Tell us about yourself?
I moved from Brisbane, Australia to near Queenstown New Zealand 13 years ago so I could be close to ski fields, sadly while living in Australia I didn’t know anything about metal detecting so missed the opportunity to hunt for gold there. My two hobbies are skiing and metal detecting so that keeps me going all year round, I like both coin and jewellery detecting along with finding gold nuggets, although with my area in New Zealand the gold is mostly very small.
What interested/attracted you to buy your first metal detector?
I was looking for a summer activity to fill my time, I’m not overly interested in any sports, while camping near a creek I used a gold pan and found some tiny flakes of gold, from there I caught the bug and just had to see if I could find some more, a quick Google search introduced me to Detector Prospector forum where I learnt how to detect for gold and coins and that was it, I was hooked.
When did you use your Coiltek coil first & how did you find this experience?
I wasn’t going to purchase a GPX 6000 until there was a smaller coil available for it, I needed a smaller coil being in an area with smaller gold and rocky and difficult terrain, the standard coil wasn’t the size I wanted. Once Coiltek released their Goldhawk range I jumped in and bought the GPX 6000 and the Coiltek 10×5” and 14×9” Goldhawk coils. They’re both excellent coils however being in a smaller gold rocky mountainous area the 10×5” gets most of my attention, it just works so well, very stable and finds the smallest bits possible with the 6000. After trying various coils that little 10×5” is my favourite, perfect for my conditions and being the most sensitive coil available for the 6000 on small gold it’s great for the tiny gold we have around my area.
How has metal detecting benefitted your lifestyle?
It keeps me active during summer, gets me out exploring places I’d never even consider going to prior to picking up a detector and wouldn’t have even known they were there, I’ve seen some beautiful parts of the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago areas off the beaten track and up in the mountains to old early mining areas. Part of the fun of prospecting now is finding amazing places to go, and any gold on these exploration missions is a bonus.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start metal detecting?
Research where you can go for a start, you don’t want to be digging holes in places it’s forbidden, a good place to start is a beach, easy to dig, plenty of finds to be had and a good place to learn. Prospecting is more difficult to learn, the best way is to start off with some lead pellets, fishing sinkers crushed and broken into gold like size pieces and bury them at various depths to get to know your detector and how it responds to the targets, then go to where gold has been found before and dig it all, go slow and focus, if you start finding plenty of shotgun pellets you’re well on your way to finding your first gold nugget.
What has been your most significant experience or find to date?
It’s a tough one as gold nuggets are often favourite finds however I would say my most significant find is a Chinese coin while I was looking for gold in a creek, such an usual thing to find in the area, the coin was from between 618AD to 626AD from T’ang Kao Tsu’s reign. With New Zealand having such a short history of human occupation it makes little sense a coin this old being here other than it was a Chinese miner’s lucky charm that was lost in the creek while they were working the creek for gold. The creek has history of being mined by the Chinese miners. I also found a very old silver and ivory ring at another Chinese mined area, it’s always exciting to find some history.
Who or what inspired you to start detecting?
I would say Steve Herschbach from Detector Prospector Forum started me off by helping guide me to my first detector and giving endless advice to kick me off, it’s there I also met a local prospector named John Wilson with many years of gold nugget detecting my local area behind him and he was kind enough to take me under his wing and show me the ropes, having someone like that to help start you off and find your first nugget is invaluable as that first one is always the hardest one, once you’ve got the confidence and have done it before it starts to get easier.
Please provide your social media handles? Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Tiktok.
I’m not a big social media person, I go by my name on Facebook as Simon Muilwyk and I am now a moderator on Detector Prospector forum with the name phrunt where I spend the most time as unlike social media forums tend to be more like an encyclopaedia where you can research and look up information about detecting much easier, it doesn’t just blow by in a few days. I also have a small Youtube I put some videos on occasionally as https://www.youtube.com/@phrunt