Ground Balancing Gravel Vs Bedrock

[Jeffree]

Hello to all,  I am currently using a goldbug 2.  On the creek in the Yuba River drainage where I am using it, there is a lot of exposed bedrock, or alternating gravel and bedrock.  I am finding that the bedrock ground balances far different from the gravels.  This is a bit of a problem for me, since when I ground balance to the bedrock, any of the gravel sounds off loudly.  When I ground balance to the gravels, then pass the coil over bedrock, the detector goes null, or quiet.  Seems this contrast is giving me a lot of false positive reads.  I have found a fair amount of flakes and small pickers, but feel that I may be missing good targets, since the bedrock and gravels ground balance so so differently.  Any suggestions on how to deal with this would be much appreciated.

Jeffree

[delnorter]

It’s pretty much the same a little further north of you in the streams Jeffree. I also use the Gold Bug 2.  The bedrock is often pretty homogeneous and the gravels are made up of many minerals of the drainage/area. Tough to balance for both. As you know GB2 is a pretty sensitive machine and I just have to adjust as needed. 
 

Mike

[Calmark]

I suggest running over bedrock all at once, then afterwards, hit the gravel spots separately if you can, so you avoid transitioning between the two as much as possible. Also, try to run parallel along sections of bedrock and gravels to limit how often you need to run the coil over transitions, leading to the falsing. 

Easier said than done, I know. But, working slowly with precise coil control will help with the noise and give you a chance for success with patient coverage. Good luck!  You are in a great area. 

[strick]

Get a 2300 

strick

[Steve Herschbach]

Since bedrock is generally homogenous, it’s easier to get a ground balance with a unit that has a fixed setting, as does the Gold Bug 2. Gravels and pebble/cobble beds are often of mixed composition, so some rocks are balanced out, others not. As noted above, hunt bedrock separately. In mixed material, try and find an average balance setting that will minimize response to the various rocks as much as possible. This will be aided by lowering the sensitivity, as rock responses drop out faster than gold responses.

Ground tracking aids greatly in mixed materials, but just like the 2300 suggestion above, requires a different detector.