, I could at first not believe what I saw. Full of curiosity I guided
the search head of my TREX® 204 over the quartz lump that was still shining in the
tropical sunshine.
This quartz lump – the specimen shown below – weighed
129 grams and contained nearly 80 grams of pure
gold. In my experience – I have been gold-hunting in the
goldfields of Australia from time to time since 1989 – only
some 2 to 3 % of the gold nuggets I have found where laying
on or sticking in the surface of the ground. Finding
such a large specimen, shining and lying to hand in a
stream was the first and only time for me up to now.
In spite of intensive searching – two days upstream and
two days downstream – I had no more spectacular finds.
Just two more small nuggets was all I could find in the
river debris and bed. But, when the cattle of Mt. Mulligan
Station near Kingsborough have converted the annoying
grass jungle into juicy steaks, I will continue my searches
along the higher river banks with the UPEX® ONE-2.
Cool stream?
Lovely specimen …
Gold-hunter excitement - will the right audio signal come?
Hurraaah…
2 | ebingernews

What does one need a metal detector for when the gold
is lying visibly „in front of one“? Well, in my experience,
only just two to three percent of the many small gold
nuggets I have found could I actually see as the metal
detector showed me the point at which they were lying.
Without a metal detector I would not have been able to
find around half of the „gold nuggets on the surface“ that
I have found. And without a metal detector I would not
have been able to find any of the remaining 97 – 98 %
which were lying at depths down to 50 cm in the earth. I
have searched along many kilometres of stream without
finding such a specimen as previously described. But I
have found many smaller nuggets in similar streams, in
slopes, on the higher banks of streams and rivers and
between large rocks as well as in the cracks and crevices
of slate. I have even found Roman coins in slate crevices
in the River Saar, whereby these then found their way
into a museum.
Naturally virtually every metal detector can indicate a gold nugget that is lying on
the surface of the ground. But, without the good detection properties of the TREX® 204,
would I have been able on this day to work up the .... Creek – polluted as it was with
scrap iron – up to the find spot or would I not much more likely have given up before?
The slim search head, precise pin-pointing ability and
very reliable metal-differentiating capacity of the TREX®
204 have aided me and made it possible for me to achieve
interesting finds in the streams, dumps and tailings in
old mining regions.
In the vicinity of such ruins and remains one can find
interesting relicts such as lost tools, buckles, buttons and
coins or formerly overlooked, collectable more or less
solid lumps of ore aggregate. Occasionally one can also
find a patch (enriched area) of gold nuggets on land some
way away from water where the old-timers – as a result
of the more limited knowledge and equipment available
at that time – never thought to search or even where they
camped on top of the gold.
The „right tool“ and not just for .... Creek
On the basis of the experience gained in more than 35 years of detection work and for
the searching conditions that have been described, i.e. where scrap iron, non-ferrous
metals, gold nuggets and high-value ores are to be found, I cannot imagine a more suitable
metal detector than my TREX® 204 from EBINGER for achieving good detection
results. Further reports, about juicy steaks with gold-seeker stories told around campfires,
of beautiful gold nuggets and sensible and appropriate metal detectors will follow
after further missions in ›Primavera Creek‹.
NEWS FROM THE GOLDFIELDS of australia
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
Since 1976 I have been an active treasure hunter in
Europe, with other searchers in the U.S.A. and since
1989 in the hot goldfields of the Australian outback
where I am known as ›German Peter‹. I earned this
nick-name among gold hunters from the testing of technical
innovations from ›cold old Germany‹.
I got to know Klaus Ebinger personally in 1984 at the large
Mühldorf treasure hunter campaign on the River Inn.
There he used the first large-loop PI (pulse-induction method)
detector with great success with the aid of which –
amongst other things – a bronze sword from the Hallstatt
period was able to be found. On this occasion I succeeded
in interesting Klaus Ebinger in the development of good
treasure-hunting metal detectors. Up to this time he had
concerned himself to a very large extent just with professional
equipment for explosive ordnance disposal work.
Then in 1989 and together with George Mayer I tested a
further-developed large-loop PI detector in the Hodgekinson
goldfield in the outback of North Queensland. Although
the detection depth for large metal objects was convincing,
the device was a long way from representing a solution for
searching for nuggets, particularly since at that time the PI
system did not have a ground excluding balance system.
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Further testing of Ebinger metal detectors
took place in the outback in 1996 at the same
time as rumours about the MINELAB super
detector were reaching Europe. My first MI-
NELAB device was a SD2100 which I used successfully
for an interim period.
Then in 2004 I succeeded in tempting Klaus
Ebinger and his very amiable wife Uschi to
come out to the outback with diverse detectors
for testing. Here he got his ears burnt in
the true sense of the expression! Some things
worked but the technology was not ready for
the outback in respect of all its functions. And
when one burns one‘s fingers on one‘s own
device, then one certainly realizes that another
world has been reached! And so it was
too in respect of reduced EMI noise which is
something that is unavoidable in our industrialized
world! Klaus Ebinger went home with
this finding in order to develop a device that
would not function in our European latitudes.
On this expedition the first successful use in
the outback of the new TREX® 204 took place:
This makes use of a CW (continuous wave) system,
is commonly known as a TR system, has
ground excluding balance, the capacity to effectively
differentiate between metals and a slim
hockey-stick-type search head – something that
›gilds‹ the day for the gold hunter in difficult
terrain. The high detection sensitivity for small
nuggets and the good balance on the mineralized
soils allowed the TREX® 204 to compare
very positively vis à vis the other devices tested.
At the same time EBINGER PI devices with ground excluding balance function were tested.
These had the blocked amplification / sensitivity needed for German EMI conditions and for this
reason could not yet match up to the MINELAB in the outback.
One year later, i.e. in 2005, I tested the first UPEX® ONE. Although this possessed good balance
on critical soils, it still did not match up to my wishes in respect of detection depth. The audio
sound conversion was spongy and the device had not been given the final touch in respect of finish.
Accordingly, back to the drawing board; Klaus Ebinger and his team had to be motivated to
make further developments that should bring the break-through!
At this time EBINGER had to give priority to other developments and this delayed the new tests.
The objective of the further development was to achieve a robust, simple to operate PI detector
with ground excluding balance and an extremely high detection sensitivity. A high performance
and a favourable price were aimed at for the new PI detector.
In this way the UPEX® ONE-2 travelled to the outback in 2010. The test results were convincing
from the very start. Reproducible comparative measurements against my practice-proven MI-
NELAB GPX-4500 followed. One test system developed for this purpose and able to sunk into the
outback soil was able to determine with centimetre precision the maximum detection depth for a
wide range of different test objects such as nuggets and coins (see the schematic bottom left). This
test takes direct account of the local soil conditions / make-up.
Each device showed the characteristic advantages and disadvantages. However the arithmetic
averages of the test results were approximately the same or not far from one another. As before
the simple operating and good balance of the UPEX® ONE-2 were convincing whereby this also
holds good in the EMI range near populated areas. Certainly the device represents a good buy for
hunters after gold, especially in respect of its quiet ›non-motion‹ / static and manually set ground
excluding balance. This is true above all on critical, highly mineralized ground where the UPEX®
ONE-2 convinces with its good balance. Klaus Ebinger promises that the development work will
go on regardless of this positive result. An EBINGER PI flagship is planned.
Test set-up just before the PVC pipe is backfilled with the earth.
Testing principle
A PVC pipe is buried in the mineralized ground.
A small plastic container holding the test objects
and attached to a tape measure is lowered down
the pipe. The maximum depth at which the particular
device being tested can detect the test
objects is read off on the tape. This test comes
very close to simulating practical conditions!
GPX 4500, X-Terra 70, UPEX® ONE-2, TREX® 204
4 | ebingernews

