Metal Detecting For Gold - Where to Start

Most people who get into the hobby of metal detecting probably fancy the idea of detecting gold, either in the form of gold coins or even nuggets and grains of free gold. The great thing is that you can become a gold prospector with your metal detector and you don't have to go panning along rivers to do so.
Here are some of the possible forms of gold that you could find whilst prospecting with your metal detector:

1. Gold nuggets - These pieces of gold are at least two millimeters in size.


2. Embedded grains - The gold is embedded in other large minerals, such as quartz.


3. Gold grains - Gold less than two millimeters in size and usually found inside larger mineral formations such as quartz stones.


4. Microscopic gold - Again, this form of gold is embedded in other minerals and can only be freed from the holding mineral through crushing and separation using the specific gravity of each mineral/element present.


5. Gold compound - Gold that has combined with other elements such as silver (i.e. tellurides).

One possibility is to try to prospect for gold near former mines. If you live in the Southwest of the USA, you're in luck. Gold veins have been known to exist in many places in the Southwest.
Many metal detectorists opt for two specific areas: land near flowing bodies of water such as rivers, and deserts. As you can see, these are two radically different areas, and yet both areas yield gold.
To be an effective prospector, you need to remember three essential things about gold that separates this element from all the other elements and compounds:

1. Gold is relatively soft compared to other minerals and elements. If you scratch gold, some of it will come off, and sometimes will even produce gold dust.


2. Gold can be scratched easily, but is not brittle and inflexible. Find a gold nugget and you can bend it easily without breaking it in half.


3. Gold is always malleable. If you hit a suspected gold nugget with a hammer, it will be flattened. (It will not crack or be pulverized.)

Tips for Finding Gold

1. Before exploring a site, do some research first. Has the area you want to visit yielded gold nuggets and grains in the past?


2. How much iron content does the soil have? If your target area is too loaded with iron, you may have a very difficult time trying to locate gold grains and nuggets.


3. How much trash does the area have? By trash we refer to junk made from iron and mineralized junk that may hinder your progress. If there's too much junk, your performance during active prospecting will be impeded.


4. If you're exploring an area near a stream or river, go to the stream first. Scan the riverbank and look for pockets of black sand. If you do find something there, it means that the whole area may potentially have loosely strewn nuggets of gold. You've hit a jackpot!


5. Always use a large search coil - at least fifteen inches in diameter - when looking for gold.

If you fail to find anything during your first two sweeps, it's possible that any gold in the vicinity is too small or too far down in the soil to be detected by a large search coil. Try switching search coils and raising the sensitivity and discrimination of the metal detector and then scan the area again.

Ken Rowsby is an ardent treasure hunter. If you'd like more great tips on metal detecting for treasure