Hi Guys, I had a request from a chap up in Coromandel about getting back in to prospecting & he wanted to know about detecting & what detector to get that wasnt to pricey. I prattled on a bit, as I can do, but thought I would put up some of what I said to him as it may be of interest &/or help to others. Cheers. :)
Hi there, Just touching base with you regarding your request. I am guessing that you are more after a gold type detector than just a coin/relic detector, as there are differences between the two?? Also, what, if any, experiance do you have with detectors?? I ask this as there is a lot more to detecting than some one who has never done it before may realise.
Detecting is a huge learning curve & needs mountains of patience, practise & time out in the field to get to know the capabilities of your chosen detector. Each detector has its own personality & no two are quite the same although the principles are similar. This is where a lot of people give up. They expect to turn a detector on & go out & dig up nothing but "good" targets. Sadly this isnt the case. You will always dig up far more junk than "good" targets. I put good in inverted commers as one mans trash can be another mans treasure & there is a lot of iron targets, that I consider trash, out there in the Coromandel hills from the old timers that to the relic hunter is a treasure.
To be honset with you I have all but given up detecting for gold in the Coromandel due to all the trash. You may be thinking, Why dont you just use a detector that eliminates (discriminates) the iron trash & only picks up the gold. I WISH. Detecting for gold doesnt work like that & that is why I say there is a difference between gold detectors & coin/relic detectors.
You will no doubt be aware that the Coromandel isnt well known for alluvial gold but famous for its hard rock gold. Ok, there was a bit of lose detrital gold. Detrital gold being gold that has shead, flaked & broken away from a parent reef or rich little stringer & through erosion & weathering is very slowly working its way down hill by gravity & the elements to the lowest point. Either making it all the way to a gully bottom or creek/water course or getting caught up in a crack, crevice or some other trap in between. Once in a creek it becomes alluvial gold & is then hit by the powers of running water & the effects that has on the gold. Washing it further on & concentrating the gold in certain spots. This was the first gold the old timers got. The "easy "gold. When they finished cleaning out the creeks & discovered the detrital gold outside of the creek they would chase it up the hills to its source. This is true prospecting. Called, loaming for gold. This took time, but would usualy always lead to the source of the gold. Often in this case they would sluice, wash, the whole hillside from the reef outcrop or the rich stringers coming out of the ground, right down to the creek. This was to get all the lose detrital gold & once this was done they would then chase the reefs or rich stringers into the ground & commence there hard rock mining. Or sell out once the "easy" alluvial & detrital gold was won to a hard rock mining out fit.
The old timers were very thorough at getting this lose gold & it is this gold where there may be some pockets of gold caught up in a trap that their water didnt wash on to their sluice boxes & maybe a missed rich stringer that you may be able to detect. I say may as of course the bush re growth & the steepness of the terrain makes this very very difficult to the point of impossible. The old timers of course eradicated the bush & so had a clean slate to work with. We dont have that choice today.
Gold in the creeks always works its way to the very bottom & what gold the old timers missed, & they didnt miss much, or has been washed in to the creeks since, is on the bottom. Trouble is the bttom can be quite a way down & way out of reach of a detector plus there is a lot of rubbish washed in to the creeks from the old boys. But you never know your luck.
Just confirm to me that it is gold detecting you are interested in & I will get together some detectors that can do the job.
Most of my finds have been trash & very very little gold. Like I said earlier, I have all but given up detecting for gold in the Coro due to the trash & difficulty of the terrain.
Regards
John :)
Edited by user Sunday, 11 December 2011 9:16:46 PM(UTC)
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