In addition a modified variant of the TREX® 204 showed a significantly
better maximum detection depth than the MINELAB X TERRA 70 in this
test. Whereby we are a long way from listing all the TREX® advantages:
Thanks to the slim search head one can reach points one wishes to
search such as between clumps of grass, roots of trees and large rocks as
well as in crevices in rocks – points where it would not be possible to bring
a detector with a circular search head close enough to possible finds.
The mode of operation of the new metal detector makes it possible to
differentiate to a significantly greater extent between the signals from
ferrous and non-ferrous objects. As a rule fragments of iron or nails are
not of interest for the searcher. Disrupting for the searcher above all are
the many flat fragments of ferrous metal which the old-timers – i.e. the
alluvial miners for gold dust – left behind in the outback some 100 years
ago. In my experience the identification of these disrupting objects is decidedly
more difficult with ›detectors with a circular search head‹.
Final note: Thanks to the extremely bad weather in Australia at the turn of the year 2010/11 the otherwise red outback turned into a green jungle
of man-high grass. This brought about the situation that there were better opportunities for successful finds with my proven TREX®204 than
with my GPX 4500 from MINELAB or my EBINGER UPEX® ONE-2. I will have more to say on this in the following articles!
For 10 months every year no water at all flows here!
The Caledonia creek could only be driven through three days later.
The grass hinders circular search head detectors but does this much less with the TREX®204 with its slim search head.
Only the TREX“ 204 could be used sensfully as a result of the massive growth of vegetation!
ebingernews | 5

