A question about discriminating detectors and lead.

[Northeast]

Afternoon PA peoples.

Bit of an offbeat question sparked by a comment somewhere else where someone suggested that if they are finding lead, .22 projectiles, etc then they were happy because lead sounds like gold and and they also felt that no one else had detected that area because there is no way someone would have walked away from a lead signal.

Being an SDC and Zed user and never having owned a discriminating detector, my question is - can a discriminating detector discrimate between gold and lead like they apparently can between gold and iron. Or are gold and lead simply too similar.

I only ask because I am thinking that if they can discrimate between gold and lead then the area could have been detected and the lead left behind.

But I'm assuming otherwise...

Thanks 8)

 

[Ramjet]

I am not a gold detectorist but a coin/treasure hunter. From my experience and reading other peoples experiences both gold and lead can give a wide variety of signals on a discriminating detector depending in size, mass etc. Lead can be a high tone if it is a large piece or a low tone for smaller pieces. Round or egg shaped fishing weights can give a variety of signal depending on which direction you are approaching the. The same for gold jewellery. Larger pieces can be high tones and smaller, thinner pieces can be very low tones.

 

[AngerManagement]

If you look at the periodic table you will also see that AU and Pb are reasonable close - Silver and Fe etc are much further apart...

Conductivity is HIGH as per the others around Gold... Thus discrimination if looking at Conductivity is not easy... And forget magnetic properties as a discriminator..

It is all about Physics / Science

 

[Guest]

Elaborating on Ramjets comments, high conductors like lead, silver, aluminium and copper can mimic gold on a 2-tone detector. Generally larger targets or closer targets can read false as iron, and a joined ring will give a stronger signal than a wire, blob, or semi-circle. Meters and screens can also be fooled by large or close targets.
In this case the quickest way to test is to raise the coil somewhat and swing again.
High or low tones could be confusing, as different detector brands have high or low pitch sound for non-ferrous identification.

If there's lead there, there could well be gold as well.
Interesting to note that, according to the Eureka Echo article, the finder of the recent 4kg nugget thought it was iron.

 

[Twapster]

My 2 cents as RJ points out too many variables - iron and gold are at the opposite ends, not so with lead and gold.

I certainly cant knock discrimination even when people say "don't use it dig everything". While those people are digging up horseshoes id prefer to move on to a real target. Have I missed gold, probably not, but who knows. Some people are better at hearing subtle tone differences.

In my experience gold and lead twang the same, gold and iron quite different. I've used the 4500 with iron reject and I think it works fine, others say DONT USE IT ull miss some gold.

Treasure hunters can sometimes tell you what they're about to dig up. So a the end of the day its a useful tool but not yet an exact science. The day we hear lead targets are being left is probably the day someone invents a gold detector and not just a metal detector.

 

[goldwright]

Put simply the only way you can discriminate lead out is blank out the conductive ID numbers lead give and unfortunetly these are the same conductive ID numbers that gold give so no it is impossible. Especially when chasing gold as each piece will be different size and thickness. But with practice you will start to call lead shots and 22 bullets before digging them but a nugget of similar size and shape will give the same numbers and tone. The CTX gives 12-31 on an ounce solid nugget and gives 12-30 on a 20 gram size 4 bean sinker and identical tone, just to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

 

[Northeast]

Thanks everyone. Pretty much the answers that I expected but great to have it reiterated.

And it confirms for me that if I am finding lead shot - especially shallow lead shot - that I am probably running over some relatively untouched ground.

Whether I think it sounds like lead shot is irrelevant for me - I dig it all.

The only contact I've had with a discriminating detector was when a fella pulled up next to me and my 1 metre+ deep hole to ask what I was up to. Put the Zed down the hole, it went bananas and said "I'm trying to get this f&(king thing out"
He said he was a treasure hunter, was amazed at the depth of the hole and asked if he could run his detector over it. So he did and straight away he said it was iron. About 5 minutes later I pulled out a real old bolt about 8" long. And he showed me the numbers that popped up on his screen to indicate what it most likely was.

Again, thanks for the replies