GotAU? Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 I was recently using my 24K to detect in an old drywashing area littered with hematite hot rocks and it was quite difficult to gain any ground because they were plentiful and of all different sizes including pea sized in all the tailings and header piles. The ID numbers weren’t coming up when I did hit those so I started ignoring them where it didn’t show up and continued. This method worked as I was able to pick up small bits of lead that did have ID numbers. It was pretty slow going andI finally switched over to my 3500, but if there was any small gold present I might’ve missed it with that as well (at least I know there aren’t any larger nuggets there). I plan on going back there With my Vlf when I have more time. So I’m curious, what setting or technique do you do with a vlf when you encounter this situation? I tried lowering the sensitivity as low as five which helped a bit, but it was still overloading on some of the rocks. I lifted the coil off the ground as well when I did hit a target which seemed to help. I was also using my smallest coil already also (6-inch). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phrunt Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 The 6" might be worse as the Concentric responds worse to hot rocks than the DD. Some ground just doesn't suit VLF's though. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotAU? Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 52 minutes ago, phrunt said: The 6" might be worse as the Concentric responds worse to hot rocks than the DD. Some ground just doesn't suit VLF's though. Good grief, I was so intent on finding small gold that I didn’t even think of trying a different coil! I think you’re right, you were using the DD in that stream bed that you posted about earlier, right? I have to go read that post again. I think you said you were using metal discrimination as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phrunt Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 No, in the creek I was using the concentric, it handled the situation well but DD coils do tend to handle hot rocks better than Concentrics. The 10x6" 24k coil is still pretty damn good on tiny gold. I was in all metal, no discrimination, different type of hot rocks though, mine were a form of schist that appears to have a high mica content. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tboykin Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 DD coil, increase SAT and lower sensitivity. You can also dig a few up, put them on top of the ground, and GB to the combination of dirt and hot rocks. The XGB should take care of the rest. As previously mentioned in some ground a PI is the only option. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL NINO77 Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotAU? Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 3 minutes ago, tboykin said: DD coil, increase SAT and lower sensitivity. You can also dig a few up, put them on top of the ground, and GB to the combination of dirt and hot rocks. The XGB should take care of the rest. As previously mentioned in some ground a PI is the only option. I’ve tried ground balancing on top of a hematite rock, but that was like putting it over a solid iron plate, it was way too big. I will try putting it over a collection of smaller ones with soil, and bump up the SAT to 2, that sounds like a good idea, thank you for the suggestions! I really like ‘your’ detector and appreciate all you’ve put into it. It’s done really well in some of the areas I’ve taken the gold monster to where it had issues with hot rocks and I guess what you would call cold rocks mixed in. I have since sold my gold monster and haven’t regretted that one day. This thing has become my gold detector of choice and my Equinox has been my coin and relic detector ever since I got it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotAU? Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 8 minutes ago, EL NINO77 said: So you give me an idea, I collected a big chunk of that hematite that was giving me issues. I’ll have to try out that experiment as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL NINO77 Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 GotAU?......try to use all the offered tips .... and let us know if it helped you in the detection .... something else ... you can still try the autotracing correction up to + 5 points or up to -5 points .... it can also help you ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim McCulloch Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 A rock is either "hot" or "cold" if it's condutive mineral content and/or density differs substantially from that of the soil to which the detector was ground balanced. An individual stone which was "hot" in one locale, if transported elsewhere, may now become "cold." In most severe hot rock areas, with my 24k, I use the 10x6 DD, SAT at 2, autotrack ON, and GB OFFSET at +1. Hope this helps. HH Jim 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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