UPEX ® ONE-2
EBINGER PI-TECHNOLOGY FOR GOLD-HUNTING, MADE IN GERMANY!
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
Thornborough 2011 in the green Hodgekinson goldfield
Finally! I had been in the bush for six months and
the wet season had already begun in the middle of September
when at last the newly developed UPEX® ONE-2
Electronic arrived. The first experiments made me really
curious. So I set off the next day to a good potential
location for nuggets.
The UPEX® ONE-2 works quietly and uniformly, gives
only a few noise signals at the High setting and almost
none at the Medium setting. To compare the capabilities
of the different metal detectors and the different search
heads I sought out a small stream and searched this for
some 10 metres with each device. I marked the objects indicated
with small marks in the earth without excavating
them.
UPEX® ONE-2 in the green grass jungle
The EBINGER TREX® 204 and MINELAB X-Terra70 indicated
only half as many objects as the PI detectors, namely
the EBINGER UPEX® ONE-2 and the MINELAB GPX 4500
because the powerful PI signals inevitably act deeper in
general, especially when large search heads are used.
Used on the UPEX® ONE-2 was the EBINGER 11“/28 cm
spiral search head as supplied. However mono PI search
heads from other manufacturers (Minelab 11“/28 cm,
Coiltek 6“/15 cm and Nuggetfinder 9“ x 14“/23 x 35 cm
+ 14“/35 cm + 16“/40 cm) also worked very well. The
small 6“/15 cm Mono from Coiltek surprised me with a
better balance and working stability on the UPEX® ONE-
2 than on the GPX-4500.
Enjoying experimenting helps one learn a lot
6 | ebingernews

When they were used with search heads of the same
size, both the UPEX® ONE-2 and the GPX 4500 located
all the objects. The performance differences noticeable
were only slightly in favour of the GPX 4500 whereby
the UPEX® ONE-2 impressed with its quiet and reliable
mode of functioning and its stable manually-set ground
excluding balance. In contrast the automatic system of
the GPX 4500 for ground changes led it off the wrong way
again and again.
After this comparative work had been carried out,
the objects were excavated and revealed their true nature,
namely as small boot nails and a few fragments of
brass, 1×1×5–8 mm large, which were distributed in the
stream bed. Unfortunately no gold was found.
minerals is used by many experienced gold hunters as an indication that the chance of
finding gold nuggets is also improving. The ›more favourable ground‹ is indicated by
„agitation“ of the fundamental audio signal; the GEB is then appropriately adjusted and
searching is continued assiduously and particularly carefully in order to find whether
there are indeed the hoped-for nuggets in the ground with its higher level of minerals.
I had a special and secret pleasure on each new search day when starting off with
my like-minded companions to hunt for nuggets: For I only needed to switch on the
UPEX® ONE-2, adjust my volume threshold a minimum, adjust the GEB to the ground
conditions of the new search terrain and off I could go. While I was excavating the first
objects detected, my companions were still programming their metal detectors.
After these initial positive findings, I stowed all the
test devices and test heads in the car and reconnoitred
the further surroundings with the UPEX® ONE-2 and the
9“x14“ mono search head. In the remaining two hours
the Ebinger UPEX® ONE-2 found one small 22 calibre
cartridge case, two small iron nails and a 0.4 gram gold
nugget.
Experiments with the new UPEX® ONE-2 followed to
find out the opportunities for its use. The detector is easy
to handle on difficult terrain with its S-shaped handle
and convinces with its quiet and reliable mode of functioning.
In particular the manually-set ground excluding
balance permits good checking of the ground conditions
because changes of the ground always indicate that the
amount of magnetic minerals in the ground is increasing
or decreasing. An increasing concentration of magnetic
Simple …
Nevertheless, in spite of these advantages, the following days in the field with the
UPEX® ONE-2 only brought 20 horseshoes and other scrap iron to the surface apart from
some 100 year old coins, buttons and some musket bullets.
However the tropical rain showers of the following days and weeks changed the
further searching activities. The main hindrance for successful exploration work grew
out of the ground. Grass, spear grass up to two metres high, herbs and in fact everything
that was able to grow hindered the swinging of every type of circular search
head near the ground
But in this way the searching conditions for the use of the TREX® 204 also „grew“
more favourable.
A lot of bush grass … … favours the TREX® 204 !
ebingernews | 7

huntING FOR GOLD NUGGETS IN THE OUTBACK WITH THE Trex ® 204
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter | Relicts, gold nuggets from ghost towns, mining camps, river courses and dumps
Typical prospectors‘ camp in the outback
After my searching successes with the prototype TREX® 204 in the outback at the
end of 2004 and further good finds in Europe, I finally got the red, gold-containing
soil under the search head of my improved TREX® 204 again from the middle of 2010.
After the base camp had been established in the outback, searching for gold nuggets
was commenced, firstly in a number of river courses and their surroundings where earlier
TREX®204 missions had brought a number of gold nuggets to light.
The prototype TREX® 204 being put to a real test
Searching in such areas is carried out primarily with powerful PI metal detectors such
as the UPEX® ONE-2 or Minelab PI metal detectors until one reaches areas where the oldtimer
gold seekers had camped around 100 years ago and thereby had left behind or lost
a few things, including a lot of scrap metal such as rusty tins, nails, horseshoes, broken
tools etc. but had also lost buttons, buckles, coins and even gold nuggets. In accordance
with the search methods of that time, the old-timers had very often set up their camps
near rivers on ground containing gold.
Such areas are generally avoided and/or less well searched by prospectors with too
powerful PI detectors with only moderate or no metal differentiating function due to the
large number of worthless finds. Similarly many TR detectors with circular search heads
often yield two problems in the areas of old camps: Firstly the mineral-rich soils reduce
the detection depth. Secondly the large number of scrap objects such as flat sheet metal
and ring-shaped items of ferrous metal are often indicated as non-ferrous metal. When
these then have to be excavated out of the ground, time is lost and frustration increases.
And this at 35 °C!
8 | ebingernews
That bugs one!

