Metal Detectors and ore question.

G Freeman

Sr. Member
Aug 22, 2013
476
230
Southwest Virginia
Detector(s) used
Fisher Gold Bug.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
This is one question I can not find in internet search. Will all metal detectors beep with raw gold or silver in quartz rocks. My inexpensive MD will beep to gold and silver coins and iron but will not make any attempt to beep with ore that has been tested positive for silver. I feel I need a Minelab or Fisher to prospect with. My MD only cost 70.00. Thanks everyone.
 

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christo000

Silver Member
Mar 17, 2013
3,765
811
mass North Attleboro
Detector(s) used
Xp Deus,m-6 pinpointer, technetics t2ltd (had, whites v3i,minelab xterra 705,atpro,prism 4,sunray probe minlabe profind,garret propointer, f75ltd and many more)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My deus xp & will beep at Ore & my v3i will aswell also has a program designed around prospecting
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
In response to "will all metal detectors...." depends on how rich the ore in question is. Really rich sample will probably sound off on most, if not all detectors, especially in all metal mode. Lighter concentrations more likely will sound off on detectors designed for prospecting or that have a prospecting mode.
luvsdux
 

rabbitt46

Newbie
Aug 13, 2012
3
0
Tonasket, Washington
Detector(s) used
Minelab, Eureaka Gold
Minelab, GPX 4500
Minelaab X terra 705
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It all depends on the quantity of metal in the "ORE". IF there is enough then the detector will sound off. But you still want a detector that is made to detect gold or silver, if you are trying to detect micro amounts of precious metals in raw ore you would want to look into an XRF machine (starts at $35,000). A $70.00 detector is not what you want to detect raw ore's. Fisher and Minelab both make that detector but you will be into the higher end machines. Still there has to be some significant amount for any one of them to detect.
 

jmoller99

Sr. Member
Jan 8, 2010
294
109
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
Detector(s) used
Whites GMT, Goldmaster Vsat, 5900, Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300 and Falcon MD-20.
Primary Interest:
Other
A lot of gold and silver ore is tied up in sulphides. While there might be a high mineral content, in those cases, a metal detector won't pick them up very well if at all. These also are harder to process (but there is still valuable minerals to be had).

If you happen upon a silver mining area that had pure silver mixed in with minerals, a Metal Detector will find that, but it could read almost anything on the meter/vdi. Small free gold requires a detector that is sensitive to it (which means it will be oversensitive to almost everything else) - These are not often low priced.

You need to learn what the ore looks like in the area you prospect in. A lot of gold in Colorado is tied up in Pyrites (the stuff others call fools gold) - however if you know what you are looking for, you will often be able recognise what is a worth while area to hunt and what isn't.
 

Goldwasher

Gold Member
May 26, 2009
6,077
13,222
Sailor Flat, Ca.
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
SDC2300, Gold Bug 2 Burlap, fish oil, .35 gallons of water per minute.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Gold bug2, Goldmaster v/sat...4b and Gmt in manual mode...and a few other vlfs will when tuned for it...P.I machine will ignore a rock worth money as they are designed to ignore mineralization...and Gold/silver ore is mineralization. If an ore of sulfides not so easy...must be free milling ore...like if you crush it you will see metal without leaching or smelting. There are also pieces of ore with values that no detector will hit on.
 

toe2short

Full Member
May 28, 2013
124
30
NJ
Detector(s) used
Minelab safari
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Who's mine is that? Do they go into any abandon mine? I guess you can.
 

cryptic

Full Member
Oct 10, 2009
174
144
🥇 Banner finds
1
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Good advice from everyone. There has to be a large enough quantity of metal in the ore to make the detector go off.
 

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