Knowing The Best Size Coil For Your VLF To Produce Gold

[Gerry in Idaho]

Starting to see some great knowledge and tips being discussed and mentioned.  Keep it coming folks.

[Cascade Steven]

I just wanted to say thanks to all that have shared there knowledge here.  Those of us that are new to this arena appreciate the information.

[geof_junk]

Small coils find small gold, that large coils can not react on. For a newbie this help them in get a nugget ( more about) and learn how to listen to the detector that will be a great asset when looking for larger nuggets at depth. The nugget that are large and shallow you only need to walk over them and not think they are junk. The old rule if you hear it dig it.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Great feedback everyone and I hope this truly does help some of the newer hunters.

Let's play the odds for a bit and see who usually wins.  That same thinking is true today and especially for the new nugget hunter wanting to dig a piece of gold.

Old time Prospectors from years past running the sluice box, or a water cannon, gold pan and even big iron dredges played the odds of recovering gold.  Even todays changing advanced technology and big mining companies play the odds at collecting Au.  Their philosophy holds true today and is to find the most plentiful kind of gold that can be recovered at the cheapest cost.  

100+ yrs ago it was the flour gold that kept the miners fed.  Sure there was the occasional nugget found, but the majority of gold recovered in the 1800's and early 1900's was flour.  Now jump forward 100+ yrs and the big mineral companies are collecting microscopic gold that naked eye can't see.

Conclusion is nuggets are rare and the bigger they get the more rare they become.  

As a veteran nugget hunter myself of 25+ yrs, I know for a fact the majority of my recovered gold nuggets were smaller pieces.  I've had 100+ nugget days on occasion and also found 40+ little nuggets in 1 hole before.  The collection many folks share and pics tell the same story and show mostly smaller nuggets.

Detector manufactures have caught on as well.  Each time a new VLF gold detector comes out, it's usually compared to see how small of gold it can find.  Heck todays higher dollar PI's and ZVT technology detectors do the same thing.  They get better at finding the smaller nuggets than their older models before.  It's the odds of having success at going home with a nugget, no matter what the size.

I don't know if these numbers are fact and never did a google search but will say from my own experience.  For every 1 pound nugget, there are 20 of the 1 ounce nuggets.  For each 1 oz there's approx 20 quarter ounce nuggets.  For each 1/4 oz (approx 7.8 gram) chunk I have probably found an average of 50 of the 2 gram size.  Again, from 2 gram to 1 gram is probably another 50.  Now here is where things really get going.  I'm willing to say it, but I'm sure for each 1 gram pea size nugget, the average is closer to 100 .1 gram nuggets.  I won't worry about anything less but hope you get my point.  

It holds true today just like it did 150 yrs ago.  There's more smaller gold nuggets than bigger ones and more flour gold than nuggets and more microscopic gold than flour.

So with my findings, the best chance of Success for a beginner detectorist is to set your detector up for the most plentiful size of gold still out there that a detector can hear (smaller nuggets).  Pic below is from my customer in MT with his GM-1000 and when you look at all the gold, you'll notice much more smaller stuff.

- On many detectors I have tested, the smaller coil is actually deeper on tiny gold than the stock coil. 

- Smaller coil sees less mineralized soils as it has a smaller footprint so you can turn the SENS/GAIN up.

- Smaller coil on many detectors runs smoother, sees less EMI, and is more stable than stock coil.

- The ID system on many detectors reads more accurately on a small nugget near surface than the stock coil as the bigger coil again sees more mineralization and it's harder to read the same small nugget. (note, I don't recommend newbies to rely on ID systems when chasing tiny gold).  All detectors can be fooled.

- Smaller coils can get under bushes, between rocks and in cracks/crevices easier and that's sometimes the places nuggets light to get caught up or hide.

- Small coils give cleaner signal response to smaller nuggets than stock coil so you can hear it better.

- Small coil is lighter in weight so the operator can hunt longer without fatigue, especially when side hilling.

- The average person who purchases a detector uses the coil that comes with it.  Many times, the VLF detectors do not come with the small coil (yes I know GM-1000 does).  You don't want to be average and be using the same size coil in the same areas the other guys hunt.

The above mentioned and a few other reasons is why when my Field Staff/I prefer that our customers coming to the Field Training to put on the smallest coil they have.  It ups your chance of Success.

For a beginner nugget hunter, SUCCESS of any size gold is better than NO GOLD.

Getting to hear the rattle of those few tiny nuggets in the pill bottle on the way home is much more happier for the detectorist than his buddy with rattling nothing.

Anyone else who wants to add to this please do.....

This info is just my opinion and I realize there are always exceptions.

Happy Hunting.

 

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Coverage matters, so for a VLF I prefer a 6x10 coil as having a good combination of sensitivity to small gold, a little better depth on larger gold, and good ground coverage. I only use the extra small coils for crawling across small areas, spot checking, testing lode samples, etc. I almost never use a coil larger than 6x10 when nugget detecting, the big exception being hunting tailing piles for oversized gold.

But yeah, for small gold, small coils get the best results on the most common gold there is - the little stuff. Double the depth or more. If I’m really desperate not to get skunked, a small coil saves the day! 

Coil Size vs Depth Fisher Gold Bug 2
Source - Field Testing the Gold Bug 2 by Gordon Zahara

[Gold Catcher]

4 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Detector manufactures have caught on as well.  Each time a new VLF gold detector comes out, it's usually compared to see how small of gold it can find.  Heck todays higher dollar PI's and ZVT technology detectors do the same thing.  They get better at finding the smaller nuggets than their older models before.  It's the odds of having success at going home with a nugget, no matter what the size.

Great write up, Gerry. On the gold size issue, I sometimes find myself going back to the 7000 just to not get stuck all day digging up the super tiny stuff with the 6000. In particular, because the 6000 is so sensitive that often times I can't estimate the target size from the signal strength, not even for shallow targets (every shallow target screams). So, it can go the other way as well.

GC

[geof_junk]

A great post Gerry and others but Gerry forgot to say SMALL COILS are very much lighter. 🤓

[PhaseTech]

The other aspect of small coils is that targets are typically going to be shallow, and with the high accuracy of pin-pointing, you generally get your target out pretty quickly. This means lots more targets dug for any given period of time. When you are sifting through target rich areas, this can make all the difference.  

[mn90403]

3 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

target rich areas

Those are much harder to come by these days!

[Bishop]

that last pic of the gold. it looks like 2 different patches. the one on top looks like a bit more silver in it, electrum maybe?
and the lower pic smaller bits, but more pure or maybe a bit more copper in it.
last weekend i found 3 and my smallest bit yet with the 6k 11 inch, less than a grain,like .8 had me laughing as i could not believe that that coil could beep that small.
 no pic as i gave it away. that 11 inch is more than sensitive enough
for my use.