Following the experience I had gained with the predecessor
of the TREX® 204 I was really straining at the
leash to start with the current device on these little prospected
areas. After just a few days in the field I again
discovered an old camp area yielding a large number of
signals for metal in the ground. By evening and some distance
from the camp I had found two small nuggets and
looked forward to the next day with my TREX® 204.
Today I left my PI detector in the camp and – with the
TREX® 204 in my rucksack – set off on my motorbike direct
using GPS data to the old camp I had found yesterday.
For all readers who are not yet familiar with the TREX®
204 I would like to give my brief introduction:
What I like most are the ergonomically shaped S-shaft (ideal for long-hours of searching),
the simple mode of operating, the slim search head and the special field of effect
of this as well as and resulting therefrom the very precise ability to differentiate between
different metals, e.g. between ferrous and non-ferrous metal objects. The long-proven S-
shaft fits well in one‘s arm/hand, is robust, can be taken apart into three parts and is constructed
in such a way that the cable from the search head to the electronics is led through
the shaft. In this way it is reliably protected from damage as well as, for example, when
the terrain to be searched has a lot of undergrowth.
The TREX® 204 needs for its tasks just 3 setting devices:
1. The sensitivity setter for the three operating modes:
I All-metals, ideal for precise adjustment of the GEB.
II Audio tone differentiation; this indicates ferrous object with a falling tone frequency
and non-ferrous metals with a rising tone frequency.
III Iron filter; this is switched on with the
audio tone differentiation mode and
suppresses to a large extent the signals
from objects with a falling frequency. .
2. GEB the ground excluding balance is the
regulating device for matching the
detector to the ground.
3. TUNE the regulating device for the audio
tone threshold
In addition two LEDs (green and red) indicate when
the batteries are charged / are nearly discharged.
The TREX® 204 was developed by the firm of EBINGER
in Cologne (Germany) so that it could offer a metal detector
with metal-differentiating function for special detection
tasks, e.g. for archaeology and the police, but also for hobby
prospectors and searchers for minerals whereby the device
should be make use of the professional technology of Messrs.
EBINGER (EBINGER has been building reliable metal detectors
for humanitarian mine clearance work since 1969).
The robust TREX® 204 works reliably and without disruptions
– also in rain. Searching times of approx. 80
hours with 6 AA batteries mean that rechargeable batteries
can be forgotten.
The simplicity of using and operating the TREX® 204 is envied by many of my fellow
prospectors who first of all have to appropriately programme their metal detectors (whereby
the procedure for doing this is often incomprehensively explained). I hold in high
estimation the manual GEB because many automatic ground balance regulators hinder
rather than aid the discovering of objects hidden deep in the ground. The electronics of
the TREX® 204 do not drift, are reliable and seldom need to be re-adjusted after breaks.
Of course, if the nature of the ground changes, the TREX® 204 will react somewhat agitatedly
whereby this can be stabilized again by resetting the GEB. For me this „nervous
behaviour“ represents an important item of information because the change in ground
type can indicate a typical gold-containing area or in Europe indicate ground that has
been changed in the past by having been inhabited.
Compared with digitalized metal detectors, the analog audio signal of the TREX® 204
offers further advantages which help one to get an idea of the nature of metal objects
buried in the ground in a time-saving way. The increasing volume assists me in estimating
how large an object is as well as approximately where and how deep it is hidden in
the ground. At the same time the tone frequency, which changes in accordance with the
object being indicated, tells me whether what I have beneath my search head is of a fer-
M8 / MS & Fe
M4 / MS & Fe
M2 / MS
M16 / MS
M16 / Fe
0 cm
0 cm
M2 / MS
M4 / MS & Fe
10 cm
10 cm
M8 / MS & Fe
20 cm
20 cm
M16 / MS
M16 / Fe
30 cm
30 cm
40 cm
40 cm
40 cm
30 cm
20 cm
10 cm
0 cm
10 cm
20 cm
30 cm
40 cm
30 cm
20 cm
10 cm
0 cm
10 cm
20 cm
30 cm
40 cm
The detection envelope viewed from the side.
The detection envelope viewed from ahead.
My schematics show approximately the envelope within which the search head can detect iron / brass nuts of sizes M3 to M16 in the medium air.
ebingernews | 9

