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2nd Post,Which is the better Gold Detector,Minelab or OKM.

F

FinnishPolefromSWDetroit

New member
Don,t know what happened with the first post, purposely erased ( hope that wasn,t the case), well can,t think of anything else just that since I saw it post just before I left.Would like know which is the better detector for placer alluvial gold, Minelabs 4000/5000 series or OKM Black Hawk.? Has anyone used one or the other and can placer gold be detected?
 
Well, let's see, the Minelab SD/GP/GPX detectors are the most used Pulse Induction (PI) detectors used for prospecting worldwide. They do the job and do it well. I know a lot of prospectors and not a one I have heard of anywhere is using an OKM Black Hawk. My advice - stick with detectors made specifically for prospecting and used by mainstream prospectors unless you just like spending money trying stuff out. I would appreciate a report back if you do decide to test out a Black Hawk.

Steve Herschbach
 
I,m going to check with Kellyco on Monday.Checked OKM,s site ( they tend to have their equipment made for high end first rate professionals, made in Germany Black Hawk just came out so its new) according to the site it detects Placer and Alluvial Gold, which is about %98 of the Gold we got here,just detecting Nuggets and nothing smaller and finer won,t cut here in Michigan and Ohio .Just haven,t heard back from them yet.Also sent an email to Minelab.Waiting for them to reply.Hope to hear from someone who has detected placer gold,
 
You are confusing your terminology. Gold nuggets ARE placer gold and they ARE alluvial gold in most cases.

It appears what you are looking for is a detector that can find dispersed gold deposits, or actual pay streaks. Accumulations of gold mixed in a large volume of material. I can tell you that with only the rarest exceptions that this is not what the Minelab units do. They find individual nuggets. That information can be used to locate a pay streak, but they do not detect the pay streak as a whole.

Magnetometers can be used to indirectly locate pay streaks by finding differences in the magnetic content of the pay streak versus the surrounding material. What you are interested in falls more under the category of geophysical prospecting than metal detecting. I will caution you that finding a pay streak is far harder than just buying an electronic device and running it over the ground. Good luck.

Steve Herschbach
 
Just had a talk with one of Kellyco,s rep,he told me that neither will detect fine or flour ( sorry assumed that placer was the gold mining terminology meaning VERY FINE GOLD, like SAND, and Nuggets are anything the size of a pea)Been Metal Detecting for many years but I have never panned for gold.Got a reply back from Minelab which conflicts with what the rep said from Kellyco, they told me that the 4800 and 5000 series should detect that type of gold, don,t know if it was just a SALES pitch or what.The rep at Kellyco however told me to look into the GOLD CUBE, it would be the best bet to get than to spend $4,000 -$5,000 on a Minelab or OKM( Have the Explorer2,had it for over 8 years and it does a tremendous job of find Gold jewelry very very deep,once had it pick up a piece of a gold link smaller than a BB pellet at the beach 18 inches so I know their product does very well with gold jewelry but gold jewelry isn,t natural gold which I have no experience) It would be great if I had some samples from marble size to the sand grain size to see what the Explorer 2 would say.The biggest problem Steve is unlike scanning the entire beach for jewelry or being out in the lake during the winter,OUR GOLD here is covered in feet and feet and feet of Glacial Till,its hard to find areas in the stream that bedrock is on the surface, specially in lower Michigan.
 
Right now I,m heading off to northern Ohio, didn,t make it a few days ago on account of a bad rain storm that blew out from the southwest, rainning so hard you couldn,t see the highway.Supposebly theres bedrock along one of there main rivers,As for my area I,m going to try and pick up a geological map that shows the thickness of the glacial till along the stream and surrounding area.I,ll probably order that Gold Cube.
 
I have to thank Steve Herschbach: Your post with the link sure does explain what has to be done when mining the rivers and streams of the west. I am always surprised by those that come out every summer with a metal detector and wonder why they don't find anything. My wife says I dig up half the gravel bank just testing for a pay streak.
That is what a miner has to do to find the pay streak. Sampling the area. I wisg I could get others to post this at there detector sales offices so that these want to be prospectors know what is involved. Thanks again for the link.
 
