Types of Metal Detectors

If you are going to be using one of these types of metal detectors to look for black sand pockets make sure that it has a large coil and that it is ground balanced very carefully when it is detecting in its all metal mode.

Next, you should pick out a stream bed that is either wet or dry and follow a direction. You don’t have to scan with the metal detector, all you have to do is walk forward while holding the coil in front of you; you should hold the detector around one inch above the ground. Most detectors will have a constant sound to them even when it has not located a metal target and in some the sound will die out completely and this means you may have found black sand. Once you believe you have located something, you should use your shovel to dig. Remember to stick to the indications for wet or dry panning.

If you are only looking for nuggets, you will need to follow another set of indications. You may also have a lot more options as far as metal detectors are concerned when it comes to nugget seeking. There are bigger types of detectors that are available however it is still recommended to acquire the ones that have the all metal mode and manual ground balance because they are the ones that have the deepest seeking and more precise in locating small nuggets.

When searching for gold nuggets it is always a good idea to dig in all the places your detector detects. Don’t be surprised though if you at times find other stuff besides your objective such as trash metal, coins, hot rocks, nails, you name it. You sort of need to be able to determine if it is worth it to look into what the detector has told you, but we suggest you do anyways. Finding teensy nuggets maybe a little bit more difficult then it actually sounds but in order to make a profit you will need to dig all the targets and find what has caused the detector to go off. Also keep in mind that one location or hole could have more than one target in it.

The best results in are generally obtained when using a modern metal detector. The metal detectors we have available these days have really outdone what the metal detectors could do just a few years ago. The first metal detector to have been invented was in 1881 by Alexander Graham Bell who was said to have invented it when President James Garfield lay dying of an assassin's bullet. Alexander Graham Bell quickly invented a crude metal detector in a fruitless attempt to locate the fatal bullet. Bell's metal detector was an electromagnetic device he called the induction balance.

Metal detectors now are very capable of finding and locating gold. There are modern metal detectors with computerization and micro processing controls that have improved so enormously since the metal detectors there were in the 1980’s. The ones that were built during the 80’s are certainly not what the modern ones are, and do not have the capability of locating gold like the modern ones can. You would be surprised at what you can find with a good metal detector. 

An important thing to keep in mind about metal detectors though is that even the best and finest metal detector will respond to what is known as hot rocks. Hot rocks are very mineralized rocks that give some metal detectors a positive response. 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”.