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The Great Debate Of Discrimination, Iron ID And Target #'s When Detecting For Gold. (long Read)


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This is going to be an interesting thread.

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Gerry,

You ARE an EXPERT.

Mitchel

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Top insights Gerry to start this this thread, I`ve not used iron reject/discrim at all in my 45 plus years, mainly because there is not any need for such out in the unworked fringes where an occasional horseshoe/nail/bullet/pellet is encountered. Aged legs are dictating those long searches in rugged country via shanks pony are near over so part of this season on day trips I`m amongst the junk in closer to the mines/settlements.

I will be following this thread with much interest to pick up any hints from those who work such areas that may help the Manticore or Axiom w/. DD score amongst the junk without losing what`s left of my sanity from our crazy fever. Young fellas get out into the unworked fringes whilst your legs can...... it can only drive you crazy but.... when you score... tis magic no.

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Great topic, Gerry, this one never gets old. VLF disc certainly has improved over the years, but you need to be very mindful of when and how to use it. Experienced detectorists like you know when to use it sucessfully. But many less experienced operators abuse it to an extent where they miss most if not all gold. The large gold specimens that you show are probably not representative of what most people usually find in the field when they go on their club claims, and small(er) gold in mineralized ground are mostly missed when using discrimination. Also, depth is detrimental to discrimination as I am sure you know. Countless times I have recoverd small gold nuggets that read as ferreous on the meter, in particular when encased in iron rich soil. So, IMO discrimination is generally not a good strategy, with exception of certain circumstances where it can come in handy. But it takes experience and knowledge to use it properly. But for more serious gold nugget hunting, in particular at the detecting edge, discrimination is totally useless, and this is the reason why none of the high end modern ML gold detectors even offer that feature. Witout a doubt you know all this, so I am speaking more to the newcomers who might not be familiar with the technical limitations of discrimination, in particular when gold nugget shooting.

GC

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  • The title was changed to The Great Debate Of Discrimination, Iron ID And Target #'s When Detecting For Gold. (long Read)
10 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Gerry,

You ARE an EXPERT.

Mitchel

Detector Expert....I know more than most.

Gold Prospecting Expert... Not exactly when compared to those I know who do ti full time.  I sell detectors for a living and provide knowledge from my near 50 yrs of swinging them.  I don't hunt gold for a living and I don't get checks from the manufactures.  I have a select few customers who do hunt gold for a living and I'll warn most, it's sometimes a rough, solitude life with a different mindset. 

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Well I certainly don't consider myself an expert gold prospector. There are many people on this forum that have found more gold in a day than I've found in a year. But I have used both PI and VLF's detectors for beach, relic and gold prospecting enough to know when each should be used. Right tool for the right job. I doesn't scare me to wander into a sea of trash with a PI and a small coil, if the reward is big enough. But at the same time if a VLF will get the job done I'm all for using one.

At sites with high mineralization I see little sense in using a VLF no matter what the target size is. Unless the trash is so thick you can't swing without hitting 3 or 4 targets. If I used a VLF at those types of sites I'm confident I would be leaving more behind that I would find. Example the last small gold nugget I found with the 6000 at about a inch deep, the Manticore was calling it iron laying right on top of the ground. Do I dig everything I hear on a PI? No, I make a dig discission off what the target sounds like. Do I miss gold doing that probably, but that's my form of discrimination with a PI. If there's lost of trash, put on a smaller coil.

Some of the best finds I've made over the last 10 years have been with a PI. I'm in the camp of using a PI with no disc.

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"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist". - Picasso

Aphorisms like "dig it all", "low and slow", etc are good for people detecting club claims, heavily worked areas, old patches, etc. For those detecting a wide range of different environments and doing exploration, it's often more about figuring out when and where to break the rules and how to adapt to changing, new environments in order to maximize yield (aka - your total gold take per unit time spent). 

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Everyone has one............

An "opinion" 😁🧐

As for myself, no screens, no readouts, no "automated opinions or guesses.

Time spent on my machine and total guidance from my ears. In other words "the sound" 😎👍🎯⛏️

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I'm with Gerry 100% on this topic. Back in the day we dug it all, and only had a magnet on a pick as a discriminator. Digging a hole 3 foot deep for a rusty can was a total waste of time and effort. Today, I use all the features of the detector I'm using as a time saver and it works well for me.

snakejim

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