ous or non-ferrous metal. The search head of the TREX® 204 has a transmit and receive
coil which works with approx. 14 kHz. The unusual design of the search head offers
important advantages.
The field of effect of the electromagnetic waves is like the bow wave of a ship, i.e. it
is aligned to the front, and has the greatest sensitivity vertically below the tip of the
search head. This is the reason why the position of a metal object can be located so
precisely. Not only the slim shape of the search head but also its forward-aligned field
of effect facilitate and make possible the precise pinpointing of metal objects at and in
confined spaces and here in particular in rocky ground where large search heads cannot
be brought close enough to possible metal objects
The unusual design of the search head offers a further special advantage. After a little
practice and experience in bringing the search head correctly up to an unknown metal
object, I found that my success quota in being able to predict correctly whether the object
lying hidden in the ground was of ferrous or non-ferrous metal increased significantly.
In particular ring-shaped or flat pieces of ferrous metal, which by reason of their shape
produce strong eddy current effects, are indicated by most circular-coil metal detectors
as being of non-ferrous metal. As mentioned above with a little practical experience
several lead bullets and even a dented percussion cap as
used earlier in percussion weapons. Then I continued searching
above the terrain edge. Now I was in the heart
of the old camp where an unbelievably large number of
ferrous metal objects were visible on the surface of the
ground while many others were polluting the ground.
Here the stage III iron filter came into use. It was really
astounding how many visible pieces of sheet iron – including
ones as large as one‘s hand – were no longer indicated.
Between the pieces of scrap iron, on the other hand
I found many non-ferrous objects that had been lost by
the gold hunters such as buttons, buckles and coins as
well as a few simple pieces of jewellery that would have
belonged to the plucky pioneer womenfolk.
In the areas of other ghost towns I had similar finds
including also a number of gold nuggets. However searching
first became a lot more exciting and more of the
finds contained gold as the extreme wet season changed
everything from November, 2010 to March, 2011.
Residues from an old-timers‘ camp
in how the TREX® 204 should be brought up to metal objects, I was
able to correctly recognize a large number of these irritating ferrous
metal objects as such and save myself a lot of time and effort by not having
to excavate them.
Now, following this introduction, let us set off to examine the results of
the practical work in the old camp. Having got there, I set the TREX® 204
for searching with the tone differentiation function.
The metal objects on one edge of the terrain were very numerous. Between
a number of ferrous metal objects I found diverse old buttons, 3 silver coins,
10 | ebingernews

Australia‘s red outback became green, too green!
The gate to the goldfield, the Hodgekinson River – closed for about a week
Tropical rain changed dry river courses into racing torrents in just a few hours and
prevented journeying on to interesting areas for searching for days or weeks. The roads
were blocked with rubble, had been washed away or – with incredible speed – had become
so overgrown that they were hardly visible.
Apart from a lot of damage from the flooding, searching with metal detectors by the
hunters for gold and minerals was hindered totally in particular by grass and spear
grass that shot up to heights of up to 2 metres as well as by other plants. Large-scale searching
of interesting areas for gold nuggets was impossible.
Have you ever tried searching in a field of maize with a detector with a 40 cm diameter
search head?
The bush grass permitted no opportunity for moving a search head. We had better not
report here on spiders in huge webs and all the creatures creeping and crawling in the
grass. In the goldfields there were only a few areas – old dumps from the gold-washing
plants – and 2 – 5 m wide river courses that were so little overgrown that it was possible
to use a metal detector in them.
An old-timer‘s rock pile
But the dumps and river courses were so heavily polluted
with scrap iron from the work of the old-timers that
this gold-nugget-containing terrain can only be searched
with metal detectors that have a very high ability to differentiate
between ferrous metal and non-ferrous metal
objects without digging.
Eye to eye ...
ebingernews | 11

My new UPEX® ONE-2 has no metal-differentiation
function and – in spite of its good detection depth – is not
ideal for such a terrain. The same holds good too for my
old Minelab GPX-4500 which – in spite of having a metal
discrimination facility with DD search heads – unfortunately
tended to indicate very many flat pieces of ferrous
metal from rusty tins as non-ferrous metal instead
of filtering them out as unwanted scrap metal.
„Good finds or good luck mates“ by German Peter
Accordingly let‘s get to the goodies, i.e. the possible
gold nuggets or gold in quartz lumps with the TREX® 204
which under these conditions is able to show off its advantages
such as the slim search head, the special field of effect
and the unerring recognition of iron in golden fashion.
These finds confirm that areas in the goldfields polluted
with scrap iron also contain gold nuggets and that
little attention has been paid to these areas and little searching
carried out in them by hunters with conventional
metal detectors up to 2011 due to the large number of
false alarms triggered by the scrap metal.
Result: Being able to search with my TREX® 204 gave
me a lot of pleasure because with the brand-new UPEX®
ONE-2 I was not able to search a lot of ground due to the
extreme grass growth so that my findings of gold remained
less than one ounce (31.1 grams). With the Minelab
4500 I had found 5 ounces of gold in nuggets before the
start of the wet season that turned the search area into
a grass jungle whereby my GPP had made the work of
rescuing gold nuggets from between rocks much easier.
In the wet season it only made sense to use my TREX®
204. This rewarded my wet and tiring missions with somewhat
more than 6 ounces of gold nuggets.
12 | ebingernews

