Coal or coal ash?

[MNCoinhunter]

I was detecting in a friends yard the other day and got a coin signal. It turned out to be a piece of coal or coal ash. My pro-pointer was chirping away and I thought "where the heck is the coin that's supposed to be here in the dirt"? Nope..just a very light chunk of coal. Has anyone else had this happen? I broke it open to see if something was imbedded in it but there was just more coal.

 

[willyp47]

I think coal has iron in it,not much,but when burnt,it lumps up.These lumps are called clinkers and are hard as a rock. Lots of it here in my area.

 

[oldranger]

I have the same problem in many areas here
in wesstern Pa... This used to be steel country
so the slag and ash are all over....

Ron

Rangers Lead The Way

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Makes sense..thanks guys !

 

[metalhead]

Oh, yeah, coal will cause a signal with a VLF unit. Just like a hotrock(mineralization). Sometimes tree roots can even absorb alot of mineralization and cause your detector to sound off. Pulse induction type machines are not affected by this phenomenon and will ignore it. Several different VLF units have methods of identifying hotrocks. Happy Hunting!

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I had another incident in the same yard a little while later, where I got a coin signal and dug it up and found nothing in the pile when I spread it out. But when I filled the hole back in the signal was back. As if the pile itself as a whole had enough ferrous material to give a signal, but spread out did not....funny.

 

[oldranger]

TREE ROOTS????? REALLY???

That would explain a lot of usless
diggin around some trees at a local park

Ron

RLTW

 

[Uncle Willy]

Coal originates as wood and wood absorbs mineralization.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah roots suck up mineralization out of the ground.

Bill