How embarrassing for a newbie to stop by and give it a read... I won't be back asking questions until I understand what I just downloaded...

Thanks...

Guvner..
 
That link was pushing the edge I think. I have a magnetometer and so am familiar with the subject but it falls well outside the norm in metal detecting land. Still, a magnetometer is a type of metal detector. The most common units are used by surveyors to find rebar corners and such. They detect any iron or steel "ferrous" type metals. I wanted to offer the article up to show how difficult the issue is.

The question often gets asked about finding large quantities of dispersed gold. Like say a crevice with one ounce of gold flake in it. The short answer is normal metal detectors can't find that any more than most detectors can't find a very thin gold chain. Only a specialized unit can do it, and only by being right on it.

Pay streaks can be located by interpolating accumulated finds of single nuggets just like bullets found tell you where the Civil War battle took place. In modern reworked deposits accumulations of nails can be a clue. But for serious placer work magnetometers are the main option, and they are no magic solution as they have their limitations also.

Steve Herschbach
 
Steve, I don't know if you ever used a Garret vlf/tr for locating minerlized areas but I had some success back in the early 80's. I used my depeseeker to scan the stream beds for higher concentrations of blacksands...I was a nubbie then but it worked...
now I am an older nubbie and still learning...
fred
 
Hi Fred,

Good point. Any metal detector can be used in a limited fashion to trace shallow black sand deposits by interpreting the ground response. The new crop of units that display not just type but quantity of mineralization (Fisher F75/Gold Bug Pro and White's GMT to name a couple) are interesting in this regard. The problem is the really only work for very shallow, very concentrated streaks of black sand, like in a dry wash gully. A Garrett Deepseeker type unit or Fisher Gemini III that penetrates deeper and is less sensitive with a more dispersed search field may actually work better in many cases. Again though, very specialized stuff needing an operator that understands what they are doing.

Steve Herschbach
 
Sure sounds like something I'd like to do some day but with gold fever really out there chances are probably drying up at a record pace...

Thanks again...

Guvner..
 
You would be surprised. Frankly, it requires too much hard work and patience for most people. They expect to grab a detector and go out and find gold, and when it does not happen in short order they give it up. Nugget detecting probably more so than any other type of detecting is one where 20% of the people are making 80% of the finds. There is a lifetime of opportunity out there for me so there is for anyone.

Steve Herschbach
 
Wasn,t on here for a couple of days, took care of a MAJOR BREAKIN at my formers mothers condo here in Dearborn,this mentally unstable autistic Arab kid which lives across from me in another unit broke in by the window unlocked the doors and stole what was left of my mothers jewelry ,some of my detecting chump change, some kennedy halves that my mom left me and my sister and a check for $488 I had filled out left on the table and was about to mail to Kellyco for that Gold Cube.( I had 2 shotguns plus my Lee Enfield and K 98 sniper in her unit,fortunantly he left them alone)Trashed the place.Caught him the second time when I parked my car at another location, came in by the front,closed the lights and sat on the couch with my 1887 Richards Coach gun waiting for him.He had broken into many other units that week , pissed off at ACE Jewelers however, where he sold the stuff he stoled from me,was at there place when it happened the first time and suspected that kid and TOLD THEM not to buy anything from him,police Officer said he has been there many times selling coins with the help of an old lady that lives across him.Kid didn,t show any emotion or remorse.Hopefully now I can start my Gold Prospecting in Peace.Plenty of Gold out there Guvner,just have to put everything else aside and spend as much time that you can even in bad weather which is when most prospectors and detectorist don,t like to work.Too many of us like to find gold right away.I take my time doing things.I wouldn,t worry about SOMEBODY getting there FIRST, most chances they will go too fast and miss ALOT, I know from experience metal detecting, the same holds true for gold prospecting.
 
Or its a bad link? Looks like you left out the http://www part and doubled up the geom part of the URL? I own a magnetometer myself but am told it is the wrong kind for finding black sand deposits? Mine is the kind they use to find property markers, etc.... I'd like to sell it if anybody is interested?

-Tom V.
 
It is an FTP link not an http link so works fine, but only on browsers that support ftp

If I get time I may copy it to my own server and link to it.

Steve Herschbach
 
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