Thoughts on
differentiating between metals Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
What would you like to find in the ground?
1. Buried iron boxes or other containers with
valuables?
These can occasionally be found with normal
metal detectors or searched for in a sizeselective
manner with large-loop PI detectors.
2. Meteorites that have landed on the earth?
Searching for these is generally carried out in
deserts with all-metal metal detectors
3. Like archaeologists or the police would
you like to find everything, e.g. small lead
bullets, splinters, nearly totally corroded
nails or similar ferrous metal objects?
These tasks are performed by sensitive allmetal
metal detectors such as the TREX® 204.
4. Lost coins of different non-ferrous and noble metals?
Lost jewellery of different noble metals?
Old weapons and tools of iron or non-ferrous metals?
Gold nuggets, other solid metals or rich ores?
Unfortunately such a variegated mixture will also contain
a great deal of scrap such as:
• Scrap ferrous metal objects of all types from nails and
splinters to tools and weapons
• Non-ferrous metal scrap such as aluminium foil,
aluminium pull taps, brass cartridge cases, lead bullets,
corroded zinc coins and many other things that are only
worth collecting for the scrap value of the non-ferrous
metal objects.
Modern top-quality metal detectors in accordance with
the latest state of the art can differentiate very well between
magnetic and non-magnetic metal objects of sizes
down to roughly thumb-size. Accordingly differentiating
between on the one hand magnetic ferrous or nickel objects
(including meteorites) and, on the other hand, nonferrous
metals such as aluminium, lead, bronze, gold,
copper, brass, silver, tin, zinc, many metal mixtures or
high-quality non-ferrous metal ores with antimony, galena,
bismuth as well as solid native copper, silver or gold
is very possible.
Gold
The following text looks at the opportunities for finds of the last-listed group:
Silver
Copper
Galena
2 x Bismuth
Lost, sought and found
Wherever you search, you will only make discoveries where nature has exposed solid
metals or high-quality ores through erosion or where at an earlier time man-made metal
objects in the form of tools, weapons, jewellery or coins and many other things have
been lost, thrown away or concealed.
Throughout the world the process of discovering and recovering something is regulated
at a local level and requires each searcher to obtain the relevant information from
the specialist authorities and/or lawyers.
Regardless of where you seek, you will be able to find almost everything in the most
different forms and of the most different metals and in the most different sizes whereby
the total of your finds will generally be a very mixed collection.
There will be a high failure rate depending on the
particular location, i.e. if the ground contains natural
iron components or if larger pieces of iron shade small
pieces of non-ferrous metal objects. The rate of failure
to detect interesting non-ferrous metal objects increases
rapidly if so-called discriminators (designed to filter out
undesired ferrous metal objects) are set too high or if detectors
with manifold programming facilities are incorrectly
programmed due to incomprehensible operating
instructions.
Naturally there are situations for searching, e.g. on
beaches in Australia, where – with the aid of the powerful
filtering out of everything from iron to the non-ferrous
metal objects such as small pieces of aluminium foil, small
nickel coins, aluminium pull taps and similar scrap items
– one can concentrate on finding one or two dollar coins of
brass as well as occasionally heavy silver rings.
ebingernews | 13

However unfortunately with this setting thin split silver rings, especially thin 8, 9, 14
and even 18 carat gold and platinum rings are also filtered out and, like ferrous metal
objects, are no longer indicated and thus are not found or, as the case may be, left for
more industrious searchers.
Metal objects at greater depth, which due to the weak
feedback signal cannot be recognized as being either
non-ferrous or ferrous metal objects, are indicated weakly
instead of being filtered out as with many discriminating
detectors. In this situation I can do partial excavation,
decide when the search head is closer to the object
what the signal is indicating and, if it is of interest, recover
it instead of missing it.
For search areas that are polluted with ferrous metal
scrap to a high degree the TREX® 204 also has an iron
filter. Although I seldom use this, its precision has often
surprised me especially in the old gold mining camps and
rewarded me with an astonishing number of small finds
such as buttons and coins as well as also gold nuggets.
What is being searched for and scrap often give similar signals
If I am searching an interesting terrain, then I would like to find all non-ferrous metal
objects and generally all ferrous metal objects which are larger than my thumb. Ferrous
metal objects can be interesting tools. In addition non-ferrous metal objects in the most
different shapes, sizes and alloys can also be interesting.
Collector‘s pleasure in the outback
A lot of ferrous metal scrap is less than thumb-size
For this reason I prefer EBINGER‘s TREX® 204 for a lot of search missions. Often I have
achieved my first finds while my fellow searchers are still programming their detectors
and trying to find the correct setting.
However, since I almost always search in the mode with metal differentiation, of
much greater importance is the fact that the TREX® 204 indicates all metal objects that
are in the detection range of the search head. The changes in tone of the signal ›differentiate‹
between ferrous and non-ferrous metal objects without thereby metal objects that
one would like to know about being filtered out. Non-ferrous metal objects are excavated
and ferrous metal objects are also excavated if I can assume from the analog audio
signal that the ferrous metal object is of an interesting tool size.
It is naturally important for each searcher to use his
tool – preferably a metal detector without too many bells
and whistles – in the right way. In addition, where the
meaning of the signals is unclear due to one of the very
many different search conditions that can cause this, the
only thing that will help is a little industriousness.
Further reports on missions with metal detectors will
follow. I wish all my fellow searchers great success and
fun with their detector!
Interesting ferrous metal objects of roughly tool size
Good luck and good find, German Peter
14| ebingernews

