Hot Rocks

There are different types of definition on what hot rocks are but in general they are what we know as common “granite”. It’s a remainder of that cosmic meltdown. In the molten planet, heavy minerals descended to the bottom. Lighter elements, such as granites, floated to the top. To this day, they are still implanted in the earth’s crust as “hot dry rocks”.

In gold prospecting hot rocks cause problems, why? Well, when the detector loop is passed over them they all make a great deal of noise and this very often times misleads the prospector to thinking they are little metal targets. And they cause problems because you may think you have found something when in fact you have only ran into a hot rock.

Even though hot rocks may be a little bit distressful for operators, it does not have to turn into such a big problem because there is a way to solve this issue. It is possible to identify them. This will require practice so that you are able to identify when it is a hot rock or a real metal target. Remember also that a rock can be a hot rock in one area while it may not be in another area. Therefore this means that a hot rock is a “hot rock” depending on the type of ground that it is located in, depending on the level of mineralization, the “hotter” the rock will be.

If a rock makes a noise it is caused by the change in mineralization in the ground. As a matter a fact, there are some rocks that are so mineralised that they not only produce a signal that sounds like metal but they can also cause the audio of the detector to overload and sometimes neutralize the loop’s efficiency. This means that they can literally kill the use of the detector so that it will not detect any target.

When these rocks are located on the surface of the ground they are not too difficult to find. However when they are deeply under the ground it can become a problem. Due to the fact that they are in existence in part because of the earth that surrounds them, they bring about a different problem in every place you find them. There are actually a lot more hot rocks then one might think; the thing is that some of them are very small in size and too deep inside the ground for you to hear them while there are others that can be easily heard. However the problem is not with those that cannot be heard but with those that can be heard.

You should make sure to always tune your detector to the general medium of the ground; to the average ground you are working in. Keep in mind the size of the gold nuggets you will get will be found in the general area, and not inevitably under a hot rock. After you have set your detector you can then start your adventure at searching for that precious metal gold. If there are hot rocks in the area, you will probably find out soon enough because you will be able to heard noises that you will not be able to isolate. If you find a signal but you cannot seem to find it because it moves around, stay on it and isolate it.

When you run into big rocks they have a tendency of letting off a “boing” sound and seem to have an empty space sound in the middle as you take the loop closer and pull it away from the target. The bigger rocks are easier to isolate because they are normally on the top of the ground and are obviously bigger in size. If they are above the ground simply move them or walk around them.

You will probably be able to find these under the ground as well, but if they are deeply inside the ground you will probably not be able to hear them at all. Hot rocks have a tendency of losing their bang very quickly as the loop is placed further away from them. The smaller hot rocks are more difficult to identify because they sound more like targets and do not have the same sound the larger hot rocks give off. You can at times identify them though because they have a little bit more a broader peak sound to them and not the same zip zip sound a gold nugget commonly has. It is a little bit frustrating though because they do sound very similar.

Due to the fact that all hot rocks have different sizes and qualities, you may need to balanced off a few more until you are able to get the correct amount of control over the situation. If you go too far off the original balance in order to soothe out the hot rocks, you will start getting a signal from the ground and this will just cause the target you want to become unclear and might be worse then actually trying to simply ignore the hot rocks you do hear in the ground. Obviously in order to ignore the hot rocks it is important to learn how to identify hot rocks from your actual target.

There are prospectors that work with multi purpose detectors and they go along with the rule that hot rocks are detected under the all metal mode means they will not be detected under the discriminate mode and the other way around as well. This means that if you are working under the all metal mode and you identify something you can simply switch to discriminate mode for a moment and this could indicate if it is a hot rock or not. The only problem with this is that when the detector is switched over to another mode, a small piece of gold might not cause the detector to react. This method seems to work better in moderate ground and in the case of bigger sized nuggets.