Fors Gold Question

[oregonmp03]

So I've been out a couple times with the Fors (no luck so far) but my question is I keep getting some wacky pings in the high tones. Today I was out in a highly mineralized zone, lots of silver i think and lots of other metal that looked like silver but wasn't being picked up on the FORS. I ground balanced and I'd get tones and dig and find junk but other times I'd get like an 87 or 95 with one beep then go over it and get another..........I'd dig and come up with nothing, the signal just disappeared. Any ideas or help? I wouldn't mind a day trip with someone who could show me the ropes on proven ground, in southern Oregon.

 

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[AZADAM]

Better open a silver mine with all that silver around

 

[californiagold]

maybe u can post a pic of the silvery metal. i know where i go, i get hematite signals that ping in the high tones. they usually only hit one swing real loud. but occassionaly one will hit almost every swing. if your detecting in all metal ( general) mode, and you have ground tracking on, some mineralization will beep and go away after couple swings. the fors gold does a good job eliminating them with ground tracking.
good luck

 

[oregonmp03]

Yeah I'll post some up tonight when I get home, I was using Boost Mode at the time

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

So I've been out a couple times with the Fors (no luck so far) but my question is I keep getting some wacky pings in the high tones. Today I was out in a highly mineralized zone, lots of silver i think and lots of other metal that looked like silver but wasn't being picked up on the FORS. I ground balanced and I'd get tones and dig and find junk but other times I'd get like an 87 or 95 with one beep then go over it and get another..........I'd dig and come up with nothing, the signal just disappeared. Any ideas or help? I wouldn't mind a day trip with someone who could show me the ropes on proven ground, in southern Oregon.

Hi Oregonmp03… I think we all have experienced ghost signals on occasion while detecting. There are several possible solutions depending on circumstances. Below are some commonplace examples…

(a) sometimes a small target falls deeper into the hole such that it can no longer be detected. A few more scoops will sometimes bring up a target, but simply scan the hole with a pinpointer to be sure that is not the case.

(b) discriminated targets occasionally signal in the dirt, but many will not respond once the soil
has been disturbed or it has been removed from the hole. I don’t know if this type of scenario applies to your situation because I’m not familiar with that detector model…

(c) the most common scenario I’ve come across is disseminated / mineralized iron remaining from iron junk that has rusted away in the ground. Rust is a form of maghemite, a powerful magnetic susceptible iron oxide, and it will produce such signals. When you dig and disturb the rust deposit, it will not likely be able to respond any further with an audio signal… hence a ghost signal.

(d) we see similar results using PI units while prospecting silver up here on occasion. A perfectly good signal is dug and voila… no signal anywhere. Usually associated with sponge or disseminated or even with weak leaf silver, once out of the dirt it will simply not respond to the PI electromagnetic field. In all cases to date, a VLF motion all-metal mode has quickly located such targets in the dirt pile. Although this doesn't apply to your circumstances, you might as well know about it.

(e) we occasionally encounter signals generated by ground anomalies that differ both in type and strength of mineralizations from the general terrain. Examples include former campfire sites producing a positive hotrock effect even if actual rocks are not present, electrically conductive animal urination spots, or other relatively conductive spots usually related to the occurrence of various mineral salts. Sometimes an abrupt physical change to the soil type such as a small clay deposit with differing moisture, electrical and magnetic characteristics can produce a signal. But digging disrupts the electrical continuity or magnetic fraction such that it can no longer produce a signal, and it becomes apparent there is no metal target.

Jim.

 

[oregonmp03]

Thank you for the response Jim. The soil was highly mineralized so much so that I could grab a handful of soil and rub it between my hands and have small metallic flakes everywhere but no large chunks and nothing pinpointed. Additionally within the soil were chunks of rocks about the side of a silver dollar that were tiny specked a metallic color (I'm guessing a silver). Fortunately I grabbed about 5 pounds of samples that I'l eventually crush up and find out what it was.

Reading your post makes much more sense of what was going on and it's appreciated.

o/

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Oregonmp03 … not familiar with your area, but I very much doubt your silvery color / luster material is native silver. With extended exposure to reactants such as common sulfur compounds, for example atmospheric sulfur dioxide, or hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic ground conditions, small particulate native silver would tarnish to black silver sulfide… a commonplace result when native silver is thus exposed.

More likely, the culprit is either non-metallic mica (schist) flakes, which tend to mimic the luster and general appearance of various pyrite types, or perhaps you are seeing flakes of the same. There are several naturally occurring sulfides that could be responsible. In any case these will not have native silver’s malleability, but rather they will be brittle and shatter on impact. Do a quick streak test comparison and you’ll see that suspect sulfides will produce a much darker streak than the silvery white streak of native silver… attached below is a mica schist photo.

​

Metamorphic rocks such as slate and schists may contain graphite that if present in sufficient amounts will produce a positive “hotrock” response from a VLF metal detector. Rub your thumb over suspect “meta-hotrocks” such as the hotrock you recently posted on a separate thread, and if graphite is present it will “blacken” your thumb. If you don’t have one, consider buying a basic, understandable field guide to rocks and minerals. The Peterson Field Guide series offer simple to complex descriptions, depending on your needs or preferences.

Jim.

 

[Hoser John]

It takes any processor a few swings to properly ID a metal as conductivity can be influenced by dozens of factors. Usually slow down the swing just a bit,closer to the ground as possible(with all units) as coil covers are replaceable and mo' closer's mo' better-John