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINDING
Gold in Australia
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
Considered in geological terms, Australia is a very old continent,
the surface of which has in part been removed by erosion over
very long periods of time. In this process many minerals of light
weight have been destroyed and carried into the sea or deposited
in large sedimentary basins where they became stone. At places
where mountains containing ores became smaller through erosion, heavy ores are concentrated
in mineral-rich deposits not only in and at water courses but also in shallow
natural depressions and numerous other unusual places at which nature continues to
work with wind, water and plants.
In the course of the erosion of gold-containing quartz veins – these can have widths
of from some millimetres to some metres – the gold-containing quartz crumbles partly
into solid gold dust and partly into nuggets of up to 40 kg in weight or, as the case may
be, into quartz lumps of all sizes and with different amounts of gold. Quartz lumps
with gold that is visible to a greater or lesser extent are termed ›specimens‹ in Australia.
Through the erosion of the ground gold dust, nuggets and specimens are conveyed onwards
and become concentrated in part in natural depressions or water courses.
This specimen contains around 14.5 grams of gold
Nuggets of almost solid gold

Conclusion: A lot of ferrous metal objects, some interesting
non-ferrous metal objects and also handsome
gold nuggets and specimens can be found in the dumps
and tailings. From my own experience I know of finds of
up to 100 grams and one hears occasionally when sitting
around the campfire of finds in the kilogram range.
However to be able to find gold nuggets or non-ferrous
metal relicts in dumps and other heavily polluted ground
such as old camps or ghost towns one needs a detector
with very precise metal-differentiation properties.
In spite of them having iron-discriminators, the large
detection range of some PI-type metal detectors overburden
most searchers with the work of having to excavate
too much scrap iron that has not been recognized as such
before a hoped-for gold nugget is found.
My apposite tool, the TREX® 204
Along such water courses the first gold miners separated gold dust and gold nuggets
from the sediment as well as they could with their pans. Gold miners with mining experience
then excavated the gold-bearing quartz veins around these water courses in
goldmines.
We – today‘s hunters after gold with our metal detectors – now search for the gold nuggets
which – in the course of the erosion process from the quartz vein to the next water
course – now still lie somewhere on the ground or, as the case may be, in water courses
or dumps.
In particular the dumps offer good opportunities for finding larger nuggets or specimens.
The reason for this is that the sediments from the water courses were transported
to gold-washing systems for separating off the gold dust. For these the sedimentary material
was washed through screens into the system. Since for the winning of gold dust
primarily the sedimentary material smaller than 13 mm (1/2“ = 12.7 mm) was screened
off and washed, the coarser material was passed direct to the dumps.
As a European coin hunter, I am used to there being
a lot of scrap ferrous metal in moderately mineralized
ground whereby the situation can be managed with a
number of TR detectors with only a relatively low rate of
missing good finds. However the mineralized ground in
the outback as well as also in other gold-containing areas
give up their treasures only to experienced searchers with
more sophisticated metal detectors.
Under such searching conditions, the unusual but well
proven slim search head of the TREX® 204 from the German
manufacturer Klaus Ebinger gives the searcher a number
of advantages ›worth their weight in gold‹. By reason of
its technology, the search head offers the experienced searcher
greater certainty in being able to recognize and then
leave in the ground ferrous metal objects and as a result
to have more time for precisely locating non-ferrous metal
relicts and gold nuggets and excavating these.
These advantages paid for themselves in particular under
the more stringent restrictions on searching during
the wet season. This was because during the searching
season from the end of 2010 to the start of 2011 only shallow
water courses, uncovered or displaced banks of bed
load and less overgrown dumps could be searched as a result
of the very rapid growth of bush grass of up to 2 metres
in height.
In addition to the river bed load a lot of scrap iron, buttons and coins of the old-timers
but also a few large gold nuggets and specimens reached the older dumps having been
separated out at the first screen. Occasionally smaller gold nuggets in the 1 – 3 gram range
can also be found in the dump material where they should not have got if the washing
system had been set correctly.
16 | ebingernews

