New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

hi all ive got a "spot" were i have been going for slucing .its not a bad wee spot,never seen any one else around and dont think theres any workings around the surrounding area.the spot always shows me alot of colour.pretty fine flour/small flakey gold and the very very odd picker tho. im just wondering would ground like this be worth hiting with a detector or will it be lacking nuggety stuff as it seems to be a fine gold area

cheers \\chchfosiker

cheers for your post im more thinking along the line of finding bigger peices.im having no trouble finding the fine stuff in cracks crevices gravels and paydirt. i dont need a detector to find the small stuff my shovel ,sluice and and crevicing tools seems to be taking care off that. im more weighing up weather its worth forking out for a detector to find bigger stuff on this ground or am i waisting my time and just stick to the sluice box.

all thought a MD is something ive wanted from day one of my gold fever.sometimes would be good to be able to take break from digging a hole and go for a swing with a md

Hi Guys, The term "picker" is an American saying & it literaly means a piece of gold the size of which you can "pick" up out of your sluice box or gold pan with your fore finger & thumb.
also......if you are detecting for gold & you come across a bunch of very fine gold all clumped together your detector wont detect it. Reason being that the detector will only "see" each tiny bits mass individualy & not as a whole single mass. So if the gold is very tiny it wont see it. If there is one piece in there that is of a single size mass that the detector will register on then it will read that one piece because of its mass but not the whole lot as on piece or mass. Even if they are all touching each other & may weigh an ounce all up.
When the detector drives its transmiting signal into the ground & comes across a metal object, in this case gold, then it generates electrical eddy currents in each individual piece of gold or metal object but not on the whole bunch of small bits as one big signal & it is the reaction of these eddy currents that the receiving signal of the detector picks up on to give you a signal that something is there. If the objects are too small, in this case many tiny individual pieces of gold, then it isnt strong enough for the detector to pick up on. But as I said, if there is one piece amongst it all that is just big enough it will register on that one piece but not the bunch as a whole.

Happy hunting & happy new year to you all.

JW :)

Hi John - I note your comments and wonder if they relate to the Minelab only - now I am not an expert with metal detectors despite having had one for over thirty years. It is only within the last few months that I have actually looked for gold by another other than the methods I have used for all my life. It is only these last few months that I have used a detector so compared with many really know little about them and sure in heck dont understand their scientific pros and cons and the jargon associated with their operation...I do understand beep beep Gold however!

Your comment made me curious and I decided to find out if my goldbug would detect ten of the tiniest colours I have here, no more than flour - all heaped together they set the gold bug off at a range of three cenitmetres and this satisfies me that if there is an accumulation of colours or small flakes in a crack the Goldbug at least will pick them up - does it work on the same principle as the Minelab - I didnt try the Minelab out but the Goldbug does pick up an accumulation - of that I am totally satisfied having now seen for myself.

Thats good news. John had me a bit bummed out with what he said. I was hoping a detector could find a loaded(with fine flour gold) crevice. Thanks for taking the time to test the theory, Graham.

In what way does your son think the Minelab is better? I havnt seen anyone detecting for gold before....do you just seek all metals and dig all targets or just dig the targets in the tin foil/gold range? I guess what i'm asking is are the target id numbers fairly consistant when hunting for gold?

Thank you very much for your kind offer. My other son is in Dunedin and I'm due a visit so will get in touch when I do. Even if I found nothing it would be a pleasure to meet you and learn a few things.

Some people have been disappointed in their superflash machines not being able to pick up fine gold in concentrations or chains on the beach, for example. I believe the difference is not so much in the machine but in the nature of the transmission and receive electronics. As a rule of thumb (not so much nowadays but far more so in the old days when detectors were not as sophisticated) the Pulse Induction machines had less of a capacity to find the finer stuff but could find bigger objects somewhat deeper, but more especially were able to 'punch' through mineralisation which did render the VLF machines comparitively much worse off in those conditions.

The VLF's shone in 'quiet' ground and were/are able to pick up very small bits. As an example, I have a XT18000 (vlf) which can pick up small stuff but is virtually useless in wet salty sand. When I bought an SD2000 (pi) the difference was amazing! Just purred along quietly and went deep, but wasn't as flash on small objects.

I think the technology has become better for the vlf's (but also for the pi's) so the vast difference that was apparent in the old days is not quite so large now. Even so, some detectorists have more than one machine to cover different circumstances. If you're out to purchase one, do as much research as possible, and if feasible, get to know a few people and see if you can try their gear. Hope this helps.

Cheers.

I have noticed my Fisher F2 is hopeless in wet sand so that makes sense. Thanks for that info. I have heard that the p.i. machines are a different kettle of fish.

Hi guys, Graeme you are right. I was refering to the minelab PI. I dont know why I didnt say that in my post. So sorry to you guys that I may have up set & put crook. The higher frequency VLF gold detectors, gold bug 2 (71 khz) & whites Goldmaster (48 khz) give a numerical read out on black (magnetic) sand concentrations. The higher the number the more concentarted the black sands. This is great for following & marking out this "path" of higher conentrated black sands as gold is very likely (but not always) to be with it or very close to it in better concentrations as well. This path you can mark out & then set up a sluice box & process the material for a better chance of recovering better gold without moving heaps of material. It is a bit like crevicing, Its not quantity of material but quality & this "path" gives you a better chance at that.
In Arizona, & other desert areas, they would do this out in the deserts to find the concentrations & runs of black sands. They would then set up their drywashers to process this material with a much better chance of getting gold.
Here is a link to a discussion on accumulated very fine gold & finding it with a VLF detector. You may like to cut & paste the other links that are put up by Steve Herschbach & follow up on those as well. http://www.akmining.com/...ive/index.php/t-636.html

Good luck out there

JW :)

Kiwijw - John - for the first time ever I am really getting to like the metal detector idea and love the Goldbug - my sonpicked up 5grammes of Gold with the goldbug whichhe missed with my Minelab so I think that these two detectors can be used in conjunction with each other with huge success.

To me the highlight maybe of my life will not be my biggest nugget, nor half a pound of gold in three handfuls of dirt - it is my son discovering an unworked quartz reef with nuggets in it with nothing more than a metal detector.

I'm sold on them now for Gold - after owning one for coins and other treasures since 1980 and in all that time never finding Gold with one I am now finding Gold and have paid my Goldbug off in Gold value !