New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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High mineral metal detectors - what type does high mineral areas...

Goldnut		Posted : Saturday, 16 November 2013 7:48:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 461 Location: Auckland Thanks: 48 times Was thanked: 95 time(s) in 92 post(s)		Ok so I went to a beach and tried using my F2 to find coins and such but when I tested a $2 coin my metal detector did not even pick it up... usually it will scream out. So what type of metal detector do you need to detect ironsand beaches and the like? or is it even possible.... If I used my pinpoint function I could make out that something was there... but that means no discrimination....
		Fisher F2 11DD coil, Garrett Pro-Pointer ----> My Blog: http://goldnut.blogspot.co.nz
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Metal Kiwi		Posted : Saturday, 16 November 2013 9:01:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 19/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,210 Location: Auckland Thanks: 498 times Was thanked: 484 time(s) in 322 post(s)		If you went to Piha or similar you will find that most detectors fail or at best struggle with the black sand. I am told some of the PI machines like a GPX5000 can handle it but dont know anyone who has done it. Maybe others on here do. Best idea is stay on the east coast or at least avoid the heavy black sand beaches. MK
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Shilo		Posted : Sunday, 17 November 2013 6:56:14 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 29/01/2011(UTC) Posts: 573 Location: Kawhia Thanks: 17 times Was thanked: 285 time(s) in 185 post(s)		Have the same problem down here in Kawhia, in fact the sand is so mineralised that they mine it for iron ore on the other side of the harbour. Like Metal Kiwi said - only a PI machine would have any chance of detecting in black sand, there is no VLF that will ever handle it. Personally I'm waiting until I can get my hands on the new ATX but even with a GPX or ATX I have my doubts that they could handle it down here. Even some East Coast beaches will have patches of black sand that is mineralised enough to effect a VLF detector. In these cases a multi-frequency machine that has good ground balance and allows you to fiddle with the settings can normally break through it. DD coils are also better then Concentric for mineralisation.
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Goldnut		Posted : Sunday, 17 November 2013 2:47:00 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 461 Location: Auckland Thanks: 48 times Was thanked: 95 time(s) in 92 post(s)		I have an 11 DD coil but yea... definitely not able to do it... almost lost my test coins... lol
		Fisher F2 11DD coil, Garrett Pro-Pointer ----> My Blog: http://goldnut.blogspot.co.nz
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roy1954		Posted : Monday, 18 November 2013 12:45:17 AM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 28/03/2012(UTC) Posts: 628 Location: christchurch Thanks: 442 times Was thanked: 372 time(s) in 242 post(s)		,hi,you will definately need a pi detector, some of the more expensive vlf machines will ground balance enough to get a quite swing but you have to take so much of the gain out of them you are only getting three or four inches at best,my whites duel field on very mineralised sand will not be quite enough to get so as you can pick the small deep targets unless its about half gain and the pulse width turned up,but its still powerfull enough to get down to the deep stuff.its not easy but a pi machine is definately the way to go.
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Martinc		Posted : Tuesday, 19 November 2013 2:02:29 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Flake Groups: Registered Joined: 17/05/2013(UTC) Posts: 27 Location: SouthAuckland Was thanked: 12 time(s) in 6 post(s)		yes if u want to dig theese beaches a PI machine is the way to go,i had this discussion with drunk bro right when i arrived back in NZ thats why i invested in a Mark 2 sea hunter purchased in South Auckland for 900 bucks new

Goldnut		Posted : Tuesday, 19 November 2013 2:58:35 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 461 Location: Auckland Thanks: 48 times Was thanked: 95 time(s) in 92 post(s)		Thanks guys! are these metal detectors difficult to figure out?
		Fisher F2 11DD coil, Garrett Pro-Pointer ----> My Blog: http://goldnut.blogspot.co.nz
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Mudwiggle		Posted : Tuesday, 19 November 2013 7:00:01 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 22/10/2013(UTC) Posts: 742 Thanks: 182 times Was thanked: 683 time(s) in 317 post(s)		Originally Posted by: Goldnut Thanks guys! are these metal detectors difficult to figure out? I run the original SeaHunter (22 years old) and as far as I know the SH2 is basically the same unit remodelled. They are very basic with three 'power' settings; Maximum, normal and minimum as well as a crude disc. Very deep machines, and on the weekend I was pulling up ali rivet 'rings' (the irritating rings that jam on the drill when drilling rivets out) from 12" down. Catch is, they find anything that is vaguely metal. You need to put some serious hours in the learn the coil-speak as it only has one tone which reacts differently to various metals, eg gold is a very soft attack-decay whereas iron has a harder 'edge' to it. Very heavy as they're designed for SCUBA, but easy enough to mod to wear on a belt (without compromising watertightness), I made a stick for the coil out of an old solid fibreglass surfcaster. Not glamorous, but nothing to go wrong with them either really, had a broken wire in the lead when I got to the beach this weekend - fixed using nothing except a Toyota Corolla toolkit (more desperation than anything haha!). About 10Hrs life on a full charge. Edited by user Tuesday, 19 November 2013 7:01:18 PM(UTC) \| Reason: Not specified

Goldnut		Posted : Wednesday, 20 November 2013 7:43:55 PM(UTC)
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 2/08/2011(UTC) Posts: 461 Location: Auckland Thanks: 48 times Was thanked: 95 time(s) in 92 post(s)		Lol love the macgyver approach?
		Fisher F2 11DD coil, Garrett Pro-Pointer ----> My Blog: http://goldnut.blogspot.co.nz
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