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USING A GPP
Peter Bawelski alias German Peter
If mono search heads larger than 11“ / 280 mm are used on a UPEX® ONE-2 or a Minelab
PI and the GPP is carried in a case at hip level, then the PI detectors will signal the
GPP with each turning movement even if the GPP is switched off.
With intensive searching the purchase of a GPP will pay for itself within some 6
months thanks to the savings in time when recovering finds precisely.
If one has luck, the return from the damage-free recovery of a rare old coin can exceed
the cost of the GPP in the very first mission.
The GPP is so easy to use as a reliable helper that just one statement describes its
value:
Everyone who knows its benefits always uses the GPP for the fine work.
Surrounded by marchflies.
Way of carrying the GPP on the shoulder if detecting with mono-coils bigger
than 11“/280 mm.
When searching for gold in the outback and also at
other places the GPP is a useful helper for saving time
and excavation work. Nuggets or coins, cartridge cases
etc. are located precisely in slate cracks and cavities or
the interspaces between rocks and thick roots and recovered
without being damaged and without having to
remove a lot of hard soil unnecessarily.
What’s the purpose of excavating large holes, chopping off roots or moving rocks when the GPP can indicate
precisely where the particular object is hidden?
A lot of time was saved and damage avoided when with
larger objects the GPP was used to indicate their outlines
on the surface before a start was made with excavating.
The GPP was able to indicate for the UPEX® ONE-2 or
the Minelab gold metal detectors the exact position of the
object without these devices having to be switched off.
Without any problem the GPP pinpointed metal objects
in holes with obstructions when the search head of the
work detector was some 1 to 1.5 metres away from the
area for excavation.
The GPP was especially helpful when several objects
lay in the region of an excavation hole. In this situation I
could pinpoint and recover one object after the other without
any problem because the dynamic audio signal indicated
very precisely the nearness and size of each object
in analog fashion.
ebingernews | 17

It happened at Easter, 2011. A lot of nature lovers and searchers
came to the camps on IKE‘s camping ground in Kingsborough, North
Queensland/Australia. The outback was more than usually green
and beautiful in this year after the wet season. A lot was overgrown
but that does not stop an Australian from wandering through the
bush and searching for minerals, panning for gold dust or searching
with a metal detector for relicts of the old-timers or gold
nuggets.
The pure enjoyment of nature was relaxing for all campers and
bush runners. The searchers after minerals came back with small
quartz crystal aggregates. Occasionally one can also find antimony
nuggets in Hodgekinson Goldfield or some 50 km further beautiful
smoky quartz crystals and ore aggregates with wolframite,
molybdenum and bismuth.
Since all the larger streams were carrying plenty of water, everyone
who set out with a washing pan in the morning had some self-washed
gold dust to show in the evening and start off the exchanging of professional
opinions around the campfire.
The road at the top on the left passes through the ghost town of Kingsborough in the Hodgekinson Goldfield
18 | ebingernews

A rare find from the time of the pioneers
Especially in the evening in the light of the many campfires the well occupied camping
area at IKE gave the impression that the clock had been turned back 100 years to the
time when the first pioneers, gold seekers and explorers had set up their tents there.
Everyone who sallied forth with a metal detector in these Easter days found something
from the time of the old-timers. Naturally scrap metal was also found but sometimes also
larger tools which in impressively well preserved state illustrated the skill of the smiths
of that time. Some searchers also found old buttons and buckles and pieces of jewellery
as well as lovely silver shillings bearing the head of Queen Victoria.
ebingernews | 19

Termine | Events
In Australia there are also a large number of active female
searchers including ones who are not so young but
nevertheless go out searching for gold nuggets with really
heavy Minelab detectors. One such team consisted of
Mary with her husband George and sister Wally who set
off to search for gold. The sisters took it in turns with the
detector and George had to dig out everything that they
found. 3 searchers and just one detector is only half the
fun so on the next day I lent Wally my TREX® 204. After 20
minutes of instruction on how to operate the TREX® 204
and above all on how to understand its signals they set off.
I didn‘t see the team of three again until the late afternoon
as they came back just in good time to grill dinner before
sunset. The wide grins on their faces led me to expect
that they had found something golden but it was something
different. They had enjoyed finding how light and precise
the TREX® 204 was in comparison with their Minelab. For
they could recognize much better whether the TREX® 204
was indicating a small or a larger object of iron or non-ferrous
metal and could then immediately determine the point
where the object in question was lying in the ground whereas
with the Minelab they would often have had to dig a
large hole before finally finding the object.
Today they were also successful with the TREX® 204
in a larger stream. Here they did not find as expected a
lovely, large gold nugget but something much rarer.
They found a 44 calibre Lefaucheux revolver which a
searcher for gold or explorer had lost some 100 years ago.
This was once again a lovely, relaxing long weekend in
the Hodgekinson Goldfield at IKE in North Queensland.
Good luck and lots of fun, Peter!
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All the EBINGER metal detectors described in
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UPEX® ONE-2, as well as further information
are available from SECON GmbH.
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