Prospecting with Metal Detectors

A good number of prospectors use metal detectors to help them find gold. Metal detectors can be used to find pockets of black sand and it can also be used to find gold nuggets. In most cases you will need to use your gold pan or look through a bunch of rocks and sand to find the little metallic object that sets the metal detector off. Keep in mind that when working with metal detectors when it detects something that it is not always gold, it might be another metallic object like a nail, coin, bullet etc. that may have been placed in the stream when you are looking. Whatever the case there is really no factual way of knowing until you use your handy dandy gold pan to settle the concentrates that are heavier and separate the ones that are lighter.

Using a plastic pan is almost required when doing this type of procedure. Metal pans simply cannot be used for a very obvious reason; the metal detector would detect it…..and it would be useless to try to use it over the rocks and sand you have put in your pan. Using plastic pans will help you to determine if you have a metallic object in the pan very quickly on the first try. If there is not any, simply dump the pan out and dig deeper to find what you detector has detected.

In many cases black sand deposits contain gold in them and using the appropriate metal detector will help you accomplish the job correctly. Some detectors have a three mode detection capabilities and can be used to not only find gold but coins as well.

One important point to keep in mind when using metal detectors is that you should make sure the circuitry in the metal detector has the ability or function of eliminating ground minerals. This is what is commonly known as ground balancing. If you are interested in finding pockets of black sand you will need to acquire a modern metal detector with deep searching circuitry and it should also include an all-metal feature with manual ground balance.

It is not a good idea to use a metal detector that does not have manual ground balancing when you are trying to find black sand. The detectors that only have a discriminate mode with automatic ground balance can be used for looking for gold nuggets, however they come with a factory set ground balance that is not able to handle heavy mineralization that can be found in many locations and soils in areas where gold is commonly found.

Obviously there are people that have still found gold by using these types of detectors and have managed to discover gold nuggets etc. the idea is just to help you use the right kind for the type of place you are going to. There are new instruments that have computerized microprocessor-controlled circuitry and some of them are quite fancy dancy. If you are one of the lucky prospectors with this in hand, take it out and use it. You just might be surprised at the results. Most professional prospectors prefer the non-motion, all metal deep seeking mode ones that have automatic ground balancing capabilities too.