Detecting Lode Gold

[argyle]

On 09/03/2016 at 10:15 AM, AU_Solitude said:

My interest in detecting placer gold occasionally waivers and I find myself wanting to find and stake claim to a profitable hard rock mine. 

Other than the Gold Bug 2 what detectors have you used with success to locate pay-streaks or pockets in hard rock?

Other than a Gold Bug 2, I've used Goldmaster's from the GM11,VSat, 3, GMT, a large variety of early minelab VLF's to current, and quite a few Euro high gain output units along with three Fishers with ggrab.

To be honest, any of the mid to higher freq units are ideal, and light, for that type of work (for myself it's chasing an off-shoot vein both inside and offside of old reef workings) but as the majority of these carry their fair share of unbroken ironstone in the form of very powdery honeycomb type, ironstone/quartz cake and the heavy cooked solid types, along with red liverstone, the minelab vlf's do hold a distinct advantage over the more sparky units.

It is reversed in quartz/clay type reef. The higher gain output units push much more deeper here with a heap more sensitivity, and allow for fiercer digging.

And performance is pretty much on par across the board between them so I do not necessarily have a favorite.

As for the SDC, I found them more cumbersome than the lightweight higher gain output VLF's, and not hitting any deeper or handling the noisier rock any better, in fact some of the slanted shale they particular hate and are 5/8ths useless through it.

I would bother with a Falcon, probably one of the most useless pieces of equipment I've ever owned.

[whitebutler]

I used my 7000 under ground and had good luck with the 19" coil. My old go to was the Vsat it was the spot on machine for rock for me. I'll be sticking to the 7000 from now on unless blasting caps were used then it's aluminum shards all over and you get tired of them really fast.

Good luck

John

[argyle]

On 3/5/2017 at 3:45 AM, kiwijw said:

I take it you mean I WOULDN'T bother with a Falcon.....

That surprises me as I have had damn good success with mine sampling quartz float for tiny gold particles. You did turn it on....didn't you? 

Good luck out there

JW 

Are you going to follow me around spellchecking JW? If you are, at least grab a beer on your way back. 

The Falcon was as useless as the old 'Gold Spear' was. Compelety useless both of them. 

[Steve Herschbach]

You know argyle, I have a Falcon and find it useful for spot checking quartz specimens before sawing them in half. A limited use tool for sure. It may not have served your intended use but it serves mine.

[Hard Prospector]

The Falcon has worked great for me to check a quick sample of the drywasher cons. 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hello Argyle…. 

I have not used the Falcon for checking rock samples, but do have a basic understanding of how it is supposed to work. Would you kindly explain why the Falcon wouldn’t be good for spot checking small quartz samples? For example, is it the lack of penetration of the 300 kHz frequency (if memory serves) that disqualifies it in your view… or do you have other reasons? Thankyou...

Jim.