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Why Won't My Detector Find A Bottle Full Of Small Nuggets? Or A Gold Chain?


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Great response!

I like how you described how nuggets bedding down in the same spot will produce a stronger signal.

Last summer, I hit two spots with the Gold Bug Pro where I got a very broad signal in packed dirt, shallow on bedrock. I had never experienced this before, and I didn't know what to make of it. I almost thought it was some kind of ground mineralization effect or something, but as I'd been finding nuggets consistently in that area, I dug all of the dirt anyway.

In the process of scraping and gathering, I uncovered a crevice that ran about ten inches deep, cleaned it out as well, and threw everything in the gold pan. The signal in the ground was gone, but now there was a strong signal in the pan!

I panned down the dirt a bit and quickly saw the flash of gold. I spread the dirt out with the water and it was full of small nuggets, any of which, individually, the detector easily saw. There was also a 4 gram nugget keeping them company that I eyeballed as I cleaned out the crevice. As all of those nuggets had bedded down in that pocket/crevice together, that was what produced the broad signal in the dirt, but when they were concentrated in the smaller area of the pan, the signal was stronger.

Thanks, as you may have solved a bit of a mystery for me. 

That was a fun day, and unbelievably, I repeated it a couple of weeks later on another section of bedrock! I doubt it will ever happen again as it's never happened before. I mean, I've hit concentrations of small nuggets before, but they rang individually as I swept the coil over them because they were more spread out in their patch's area. They did not give out the broad signal I received on the nuggets that were much closer together. 

All the best,

Lanny

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Steve, That Was An Awesome Answer!
This cleared up sooo many questions I had, questions no one else could answer.

Now what about ore, even though it appears to be solid, in truth it's more like a bunch of crystal upon closer inspection.

Is the closeness to be considered one, or several pieces?

I still have one of Whites first detectors, had a few cheap ones since, but tech has made leaps and bounds in the interim.

There's is sooo much to learn and as I've noticed, a lot of practice ahead.

 

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Thanks Steve, I'm glad you took the time to post the reality of finding small gold. Most do not realize how hard it is to find a fine gold chain unless your coil is touching it. At depth it will never be found. Also your pinpointer has the same problem, making things even more difficult. Been waiting a long time to hear someone explain the truth of small gold targets.

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On 10/11/2022 at 3:42 PM, Solar said:

Steve, That Was An Awesome Answer!
This cleared up sooo many questions I had, questions no one else could answer.

Now what about ore, even though it appears to be solid, in truth it's more like a bunch of crystal upon closer inspection.

Is the closeness to be considered one, or several pieces?

I still have one of Whites first detectors, had a few cheap ones since, but tech has made leaps and bounds in the interim.

There's is sooo much to learn and as I've noticed, a lot of practice ahead.

“Closeness” does not matter. The gold, as explained, needs to be a single electrically conductive mass. It does not matter that rock is involved. Gold specimens are notoriously hard to detect.

I am talking about small gold here. Nuggets, chain links, gold enclosed in quartz, it’s all the same. If you place two half ounce nuggets next to each other, it will sound off more than a single nugget. The point is that a collection of small gold bits, all of which are individually undetectable, do not “add up”. 0+0+0+0 still equals zero. 

Gold ore with easily visible gold is actually quite rare. Most gold ores have microscopic gold, or gold only visible with a hand lens. These are impossible to find with a metal detector directly. However, some gold ores have other accessory minerals mixed with them, that can possibly be detected. For instance, some ores have a lot of arsenopyrite, a highly conductive sulphide. Gold veins containing arsenopyrite could be located by detecting the arsenopyrite instead of the gold.

Kind of like finding that gold chain, by finding the pendant attached to it.

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16 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

For instance, some ores have a lot of arsenopyrite, a highly conductive sulphide. Gold veins containing arsenopyrite could be located by detecting the arsenopyrite instead of the gold.

Would that be the same as what we normally call pyrite?  Reason I ask is because I was talking with one of the co. geo's and he'd mentioned something about the veins in our area with gold always have pyrite along with the gold.  Pretty sure he said always....and mentioned they get pretty excited when pyrite shows up.   I forget shit too so I could have misunderstood.....

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No, pyrite is brassy gold color iron sulphide, generally non-conductive when pure. Arsenopyrite is silver gray color iron arsenic sulphide, highly conductive.

Gold often occurs in quartz, but quartz is one of the most common minerals on earth, and nearly all of it has no gold in it. Gold in steams is often found with magnetite (black sands) but magnetite is extremely common, and finding black sands does not mean there is any gold around. Gold after occurs with various iron minerals like pyrite and arsenopyrite, that stain quartz to a rusty red color. But again, these are very common minerals, and rusty red quartz does not automatically mean gold is around. You have to know the particulars of any given area to be able to draw reliable conclusions. Usually, these are favorable indicators, but nothing more.

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51 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:


No, pyrite is brassy gold color iron sulphide, generally non-conductive when pure. Arsenopyrite is silver gray color iron arsenic sulphide, highly conductive.

Got it and thanx... was just curious if it was one and the same?  He was talking pyrite then.

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If you have an Equinox 800 I encourage you to test it on a medium or large gold chain using the Gold 2 mode. Yes, gold chains are hard to find but of my 6 detectors the Nox in Gold 2 (and 6" coil) is the only one that will find gold chains at 4-5 inches deep. Unfortunately, Gold 2 doesn't work in the wet salt beach sand so my gold chains have been found in fresh water.

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