New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

Don't waste your time in the area if you are finding light targets. Think of the beach as a giant gold pan - the water shuffling back and forwards separates the light medium from heavier stuff. The light stuff is near the top and can be then poured out whilst the heavier medium collects at the lowest point.

The sea does exactly the same thing so if you come across a patch of foil or pull tabs etc then they would have been washed away from any gold or silver. Chances are you are also in a patch of beach where the sand is building up and you need to carry on looking for any low points. Shell piles, driftwood and seaweed are other pointers that there will be no good targets there.

Yes the sea can move and concentrate heavy targets but it takes a very good storm to do this. Most of the time when you find a hot spot it is because the water has eroded the beach down enough to find those pieces of gold in the "giant pan".

Coins a bit different since although they are heavier then foil and pull tabs their shape means that waves can easily flip them over and move them, they also resist sinking like a gold ring does (greater surface area). But you still won't find them with the light items, instead they can form a semi circular shape around the gold and silver. If you find coins on the slope (no matter how slight) then there is a chance of rings on the seaward side of them.

Light targets can be anywhere in connection to rings & etc (opposite end of the beach, higher up or even if a sandbar is moving up the beach they could be below the good finds). But the valuable targets will not be where the light junk is - move on. The exception to this rule is if there has been a recent gold drop within a day but this is very rare.

Another hint is to look for sinkers - they act the same as a gold ring so if you find an old sinker there could be gold there as well.

Best to concentrate on learning how to pick out the low spots on your beach. This could be a water or ripple filled channel, a wet looking patch of sand or even sand that is darker in colour then the surrounding area (mineralised sand is heavy thus will get concentrated in the low points.

One ancient site that has been archived may help you out a bit more. The info on this site is too good to loose so lets hope they continue to keep it archived. Look under "the secrets of saltwater beaches I, II, III " and some of the other articles.:http://web.archive.org/web/20090406024500/http://thegoldenolde.com/oldego3.htm

All the preceding tips are true and worthwhile practicing.
But remember Gold can be anywhere in the sand. I can think of 4 gold rings I have found
on or about the high tide mark so they probably did not travel at all. Learning to read a beach certainly helps but there are no rules for the depositor as to where they must drop their wedding ring.
If you have the time look everywhere, if short on time search the likely spots.
The first rule is to keep looking I reckon. :-)

MK

Yes and no for having the right idea.

Don't forget that people wrapping their valuables in a towel then forgetting about them when drying themselves is also a major reason for loosing jewelry.

Gold rings sink surprisingly fast in the sand, I once did a recovery 48hrs after a bride lost her engagement ring during a wedding and it was already a good 6" down. Overtime it would have just continued to sink until the density (hard pack) of the sand was greater then the ring.

The rings will only move during those major once in a hundred year storms that we seem to get every 2nd year. And only then if the storm was from the right direction to erode the sand down to them. Because of the angle of the waves that can erode sand is not straight onto the beach then any movement of the ring will also be sideways and not down to the low tide mark. They also wouldn't move much - maybe a metre or to maximum.

From a hot spot on Waiheke which was exposed by erosion I once worked out that there is over 600 pieces of gold per kilometer of beach:
http://islanddetecting.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/beaches-sprinkled-with-gold.html. I still stand by this and think this figure would apply to any popular beach. BUT the reason we are not picking up this many is that these pieces of gold have sunk down until they hit a high density layer. On the Waiheke beach this was a layer of clay which was 30-50cm down thus allowing my detector to find them.

Thats great information everyone! thanks i learnt alot HH